An Education

Faye walked slowly among the long collumns of books, gazing at titles. There must be something about... something that could...

She had to know. Maybe if she knew more about... about this, then she could - fight it? No... maybe she just thought if she knew more, than she could handle it.

Cause right now, even if she pretended she was alright, she knew the truth - she was slowly drowning.

Tilting her head she saw a title that might work. But she was too short to reach it. Frowning she began to jump, trying to just get enough grip to pull it off the self.

Ksenia was in the library once again, studying at one of the tables at the back. She had went back to study soon after returning to Durmstrang and discovering that the road ahead of her was not much simpler than before Abraxas was killed. She had to fight, she would always have to fight.

Putting her quill down, the girl rose from her chair and strolled past some of the aisles, looking for an advanced charms text book. Before she found said book however, she came upon a fellow Slushatal, one that she had wanted to catch.

"A fun of books I see?" she raised an eyebrow at the younger girl.

Faye stopped her jumping at the sound of the voice. She turned to look at the girl, her stomach twisting unpleasantly.

It was the girl from the commonroom - the one that had been soo...

She realized that she didn't even know the girls name, and yet this girl seemed to know her.

"I am too short to reach," she said quietly looking up at the book.

Ksenia reached up and pulled the book down for the younger girl. She herself was slightly on the short side and knew the complications that could come with that.

"Magical Ways to Battle Cancer," she read the title before handing it over to the girl. The prefect raised her eyebrow. "So you are sick as well as being an ineducable pureblood," she noted almost to herself.

Faye gave a small greatful smile as teh older girl took down the book for her, "Thank you."

That smile however changed to a blush as she took the book, and hugged it to herself. So she had been caught. Casting her eyes down, she briefly thought about lying - saying the book was for someone else, or perhaps that she was just interested in it - it was true that Healing was her best subject of late - but in the end she decided there was no point.

"So it would seem," she muttered to the floor.

"And why do you choose to hide from everything like this?" Ksenia demanded from the girl, almost snapping. She really couldn't understand the Hansoff girl. In this world they had no choice but to fight, fight to have at least some control over their own lives.

Faye jumped at the question, almost an order, clutching the book tighter to herself. She flashed her eyes up to the girl, wide eyed, face pale.

"Well - I-I," she didn't really know the answer to the question, and had to duck her head again just to think about it. The older girl reminded her of her family, who, to an extent, scared her. "I... eventually it became easier to hide from everyone, then to continue the way it was when I was found."

"I do not mean your illness," Ksenia snapped once again. "I mean who you are," she explained. "Or do you just show that part to Treshawn?" she couldn't help but raise her eyebrow as she watched the younger girl squirm under her gaze.

Faye jumped a little less this time, getting use to the way the girl spoke and just expecting snapping rather than any other form of talking - at least towards her.

"I didn't mean... or," she trailed off and bit her lip not bothering to finish that statement. She was about to conintue, answer her repeated question when she asked about Tre and the young girl squeaked a bit and her face lit up in a brillant flush, thinking of course that this girl somehow knew about ... that and not talking about whatever else she really was.

"I don't show Tre... I mean Tre's just- just my friend, nothing more. I don't like- love him or-or-or, at least not that kind of love... he's just, he's just Tre. He doesn't get to see anything special, that-that-that I don't show anyone else."

"Didn't mean what?" Ksenia asking, cocking her head to the side slightly.


"Oh," a small kind smile crept onto her face as she watched the younger house-mate blush deeply. Her whole demeanour turned gentle as she cupped the girl's cheeks in her hands and lifted her face up so she could see her eyes. "Do you like Tre?" her tone was light, even a bit teasing, the sort a friend would use.

Faye just shook her head at the first question; she did not remember what sh had been going to say anyways.

Faye blinked and allowed the girl to tile her face up. The kind tone seemed to startle her more now than the snapping would have, but she did allow it to lull her into a false sense of security.

That was the problem Faye had, in wanting to see the nice in everyone, she allowed herself to trust too easily - even when her whole life was set up in a way to tell her to trust no one.

"No," she shook her head slighlty, "No I don't like Tre - well I mean I like him, as-as a friend. He's my very best... or well he's a really good friend; though I suppose some people could see him as good looking - but no, I don't, he's not... I have a boyfriend."

Ksenia couldn't help but laugh at the young girl standing in front of her. "You are a terrible liar, Hansoff. Its obvious that you do not have just a normal friendship with him. You really need to learn some confidence if you do not want to be stamped into the ground by other people before you die of you disease. Because that is what you are choosing to do," Ksenia said as she picked up a book of the shelf.

Faye just shook her head a stubborn frown on her face, "I'm not lying... its just, hard to explain."

She clutched her book to herself and frowned even more.

"I'll live my life how I want to thank you," she said quietly looking at the ground. "And you don't get to judge how I treat my illness from barely half an hour of knowing about it."

"I don't need to see your medical records to know that you are not a fighter," Ksenia said, her voice emotionless, as she picked out a book for herself. "If you want to survive your illness you will have to change your attitude. Come see me if you ever decide to learn to stand up for yourself," she said, not looking at the younger girl, her eyes on the book already as she walked back to her table.