The Principal's Office

[tailor_made]

The door to the principal’s office is open at all hours, although you will only find Hester at the receptionist’s desk from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. This is primarily where you can have private conversations with her. Though there’s an actual office in the back, it is always closed and locked.

Comments

[tailor_made]

I'm in, Peregrine. [There she is, the assistant director herself, poised at her desk with tea and cookies. She looks...more put together than she has the past two weeks, less pale and about to collapse in exhaustion at a moment's notice. She taps a final key on her keyboard and turns her head to look at Peregrine with a small, worried smile.]

Hi.

[comeandfindme]

[ ...That's...reassuring, in a way. Is she visibly injured? No, you know, Peregrine's just going to— ]

Are you hurt? From Friday.

[tailor_made]

No, I'm- [If Peregrine comes around to the other side of her desk, she'll see the leg Hester had clearly been grabbing at at the trial is fully healed. Not even a scratch.] When things started to go wrong, he brought us here and fixed it, I'm okay now.

[If she looks closely she might see a few small drops of blood dried onto the carpet. Easy to miss but definitely there.]

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine looks down. She doesn’t want to talk about anything the Wizard’s done. It’s that reason that she sees— ]

Is that blood?

[tailor_made]

Is what-? [She looks down at the floor, her eyes widening and a hand reaching down to unconsciously clutch her previously injured leg.] Oh, that's...that's probably mine...

[Whose else could it be? She's the only one who's ever bled in here.] Sorry.

[comeandfindme]

[ How dried is this blood? Enough for a few days to have passed? ]

[tailor_made]

[It is! And it's a very small amount, just a few slightly smeared drops.]

[comeandfindme]

[ Okay, that's a relief! ]

Are you sure you're completely healed?

[tailor_made]

Mmhm! [She extends her leg more fully, flexes her calf muscle and rolls her ankle just to prove she's fully healed.]

Good as new. It didn't even-...It hardly even hurt at the time.

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine looks it over carefully. ]

...It's good to know you're okay. But not exactly that the Wizard is.

[tailor_made]

[Hester bites her tongue before she says something she'll regret...and keeps touching the spot where her wound was. It might be gone but it doesn't mean how it looked isn't burned into her mind...and what she did and didn't feel.]

It was more surprising than anything. You guys all got out without getting hurt, right?

[comeandfindme]

[ She nods. ]

Yeah. No injuries, nothing like that. I...meant to come check on you sooner, but— ...It all got away from me.

[tailor_made]

Good. [Don't worry, Peregrine, she vividly remembers what day yesterday was.] It's okay, a few people came to check on me yesterday- Mr. Barker, Orpheus, Maya. They took good care of me.

[And she had to take care of at least one of them, Benjamin.]

[comeandfindme]

[ ... ]

Right. I...figured Maya would, at least.

[ She's still awkward with Hester. Incredibly awkward. But— ]

...I- I think...I have a question.

[tailor_made]

[Hester, in truth, isn't any less awkward. Sure things are better now but talking with Peregrine has always been weird, on several levels.

At least one level she doesn't really want to think about too hard.]

Um, sure, Peregrine, shoot.

[comeandfindme]

...How much do you know about us?

Do you know things we...didn't? Before we got here?

[tailor_made]

...I know about as much as you've forgotten. I have files on you guys, some rough timelines and details about you all. I got them- [When we first got the list.] A little before it all started.

[comeandfindme]

[ She swallows down a lump in her throat. ]

...Why... Why didn't you tell us anything? All of us...suffering, with things we didn't know, things we...didn't remember. Was it 'cause of...all this? Is it a rule? Do...we have to go through this whole thing not...knowing, not really understanding...what we lost?

[ There's no accusation in her voice. Peregrine's something Hester probably has never seen from her before: Defeated. ]