Eternal: Chapter Five, Part 2

“Should we go somewhere?” I caught one of her thoughts; she wasn’t sure what she should do or how she should act. She couldn’t fathom why I would be here now, but she respected me like an older sister or mentor. I was flattered but I couldn’t be distracted.

“If you want. We can talk here or anywhere you like,” I said easily; now that she knew who I was, we could jump straight to business. This was going smoother than I had hoped. “Either way, we need to talk.”

Kora nodded, sitting down on the bench; I joined her, waiting for her to say something. If she didn’t want to know, she had a right not to; but it all depended on her.

“What are we talking about?”

“I’m starting my movement,” I said, studying her closely. “I’ll be honest with you; I have two years to do what could easily take three and still need more work. But I can’t start without a team, and I’m hoping you’ll agree to help me with this.”

She sat thinking for a long while, her eyes scanning over the ground. I could see the different emotions running through her mind: uncertainty, happiness, frustration, restraint, even a touch of sorrow.

“I won’t let this affect your schoolwork,” I promised, crossing my legs and sitting forward on my elbow. “School will come first, always. I need you on my team for ideas, help, support, so on and so forth.”

“Why only two years?” she asked, her eyebrows knitting together. “That’s impossible.”

“That’s a long story…and it isn’t impossible.”

She bit her inside cheek as though refraining from returning to her previous question. “You swear this won’t interfere with school?”

“I swear.”

“Then I’m in…for now;” she sat back on the bench. “However, I’m not sure how optimistic I’ll be. And I’m not sure I’ll stick with it.”

I leaned back to study the velvet black of the cloudless sky; “I guess I’ll have to be optimistic enough for us both, then.”

“We’ll see. So what’s first?”

“First, you finish the semester.” Meeting her waiting hazel eyes, I said, “Then we have a team meeting and go from there.”

“You don’t know yet?”

I played offended at the doubt and incredulity lacing her voice. “I know what’s going to happen, Kora.” She cocked an eyebrow at me as I added, “I just don’t feel like repeating myself a million times.”

“If you insist,” she teased, sitting back.

Nudging her in the shoulder with mine, I said, “I see I’ll have to be triply optimistic to make up for this sarcasm of yours.”

Kora stuck her tongue out at me and I caught it with the air, unable to help smiling as she struggled to demand I stop and pull it back into her mouth. After a moment, though, she broke my concentration as I found the bench suddenly disappearing beneath me. She laughed; there wasn’t much I could do but join her.

“Careful,” I said, playfully, still half laughing. “I might get you back for that.”

She only laughed more, sucking me into her giggly bout. It was somewhat of a relief to not be taken seriously; to just feel young and silly again.

I could only hope my meeting with Mikael would be as successful and entertaining—though I hoped I wouldn’t be dropped on my rear end for a second time.