And that's all the German I know [ota]

[ichbinzillah]

Zillah has been quiet for some time--studying in the library, mostly. She's been reading her usual choices--Hannah Arendt and some of the French existentialists. There's a part of her that likes to think that she can always learn something new, and that knowledge is power. It's important to her

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[non_foxy_widow]

Someone else is coming up to the porch, a lady in her early forties who looks like she wandered in out of some Victorian costume piece on Masterpiece Theater.

Emmeline is just coming back from her morning constitutional: the paths are a bit uneven due to snow, but it's good exercise. "Good morning," she says, friendly in a polite, British way.

[ichbinzillah]

Again, a bit of surprise.

"--Morning..." Zillah manages to say.

[non_foxy_widow]

"And it is a fine morning," she says, glancing at the snowy yard. "Rather snowy for walking, but I managed to conquer the rough paths. I hope that I'm not interposing on anything."

[ichbinzillah]

She shakes her head.

"No, you're not, don't worry. I was just--being bored."

[non_foxy_widow]

"I suppose that a place as quiet as this lends itself to a certain amount of that," she say, with a wryly joking sense of understanding. "I've been catching up on books that my work kept me from reading in my world, but I'm rather running of titles which I'd intended to read."

[ichbinzillah]

"I'm through with my books--for now, at least."

[non_foxy_widow]

"As I am with my walk," she says, sitting down in a wicker chair near her. "I'm Emmeline Fox... and you are?"

[ichbinzillah]

"Zillah Katz," she remarks. "It's nice to meet you."

[non_foxy_widow]

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she says. "Might I ask, are you a student of some kind?"

[ichbinzillah]

She nods. "I was, back home. Here, I try to keep up." She laughs a little.

[non_foxy_widow]

"That is a prudent thing to do: a mind can get lax without exercise, just as the body can," she says. "But I am likely preaching to the choristers when I say that."

[ichbinzillah]

She nods again. "I agree. It's good to read and learn."

[non_foxy_widow]

"You...are from a later time, if I might ask?" she asks, cautiously.

[ichbinzillah]

"1986, to be exact," she says with a nod. "But some people here are ahead of me in time, so."

[non_foxy_widow]

"Nearly one hundred years past my time," she says, with a nod of her own. She pauses, then asks, "Tell me, how is it... in your time... for women?"

[ichbinzillah]

She shrugs.

"Better, I guess, than it was...before. But the fight's not over yet."