Harriet's office, the wee hours of Friday onwards

[idontlooktired]

Quietly, calmly, Harriet made tea and used it to down two analgesics. As they took effect, she sat down at her desk, looking at the paperwork stacked neatly on it. Some of it was clawed, and she touched the class lists with one finger

Comments

[light_a_spark]

Roy had heard the broadcast last night and it left him with the feeling that he needed to talk to Harriet. Even if talking to politicians wasn't his favourite pastime.

He didn't find her at her house, so he tried the school next. He had to look for a moment before he found the right office and he knocked lightly on the door.

[idontlooktired]

Harriet glanced up. "Sheriff Mustang." If she was surprised to see him, it didn't show. Nothing was showing. "How can I help you?"

[light_a_spark]

He stepped inside the office, briefly glancing around before his attention settled back on Harriet. "I came to see if you were alright," he said.

[idontlooktired]

"That should be a simple question to answer, shouldn't it?" It was anything but. "I'm not seriously injured, and I think that might be the best I can say." She offered him a chair with a wave of her hand. "You?"

[light_a_spark]

He closed the door, figuring they didn't need anyone walking in on this conversation. Whether it was for privacy or not wanting students to hear them discussing a teacher - former teacher, he supposed, - Harriet could decide for herself.

"I'm fine," he waved off the question, because whatever was going on inside his head didn't figure into this. He took the offered seat before he continued: "She disappeared before I could very well do anything."

[idontlooktired]

"I can't say the same," she replied. "But then I wouldn't get out of the way. Can I pour you some tea?"

[light_a_spark]

"Thanks, but no." He shook his head, his shoulders straightening at the implication his mind filled in on itself, yet another blame he was putting squarely on himself. "I know we have never talked, so this question might come across as prying, but she was both our friend." Funny word that and he paused, meeting her eye for a moment to see if it was okay to continue.

[idontlooktired]

"You can ask what you need to," she said, motioning him to continue.

[light_a_spark]

"I was wondering if she said anything more about what she was planning to you," Roy replied. "She refused to tell me, which is enough reason for me to know it can't be good. She's going after Mengsk," he was certain of that, it was the rest of the blanks that worried him and he'd had a whole night to wonder. "That's just the beginning."

[idontlooktired]

Harriet folded her hands on the desk, head bowed, then looked back up. "She went to join the Zerg Swarm." Her voice was flat, because she needed to keep every emotion locked up tight. "She's their Queen of Blades."

[light_a_spark]

Roy's head snapped up and for a second there was disbelief until the pieces fell together and it all made sense. Almost, because they were both alive. "She's wrong."

[idontlooktired]

She wasn't surprised, simply rubbed her forehead wearily. "She may be," she said quietly. "But right or wrong, she's gone." Sarah Kerrigan had been gone before the Queen of Blades had left the island, and Harriet would mourn her loss.

[light_a_spark]

Somewhere he knew that too. Nothing had been the same since they pulled her back from the Zerg, but he couldn't start doubting that decision. "I know," he agreed in word only, because there was Raynor and Michael and in his head, this wasn't over.

[idontlooktired]

And hearing him agree made her hurt all over again. "All we can do is move forward and remember her."

[light_a_spark]

His frown deepened and he straightened up in his chair. "I'm not out of ideas just yet," he told her.

[idontlooktired]

She actually smiled at him, even if it was slightly sad. "I expected you wouldn't be," she told him. "And I wish you every bit of luck I can, but I won't be here to see them."