The Pool, Sunday Morning

[endsthegame]

He'd left his room, and no one had stopped him. Then he'd left the floor, and no one had stopped him there either. So in the dorms, at least, Ender had freedom of movement. The same might have gone for outdoors-- there would be no guard stopping him. That was good to know. At least this prison had space

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[iseewhatyoumean]

Cassandra wasn't a huge fan of swimming, though it wasn't bad. It was, after all, a physical activity.

What she was a fan of was quiet, and stillness though, so she found herself in the area near the pool on a surprisingly regular basis. Today, however, it was not as empty as it generally was.

At least it was still and quiet. She paused in the doorway, pulling her shirt more tightly around herself as she tried to decide whether to just come back another time. But that would mean she had put on the bathing suit for nothing, and she didn't like that idea.

[iseewhatyoumean]

With the shirt discarded Cassandra is able to move with a bit more ease, but her attention is still locked on the boy. Old habit, she had said, but an old habit she had no intention or reason to break. It had kept her alive enough times, and the truth was that the watching was a part of her.

[ecirpnellehada]

Careful not to take too much of her attention away from the boy (it was when you allowed distractions that you ended up missing things, like lions crouching in wait to pounce), Adah glanced over toward the Prophetess as she came near the pool area, giving her a slight nod. Of acknowledgment. Of greeting, even, perhaps, though she wasn't sure if she was feeling social enough for that this morning.

[iseewhatyoumean]

Cassandra paused where she stood. The pool was occupied, and she could wait. She offered Adah an ambiguous nod in return, shifting so that she could split her attention between the quiet girl and the quiet boy.

Though Cassandra would never consciously consider it, if she was going to share a room with two people then these two were at least peaceful. A boy she didn't know, and a girl she barely did, and neither of whom seemed to demand that the situation change.

[ecirpnellehada]

The Prophetess' slight shifting at the door had Adah's attention stolen away for a moment, head tilting as she considered Cassandra a moment longer, at the risk of missing any noticeable changes in the boy (the darker side of her mind, which she supposed was the side of her mind that was actually active, imagined these changes to be ones of stopped breath, lost buoyancy, slipping soundlessly under the water, all because he was no longer observed and Adah's attention had slipped). She hadn't seen the other girl in a while, which wasn't surprising, just something she thought of. She was quiet like Adah with the additional grace of a body that didn't give you away, and she took a moment longer to consider her, although she wasn't sure what it was she was considering, before her eyes drifted back toward the pool.

[iseewhatyoumean]

Cassandra's own attention on Adah increased to match the other girl's regard for her. For a single moment it was as if the boy in the pool wasn't there. But it was just a moment, as Cassandra considered Adah considering her.

Adah was something of a mystery to Cassandra. The broken (the only word Cassandra felt fit) side of her made her hard to read. She was quiet in so many ways, and that was both intriguing and frustrating at once. There was something... compelling about Adah's quiet, private way of holding herself, but Cassandra didn't know how to approach her.

For just a moment she let her entire attention focus on the odd girl before shifting back to acknowledge the boy in the pool.

[ecirpnellehada]

Like ships passing in the night.

Thgin eht ni gnissap.

Adah's eyes dropped from the pool for a moment as she considered that she could tell that the Prophetess was returning the cool, silent observation. Whether to take it as an invitation or for just what it was. Exchanged and balanced and equal, passing in the night.

She took the latter.

[iseewhatyoumean]

Passing in the night. Cassandra could live with that.