A good night’s sleep was just what she needed. Other than the splitting headache she felt just fine. 

She sat across from Fonsus as he spoke about his family. “My parents live here, I see them all the time… I’m sure if I told them ahead it won’t be a big deal If I give them enough notice.” The holidays were important to her family… [i]business[/i]. The restaurant would be open and Ocllo usually filled in as expeditor. There was certainly a private celebration, work-hard-party-hard, but it was a short sweet reprieve between the working hours. The family tended to center and gather in the off-times when they could really relax.

Her family had been rather thrilled to hear that she had made [i]actual[/i] new friends. She had already spoken to her mother, early that morning over the phone. Her mother said she would [i]try[/i] to clear her Canadian holiday trip with her father. Mother always kept her word, no mater how vague and diplomatic she sounded, she would always pull through. “No problems on my end.” She frowned and looked at her plate, nudging the eggs around with her fork. She had little appetite, but knew she needed to make herself eat. 

Then Richard approached with a scandalous suggestion. River smiled and blushed, looking down at her plate. She shrugged, but her shoulders shook with the chuckle she kept trapped inside. “I do not know your mother so well as you… I’m sure you can think of a good reason. What makes her happy? When I'm trying to win my mothers favor I bring her chocolate, fine dark chocolate and red wine.” 

There was another reason that River had called her mother. She had asked her mother for the name and contact number of her old doctor in Chile. "I just have a question or two... No big deal." She had told her mother. She had an idea, perhaps she could have him call the facility as a reference for her, and give them greater assess than a visitor-for-no-reason might get. He'd have to lie a little bit, of course. In reality she owed him far more favors, yet, perhaps he would help her anyway. 

If not... She might have the means to persuade him. River had kept a secret for him a very long time. But, should she even breach such a trust with someone who had helped her so much for such a small and frivolous task? Yet, was it so frivolous? Two of her classmates were missing, and that was very real and very serious. Either way, would it really hurt anybody? The lie was small, and the Canadian doctors would hardly check on her real files, he was far below the equator free from any consequence they might contrive. Was it even so dangerous? The Aurors had already investigated this man. Besides, she would never actually tell his secret anyhow, even if he refused. This would be such a small lie, and he would only have to make it once. So much smaller than the lie he had to make every day. He probably would not see it as a big deal at all. It would be such a small thing for him anyhow. If not, they could get in without his help. No one would get hurt...

Right?

She was sitting across from Addie, behind him were the other house tables. She found her gaze accidentally shifting to the Ignus table, and to a certain Ignus who looked a bit-exactly-like-Hale sitting there. He turned, but she looked away before she could see if he was looking at her or turning for some other reason. She put a biscuit in her mouth and looked at the notebook intently, her cheeks were, thankfully, still red from the racy joke that Richard just made.

Her friends were wonderful, but life had become much more complex since making friends, joining the club, solving the mysteries of the universe and the missing, going out on Halloween. Sometimes she didn't feel like herself at all. It was more than just the imbalanced medicine, it was the way she was acting, the things she was thinking about. Had no one else noticed her change? Was [i]she[/i] even a part of this change at all? or was this self (that is the thinking self that noticed these things), the stagnant still bits watching as her path seemed to alter without her permission or consent, yet, she could do nothing to stop it. Had she wanted change so hard for so long that now she had no control over it? Was she like an earthquake releasing the tension built up over so many millennia, simply breaking the moment God deems it fitting, and it has no choice of how peaceful or violent it becomes, nor where nor whom it strikes. Does the quake know or care if it is in a field or in a city? Can it stop itself? Would it?

She ate another biscuit and did not touch her eggs. She looked at her watch, she had to take her medicine after every meal. She did not dare to miss another dose ever again so long as she lived. She still had time, there might be more to discuss with her friends about Canada.