fandomhighdorms | First Floor Lobby, evening

"Yes, Queen's Academy in Charlottetown, on Prince Edward Island. I was on my way there to earn my teaching certificate, you see, and . . . you're rooming with a boy too? You mean to say it's done regularly here?" asked Anne, agape ~~ah, assonance~~. "Oh -- oh, what would Mrs. Lynde say?"

All through this slightly hysterical tirade, she was none-too-subtly eyeing History of the Roman Empire.

"Oh, dear, you're very far off your path, aren't you?" Evie asked, concerned. "Did anyone tell you where you are now? And was there kind of a fog at some point on the train, and then you were at the Causeway? That's what happened to me the first time. I had *no* idea what had happened, but at least I expected to be in America."

Evie nodded vigorously at the mention of roommates. "My first roommate was Layla, quite a nice girl, but she left in May, and Walter was assigned. He's a perfect gentleman, and has defended my honor on at least one occasion, but it's very unsettling. We have a Chinese screen in place, for privacy, and who is Mrs. Lynde?"

Evie took a breath in there, and then held out the History. "Here. You can hold onto this until youre brain stops whirling. Really you can."

Books were always friends, and Anne took the proffered History and clasped it to her chest like a lifeline. "Oh," she said dreamily, "I feel better already. Mrs. Lynde is our neighbor -- who one might very uncharitably call a gossip, but Marilla considers her a dear friend so I won't do so -- and she has very strict notions of what's proper. I was once punished in school by being made to sit on the boys' side of the classroom, and she was scandalized. If she ever heard about this, oh . . ."

She paused to take a breath of her own and dived right back into explaining. "I haven't the slightest idea what exactly happened on the train. You see, I was indulging myself in a rather lovely little fantasy about an island with a crumbly castle and the next thing I knew, I was stepping off the train and here I was, at the causeway! Oh, Marilla always said one of these days my imagination would run away with me but I never thought she meant it quite this literally."

"Heavens. That would definitely make anyone rather overset," Evie said, scooting a little closer to tentatively reach out to pat Anne's arm. "You're in the State of Virginia, in the Colonies, in case that wasn't clear. We're quite close to Washington D.C. It's a lovely place, really it is! And we're only in summer session now, so our workshops are very simple, and not terribly difficult."

She bit her lip, and thought about Anne's Mrs. Lynde. "I... don't think, perhaps, that you should tell your Mrs. Lynde the entire truth. I certainly haven't revealed to my parents that my old roommate has departed. They'd withdraw me from school, and I truly don't want that." She looked doubtful. "You could ask for a new roommate? Although I think they ask you to at least try to live with the first one they assign you. Walter and I simply forgot to ask for a change, and then the time to be re-assigned came and went, and it was all rather confused." She looked torn for a moment, and then slowly said, "Forgive a rather ridiculous question, but... what was the date, this morning, when you were in Canada? The entire date?"

"Mrs. Lynde thinks the States are a dreadful place," Anne admitted, biting her lip. "It would be wicked of me to tell a falsehood, but do you know, now that I've actually set foot in the States I don't think they're quite so bad. This island is lovely, and Cedric really is a nice boy, and so is Teddy who says he's supposed to be my big brother. I've never had anyone offer to hit someone with a cricket bat if they give me trouble before. It's quite chivalrous of him, don't you think?"

"And it's summer, you said?" she continued after a moment, still hugging the book to her chest. "Teddy told me it was 2007 for him, even though it was 1880 for me just this morning, and the beginning of a lovely fall season in Avonlea. You seem as if this is all very familiar to you, Evie. Teddy told me this place was strange, but I really had no idea."

"Well, if she just assumes that your roommate is a girl, it's not quite a falsehood, and after all, Cedric is a very sweet boy. There's no danger of anything untoward occurring with him," Evie assured Anne. "So it's really none of Mrs. Lynde's business, is it? She'd just want to be sure you were comfortable and the proprieties are observed. And the proprieties here are very different from other places. No one here will think anything of it, I promise you."

She beamed. "My big brother my first semester here, was Blair Sandburg, and he was ever so nice. Every time I had a question, he went out of his way to reassure me and make sure I wasn't confused. We're still quite good friends, since he wants to be an anthropologist and I want to be an archaeologist, so that leaves us a great deal to talk about. He's not here right now, though, he's visiting his mother. And yes, Teddy's very pleasant! I'm not at all surprised that he offered to whap anyone who bothers you with a cricket bat."

"I've been here since last September," Evie added. "And, well. I was born in 1900. So while it's not *exactly* the same as being from your time and place, it's rather closer than anyone else here, I think."

"It is," Anne agreed, her eyes lighting up and the uncomfortable subject of living arrangements quite falling by the wayside as she seized upon this glimmer of hope. "It is! And you love to read just as much as I do! I thought I saw a kindred spirit in you, Evie Carnahan! Do you really mean to be an archaeologist and tramp around in the dirt and sun and dig up ancient relics?"

Hereupon Anne clasped her hands over the book she held and let out a dreamy sigh. "It must be so romantic! I'm quite an Island girl myself, you see, and I don't have any burning ambitions to travel, but I've often spent many a wild hour running over the world in my mind . . . picturing the Pillars at Karnak and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and Stonehenge and all those timeless, lovely places. And you really mean to go out and see them for yourself?"

"I was born in Cairo, and we lived there until I was twelve," Evie said, bouncing a little. "And my parents are both archaeologists, and so I was allowed on digs as soon as I could toddle. I *do* miss it so. I have always wanted to be a real archaeologist, but I was rather afraid that I shouldn't be allowed, you know." Evie's chin firmed. "But women here can do anything, so when I graduate, I shall attend Cambridge and then return to Egypt and find Hamunaptra even if it takes my *entire* lifetime." She took a huge breath, then beamed at Anne. "You know, I do think you're quite right, we are going to be great friends! There isn't anything to excavate here, of course, but oh, the Library is *lovely*."

"Mrs. Lynde would be utterly scandalized by you," Anne declared with a merry laugh, "but I do think we're going to get along quite well. Mind you, I already have a bosom friend in Diana Barry, but I should be honored to count you among my friends, and oh -- there's a library here? A big one?"

The promise of books being a balm that could soothe nearly any wound to her inquisitive soul, and Evie's enthusiasm proving infectious, Anne impulsively twirled in a circle.

"That's quite all right, I know how important old friends are-- silver and gold, after all," Evie said, nodding in agreement. "I have some very good friends here, and one of them, Irulan Corrino, is returning from a trip home quite soon. I *do* hope you like her when you meet her." She sighed. "I'm rather used to some people being scandalized by my upbringing, the girls in England often were. But no one here thinks me strange at all. It's one of the school's more attractive qualities." She beamed at Anne, and had to get up to bounce a little more. "It's tremendous! And there's Special Collections, with all these very old and fragile books in it! Mind you, we're not allowed in there unless we have a very good reason and a note from a teacher, but it's still lovely! And oh, you have to meet Sokka!"

"Sokka? Irulan? What unusual names people here have!" Somewhat conspiratorially, Anne leaned in and confided, "It's quite easily to be scandalized by someone else's behavior in Avonlea. Everyone knows what everyone else does, and well . . ." She wrinkled up her nose eloquently. "We have the Pye family. I hate to sound disloyal -- I do love Avonlea -- but it would be quite a relief, even for a little while, to not have my every move scrutinized over someone else's dinner table."

"Sokka's from a tribe near Antarctica," Evie confided. "He's my, um. My beau." Funny how using words like that, common to her own time, made her blush a bit more. "Irulan's from *ever* so far away, and she's in training in a kind of convent, and sometimes they require her to go back and take exams. It's all rather complex, and I don't understand all of it. But she's not going to be a nun." Evie suddenly huffed in worry. "Oh, dear. Oh dear. The Radio! Oh, oh, oh." She bit her lip, and flailed her hands a bit. "Right. I think I shall have to *show* you that, instead of explain it, or you'll never understand. But, well. There's kind of a ... gossip chain? That reports on activities on the Island. Every night. And everyone can listen to it. So if you're in public, you must be *ever* so careful to see if ... if...."

Oh, she'd never believe Evie about the squirrels.

"If journalists aren't around to spy on you!"

There. And it was true, too!

Anne sighed, ever so slightly disappointed. "I suppose it's an inevitable fact that wherever there's life, there will be gossips, whether or not their last name is Pye," she said with an air of resignation. "It seems silly that they need journalists to do it on an island this small, but on the other hand that's much more convenient than having to be sorely disappointed in friends who spread rumors."

"It is," Evie said in relief. "And some of it is genuine news, about the businesses that are open, and new arrivals, so it's rather difficult not to listen to it. But I can explain that later." She brightened. "Do you want to borrow one of my books for tonight? And do you think you can sleep in your room tonight? I would offer you my room, but, well. Warren."

First Floor Lobby, evening

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