2nd Floor Common Room, Thursday Afternoon

[endsthegame]

Ender had been back for several days, but he still felt like he'd spent most of that time in his room. Not that he particularly minded that. It was nice and calm in his room, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying his return to the old routine of Ben tweaking on his end and Ender reading on his own.

But it did keep him from at least getting a look at which students had come and, by proxy, which had gone. So he'd grabbed one of Karla's books about Kaeleer out of his bookcase and finally made his way down to the common room to get some lunch and do some reading.

Lunch was a bowl of fruit, some toast, and a glass of milk. Reading material was interesting. And Ender? Ender was slumped on the couch, engrossed in the latter while slowly making his way through the former.

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[life_inshadow]

"Hey, Ender," Tara said quietly, as she reached up into the cabinet to see if she could find a not-empty, not-crunchy jar of peanut butter. A sandwich sounded like a good lunch. "Good book?"

[endsthegame]

"Hey, Tara," Ender returned, smiling. He lowered the book. "It's interesting - Karla's given me a few tomes on the culture of Kaeleer."

[life_inshadow]

"Oh, have you been there lately?" Tara asked, genuinely interested. She finally snagged a suitable jar of peanut butter and wrenched it open as she glanced over to Ender. "I was there about a week and a half ago. Karla's ... doing some amazing things."

Like talking to a giant cat-queen who seemed to want to eat them all.

[endsthegame]

"Sadly, no," Ender said, putting the book down on the table in front of him. "I've been away all summer, and wasn't really in any position to make quick detours. But she's kept me up to date, more or less. How was your trip?"

[life_inshadow]

"It felt good to do something helpful," Tara said thoughtfully. "Not like it was enough but ... every little bit, right?"

"Anyhow, I was away most of the summer too," she added, as she started to assemble her sandwich. "My mom. Where'd you go?"

She hoped Ender's summer was less depressing than hers.

[endsthegame]

Ender reached down to snag a slice of melon from his bowl, and took a bite. His summer hadn't been, in its own way, but he wasn't going to burden Tara with the details. "To Ben's universe," he said. "He needed my help with something. How about you?"

[life_inshadow]

"Um."

This was the first time Tara had needed to say it as a complete sentence to someone who didn't already know the situation. Natalie hadn't really asked, and she'd been avoiding almost everyone else outside her inner circle.

"My mother? She's, um. She's been sick a long time, and this summer, she... finally passed away. So. That's ... where I was."

She bit back the urge to apologize.

[endsthegame]

Ender listened, waiting patiently as she got the sentence out.

He did say, "I'm sorry. That must have been a terrible loss."

[life_inshadow]

"We were close." That sentence was much easier than the last one. "But I'm glad I got to say goodbye. It wasn't sudden."

She let out a raggedy breath.

"Sorry for dumping it on you. Everything okay with Ben?"

[endsthegame]

"It's fine," Ender said, gently brushing that aside for now. "What was your mother like? If I'm not intruding by asking, of course."

[life_inshadow]

Tara shook her head, turning away a bit so she could think and not deal with eye contact. "She was strong," she finally said. "Kind. She taught me magic. She got to come here, last Parent's Weekend, and I think -- I think she really liked it."

[endsthegame]

Ender smiled a tiny bit. "Did that make you happy?" he asked.

[life_inshadow]

"I didn't expect it, ever. So ... yes," Tara said. She settled in a seat near Ender with her completed sandwich. "Are your parents around?"

Weird question, but Fandom was the kind of place where the answer was "no" a lot.

[endsthegame]

"They're alive," Ender said, "But we're not really regular correspondents."

And he wasn't all too fond of talking about the parts of himself that actually mattered. "What about your father?"

[life_inshadow]

Tara shrugged aimlessly, and stole Ender's wording. "We're ... not really regular correspondents. He's not the biggest fan of magic, so ..."

She broke off there, not really feeling up to more details. "It's complicated."

[endsthegame]

Ender nodded. "But your mother was," he said. "Am I wrong in assuming her magic wasn't a topic of fond discussion when you were growing up?"

[life_inshadow]

"Not so much, no," Tara said ruefully. She wasn't inclined to go into detail.

[endsthegame]

"Then your mother really was strong," he said, "To raise you as she did. And probably strong on the way out, too."

[life_inshadow]

"As strong as anybody could be," Tara agreed, and managed a slight smile at some inner memory. "Hi. I'm the most depressing lunch companion ever."

[endsthegame]

Ender smiled. "You're not that depressing," he assured her. "She meant something to you. I like hearing about it."