Strength In Our Bonds (The Strength in Generations Accompanying Book)

So Many Things To Say

"Good morning, Linna." Aurelie smiled at her, at her office's door. "What brings you here? I should think you have training sessions to tend to."

"Yeah, that's what I was scheduled to do. But training's canceled today- I think your dad's been messing with the environments again. There's a water glitch." Linna smirked, remembering how weird the glitch had looked. "Anyway, the director doesn't have any other work for me. Your mom isn't in her office, so I figured the next person with some power here would be you."

"Oh!" Aurelie blushed slightly, "How flattering it is that you see me as powerful. Really, I'm not yet. You should probably ask Mr. Villiers; I think he'd be able to assign you a task."

"Can't I just hang out and help you?" asked Linna. "I'm sure there's something you need!"

"Well..." Aurelie shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "I suppose I could assign you to my filing. I quite like filing- it's therapeutic in a way- but I must admit, I'd be able to get so much more work done if I weren't doing it..." She thought a little more, before stepping aside. "Come inside, Linna. I believe I may have a job for you after all."

"Woo-hoo!" Linna grinned, stepping inside Aurelie's office. It was orderly as always, everything in its place. It smelled lemony, so she'd probably just got done cleaning.

"I apologize for having you here while my office is such a mess," Aurelie said as she checked the mailbox just outside her door, before stepping in and closing the door. "I was in the middle of cleaning when you arrived."

"Cleaning what, the two dust particles hiding somewhere in here?" asked Linna.

Aurelie giggled, "One must always keep their space clean to prevent the arrival of any such particles, in mass quantity, anyway." She sorted through the mail while standing. "Would you like this?" She held up a postcard, "It's a meal coupon for a steakhouse in Old Balamb. I obviously have no use for it, so..."

"That sounds great!" Linna reached for it. "Although I'm sure they have dishes you could eat."

"No, no. Lots of steakhouses grill their vegetables on the same grill as their meat. And even if they didn't, sitting in a place where everyone is gorging themselves on animal flesh... the mere thought makes me nauseous."

"Oh. Well, I'll gladly take that off your hands. Maybe I can give it to my mom and dad, they can go on a date night..." Linna scanned the coupon with her eyes. "Dad loves steaks, especially adamantoise steaks."

Linna observed- although discreetly- as Aurelie walked back behind her desk. She was wearing a light blue dress with dark pink, small flowers; the dress buttoned in the front above the skirt, and was held up by spaghetti straps. It was clearly north of her knees, but not in a scandalous way. As she sat back in her chair, brushing a piece of her curled hair behind her ear, she looked up at Linna- surprised to see her staring back.

"I wasn't staring!" she blurted out.

Aurelie smiled. "Of course. Anyhow, here's the task I have for you."

She placed a medium-sized box of papers on top of the desk.

"Do you remember, back when we all kind of got sucked into that quest to defeat that sorceress, my father and grandmother mentioning something about magic air deposits?"

"I wasn't with that group," replied Linna.

"Oh... oh, no, you weren't. Please, forgive my mistake." Aurelie had to regroup from her embarrassment before continuing. "Well, I suppose I could just give you a brief explanation. Magic is in the air everywhere in the world, in small quantities. This is how everyone is able to learn to use it; over time, we've inhaled enough of the particles, and now they're in our systems- simply put, there's magic in all of us. But that's a bit of a deviation; the reason we- or should I say, I- monitor these deposits is because, should a sudden rise occur, we have to be sure it's non-perilous. It could be a sorceress, or a monster from the Rift."