Cody learns to love

The one chapter where Cody talks to Emerie too

  Cody observed the kids as they played. He had a feeling that it was Fives' idea to play hide and seek. And he was pretty sure that they gave Emerie no choice but to join them. Too bad he needed to talk to her. About Fox and about respecting boundaries in general. And also about a million of other things but he guessed some of that could wait.

  He waited until Jesse found everyone so he didn't spoil the game entirely, before calling the girl over. "Emerie? I need to talk to you."

  "About what?"

  "Let's go to your room and discuss it in private, okay?"

  "Okay," Emerie agreed, even if she seemed confused as to why should they talk alone. She always seemed confused when faced with the prospect of privacy. Cody didn't really ask her about her life in the Kaminoan facility just yet but he could figure out that she was denied privacy. He hated everyone who hurt his little sister like that.

  Emerie obediently led Cody to her bedroom. Cody was pretty sure that was it another one of the kids, they would protest at being pulled away from their game like that. He hoped that did it because she was curious about what he wanted to tell her rather than being scared of what he would do if she disobeyed.

  "How was your day?" Cody asked. It seemed like a good conversation starter and he could then easily change the topic to talk about her brothers.

  He didn't expect Emerie to rant about her day for ten minutes straight. But that was fine. He didn't say a word when Emerie repeated the same thing three times. She probably didn't get to talk about her day and her feelings before. It didn't matter that Cody learned exactly nothing from her long chatter.

  "So you enjoyed your day?"

  "Yeah!"

  "And you didn't mind being among younger kids in the play area?" Cody asked. He didn't really know what else he would do with Emerie if not leave her with Waxer, he did need to work, but he still wanted to ask. It would probably be ideal if he could stay at home with her or take her for trips so they could bond and she could explore the world but Cody really didn't have time for that.

  "It was fun. I was drawing with Wooley and then Waxer taught me how to play memory games. He said he will bring some more good games tomorrow."

  Cody will have to remember to thank Waxer later. Of course his friend made sure that Emerie wasn't alone and bored. Honestly, sometimes it felt like Waxer was doing more for the kids in his care than Cody himself. "I'm glad you had fun. You will be spending your days in the play area until you settle in and go to school."

  "And when will I go to school?"

  "That's a part of what I wanted to talk to you about. You now have three days to just get used to living here. Then you will go to a mind healer who will talk with you some more. You know what mind healers are for, right?"

  Emerie shook her head.

  "Well, mind healer is someone that talks to people who have some trouble or went through some bad experience, like you. The social worker I talked to assured me that your mind healer is very nice. She will ask you lots of questions but it's only so she knows if you have any problems and how to help you. Mind healers also can't talk about what you told them with anyone else so you can tell your mind healer everything."

  "She won't tell even you?"

  Cody nodded. "Not even me."

  "Why?"

  "Thanks to that, you can tell the mind healer anything, even things that you don't want me, or anyone else, to know."

  "And why do I have to go to a mind healer?"