Flutter

Flutter: Seize

"Good work, Nora." Tifa called out to Nora, who was zigzagging between cones. Nora gave a quick smile, before concentrating on her foot work. She'd been at Tifa's rigorous regime for nearly an hour now. To Tifa's and Nora's surprise, her lungs hadn't collapsed yet. The routine was just as vigorous as their last session, but for some reason Nora just didn't feel as winded as she had before. Even Tifa noticed her increased stamina and commented approvingly. Nora pushed herself until she managed to complete her set.

"What next?" Nora asked Tifa, calling out from across the field after taking a long swig from her water bottle. Tifa opened her mouth to answer, but halted at Quinton's sudden appearance besides her. He stood near Tifa, his head bent towards her ear, whispering something that was indiscernible, even to Nora's her keen ears. Tifa turned her head to look at Nora from time to time, nodding at Quinton's words. Nora cocked her head, curious as to what Quinton could possibly want.

"I'm going inside for a moment. Keep going. You owe me forty sit ups. No cheating" Tifa called out, before heading inside with Quinton. Nora was perplexed, but she decided to carry on with the routine, not wanting to chance Tifa coming outside and seeing her being unproductive. So, falling to the ground, Nora began her sit ups. After finishing the forty, Nora let herself sprawl on the grass, while she caught her breath. All the exercise was catching up with her and she needed to take a breather. Regardless, Nora was proud of herself because she expected her time with Tifa to be as difficult as it was before. Now, it wasn't like Nora was having a walk in the park, but she felt considerably more dexterous, compared to last time.

Once her breathing evened, Nora gathered herself together and noticed that Tifa was still gone. Not knowing what more to do, Nora decided to go see what the fuss was about. Nora had a dim feeling that the matter was bout her, based on the glances that Tifa was throwing her way. Nora grabbed her towel and patted herself down as she crossed the field, going towards the estate. At the door, she pulled it open. No one was around and Nora began walking through the household in search of any clues as to where Tifa and Quinton had gone. She caught a whiff of their scents in the air and followed their trail. The scents grew stronger as she approached Quinton's office, and she heard distinct voices - several in fact. As she neared the door, the voices stopped, and she knew that they had caught wind of her, so Nora didn't bother to knock when she got to Quinton's door.

She opened the door  and peered inside to see not just Quinton and Tifa, but also the physicians. The four stood huddled together, their eyes on Nora. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise, and she posed the question that was on the tip of her tongue:

"What's going on?"

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

Nora sat on the examiner's table, in her robe, her hair still damp from the quick shower that she had taken. In the office, Quinton had dodged her question and simply told her that she should prepare herself for an impromptu physical. Nora tried to get more out of him, but he did not give in and she stomped up to her room to freshen up. She then brought herself to the make-shift examination room and greeted the doctor's once more, before hopping up onto the table.

"So..." Nora began, making sure that her eyes met Cora's, Harold's and Quinton's. "Anyone care to give me some sort of explanation?"

Cora and Harold exchanged glances.

"And don't even pretend that this is just a normal follow up because I know that that's not true."

"You're right. This was an unexpected occurrence." Quinton said. "Harold and Cora weren't meant to come in today, but they called me yesterday night with some important news and I wanted them to come back immediately."