Her week was weird, no two ways about it: days off, in the office, working from home, coming and going, video calls, you name it, there had been everything. All of it had been in the aftermath of Cory and in preparation for the Vren. It was as she had made clear: she needed to be on. Now was not the time to falter publicly. So as much as she could she was dealing with the ups and downs of her personal life with the help of those that cared about her and trying to keep it more or less private.

Or at least it had been that way until her and Karilan went to lunch. Something about her first little foray into public after she had returned home and to work had emboldened her. Enough that the woman who had shown up to the showcase with Dashiel Jones had been, perhaps not healed in the way it might same, but she was choosing which of the broken pieces she wanted to be there and what she might be ready to let go of. As always it was a messy process, but at least professionally she had managed to be on point and focused.

The Eden Café was a bright little place with plants growing everywhere and little flowering pots as centrepieces. It served vegetarian fare and she was curious to try it given she rarely ate meat (fish only on special occasions), and in her travels she had found it a mixed quality if a replicator wasn’t available. She hoped Kenzo wouldn’t mind, but she suspected he’d curious enough to try it out with her.

They needed this bit of time to talk. Normally they met every day to touch base on work things, but those sometimes brief meetings allowed them to also connect on a personal level to see where they were both at. It allowed them to help and adjust accordingly. It was the beautiful thing about their friendship because it had arisen organically and wasn’t something they ever agreed on. It just happened. Which is why she had sent a message letting him know she was having lunch here (she’d been out of the office all morning at meetings) and that he was welcome to join her. She was glad when he had accepted.

Sitting there dressed still professionally but a bit more relaxed in a stretchy dark green dress with long sleeves and a fully pleated skirt that flared when she moved. A multi-strand and multicolour necklace rested on her collarbones, sitting just above the neckline. She had ordered them a pitcher a cold water and was sitting there reading a PADD.

~Eela