"Would you rather not talk about Lissa today?" she asked at last.
"We can talk about whatever you think is useful."
"What do you think is useful?"
Damn it. She was doing the question thing again. I wondered if one of the certificates on her wall gave her some sort of special qualification to do that.
"I think it'd be useful if you stopped talking to me like I'm a Moroi. You act like I have choices - like I have the right to be upset about any of this or pick what classes I want to take. I mean, let's say I could choose them. What good would it do? What am I going to do with those classes? Go be a lawyer or a marine biologist? There's no point in me having my own schedule. Everything's already decided for me."
"And you're okay with that." It could have been a question, but she said it like a statement of fact.
I shrugged. "I'm okay with keeping her safe, and that's what you keep missing here. Every job has bad parts. Do I want to sit through her calculus classes? No. But I have to because the other part is more important. Do you want to listen to angry teenagers try to block your efforts? No. But you have to because the rest of your job is more important."
"Actually," she said unexpectedly, "that's my favorite part of the job."
I couldn't tell if she was joking or not, but I decided not to pursue it, particularly since she hadn't responded with a question. I sighed.
"I just hate everyone acting like I'm being forced to be a guardian."
"Who's 'everyone'?"
"Well, you and this guy I met at Court...this dhampir named Ambrose. He's...well, he's a blood whore. A guy blood whore." Like that wasn't obvious. I waited to see if she'd react to the term, but she didn't. "He made it sound like I was trapped in this life and all that too. But I'm not. This is what I want. I'm good at this. I know how to fight, and I know how to defend others. Have you ever seen a Strigoi?"
She shook her head.
"Well, I have. And when I say I want to spend my life protecting Moroi and killing Strigoi, I mean it. Strigoi are evil and need to be wiped out. I'm happy to do that and if I get to be with my best friend in the process, that's even better."
"I understand that, but what happens if you want other things - things that you can't have by choosing this lifestyle?"
I crossed my arms. "Same answer as before. There are good and bad sides to everything. We just have to balance them as best we can. I mean, are you going to try to tell me that life isn't that way? That if I can't have everything perfect, then there's something wrong with me?"
"No, of course not," she said, tilting back in her chair. "I want you to have a wonderful life, but I can't expect a perfect one. No one can. But what I think is interesting here is how you respond and cope when you have to reconcile these contradictory pieces of your life - when having one thing means you can't have another."
"Everyone goes through that." I felt like I was repeating myself.
"Yes, but not everyone sees ghosts as a result of it."
It took several heavy seconds for me to finally realize what she was getting at. "So wait. You're saying that the reason I'm seeing Mason is because I secretly resent Lissa for the things I can't have in my life? What happened to all the trauma I've been through? I thought that was the reason I'm seeing Mason?"
"I think there are a lot of reasons you're seeing Mason," she said. "And that's what we're exploring."
"And yet," I said, "we never actually talk about Mason."
Deirdre smiled serenely. "Don't we?"
Our session ended.
"Does she always answer your questions with questions?" I asked Lissa later. I was walking with her through the quad, heading toward the commons for dinner. Afterward, we were going to meet up with the others for a movie. It had been a while since she and I had hung out just by ourselves, and I realized now how much I'd missed it.
"We don't see the same counselor," she laughed. "It'd be a conflict of interest."
"Well, does yours do that then?"
"Not that I've really noticed. I take it yours does?"
"Yeah ... it's actually pretty amazing to watch."
"Who knew the day would come when we'd be comparing notes on therapy?"
We both laughed at that. Several moments passed, and then she started to say something. She wanted to tell me about what had happened with Jesse and Ralf, not realizing I already knew. Before she could say anything, though, someone joined us. Dean Barnes.
"Hey, Rose. A bunch of us are trying to figure out why you're on half-time."
Great. I'd known somebody would ask about that sooner or later. And honestly, I was kind of surprised it hadn't happened already. Everyone had been too busy with their own field experiences to give it much thought until now. I had an excuse ready.
"I've been sick. Dr. Olendzki didn't want me going full-time."
"Really?" he asked, staggering a little. "I thought they were always talking about how in the real world, you don't get sick days. Or something like that."
"Well, this isn't the real world, and Dr. Olendzki's word is final."
"I heard it was because you're a threat to Christian."
"No, believe me, that's not it." The scent of alcohol radiating off of him gave me a convenient way to change the subject. "Have you been drinking?"
"Yeah, Shane got some stuff and had a few of us up in his room. Hey."
"Hey what?" I asked.
"Don't look at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like you disapprove."
"I'm not," I argued.
Lissa giggled. "You are, actually."
Dean put on an offended face. "Hey, it's my day off, and even if it is Sunday, that doesn't mean I can't - "
Something moved beside us.
I didn't even hesitate. It was too fast, too covert to be anything friendly. And it was wearing all black. I threw myself between it and Lissa and lashed out at my attacker. In the flurry of activity, I vaguely recognized a guardian who generally taught the elementary novices. Her name was Jane or Joan or something like that. Jean, that was it. She was taller than me, but my fist made contact with her face anyway. She staggered back, and then I noticed another shape coming up beside her. Yuri. I leapt over so that she was between him and me. I kicked her in the stomach. She fell toward him, and both stumbled. In that brief moment, I had my practice stake out and aimed for her heart. I hit the mark, and she immediately stepped aside since she was now technically "dead."