He took a walk after all his classes had concluded. Of course, he stopped briefly at his one-student dormitory room to drop off his materials, but that is generally a detail that goes without saying. It had been a few days since his encounter with the oddity that was Kit Snicket, and he found himself curious. Was she genuinely interested in a friendship? Could this be a joke? A bet?

Olaf sighed and meandered across the winding paths through campus. This time of night, most of the scholars were busy studying or attending some mundane social function or another—not that he was ever invited, nor did he care. Architecturally archaic buildings loomed overhead, but he bypassed them without a second glance. It did not occur to him that he was wandering aimlessly, a word which here means "without a set destination in mind, something most people tend to do at some time or another", until he reached the back side of the sciences compound, where a lake and several trees kept their own company. Olaf took a seat near enough the water to see it, but not enough to actually touch it.

He sighed again.

The tree over him rustled. This unnerved him slightly, as trees are inanimate and should not make such odious sounds, but this one did. Olaf watched it critically before turning back to watch the unseen breeze make itself known through marks on the lake.

Moments later, something else made itself known in the form of a loud crashing sound from the direction of the cacophonous tree. Olaf made a slight sound of surprise and scrambled back on his gangly limbs, observing. From his position on the grass, he could make out a broken branch with one passenger. It was far too large to be a squirrel or ant, but much too small to be an elephant or biplane.

He waited.

The passenger straightened and shook its mass of hair. It was a person, but by now this much was obvious. It brushed itself off and shook around a bit, so he could also assume there was no serious injury. The person looked up, and Olaf momentarily wondered if he should feel threatened.

"Olaf!"

At this, he was slightly surprised.

"I am so sorry about that, I should have made my presence known." The person tripped over, a term which in this instance actually means "made their way to Olaf quickly and lightly, as if they were dancing, which we all know they were not."

"Hello, Kit." Olaf had settled into a less distressed-looking position, with both arms hanging over his knees casually.

"If you can believe it, I didn't hear you at all," Kit continued. "I like to come out here sometimes when it's quiet, you see, because the water is so lovely and reflective, and it's quite a good location to just sit and think."

"I can believe it."

"Well, anyway, I was a bit too involved in my daydream—or actually," she paused, glancing around, "I suppose you'd call it a night-dream, but that's irrelevant. The point is, my imagination ran off a bit too far tonight, and I was paying no attention."

"I tend to make very little noise when I walk," Olaf reassured her. "And at any rate, you were correct. This is a good place to think. It is what I came here for."

"Oh!" Kit looked abashed. "And I disrupted your thought process by falling off the tree in a most unladylike manner. My apologies."

"How did the branch come to fall?" he regarded her curiously. "You're very small. Surely a young lady of your stature could not collapse a branch like that."

"She could when she scoots up too far and sits on the less stable area near the front," Kit sighed.

"Are you harmed?"

"No, I'm quite fine. My blouse might not be, but I never cared much for it anyway." Olaf took a closer look. Indeed, in the moon's illuminated light, he could see the left sleeve had been ripped. Along with that, she was wearing a most unusual flared knee-length skirt. He wasn't surprised, as in the few days he'd known Kit, she had illustrated that she was not one for normalcy.

"Would you like me to leave so that you can return to your thoughts?" Kit interrupted his ponderousness.

"No!" he said, perhaps a bit too quickly. Inexplicably, he raised a hand to his mouth. "I mean, if you wish to, by all means. I don't want to keep you."

"I've no place to be."

"Are you sure?" he regarded her intently. "Have you no studying that needs to be done?"

"I can do it later on," she said with a smile. "I've got the material down, for the most part, and I'm in no rush to get back to my dormitory. It's too lonely."

"Oh—you don't have a roommate?" Olaf cocked his head.

"I used to, but she and I just didn't get along. We were always fighting."

"For some reason, I can't imagine you up in arms about anything," he said with the biggest hint of a smile he'd given all day. "You seem very…tolerant."

"I am!" she threw up her palms and gave him a look of exasperation. "I get along with everyone. Except her."

"What happened?" Olaf was new to the world of women, and he simply could not fathom what anyone would want to fight with Kit about.

"She was just very high-maintenance and snobby. To her, I was some freak to be pitied and taken advantage of." For a moment, she looked sad. "I tried to find common ground with her, but she was just too much of a slave to fashion for me, and all she cared about was socializing and shopping. Nothing I could relate to."

He nodded.

"We separated via mutual agreement, though," Kit continued. "That was one thing Esme and I saw eye to eye about."

"Was that her name?" Olaf stretched out on the grass and glanced over.

"Yes. I had always thought it rather pretty. Pretty name, beautiful girl." Kit shrugged. "That was another difference between us, I suppose."

"What?"

"She was so very pretty." Kit rolled onto her back and propped her head on her arms. Her dark curls spilled out of the cloche hat she was wearing and settled around her in the flora. The effect was simple and natural.

"Well, what about it?" he prodded. Surely she wasn't going where he thought she was with this.

"We were different people. I guess it never occurred to me until we became roommates how much I secretly wished to be that pretty."

"Kit!" Olaf's eyes narrowed, and in the lighting gave him a rather sinister aura. "Don't you say such a thing!"

"Why not?" she turned her head on her arms and gave him a quizzical look. "Oh, you don't understand, if you'd have seen her…"

"It doesn't matter," he interrupted, giving her a look with a hint of sadness. "I don't need to. Whether or not she is as attractive as you say, she sounds dreadful…and…" he trailed off.

"And?" Kit prompted.

"I don't know." Olaf focused on locating obscure constellations. "I can't explain it right now. Ask me another time, and I'll be able to tell you articulately."

Kit looked curious, but knew enough of her still-new friend to have the sense to leave it at that. Besides, so far he'd been a man of his word. He'd tell her eventually, even if she had to remind him constantly. She smiled to herself. That was exactly the sort of thing she would do.

"What's got you so amused all of a sudden?" Olaf, no longer forming pictures from stars, propped himself up on his elbows. "Just a moment ago you were most disillusioned."

"I changed my mind." She kept a cryptic air about her, and gave him a smile to prove it. "As a member of the female species, it is my right."

Olaf shook his head. There was simply no understanding women.

I'm really enjoying this story, but sadly it's getting lots of hits and no reviews! As of yet, I haven't found a fic following this plot so far, and again, I've received no feedback whatsoever, so I'm unsure of what everyone thinks of it. If you could, send a review my way so I have some ideas for the next few chapters!

-Katie