Time for chapter three: Girl Talk! This chapter is much shorter than the last one, but that's probably because it's much more light-hearted and fun. But I'll just leave it up to you to read the chapter for yourselves!

Spoilers: Ending of chapter four, beginning of chapter five.

Summary: When Senel leaves to speak with Shirley in the Village of the Ferines, Chloe makes the decision to talk to someone who could possibly give her advice about this little crush she was developing. Who better than Norma?

Disclaimer: Neither Tales of Legendia nor its characters are owned by me, they are owned by Namco.

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Chapter III: Girl Talk

We all watched as Senel walked out of the large tent that we were staying in that night. A letter had come from Fenimore telling him to go by the water's edge just a little ways up from our tent. It had been guessed that Fenimore had arranged for him to see Shirley, the girl that we had believed to be Senel's sister. The Merines, as the general public had come to call her.

I should have been happy for Senel, getting to see Shirley again. I should have been happy for Shirley, getting to see Senel. But I wasn't; I was jealous. It was so selfish, but ever since I had learned of Senel's relationship with Stella I had been jealous of both her and Shirley. Even after Stella was gone, I was beyond envious. She still had Senel's love; and Shirley, she had the blood of her sister within her. She had the image of Stella in her, and Senel could see it.

The tent door shut with an audible swoosh, announcing that Senel was out of the room. I heard footsteps coming up beside me, and when they stopped I could see Norma out of the corner of my eye. The teenage treasure hunter and I must have been giving similar curious and yearning looks towards the door because Will was prompted to warn us, "I certainly hope that neither of you are thinking of following him."

Both Norma and I turned towards our companions; sheepish and guilty smiles on our faces. "Ha, ha!" Norma faked an innocent laugh, "Of course not, Teach!" Will gave a light huff before he returned his attention to Moses and Jay. It was only a matter of seconds before the males started up a conversation.

"Norma," I unsurely uttered the name of the girl next to me.

She snapped out of her fantasy world and looked towards me, perplexed. "Hm?" she tilted her entire upper body to the right to display her confusion; it was her own exaggerated form of the standard head-tilt, "What's up, C?"

I stole another glance towards the men, and then another to the door, and finally my eyes rested on Norma again. "Can I talk to you?"

Instantaneously, the light-hearted shine in her eyes dulled down to serious. In the face of a life-or-death situation this girl could manage to joke and laugh, however when it came to girl talks or bonding she took nothing lightly. "Sure," she answered. Without exchanging any more words we walked over to the two beds furthest from the other people in the room. We each sat down on one; Norma propping her back against the backboard, me sitting with my legs over the bed's edge, hands on knees. We avoided making eye contact with each other at first, but it was only a matter of time before Norma piped up. She leaned forward in that secretive way of hers and gave me a sly look. "This is about Senny, isn't it?"

"Wha—? I mean, yeah, but...?"

"Oh, come on!" Norma exclaimed, raising her hands into the air. Her outburst obviously gained the attention of Will, Moses and Jay, whom she simply waved off as though to say, Ignore me—. And they obliged. Norma was careful to lower her voice as she carried on, "You clearly have a big crush on him."

I was never the type of person to deny that which was the truth in any way, especially when I had already been found out. Still, I could always attempt to tone the reality down a little. "Not big!" I objected softly, "And what do you mean by clearly?"

Norma giggled enthusiastically, "Clearly, to me. But I'm a girl so I have the natural ability to pick up on these things easy—I doubt that any of the boys know, if you're concerned about that." I gave a reserved nod, leaving my head slanted forward so that I stared at my hands that still rested on my knees. Again, Norma leaned a little closer, "So what is it about him that's got you uptight, C?"

"Um..." I dared to bring my head up again. "Why do you think that Shirley would want to see Coolidge now, after saying that she was busy today?" To me it was blatantly suspicious, but I couldn't help but question whether or not I was creating these suspicions out of spite. Instead of blurting out an irrelevant answer, as she was prone to doing, Norma simply shrugged. "...Am I just looking for excuses, Norma?"

She gave me a look after I spoke those words. It was a look of sympathy like none I'd ever seen. It only lasted for a fleeting moment, but it stuck out above all else. The eyes seeking escape, the eyebrows raised, the mouth turned downwards slightly, yet not so much to frown. "I dunno, C," she said at last, "I mean, if Senny and Shirl aren't bro and sis, and they love each other so much..." I let out a great sigh to which Norma responded with by grinning. A big, sneaky, conniving smirk was plastered onto her face with some permanent delight. "Then you'll just have to try harder, won't you?"

I gaped. I gaped with surprise, with shock, with interest... For a moment I even gaped with pity for Shirley. "Norma, you can't be serious! If he loves her back—"

"But what if he doesn't?" she cut in, "What if he started calling Shirl his sister because that's how he saw it? With the way that he loved Stella, Shirl was basically his sister-in-law anyway!" Norma seemed to be growing more and more content with each word that she spoke. It was as though she was working on an intense mathematical problem, and as she was going on she found her reasoning to be increasingly plausible—perhaps even correct. "Oh, C!" she exclaimed with a squeal, being sure to remain hushed this time, "What if that's all it is?"

Ever the downer—at least when placed next to Norma—I felt compelled to ask the question, "But what if it's not?"

"C," Norma spoke my nickname as though I had just said the most preposterous thing ever, "You're never gonna know if you don't try anything."

Her statement was both clichéd and common sense, and yet somehow it struck a cord with me. Still, I knew that I lacked the courage despite this realization; it would take time before I could say anything to Senel himself. Even an 'I like you' was asking for too much... Plus, Senel would have undoubtedly missed the point if I were to have made a general statement such as that one.

"Oh, C! Just imagine if you and Senny become a couple!" Norma's whispered and high-pitched outburst nearly made me stumble backwards in surprise. "Imagine your wedding!" she practically gasped in glee. My eyes grew wide and I could feel the warmth of my face turning red—she was thinking a little too ahead for my liking.

"Norma..."

"Imagine the morning after your wedding, waking up with Senny. You'll still be draped in your wedding dress, and Senny'll have his arms around you, almost protectively—"

"Norma!" I repeated her name in a stronger tone so that she finally ceased fantasizing in my place. There was then a moment of silence during which something donned on me. "Wait. Why would I still be wearing my dress the morning after the wedding?"

This inquiry, although mere curiosity in my mind, sent Norma into a fit of giggles. "Jee, C, aren't you the feisty one?" her voice was sly, teasing.

"Huh? Wh-what?" My face must have been glowing as red as Moses' hair at that point. I held one of my hands over my nose and mouth to cover both my blush and the words that I had already uttered. "Th—that didn't even cross my mind!"

Norma snickered even more, "Well it did now, didn't it?"

I turned away, continuing to hold my hand over my face; it felt so warm because I was blushing so much. Norma began to laugh even louder and with more exaggeration. I didn't dare to look around the room, but I guessed that Will, Moses and Jay were staring at us. At just that instant, the room's sole door was drawn back and the topic of discussion himself stepped in. Norma was silenced at once, and I toomanaged to regain my composure. "Someday," I thought to myself as I observed Senel drop onto his bed. He turned onto his side and hid his face from the eyes of the rest of us. I turned away from him timidly, as though my thoughts were actually being heard by him, "I will say something to you."

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I had so much fun writing this chapter. :D I find the friendship between Chloe and Norma to be rather entertaining. Plus, I suppose that it would only make sense to have a conversation that leads up to the next chapter, the classic Thunder Monument moment. Mwahaha! Ahem. Thank you all so much for your praise in this story! I'm glad that so many people are enjoying it.

Next chapter: A Moment