The inside of your head is a confusing place at the moment, hosting a standoff between several different impulses. One influence that seems to speak in your father's voice is gruffly telling you that "feelings" are something real men don't talk about, while a second voice that sounds like your mother is encouraging you to be considerate of your friend. A third influence, which has appropriated the voice of a daytime talk show host, is going on about how it's important for people who've been through traumatic experiences to talk about those experiences, so that they and the people around them can better understand how they feel about the incidents, and help along the healing process. Ganondorf's voice growls about not letting a promising trainee sabotage her potential just because she ran into something that's currently out of her league - though there's an almost familial sense of possessive anger behind the words, boiling down to "this is one of mine," "how dare that thing attack what's mine," and a not-inconsiderable urge to hunt down the magic-user responsible for this mess and do great and terrible violence to her.
The Beast is fully behind that last impulse. You rein it in, knowing that vengeance can come later, if it's needed; Cordelia is more important.
In the end, you drag the nearest chair in the office closer to the couch, sit down, and take both of Cordelia's hands in your own. Looking her directly in the eyes, you ask, "What happened, Cordelia? What did it do to you?"
Your friend stares back at you for a moment. "What makes you think it did anything?"
"Aside from the fact that you haven't bitten mine or Lu-sensei's heads off for treating you like a fragile little princess?" you reply lightly. "There's the fact that I felt that thing trying to attack my mind when it looked at me - and where I looked away fast, you got the full blast, head-on. Now, if Tall, Dark, and Evil's eyes are just wired to cause fear in anybody who looks into them, that's one thing, and we can deal with it, but I don't trust things like that not to at least try to mess people up in a more active way. Especially not people I care about. I can't help you deal with this if I don't know what the thing did, so, talk. Please."
Cordelia closes her eyes with a sigh, and is quiet for a long moment. "I don't think it was trying to do anything to me, Alex," she says at last. "I just... it was huge, it was nasty, everything was dark and creepsome, it didn't look like something I could at least hit back, and it wasn't in the ring. I got scared. Really scared."
"It didn't communicate with you, or make you see things?" you ask carefully.
Cordelia shakes her head. "Nothing like that. It was just there. Big as life, twice as scary."
"Not the least because of its total disregard for fashion," you add.
"...god, yes."
You smile faintly. There's your girl.
Gained King of Women F++
"Well, it doesn't sound like the shadow-man messed with your head too seriously. Do you mind if Briar takes a look, though? To make sure nothing except bad memories got left behind?"
"I suppose." She glances at the fairy. "You aren't going to make me look at ink blots and ask me questions about my father, are you?"
"Nah. I'll just poke around your brainmeats, and if I find anything that isn't supposed to be there, I'll smash it."
"...why is it that I find that far more comforting than the idea of visiting a professional psychiatrist?" Cordelia wonders aloud.
"Too much TV?" you venture. "Not to mention that if you told most adults you had an invisible fairy for a friend, they'd think you were being a silly kid, or nuts."
Briar has just raised her wand to get to work when she pauses, and the both of you - and Altria - look towards the balcony, where the impressive concentration of magic has just winked out.
"What is it?" Cordy asks warily.
"I believe that Ambrose just won the fight," Altria says.
"Feels like it," you agree, while silently wondering what, exactly, the old wizard did.