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For a moment the Cavalier didn't respond, but then she turned her head with a face that made it clear how surprised she was that anyone was calling her by name. She blinked at Polaris; do I know you? was evident on her face, followed by are you sure I don't know you? and are you absolutely sure I don't know you? But she didn't. The dark-haired girl was as unfamiliar to her as any other stranger on the street.

She was a girl, that much was obvious -- right around Polaris's age. It felt like nearly all of them were. She stepped aside from the streaming crowd of people and blinked at Polaris again, her weapon stowed. "Can I help you?" said Kunzite.

For a while Kunzite just stared at her. She had good eyes for staring: they were big, round, and creepily pale. Her staring was fairly unreadable and a bit unsettling, and tended to go on long enough to make one wonder if she spoke English or just thought whatever you just said was unbelievably stupid. But stare she did, with her arms crossed over her chest. A few senshi trickled by -- she exchanged a glance with Sailor Proxima, exchanged much less of a glance with Sailor Aries, and very pointedly did not exchange a glance with Sailor Castor. Otherwise she just stared.

Eventually she said, "Do you know of any place where we can talk," she shifted on her feet and glanced down briefly, "without being interrupted?"

With that Cavalier Kunzite melted away and Polaris was left staring at a girl of seventeen in a Crystal uniform. She looked -- prim. Put-together, white socks folded over, wavy dark hair pinned back a bit delicately. She didn't look like a person who would slam her fist down on tables. She didn't look like a soldier. She looked like a Crystal girl, run-of-the-mill, maybe a little tall, but that was it. With her sword and her dress whites gone, much of the intimidation had as well.

"Let's walk, then," she said brusquely, and looked to her pointedly for some direction as to where they were going. "I'm Miriam Jacobs. You go to Crystal too?"

Miriam's mouth formed an O when she saw Aurora and she stared at her, a bit frozen. She did look considerably less like hell: her color was back to a normal human hue, albeit with her usual pallor, and she wasn't limping. A cast encircled no part of her body. Now, come to think of it, the other girl's injuries made a lot more sense -- her words from the meeting echoed. Her once-betrayal had cost her the ability to heal like senshi. The wreck Aurora had seen over Christmas was probably a consequence of that.

"You saw me after I killed Sailor Nova," she stated. There was nothing to dispute about that. "Now you know."

She turned and walked in the direction they both knew was Crystal Academy, briskly. The silence settled in again and turned to stone. Astraea had called the knight he on more than one occasion. This was definitely a she, and walked like a she. The entire situation was very peculiar. Miriam certainly wasn't talking about it, or anything else for the moment -- her silence was offputting, but it was becoming increasingly clear that, instead of stonewalling out any conversation, the Cavalier honestly didn't know what to say.

Miriam folded her arms over her chest and hunched a little like she was cold. Perhaps she was cold. She kept walking and after a while, she still wasn't out of breath. She probably had fencing to credit for that. That was the one thing she was known for at Crystal, fencing: that and being standoffish. Well, standoffish was a nice word. Bitchy was the common one. Standoffish seemed more accurate so far, though it was hard to say -- perhaps awkward was the real winner here.

"You do now," she said eventually. "You wouldn't then. I didn't."

More silence. There was a lot of that walking with Miriam.

"So you've been in battle before?" she abruptly changed the subject, hands tucked under her arms.

"It's not a loss." Miriam walked on at her own pace, probably more cluelessly than inconsiderately. She didn't seem like a person who was used to the company of other people, on walks or elsewhere. "But I'm not sure I'd call it a win, either." She made a face, like she'd just been forced to say something very hokey, and fell silent again. It was cold outside -- definitely a little too cold to be wearing what Miriam was wearing, which consisted of only a long-sleeved blouse and stockings in addition to the usual, scant Crystal uniform -- but she strolled on without shivering. A few times she looked like she might be in danger of doing so, but she wrinkled her nose and kept very determinedly still.

They neared the pristine walls of Crystal Academy. Miriam fumbled for her wallet. They'd been quiet for another few minutes now, possibly even more; the silent minutes stretched on and a little infinite-seeming between them. They the wallet just as they stopped in front of the side door that was the fastest way to the dormitories and Miriam fished out her ID card, scanned it on the card-reader, and pulled open the unlocked door -- and held it open promptly for Aurora.

"After you," she said. "I don't know that there's a lot I can tell you, to be honest, but I can try."

As they walked in Miriam cast a glance around her room. She looked interested, and a little wide-eyed, though when didn't she look wide-eyed, really? Her eyes were possibly naturally wide. Or she was just making that face all the time. "I'm used to it," she said delicately with a slightly wrinkled nose. "I take all the credit hours I can so I can transfer my AP hours into college -- college costs even more money, after all. Some people here don't have money growing on trees." At this she shot a defensive sideways look at Aurora, like Aurora was going to say something to her.

She didn't sit down, or ask if she could sit down: rather, she stood squarely in the center of the room with her arms over her chest, looking like she was trying to make a point of some kind. A very nebulous point.

"So," she broke the silence. "Show me what you can do."