When Mei-Lin walked into the room T'Vara looked up from the book she was reading.

T'Vara registered the time on the chrono over her desk and Mei-Lin, still wearing the black dress with her hair tied back and some stray hairs framing her face, standing in the doorway. She seemed to have come from somewhere where things went well and hadn't fully processed that yet.

T'Vara put her book down and waited.

For a few seconds Mei-Lin just stood there; then she walked in and sat down on her bunk looking up at the ceiling. She wore the same black dress as earlier. Her hand went up to remove the hair clip holding her hair back. Her hair came tumbling down to her shoulders and dhe placed the hair clip on her desk.

"Cormus invited me to dinner," Mei-Lin stated.

"I know" T'Vara replied. "I saw him go to engineering at 1700."

Mei-Lin's eyes turned to T'Vara. "How did you know that exactly?"

"T'Vara replied simply. "Because he was walking with purpose. How was your evening?"

Mei-Lin again gazed upward toward the ceiling. "Fine," she answered. "He managed to get us a table by the viewport. He placed a candle on the table. He produced champagne glasses. Not in a performance way; merely in a way a man would who'd spent some time thinking about it."

"That takes some consideration" T'Vara replied.

"Yes" Mei-Lin agreed. "We talked for two hours before we knew it. We didn't even realize how much time had passed." Mei-Lin sat up and looked straight at T'Vara. "He has qualities beyond my initial expectations. He focused on me specifically -- as opposed to focusing generally. By the end of the first hour, he had an image of me many never attain."

"What did he say?" T'Vara requested.

Mei-Lin relayed the details of their conversation, his views, her dad and the way they calculated risk differently, and T'Vara listened attentively without interjecting anything. After Mei-Lin finished speaking, there was silence for a brief moment.

"He noticed you and expressed it directly," T'Vara noted. "Directness isn't often seen."

"True" Mei-Lin agreed. "And it hasn't been all that long since I last spoke with Zedd. Now I'm lying here in this dress thinking about champagne glasses and I don't really know what to make of it all -- considering that those two events occurred within the same week."

T'Vara gave Mei-Lin a look similar to most other times T'Vara offered her opinion. "Those aren't the same event" she explained. "What happened with Zedd was genuine and you approached it in a honest manner. Tonight's event is genuine as well but it doesn't contradict itself with what happened with Zedd. It is simply another occurrence of something happening to a person who may be capable of experiencing it in a way she wasn't able to two weeks ago."

Mei-Lin stared at T'Vara for a second before responding. "You're very clear-headed about this."

"A clear head is a good starting point," T'Vara said. "You made a decision regarding Zedd that worked for you. Cormus asked you to dinner and you accepted -- and enjoyed yourself. Both of these things can occur simultaneously without one causing harm to the other."

There was silence for a short while after that exchange.

"Zedd represented safety" Mei-Lin then began to say and then hesitated before stopping, realizing she hadn't intended to say that aloud.

T'Vara remained silent for a few moments longer before responding.

"Not unsafe, in terms of being a negative experience," Mei-Lin continued, "but safer in terms of feeling real and significant and having direction. I chose not to pursue it further when I wasn't ready, and that choice was correct." She glanced down at the black dress once again. "Cormus represents uncertainty, he is the unknown. I accepted his invitation regardless of how little consideration I gave it beforehand."

"How does that make you feel?" T'Vara asked.

Mei-Lin seriously reflected upon that question for a short while before answering truthfully. "Good" she stated. "Surprisingly good." She glanced at T'Vara. "Which could represent either a very positive indication or completely unfavorable circumstances due to our departure from orbit soon.