Cora well knew the darkness of humanity, especially the version of her in the Dreams, always on the run, always needing to do whatever necessary to survive. Try as she might, those memories were now imprinted on Cora's psyche. Which was why, despite her serious issues with fire, she wasn't surprised that someone would be sick enough to decide to set a bookstore on fire and keep the people inside locked up. Whatever they wanted, they had failed and Cora was relieved about that. Even if everything was still locked in the corner of her mind now that she was talking to someone.
And then there was a small child hugging her and all Cora could do was go rigid at the sudden contact. It made sense. But it still was uncomfortable. There was part of her though that needed to hug her family. Remind herself that despite the fire, they were all alive. But she would deal with that later. When she was a bit more put together.
"You're welcome." Forcing herself to return the smile even if her mind was racing, Cora took the duster. She wasn't going to be putting it on give the burn to her arm. But at least it had helped Christina. That was what was important.
The question wasn't terribly shocking even if Cora really had to plans on collecting a debt.
"Cora." Probably should give a last name but she wasn't exactly thinking about that. Especially since talking hurt and just caused her to cough. Still, she was relieved she had (mostly) remembered to keep calm so as not to breathe excessively. The joys of late night study sessions brought on by Dreams and needing to look things up because she wasn't going back to sleep.