Orca
Silei knew exactly what Pakart was teasing her about. She gave a slight shrug and smiled. "Who knows where she picked up those bad habits..."
Kiki poked her head out from the room. "Officer!"
"You're here too?" Silei feigned surprise. "Is Sister Stella inside?"
Kiki nodded.
Silei glanced at Pakart and gave a small nod in brief farewell before heading into the room.
Stella had been waiting inside for quite some time. She had already given Silei a rough account of what had happened tonight over text. Now, with Kiki present, the two adults solemnly discussed a few unrelated matters before Silei turned around, as if she had only just remembered something. "It's so late. Why are you still here?"
"...Sister Stella said I could stay here all night," Kiki answered quietly.
Silei shifted closer, kneeling beside Kiki and leaning forward slightly. "What happened?"
"Nothing." Kiki's voice grew even softer.
"But the sun will be up soon," Silei said.
"What?"
"You can stay here for the whole night, but tomorrow's sun will still rise soon. Where will you stay tomorrow night?" Silei spoke gently. "Auntie knows you're a very independent and very brave child. If you hadn't run into some special difficulty, you wouldn't have run away in the middle of the night. Auntie can help you think of a solution. Do you trust Auntie?"
Kiki's breathing caught. "I... am I brave?"
"Aren't you? Most children would be frightened when faced with something scary, but you immediately ran somewhere else."
Stella could not understand what the two were talking about, but she could see that after just a few words from Silei, Kiki had fallen into thought. That clearly meant their conversation had reached a deeper point.
"I can go back and sleep tonight," Kiki said, raising her head.