Kiki stayed in the Morning Reading Corridor until a quarter past one in the afternoon. Feeling drowsy, she began to nod off, nearly slipping over the edge between dreams and reality, when she suddenly startled awake.
She vaguely heard someone crying.
It was not restrained or sorrowful weeping, but hysterical sobbing, almost like howling. The sound was not loud, as though it had passed through layer upon layer of obstacles. It came from outside the window and stood out sharply amid the chorus of insects.
Kiki ran from window to window, listening closely. When she became certain that one window seemed to be directly above the source of that startling crying, she jumped up to look down, trying to remember the location of the area below.
"Kiki?"
Kiki turned around and saw Teacher Xia Yixue walking over.
"It's almost one-thirty. Why haven't you gone over to the lawn? PE class is about to start," the teacher reminded her.
"Someone's crying! Teacher, did you hear it?"
"Ah, yes." Xia Yixue nodded. "I just came up from downstairs. It's the women from the south crying below. Maybe something sad happened to them."
"Those Whale Folk?"
Xia Yixue pressed her lips together slightly. "Don't call them Whale Folk. It's an insulting term..."
Kiki froze. "Is it?"
"Yes. That's what the people at the farm who bully them call them," Xia Yixue replied.
"Then what should we call them?"
"Call them by their names, or just say they're from the South District—just like we're from District 14."
Kiki was still a little dazed—what was insulting about Whale Folk? A few days ago, Auntie Silei had secretly told her that Stella had praised her behind her back, saying she was a girl like an orca.
"Oh, right. Since I ran into you, I'll give this