"Chocolate," say Shura, "is good."

"Chocolate is good!"

"Sometimes when I get up early if I'm very quiet I take a little bit," whispers Shura.

Helen giggles conspiratorially.

"I live with my daddy and brother and uncle and cousins who live together, some of the time, and they have a lot in the house."

"That's a lot of relatives!" says Helen. "Are they fun?"

"They're okay," shrugs Shura. "I like my daddy."

"Good! I'm glad," she says. "I like my mommydaddyspinach."

"How come you call him that still?"

"Because it's fun?"

"You do a lot of things because they are fun," Shura observes.

"Yeah! It's the best reason."

"Don't you sometimes have to do things that aren't fun?"

"Like what?"

"Sometimes I have to clean. Or work on stuff even if I don't want to. Or listen to my uncle even if he's boring."

"Why's your uncle boring?"

"He wants me to learn -" Shura gestures. "Mortal stuff. I don't have to go to school but I have to listen to him tell me stuff that I'd get told if I went."

"What kinds of mortal stuff?"

"Uuuugh, like stuff about mortal wars from before even my grandma was born, and science, and boring books."

"Awwww," says Helen. "I don't have to read any boring books!"

"That's lucky!" says Shura.

"I read fun books about fun things," she says. "I wish your uncle wasn't boring! He should tell you fun stuff instead."

"He says I have to learn it or I'll be badly educated."

"Do you care about that?"

"I don't even know what being badly educated is supposed to, you know, do."