"Hmm, perhaps talk is too strong a word. He can feel their thoughts and feelings, and they love him. He gets it from his father."

"Oh. Okay."

"So, anything else I should know about today?"

"I dunno," she says, lowering her eyes to her lap.

"You know what, how about you just tell me what happened between me dropping you off and now? Do you think you could manage that?"

"Okay."

And she describes to Zaneta everything that happened, not verbatim but almost, except for the part where there's no mention of a mysteriously-appearing white person.

"Martin was out of line. I'll speak to him later. Try not to hold it against Squishy."

"Okay."

"So, anything I can do for you at the moment?"

"I don't think so."

"Okay then. So, are you fine staying here? At least for the night."

"I guess," she sighs.

"I know this mustn't be an ideal arrangement for you. We'll sort something out."

"I dunno, maybe it is. I was just annoyed at the other kids but it's not really their fault, I guess, and it's better than my dad."

Zaneta chooses not to broach that topic for the time being. "Well, why don't you run along and play?" 

Run along and play -

"Sure," she says, electing not to comment, and gets off the chair. Then: "Um, I'm still half-naked and in sodden underwear..."

Zaneta fetches her a few choices of garments, and leaves her to pick at her leisure.

Well. Alright. She tries to get rid of the sand from her body by patting it as much as possible then puts on some clothes and goes back to wherever.

Zaneta, in her rush to get on with whatever she needed to to, left a map of her house outside the door.

This doesn't actually help.

She starts exploring.

"Hey, Sadde."

She starts. "Where'd you come from?"

She grins. "Mum!"

"Where'd you come from in the last minute," she clarifies.

"You do know I can move super fast, right?"