She considers eating with Cairo - she did manage to happen a conversation with them, containing multiple sentences and even what she thinks was a perfectly serviceable compliment to the woman who made her earrings, although it was kind of useless because the woman apparently happens not to have any grandchildren in school this year, somehow. Still better than nothing. Unfortunately, Cairo's table seems to be totally full up already. And she doesn't want to eat with Malak, that looks desperate, and she doesn't need Malak thinking she's any more desperate.

She wants mana. What things are difficult and effortful. Running, obviously, but you can't run and eat at the same time and she doesn't actually want to show off how out of shape she is right now, not in the cafeteria in front of everyone.

Talking to people, honestly. She's pretty sure she's been building mana from half her conversations today, slowly, and that's kind of embarrassing but possibly useful? And it's obviously separately useful, because there are, like, reasons to talk to people. 

What is the most difficult conversation she can have without actually damaging her social standing in some important way. 

She looks over to the Chinese side of the room, because her Mandarin isn't awful but she doesn't have that much actual practice having whole conversations in it out loud with people, which sounds like it'll be effort to form the sentences and also extra effort to say them while she's sounding stupid, which sounds like it might, possibly, build enough mana to be useful.

Hey, that kid looks like he hasn't glommed onto anyone else yet. She sets her plate down in front of him and then realizes that she totally forgot to come up with anything to say to him.

"I'm Naima," she forces herself to say, after a second's pause. You're supposed to ask a question when you start a conversation but she has not yet managed to think of one, let alone think of how to say it in Mandarin.