“Bri.”

Bri paused in her conversation long enough to look at Malak. “Just a moment! We’ll be on our way soon!”

Soon, to Bri, usually constituted a period of time that was twice as long as what Malak thought would be appropriate for soon’s context. As she waved farewell to the man and the dog as they continued on their walk, Malak kept themselves from commenting upon how Bri spent her limited time in the world.

They had already gotten an answer for that, one that made sense, when one considered how Bri wanted to live her life. Bri looked up at them, tilting her head to the side. “You’re doin’ so much better! I think I’d compare you to a ten year old now.”

“In what way?”

“In the way that you still don’t understand what I’m doin’, but you’ve learned enough to respect the fact I’m doin’ it and will wait, even if a bit impatiently, to get on to the things you think are more important.”