Jinny sat and cried silently, not hugging her new uncle, but grateful for his presence anyway. “Thank you. I promise to be a good student.” She managed to murmur after several moments. She scrubbed her hands across her eyes and nose, then went back to eating. She ate as much as she could manage, and while the plates were being taken away, she sat, swinging her feet and thinking. 

He promised to teach her. That was very good – she wanted to be strong like her parents. But even they weren’t strong enough, when the time came. Was the enemy just stronger? Or maybe they had more people. It was like a math problem. 5 was always going to be bigger than 2, no matter what you did. Maybe that was why they lost. She refused to believe it was because they were weak in any way. Her parents were the best. She believed that with the whole of her little being. But maybe, maybe she just had to get stronger.

Staring at her uncle while he presented her more choices, she idly rubbed Fluffy’s cotton fur. “I do like shopping. ‘specially for toys. But right now, I want to learn. Can we shop later?” Her room was missing things. Pink things. He was a Boy and therefore would never understand, but maybe he would buy them for her anyway.

“I want to learn something new every day.”