She stood in the hallway, tapping her foot and watching the ray of light that came through the peephole. “Impossible,” she muttered under her breath. “If there had been any record of it, I would know.”
Just when she was about to leave, the door popped open to reveal her mother standing there in a blue dress. As usual, Leean wore her hair up in a bun. “Little one,” she said. “How did teaching go?”
“Well enough, I suppose,” Desa barked, entering the apartment. “I had forgotten just how dogmatic people can be.”
Leean shut the door.
Desa sat down on the sofa with her knees together, folding her hands in her lap. “Sometimes I wonder if I could ever fit in here again,” she said. “Have I changed too much? Am I still Aladri?”
The window was open, allowing warm, afternoon sunlight to enter the
