They stood silently under the tree for a while. Eventually, Nephis looked at him and said evenly:
"You did well."
Sunny glanced at her with a pale smile, then nodded.
"I guess I did, didn't I? My mom would have been very happy. If she was alive, that is. I am healthy, well-fed, and have a house in a good part of the city. I even found my… a student. These things might not sound like much to you, but to her, they would have been like a dream."
He turned to the tree and added after a short pause:
"I don't really remember my dad too well, because I was too little when he passed away. But my mom, I remember her perfectly. She was… like a ray of sunshine. The strangest thing, though, is that when I was a kid, she was the whole world to me. I thought that she knew everything, could do anything. But now, I realize that she was barely older than we are. She was more or less a kid herself."
Nephis looked at him and said:
"But we aren't kids."
Sunny tilted his head, then shrugged.
