Nina takes her hand and suddenly feels very aware of how much she's grown. The last time she interacted with a child of Sunny's age for an extended period of time was in the orphanage when she herself was 7 or 8, much shorter in stature.

"Let's go," she says. As they walk at a careful pace, Khitka bounds ahead. A minute later, she returns with a gold ring clutched in her mouth and carefully deposits it in front of Sunny with a proud dook.

"Khitka..." Nina says, with a little sigh.