Galina paused, for a single moment, as she passed that enormous mountain of a man, Daisuke. She looked up to him from the corner of her dark eyes, a slow smile sidling over her lips. "Honestly Daisuke, until this very moment, I had absolutely [i]no[/i] idea you possessed a sense of humor. Will wonders never cease?"

 Still hungry but eminently amused, Galina nodded to Daisuke as she slowly walked into Souma's room, slipping off her own sandals by the door. Her smile remained, a soft thing now though, with none of the playfulness that Naoki's presence, or tweaking Daisuke's proverbial nose, had provided. There was too much hurt, too much suffering between them for any jest to last, and Galina still did not yet know the full extent of Souma's hurts.

Galina bowed respectfully to Souma before lowering herself to kneel opposite his meal tray. She was instantly reminded of those few humiliating moments spent on the [i]Empress[/i], and then the tea ceremony in the Takahiro compound, and some small part of her stood in amazement there was no pain to be found in either recollection. Not anymore.

[i]"Konnichiwa,[/i] Souma," Galina said softly, her voice not much more than a melodic whisper over the samurai's dinner, "And thank you for speaking me."

Galina folded her hands in her lap delicately, the genuine plea in her dark eyes unhidden and so very easy to read. "I have been back to the compound, and I saw all they did there, the Americans. I should like to know, what happened to Raigo-sama? To Ai? I imagine after all that I did here, it might seem a bold lie to say I genuinely care, but I do. Your family was truly kind to me."

She let those words hang for a moment or two in the air, knowing very well she had precious little right to ask after the Takahiro family, but she still had a small hope that Soshitsu's words had been not much more than poorly understood and spoken English, that perhaps she misunderstood, misheard, that father or sister [i]both[/i] may have escaped.