Kuratu raised an eyebrow, but he smiled at her. 'Hopefully I don't give tests that hard,' he said. 'Mind if I give it to you after we have a snack?'

Amelia nodded.
I hope it's not hard either! and I don't mind...I have the munchies at the moment. hahaha! she wrote smiling.

Kuratu smiled gently at her. 'So do I,' he said, as off-handedly as he could.

Amelia smied and they walked to the kitchen and grabbed some smores and a glass of milk.
Amelia's mother grabbed some too and was happy to know they liked her food.
"I'm glad to know you like my food Kuratu!"she said happily.

Kuratu smiled gently at Amelia's mother as he ate. 'You cook well,' he said, taking some more food.

She chuckled.
'Why, thank-you!' she replied in sign.
Amelia analyzed what her mother did and then ignored it and kept thinking about the test. was it going to be hard? she was going to find out soon.

Kuratu ate his fill and turned to Amelia. 'Ready?'

Amelia smiled.
yes I am... she wrote and they went to the living room once again.

'I'm going to say a word to you that you know,' Kuratu said. 'You'll make the sign afterwards. Sound easy enough?'

Amelia nodded and began to get nervous. It did sound easy, but was it?

Kuratu gave her a soft smile to calm her down. 'It'll be fine,' he said. 'You'll be able to do it.' He thought of a word to give her. 'Drawer.'

Amelia snapped her fingers and tapped her head for a while.
'Drawer' she said in sign.

Kuratu smiled at her. 'Good. Maple tree.'

Oh no...two separate word that are one thing...
she thought to herself.
'Maple Tree' she answered.

'Good,' Kuratu said, smiling at her. 'Table.'

It looked to her like this was going to be a very easy test.
'Table' she answered smiling.
Her mother watched her from a distance so she wouldn't be distracted.

Kuratu smiled at Amelia each time she got a right answer. He brought up every word he had taught her over the course of the test.

One after the other she got them right. There were some words she had to stop and think about, but got them right in the end and she was surprised and happy.

Kuratu gave Amelia a broad smile at the end of the test. 'Good,' he said. 'You learn quickly.'

'Thank-you!' she said in sign.
I owe it all to you for being such a great teacher and friend.
"I'm proud of you dear!" said her mother happily.

'Do you want to take a break, then learn a bit more sign?' Kuratu asked her.

A break would be nice...let's go walk together!
She wrote.
Mother, can Kuratu and I go for a walk? she wrote.
"Well I guess so...you two did work hard and some fresh air will do you good."she said.
Thanks mother! wrote Amelia and looked at Kuratu.
'Ready?' she asked in sign.

'Yes, I'm ready,' Kuratu said, smiling gently at her. He went to the door and opened it.

Once they were outside, Amelia stretched and smiled as she continued to walk with her hands and sketch book and pencil behind her back.

Kuratu walked in a mostly comfortable silence, but every time he looked around, he was acutely aware of how familiar the streets had become, and not in the way they would be to someone like Amelia. He could recognise the other homeless people and several gang members; he knew the places that served extra food out of the back door and the places that would chase you away if you tried sleeping or begging; he knew the places that were warm and had good shelter and the places that good drafty or leaked. He casually directed Amelia away from the less favourable parts of town as they walked.