"Mais oui!" Sabine brightened even more at the suggestion and clapped her hands together. "My grandmother used to write letters to me in French, and my mother sometimes spoke it at home. Marie-Ange, my cousin, and I always speak French when we're cooking," she replied in French. "I'd like that very much." It would be a way to honor that connection and not count it as lost.

"Do you have a friend here or family?" That was gentle, as when she spoke to spirits with loved ones they couldn't quite fight.