Chéri kept eating and let them make remarks about themselves. They probably wouldn’t have cared anyway. People thought what they wanted about them and there was very little they could do to control that, they knew, they had just accepted it. They would have potentially joked about it, had Malachi not been there.

Malachi, who unexpectedly reacted at their look. Wow, there had been an actual movement, not just a semblance of one. As a response that probably didn’t come across less defiant, Chéri put on a small, warm smile, before eating another slice of bread.

They then left the preacher to do his preaching to what he knew to be deaf ears. Even without any English, they knew Francis wasn’t going to listen to whatever Malachi was about to say. They didn’t actually know, but they felt their guess was pretty good.

Then, oddly enough, Malachi reassured Chéri, who now looked confused. “Are you sure?” They very much seem to doubt. “Because the place looks pretty fool to me.” Of pettiness at the very least.