Siri beamed when the face of her old friend appeared inside the door. "Hi, good morning!" Her smile slipped. "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot. Were you sleeping?" Calling on vampires in the morning wasn't quite right. Sirikit had always been forgetful about such things. Zane stood comfortably in the shadow inside his door, however, so it didn't seem so terrible a transgression.
"Oh it's not a Halloween present, it's a you present. Because it's been a while." Precisely how long it had been exactly escaped her as well. She was pretty sure it was about a year, give or take a few months. She laughed brightly at the suggestion that she might be stopping by for candy. "I still don't know how to eat. But look, I can be solid now! I almost never mess up," she said, doing a little twirl to show off how real she was. It was fairly consistent these days, marvelously so.
She held out a richly polished wooden box. "Here." Cushioned in yellow silk inside was the rosary he'd left buried at the base of the Wishing Tree the year before, much improved. It had been restrung on a line of fine red glass beads. The crucifix itself had been inlaid with ebony and red coral in beautiful patterns. The back had been etched in a few small, tasteful Khmer characters for protection and the answering of prayers. "I thought you should have it back. I can keep myself tethered to the Wishing Tree now, without a piece of my old tree." She didn't vocalize it, but she knew he doubted that God heard him. Perhaps her Gods might, then. At the very least, it was a wish from her that they might look out for him. "I hope you like it."
"So tell me, where have you been! You have a childer, now?" How exciting.