Brief, given the amount of time she would have otherwise liked to spend in Pakistan with friends from her early teens, whom she saw again after a shocking and long separation.

One can easily imagine her longing to share with them stories of people she has met, things she has done, the world she has travelled and the international distinction she enjoys.

Revealing, because, as a Dawn newspaper editorial on Friday underscored, Malala's story continues to illustrate "much of what bedevils this country, and the conflicted narrative that feeds its sense of perpetual victimhood".

It was Malala's first homecoming since 9 October 2012 when a Taliban gunman shot her in the head.

Since then she has been living in the UK. After recovering from her near-fatal injuries, Malala and her family relocated to Birmingham and she is now studying at Oxford.

Her global fight to improve girls' literacy saw her become the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

The trip back to Pakistan came out of the blue. During an address at the Prime Minister House shortly after her arrival on Thursday, she said it was a "dream come true".

But the secrecy that shrouded her movements, and a tight security cordon that controlled people's access to her - and possibly her access to people - couldn't have been a part of that dream.

She expressed this sentiment to a neighbour in Mingora, the main town in Swat valley, where she used to live.

"Uncle, I will come again next year, and will come without the security," she was quoted as telling Faridul Haq Haqqani, who spoke to BBC Urdu's Riffatullah Orakzai.

An emotional homecoming

Mr Haqqani was able to meet Malala because he lives in the house in Mingora where Malala's family lived until she was shot.

The family - Malala, her father Ziauddin Yousafzai, her mother and two brothers - flew in a military helicopter to Mingora on Saturday. They were accompanied by federal minister Maryam Aurangzeb.

The visit was just as unexpected as her arrival in Islamabad two days earlier. They spent just about two hours in the area, and visited only two places.

Their first stop - their erstwhile home - was understandably their prime destination, and the visit turned into a deeply emotional event.