Leroy: Realising it can be hard to look after someone

With Leroy leading the way (being able to pop up a metre and take a look around over the heads of the crowd was very handy) they made their way to the closest mall.

First item on the agenda - getting the two girls their own wristbands. Fortunately, this was easy. The identification system used by the wristbands was fully automatic and completely pervasive. No matter where on Mars someone was, and no matter whose wristband they wore, the system would work out who was wearing it and make adjustments accordingly.

So Leroy lead the way to the first governmental agency he could find. A minor hit to Teylon's bank account, and the two girls had their wristbands.

"Say, doesn't this mean that those in charge have a really easy way of tracking the girls. Not to mention us?" said Teylon.

Leroy shrugged his shoulders. "That sort of privacy doesn't exist on Mars. Those in charge always know where everyone is."

Neither Devina nor Sarsaparilla could be bothered adding anything to this. They did not appear to care either way.

Very soon after this, they realised that staying together in one group was not going to work.

Kaydence had grabbed hold of both Sarsaparilla's and Leroy's hands, and tried to drag them towards the first clothing shop she saw.

"I want to buy some pretty dresses! Ooh, look, that one looks like the one you got from the thrift shop that time. I was so jealous of you! Let's try it on!"

While Juniper stood there, a slightly puzzled look on her face.

"Is there anything wrong with what I am wearing?" she said.

Teylon and Leroy, two males, exchanged looks. Even they could see that a teenage girl wearing utilitarian slacks and industrial strength work shirt was not appropriate for anything but a work party. Or was that a death party?

Sarsaparilla and Devina also exchanged glances, in total agreement for once.

"Right, how about we split up?" said Teylon.

"Ah, I hate to bring this up, but my credit balance is not very high..." said Sarsaparilla, doing her best to look apologetic and demure.

Leroy took a good look at this production.

She's angling to get some money from Teylon, isn't she. Hmm, I suppose in this case that is quite reasonable, after all I don't have much money either. And she has to earn every last dollar of hers.

But Teylon was very relaxed about it all.

"No problems, I'll just grant you temporary access to my account, up to a certain maximum."

He spent a minute setting it up, making a few mistakes along the way because he was nowhere near as competent at the finger twitching code as a native teenager.

Eventually he and Sarsaparilla put their wristbands in close proximity, and there was a soft ping.

Sarsaparilla accessed her account. And jumped in surprise.

"That much? I, err, I mean..."

Teylon laughed. "Considering our circumstances, there's no need to be all that fussed, is there?"

"Err, yes, you are right."

The three teenagers waved good-bye to Teylon and Devina and Juniper. Then Kaydence dragged them into the clothing store.

An hour later, Leroy was exhausted. This was the exhaustion that comes from standing around doing nothing and being bored out of one’s brain, while other people are excitedly engaged in some activity which is of the utmost interest to them. Fortunately, being a levitator, he could suspend himself in mid air and get the weight off his feet. But even this had its costs; he had to concentrate on keep on levitating and the total lack of exercise was not very conducive to staying awake.

Sarsaparilla was still engaged, but only barely. She helped Kaydence examine and try on about two hundred different sets of clothes, and accessed Teylon's account to pay for quite a large number of them. She even succumbed herself and brought a few things for her own wardrobe. On Teylon's account.

"Should you be doing that?" asked Leroy at one stage, while they were waiting for Kaydence to change into yet another outfit.

"Ah, well, it's all part of bonding with Kaydence and keeping her amused - or something. Yeah, I suppose I do feel a little guilty. I'm going to have to confess to Teylon."

A snort of amusement from Leroy. "You know perfectly well that he will just do his routine of pretending to be dismayed, then he'll let it go."

Finally Kaydence crashed. All three were happy to flop down on some sofas in one of the eating areas.

She handed over to Leroy the most recent purchases. Who sighed, got up and drifted to a nearby postal box and sent them by post to Teylon's apartment. The postal system in Mars did not deal with letters, that was done by email. But it was very good at sending parcels all over the place.

"I want some ice cream! Sarsaparilla, could you please buy me some from the food court over there?"

A groan from Sarsaparilla. "My feet are killing me, perhaps Leroy would like to..."

"I need a break also, you know..."

"I know, just give me the credit card numbers and I can buy some myself!"

Kaydence must have recovered some of her stamina. So Sarsaparilla transferred the authority to access her account to Kaydence's wristband. Except that the limit she put on it was way way lower than Teylon's limit. Kaydence scampered over to the ice cream counter and started to examine the selection, leaving Leroy and Sarsaparilla sitting in a little circle of silence and calmness.

"Say, Sarsaparilla, was Kaydence always like this?"

Sarsaparilla sagged into her chair, an unhappy look on her face.

"Not really. I mean, she is definitely Kaydence, she has all of her original mannerisms and personality and so on. But, but, she's regressed. I mean, she's like a ten year old sometimes. Or maybe even younger. She should be seventeen but she has lost all of those years..."

A few tears ran down her face.

"I thought that being reunited with Kaydence would just make things magically whole again. But, obviously, it doesn't."

"Well, she doesn't always act like a ten year old, she does act her age some of the time."

"I know, but still, things are bad..."

Yeah, I agree. Poor Kaydence, the occasional flashes of her mature personality that come through make her look lovely. Although she also makes a pretty cute ten year old, also. Wait, wait, should I even be thinking about that?

Sarsaparilla had been studying Leroy's face.

"You like her, don't you?"

"Huh?"

"Thought so. It must be your hero complex, coming in to save the lost damsel. Right?"

Sarsaparilla was looking very intently at Leroy. Almost as if she was judging him.

"Ah, I mean, well, yes I do feel some, err, attraction..."

Oh crap, Sarsaparilla as got a definite glare to her eyes.

"You do realise that at the moment she is not really in any position to look after herself in such ways. You get my drift?"

You bet I do!

"Ah, yes, yes, I have been coming to the same conclusion myself, ah, she's coming back, I'm sure we will discussing more about this at a more appropriate time..."

Whew, saved by the bell. And yes, I will be giving this some serious thought!

They watched her as she turned around and started walking back towards them.

"Why is she carrying four, no five, ice cream servings?" said Leroy.

Sigh. "She probably got carried away and couldn't make up her mind."

"I suppose we can help her out and eat some of them... Oh."

While they had been talking, a middle-aged man had wandered over and sat down, facing away from them, at a nearby table. He did not appear to have noticed them, but he did notice Kaydence as she made her way back. Kaydence, a big smile on her face, was licking one ice cream, while holding four more in a disposable cardboard rack.

"Say, hello young lady. Why did you buy so many?"

Kaydence stopped, and looking very pleased with herself, said:

"I just couldn't decide which one I wanted, to I got the lot! But I'm always happy to share my stuff, would you like one?"

A slight hesitation from the man.

"Err, sure, thank you very much!"

He picked the one closest to him, and put it on the table in front of him. He did not make any attempt to eat it.

"You do a lot of sharing?"

"Sure. Right now, I'm sharing a room with Juniper. Teylon, the man who owns the apartment, has plenty of beds and is always letting girls stay over for the night."

"Is that so? And when did you meet this Teylon?"

"Oh, just last night. We came with Shane but I'm so glad we ended up going home with Teylon!"

"Where do you normally live?"

"Oh, at the moment, nowhere. I suppose Teylon and Leroy and Sarsaparilla will work out something!"

All this while Kaydence had also been licking her ice cream, it was now much diminished. Leroy had levitated himself up into the air a metre, all the better to move fast if he needed.

Kaydence is more interested in her sweets rather than what that sleazy man is saying, but he definitely has the totally wrong impression. The creep. And, shit, Sarsaparilla looks like she is ready to Judge him right here and now.

"Say, why don't you visit my place? I also have spare beds, you know."

"Could we? So if Teylon has to take in more girls we still have somewhere to go?"

"Sure, I'm sure there will be no problems..."

Oh double shit. Sarsaparilla has reached her limit. From here on, I can't help you, man. Not that I want to.

Leroy could see that Sarsaparilla had just made a deliberate effort to relax and make herself look calm and reasonable. She then called out.

"Hi, Kaydence! I see you have brought us some ice creams also!"

"Yes! This man was so nice I gave him one, but there's still plenty enough for you!"

The man jumped slightly and turned around to see who she was talking to.

"Ah, sorry, there, I didn't know your friends were here. In that case I'll be making my leave." he said, in an affable and calm voice.

He started to push his chair back to get up, but he was blocked by Sarsaparilla, a big and bright smile on her face, standing there.

"Leroy, if you could lead Kaydence out?"

Leroy leapt at the chance, glided to Kaydence's side, lowered himself to the floor and touched her arm.

"Here, this way."

Kaydence turned and walked in the direction she had been guided to. While doing so, Leroy looked back at the man who was now facing him, with Sarsaparilla standing in front of him.

What is she going to say to him...?

The man had a sudden look of horror on his face. He pushed himself as far back as possible in his chair, knocking the back of it against the table. As far back from Sarsaparilla as possible.

My, I do wonder what it is that she said to him.

Sarsaparilla turned and trotted after Kaydence. She smiled one of her super powered smiles at Leroy as she passed him.

Oh, wow, another of those dazzlingly incandescent smiles. Fortunately, I know I'm not her target. Otherwise, I would start running right now.

The three exited the food court as a group and strolled through the mall. There had been three deserts left, so they were each eating one.

"I know! Let's go back to Teylon's place via the river shore train!" said Sarsaparilla.

The river shore train was purely for entertainment. A train track meandered across the dome floor, mostly keeping with the shore of the river as it perpetually flowed in its sprawling never-ending loop. It had a steam engine (the boilers were powered by electricity) and was fully automated, but it had several live attendants who pretended to drive it but whose main job was to make sure that no one fell off or were run over.

Of course, Kaydence loved it. She sat outside, on one of the balconies, going from side to side, watching the parklands and river foreshore and shopping districts go pass. Sarsaparilla and Leroy sat inside on a bench seat, where they could clearly see Kaydence, but she could not hear them.

"Ah, Sarsaparilla, did you by any chance have a bit of assistance from our friendly Angel while you were talking with that - sleaze bag?"

By now, she had dropped her fake smile, which left behind an interesting mixture of emotions showing on her face. Mainly a combination of glee, and of fear.

"Yeah, that's right. I requested a soul reading of that sleaze bag, that real shitty sleaze bag -"

A look of disgust was now visible.

"Yuck! He was aiming to do exactly what we were thinking he was. But, but, as the soul reading make clear, he is no rapist. He had no intention of raping anyone, and never has. He's just seeks out vulnerable woman and convinces them to consent to - ah -to consent to you know what."

Her body shuddered in revulsion.

"So I asked Esmeralda if I could give him a 'little talk'", here Sarsaparilla marked the phrase with air quotes, "To express my feelings."

A small silence.

"And, and?"

"Did you see that part where he looked terrified and pushed himself back?"

"I sure did."

"Esmeralda explained that I could think of it as a tiny Judgement. Just enough to shake up his soul, and make it completely obvious why, but he was in no way physically hurt or damaged by it. And, while he was still suffering from that, I gave him a few choice words about taking advantage of innocent girls. Hopefully he won't be making that sort of mistake again!"

She was clenching her fists and staring at him with anger and rage.

Leroy leant backwards a little.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to do that to you."

Sarsaparilla moderated her expression.

"That's fine. I have no complaints about how you treated him. Although, you do realise, you're become just a little bit scary, you know?"

"I know. In fact, I scare myself. I can see now why Esmeralda warned us about going to the dark side. For a bit there, I so wanted to Judge that man for real, just like Teylon did with that Vicanef bastard. Momentarily I thought to myself that I would so enjoy doing that."

"Oh. Going to the dark side?"

"Yeah, I haven't gotten around to telling the rest of you about Esmeralda's warning, have I?"

"No."

She does look nervous about it, doesn't she. She also needs my help and - protection? Can I protect someone who's got an Angel of Death talking to her? I suppose I can try.

He extended his hand across the gap between them. Sarsaparilla gingerly took it in hers for a moment.

"Well, Sarsaparilla, if you ever need help, you can ask me. And, did you say she warned 'us'? As in the two of you?"

"OK. Thanks. And, yes, she said Adalace and me could be in danger of falling to the dark side. She didn't mention anybody else."

"Well, we all know that Adalace has a dark past." said Leroy.

"We just don't know what it is." said Sarsaparilla.

But I can make some guesses, can't I? Say, I wonder if I can be of help there? Maybe something from my own past can be of use? It could end up backfiring and I could get hurt - but does that matter?

Feeling self-conscious from all of the deep and meaningful exchanges they had had today, the two sat in friendly silence as the steam train chugged its way around the dome's perimeter. Kaydence by now was sitting next to the rail on the riverside, her hair being gently blown about by the wind from the sedate passage of the train, watching the river and the boats in it.

"Say, isn't Kaydence looking rather serious for once?" said Leroy.

At this point, Kaydence looked inside and realised that they were watching her. So she got up and came in. Sarsaparilla and Leroy, already sitting apart, shuffled further away from each other, implicitly inviting her to sit between them. She did. Knees straight forward, hands in her lap, head tilted down.

"I've been thinking... That man back there... He wasn't really a very nice man, after all, was he?"

A slightly startled Sarsaparilla replied "Err, no, he wasn't."

"It was probably obvious from the very start to you two, wasn't it?"

"I guess so."

A big sigh from Kaydence. She looked as if she was going to cry. In reaction, both of the others leant in to her sides and put their hands on her back.

"It was so horrible when I was taken away. I kept hold of that scarf all the time, to remind me of what I was missing. I lived in a dormitory with lots of other girls, but we never became real friends; girls were always suddenly appearing, and then just as suddenly leaving. I felt so lonely."

Sarsaparilla patted her back. "What did you actually do with your time?"

"Oh, it was just lots of classes. All sorts of things, mostly practical skills, plus science and mathematics. I didn't like it, and I never managed to understand the maths. I felt miserable all of the time. And then it became really weird; some man came and said I had failed and gave me a can to drink and I guess I was taken away to some other place - and - and - I don't really understand what happened then. I think I had a talk with some other man, and I promised to study really hard, but I don't know, I mean, my memories are confused at this point..."

Kaydence was sniffing by now.

"They must have done something to my head, from that point on I seem to have been in a permanent mental fog, I just got up in the mornings, had breakfast, went to classes, had lunch, studied some more, had tea, went to bed, every day of the week. I can't remember thinking about anything else, not even about you."

Kaydence nodded towards Sarsaparilla.

"And still it wasn't enough. I still couldn't understand all of that bloody mathematics!"

"My memories are all mixed up and blurry, but at some point I had another talk to that strange man, and somehow I end up thinking I was a stupid clone, I don't know how. And I was told to let myself be killed by that horrible creature Shane - and I just agreed to it and calmly walked to that place without thinking about it at all!"

Kaydence had both hands on her head; she was rocking side to side in anguish. The two others did their best to comfort her.

"And I thought that when I was reunited with Sarsaparilla it would all get better again."

That's almost exactly what Sarsaparilla said!

Leroy was also patting Kaydence's back by now.

"But - but - I feel I have lost so much time. Lost part of my soul in the process. I can't look after myself, things I should be able to do I can't, I can't even recognise creeps like that man for what they are; I'm sure that even back then I could have done at least that much!"

"There, there" said Sarsaparilla, hugging her.

"Don't worry, we'll look after you, I'm sure you will recover." said Leroy.

I'm lying through my teeth. How can I be sure of anything like that? But, we will just have to do our best."

"And, this Angel of Death thing. I don't understand, is that a normal thing now?"

"Ah, well, not really. I suppose it is just Teylon and me. As far as we know. And, well, I'm haven't anywhere near gotten used to it. But let's not worry about that for now."

"OK, I won't."

That's amazing, she is just going to accept it. Wish I could accept it as easily.

They were silent for the rest of the trip. Eventually they made their way back to Teylon's apartment.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

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Devina: Realising she can't look after Juniper just by herself

Devina and Teylon led Juniper in the opposite direction and eventually ended up at another clothing shop. They stepped in, strolled down a few aisles, and ended up at racks of dresses for teenage girls.

"But I don't know what to choose." said Juniper.

Devina was beginning to feel completely out of her depth.

Well, I'm not all that good at shopping for clothes either. In fact, what can I do, anyway? Teylon seems to be the one that has the power to bring her memories back. I'm just a useless hanger on with no particular skills to contribute.

Uh-uh, Teylon is having another one of those distracted moments.

Sure enough, the next moment he said: "Juniper, do you remember the time you went shopping for something to wear to your friend's birthday party?

"Ah - yes, now I remember. Mum drove me in our land vehicle to the closest dome that was big enough to have a shopping centre. I brought a nice red and yellow skirt and matching top."

And now Teylon is giving back to her another of her memories. What am I going to be good for?

Juniper, who must have now recalled enough to have some idea of how to shop for clothes, was now ahead of them, intent upon studying the rows of dresses.

And there goes Teylon again, getting another hint to give to Juniper.

"Ah, Devina, I don't quite know what to make of this, but Esmeralda has asked that you remind Juniper about spilling her drink at the birthday party. Just don't tell her it originally came from me.

Huh?

But she did as she was told.

"Oh, that's right. I went and spilt it all over my brand new dress. I was so upset, and Mum was so dismayed."

She faced Devina, put her hands over Devina's, and gently thanked her.

"I'm so happy that Teylon and now you are able to remind me of who I am. I think you are both very nice people."

"T-Thanks" said Devina.

I must have a talk to Teylon, make sure he never tells her anything about my past!

And why is Teylon, or Esmeralda, being so nice to me? It's not as if I deserve it.

"I know, what about we now look for something nice for you? What you are wearing now doesn’t really suit you." said Juniper.

"Err, I don't think..."

A smothered laugh from Teylon, who then managed to look solemn.

"Go on, I don't mind paying for you as well."

"Well, but..."

Juniper, taking this as a yes, tugged on Devina's sleeve and managed to lead her down the aisle.

An hour later Teylon and two young ladies, now wearing dresses that were a vast improvement to what they had on before, left the shop and moved on to a food court. Their original clothes, plus other new clothes, had been sent by parcel post to Teylon's apartment. They sat at a table, Teylon with a small coffee and each girl with a milkshake.

And Teylon has just had another of his 'Angel' moments...

"Say, Devina, when did you first find what your esp power was?" he said.

"Oh, that's right, my parents had taken me to a little playground which had a pebble path - and I just picked up a pebble and promptly turned it into rock dust. All of the adults were suitably impressed, although mum then proceeded to give me a talk about not using my power unless they gave me permission."

Teylon looked at her and raised one eyebrow.

He's trying to give me a message - I suppose ask Juniper the same question? And, of course, he would be able to do the move one eyebrow only trick, I never managed to. And he's the one with exclusive access to hints on how to remind Juniper of her memories. Not me.

Feeling a bit irritated at him, she nevertheless asked Juniper, "And do you have an esp ability?"

Her face lit up in a smile.

"Yes! I just remembered. I can generate a radiation shield around an object!"

"That sounds very useful." said Teylon.

Juniper stopped smiling.

"Actually, it wasn't. The object has to be no more then four or so metres away. And no more than a metre in diameter. And I can't shield myself. And, while the shield turns on automatically when a radiation source is detected, I have to deliberately concentrate to keep it on. And when I get tired or sleepy, I can't maintain it."

She looked despondent at this memory, then brightened again.

"But, anyway, Devina has helped me again to reclaim my memories!"

She thinks that I am helping her...

They finished their drinks and sat silently.

"Sorry, if you can excuse me, I need to go somewhere." said Juniper after a while.

They watched her walk to the back of the food court and through the door marked 'Restrooms'.

Teylon looked at Devina, raising his eyebrows, both of them this time, slightly.

Devina looked back, momentarily meeting his eyes, then looking away and fidgeting nervously.

Shit, I'm alone with a man. Well, we are in a public food court, but...

And, what do I say?

She started intensely at the saltshaker on the table.

"Teylon... Ah, I suppose by now, Juniper must be thinking that I'm also aiding her memories... But, but, is that OK?"

I can't even talk normally. I must sound pathetic. A total nervous wreck.

"Devina, it's like this."

And damn him, he sounds so confident. Not to mention reassuring. I can well believe that he was an accomplished con man.

"I have this Angel of Death talking to me, and when she tells me to do something; I have come to the conclusion that it is best that I do it. Exactly as ordered. And, for some reason, she wants Juniper to think that both I and you are looking after her equally."

"But, I'm broken. I can't look after anyone. And, when I die, I'm going to be dragged off to hell. After all, you keep on talking about this Angel of Death, don't you? If there is any truth in what you are saying, then she must judge people's souls and send them on to wherever they belong. And, for sure, I certainly don't belong anywhere good."

By now, Devina had picked up the saltshaker and was passing it from hand to hand in a distraught manner. Until she finally fumbled a pass, and it was in danger of making a crash landing on the floor. Only Teylon, who must have been anticipating this, managed to catch it. Briefly, he held her hands in his, then he lifted the salt shaker back to the middle of the table.

She froze. She trembled. Once again, the memory of the smell of burning skin passed through her mind.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to, err, trigger anything bad."

Teylon made a deliberate move away from Devina, putting a chair's width between them.

It's OK! He's not going to attack me! He's not my father!

I hate this feeling. Hate it. Hate it.

"Devina, in the past, when Esmeralda wanted me to pass Judgement on some person, in fact on some man since they have all been male, she made her intentions abundantly clear. And, I would like to say, she is not the least bit reserved about acting harshly, if she thinks that she needs to."

He gave a brief shudder.

"And, I can tell you, Vicanef's Judgement in particular was terrifying. Let's not talk about that any further, OK?"

"So, what I'm trying to say here is, if she is taking all of this effort to look after you, then she must think that you do have some hope."

The man's insane. Must be. But it's a nice type of insanity.

"Ah, thanks?"

"I don't suppose you would like to say why you think that you don't have any hope..."

Like hell!

But she remained silent.

"Ah, never mind, it's obviously none of my business. I can survive without knowing."

Juniper came out of the restrooms and started to head back to them. At the same time, two men, early twenties, happened to be passing. It was love (or something) at first sight - at least for the men.

"Hi, young lady! How about coming with us? Perhaps some drinks at my place?" said one.

Juniper stopped, smiled sweetly, and said "Thank you, but I need to go with my friends..."

"Aww, come on, I mean, your friends could come to, you know." said the other.

Juniper frowned slightly. "They can? Well, I suppose so..."

Fantasies running wild, the men dropped any attempt at rational thought. One took her hand; the other pointed the direction to go.

"Why not ring your friends when you get to our place? After all, they're not going to object, are they?"

By now, she was looking perplexed, and turned her head around trying to find Teylon and Devina.

"Oh, my friends are just here, why don't I ask them?"

Of course, Devina had already gotten up and was fast approaching. Think of a mother tiger coming to protect her young.

If those bastards harm Juniper in the slightest I shall collapse the ceiling on them, to hell with this being a public venue. Actually, is the ceiling concrete - damn, it's not. Then I shall find some other way of killing them.

At this point Teylon, who must have moved even faster, smartly stepped in front of Devina and faced the men.

What the hell! Get out of the way!

But Teylon appeared to have his own ideas about how to deal with this matter.

"Hi Juniper! I'm afraid we are due back at my place for lunch with the others, so, unfortunately, young men, we can't take you up on your kind offer."

The men were not keen on letting their prize go just like that.

"Oh, it's just an old man, what are you going to do about this, hey?"

"What am I going to do?"

Devina listened to his light hearted, calm voice.

You are still in my way! Just let me manoeuvrer these sleazy creeps near to a masonry wall and I will make sure they will never accost my Juniper again!

But Teylon did not move quite yet. "Well, since I'm such an old man, I don't suppose I can do much. I'll just let my companion here deal with you instead."

Finally, Teylon moved just far enough to one side, to allow the men to get a good look at Devina. She glared at them, a glare fuelled by the full power of her anger and rage and hatred of men in general, and her father in particular.

"Gulp" went one man. Both of their faces paled slightly.

They decided that maybe it would be a good idea to give up any ideas of making a conquest, and to go elsewhere to try something easier.

They mumbled their excuses, and hurriedly left.

Teylon had a good look at Devina's face, and raised his eyebrows slightly. Again.

Juniper also looked.

"Devina, why are you so upset?"

She held Devina's hands in hers.

"Those nice young men were just asking us to visit their house."

She's holding my hands.

She's totally innocent. Is this her basic personality, or is it a result of her lost memories, or a bit of both?

It's really hard to stay angry when she is being so caring.

But what do I say about those so called 'nice' young men? More likely shitty young men!

"Devina, did you ever have any boys bully you at school when you were younger?" asked Teylon.

What? Is this another of those Esmeralda supplied memory prods?

"Ah, yes? I mean, Juniper, do you remember when you were bullied by, ah, that boy, in your class at school - or maybe he was in a different class..."

"Oh. Now I remember. He was always nasty to me. That's right, I eventually ended up running home one day in tears, and mum came and had a big talk with the teachers, and that boy never bothered me again."

Juniper smiled at Devina.

"I'm getting a lot of memories from you, today. I am very gratified."

She stopped and appeared to be thinking.

"Oh, right. So those two men were really not nice men at all?"

She looked fearful, so Devina kept on holding her hand.

"I can't really look after myself, can I?" said Juniper.

She looked regretful. Not grief stricken, or anguished, or in the grip of any powerful strong emotion. Just a bit saddened by her state. She took Teylon’s hand with her other hand.

"Can I ask the both of you to look after me until I learn how to look after myself?"

"Yes. Yes. Definitely. I, err, we, will look after you." said Devina.

Juniper looked relieved at this. They strolled through the shopping mall and up the escalators and came to the surface.

Half an hour later, they were at a small zoo. Probably Teylon did not regard it as much of a zoo; there were no big fierce animals, and many of the animals were just boring farm yard denizens, such as sheep and goats and miniature cattle. There were definitely no rats or mice. Such creatures were not allowed on Mars, even inside the cages of a zoo. Also not allowed were things like venomous spiders or snakes. But there were non-poisonous versions, and lots of colourful fish.

There were even some insects, such as ants and butterflies.

But most definitely no cockroaches. Anywhere on Mars.

While Juniper was ohing and ahhing over some lambs, and incidentally getting back some more memories, Teylon and Devina had managed to hang back a bit.

"Teylon, I must know, are you willing to help Juniper for the foreseeable future?"

"Of course, this is all obviously pre-ordained by my Angel. And also, I'm quite happy to share the burden with you. Which is also obviously pre-ordained."

Half a metre separation between them, she managed to briefly look him in the eyes.

"Thanks."

"No probs. Don't forget to remind Juniper again about her spilling drink over her party dress memory. Oh, and I would like to add, when I looked back at your face while you were having that staring contest with those creeps - I could have sworn your eyes were positively glowing red. No wonder they were startled. I think Esmeralda might have helped you just a little there."

"Oh, well..."

I don't understand all this help I'm getting.

Juniper looked up and beckoned to Devina, a big smile on her face.

"Come here, there are some adorable little puppies!"

"OK, OK."

Holding hands again, the two ladies admired the puppies with their wagging tails.

But as long as this continues, I am not complaining.

But I have to rely on Teylon's help.

I can't do anything by myself.

I will have to force myself to get along with him.

Juniper looks really happy, right now.