Alice didn’t know what to do with a little like her who showed fear. Although she followed Alice to a town where the people are walking on both roads, dodging the carts that comes and go. She never threw away that fear. Alice guided the little one to one of the shops, and bought her a new dress instead of the ragged one she had. After that, she weave her way through the noisy crowd, and entered a place where they could eat.

The little girl was entranced by the smell of the food that enriched the air. Alice led the little girl to one of the tables, and had her sit while she chatted with the waitress who were busy twirling her trays. The customers were simple folks who she assumed were the workers of the town, enjoying their day. The waitress to their order and for a minutes Alice waited until the food was laid on their tables.

“Can I eat this?” asked Nia.

Alice gave her best to smile, “You can, please, and it is my treat.”

She took a bite of the chicken-like leg. She grabbed hold of the steaming potato and ate. Alice noted that her hands were calloused. She had many bruises and only when she healed her wounds that she followed her. Alice thought back to the orphans that she had led, and yet she couldn’t let her eyes away from Nia.

I killed you when I escaped that world. I killed you. I murdered you. Now…I dare to feed you. Why am I so depraved to the point that I do this? Ah, I am jealous that you could enter the cycle of reincarnation free from memories, you soul is the same, still cursed, but you are Nia, not Vie, oh Vie, why do we have to meet again?

Vie, the Bleak Walker. A woman with poisoned hair. She lives in a swamp and was one of the dangerous bleak walkers that had existed. Her fate however always ends with her dying inside a well, and by Alice’s hands. Alice didn’t know why in every timeline she would be forced to kill Vie.

Why does fate like me to meet those who I wronged? Ah, Vie, oh Vie, I wish I could repay you…yes, maybe in this life I can. Oh, you are so young, and yet the curse…it is still in you.

Alice stared at the little girl who ate like a rabid dog. She didn’t noticed Alice staring. Her face was smothered with oil and grease. Her expression was a little better than when she meet her. She was starved and she didn’t even know that she was dying.

“Do you like it?” Alice asked with fear in her voice.

Nia’s eyes sparkled. “I do! Thank you! What…do I owe you?” She asked fearfully. Alice knew that this little girl, despite her age was a wonderful soul, and she wasn’t that surprise she would be like this.

“Think nothing of it,” Alice told her. “I live to serve those who are lost.”

I like to think that I do, she thought. That self-deprecating voice was not leaving. She could hear heart break. Her stomach curling at the thoughts crawling in. A dry laugh escaped her which she was able to hide. Alice didn’t know what was happening to her. She should be helping around, but the thoughts were grabbing her will.

“I don’t get it,” she said honestly. “I-I can’t just eat without paying! See, Ma said that I shouldn’t.”

“Where’s your Ma?” Alice asked.

Her eyes went dimmed. Her hand holding a spoon trembled. Oh I know that gaze, young lady, too well.

“Do you have anywhere to go?” she asked.

“No,” Nia said. “I…thought that maybe if I sleep on that place I’d be taken to the place where Ma and Pa went. I want to be embraced by earth-mother.” She lowered her head.

The Earth-Mother was what they call the planet. The Hominy spell allowed those who belonged to this world to die, and be taken to rest where they would enter the cycle of reincarnation, and be born again. Free from the memories of their past and free to redo their life without care for the weight they had carried. Alice thought that the sound of it was tempting, and she would throw herself down the earth-mother’s embrace if she could. But that dream or temptation won’t happen. Not when she’s the burnt woman that had burnt worlds. Not when she’s a monster, a sleeping goddess that rests her prime body on a lonely prison that she rules.

The umbilical cord of light that connects her to the burnt woman was present. Her mind as Alice Dame was slowly being filled with the memories of the burnt woman. The memories of the monster that played savior. A cursed woman that had wanted flowers of hope to bloom on people’s faces.

“I need someone,” Alice desperately said, shutting down the pessimistic thoughts entering her head. “To take care of me…be with me. You are alone, right? I can give you food and a bed to sleep if you become my companion. No, don’t give me that look, I am not asking you to be my daughter. You love your ma and pa enough that you’d want to be embraced by the earth-mother. I understand that, but I need someone to accompany me. Please?”

Alice said, begging to the little girl who was tilting her head, worried, confused. She examined Alice’s eyes as if trying to figure out her motives, alas, the food on her belly probably decided what she wanted the most. Alice wondered what the little girl had seen during the past days. She couldn’t heal her past, but maybe she can give this reincarnated soul a safe place to stay.

Safe? I wonder how long? If I do, will I have to watch her grow old, get married, bring me her husband for blessings, and then see her lovely children and grandchildren? How long until I fill another lot with the graves of those who I adopted? Why? Why do I keep doing this? Why can’t I stop myself from caring.