Nanoha and Fate discussed many things, but one subject remained off-limits. When it came to Fate's "gentle mother," they remained dimensions apart. Nanoha's interaction with the woman had been mercifully brief, in one sense, at least. In others...
The scars on Fate's body and soul had faded with time but would never be fully gone.
Nanoha knew this, of course, on an intellectual level. She had studied the subject of abuse as relentlessly as she did everything, attacked the situation as if it were an obstacle she could power through. But on an emotional level, in her heart, she couldn't comprehend Fate's continued affection for the false memory of a loving mother, not in light of a subtle but abiding sadness that only Precia's love and approval could ever abate. Which was something that would never happen, even if the madwoman hadn't given herself to entropy as Time's Garden unwound.
"Ever since I created you, I've always hated you."
Takamachi Nanoha had always found hate to be a hard emotion to muster, even towards someone who was trying their best to do her harm, but she couldn't help but hate Precia Testarosa for the pain that malice-filled remark inflicted upon Fate. And she couldn't help but feel some measure of hurt at Fate's admission that, yes, had Precia accepted her final offer of protection, the young mage would have stood by her side or joined her in oblivion, turning her back on her new-found friends.
Nanoha appreciated Fate's honesty; it was one of the traits that drew her to the young woman. And she was, in general, a big fan of honesty in and of itself. Still, there was a part of her that wished that Fate had lied through her teeth. Or that she, herself, had had the good sense to have never asked in the first place.
There was an awkwardness between them for a time after that, which lasted longer than either of them found comfortable; a hard silence that was quieted only by their unspoken agreement to not speak of it again.
So, Nanoha understood, intellectually, why Precia's picture had a place on their nightstand; just as she understood Fate's very real need to take in kids with no home of their own. In truth, she had needed Erio and Caro every bit as much as they needed her. Even Fate's chosen profession was in reaction to her mother's crimes. She was shaped by memories, true and false, of her "gentle mother."
But in her heart, Nanoha couldn't help but see an enemy whenever she looked upon that picture of mother and child, both smiling happily, and it had her taken no small amount of time for her to come to accept that not all enemies could be Starlight Broken into submission.