Marni had first met the girl a couple weeks before, not long after beginning her work at the Shelter. Nothing too unusual about her; there were several people there who were lacking a working organ or two. And it didn't bother Marni too much, two weeks earlier, when a sudden onslaught of people seeking help at the Shelter crowded it so much that the girls had to become roommates. As for taking care of the girl (who seemed extremely strong-willed and self-reliant in spite of [or perhaps because of] her blindness), that was easy enough; the thirteen-year old Magdalene Defoe took care of herself well enough for the majority of things.
It's just those rare times when she couldn't that got to Marni.
They weren't annoyances, really, as much as they were callbacks to Reality, for both of them. Reality that not everyone is capable of doing everything, Reality that Marni would actually have to put some effort into taking care of Maggie. And although she didn't really mind it, she couldn't say that she was too terribly fond of how Maggie had acquired the habit of following her around, almost like a little lost puppy at times. And like a puppy and a child, they were exceptionally close, one seeming to be the caregiver though the other would put in small quantities of large homages to make up for it. This became very clear one day as they were walking through what could be called a garden somewhere near the center of Crucifixus:
"Marni?"
"Yes?"
"Are you going to go to that island?"
"You mean Sanitarium?"
"Yes, that one."
"I guess so. Eventually."
A pause.
"When?"
An even longer pause.
"Not soon enough."
Another moment of semi-awkward silence, finally broken by:
"Can I go, too?"
And that, Marni decided later, was what officially re-kindled the dying embers of her hope to get to the Isle.
At least now she wouldn't be going alone.
A/N: So, how is it? Thanks for reading thus far!