59 Helping Hands - Part 2

They didn't talk much as she watched Rozaa mix frosting in a bowl. Once it was ready, Rozaa was much more focused on the design than Lera. That was a relief. It gave her time to look around the house and take in her thoughts.

She was out of the house, alone and talking with someone she didn't know. It was an improvement that she was very much aware of, but it didn't make it any less difficult. She turned back towards Rozaa watching the effort she put into her cooking.

Rozaa finished her cookies and handed one over to Lera.

"Try it." She offered it with a smile.

Lera took it and tried it out. The cookie and frosting weren't too overly sweet, but there was something else that she recognized. It was familiar, but she didn't know what it was. It seems her reaction was what Rozaa was expecting.

"That's the cinnamon."

Cinnamon with a cookie was familiar. Too familiar, but the taste was off preventing her from reaching the answer she was searching for. But that didn't take away from how delicious the cookie was.

"I hope you don't mind me wondering, but what's a young woman like you taking care of those kids? My son seems to be good friends with Ayanni. I'm a single mother so I can understand how tough that might be for you."

Lera almost choked at that.

"I'm not their mother. They're just staying with me here." That was the most Lera had said to Rozaa, but perhaps that was because she had let her guard down.

"How old are you? I mean you seem really close to their age…"

"I'm thirty-five, but I guess I'm just family…" It was nice knowing that she was family to them, but age was a problem. If she is some powerful being who created worlds and universes, then won't she out live them? That stung her in the heart.

"Really, you don't even look older than twenty. How do you do it?" Rozaa was flabbergasted.

Lera just gave a small chuckle as she looked away. "I don't really know…"

"It's just so weird that you're older than me. I'll be turning thirty-five this year… What I wouldn't give to feel younger again…" Rozaa gave a small laugh after taking another bite of her cookie. Her face turned somber the next moment.

"Are you ok?" Lera asked.

"It's just… I'm a bad mother. My son is working a job while I stay home all day. It was nice to meet you, but I'm having fun while he's doing his best to make money." Her eyes drifted away and down towards the floor. "My wife… she died… I've been sulking here for so long that my child has to take care of me. Watching him push himself for his sister and I, just hurts."

Lera sat there, really unable to help her or comfort her. She didn't know what to say or how to help her.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me." She wiped a tear forming in her eye away. "I just…" Lera noticed she was eye to eye with Rozaa and her tears just streamed out. The only thing she could do was to at least keep her from falling on the floor.

She too has been vulnerable. She has wanted someone to understand her, to help her. She recognized that Rozaa wanted to get those feelings off of her chest and the fact that Lera had been the one she was alone with, was a coincidence.

---

Paroppe was really tired, so she was heading back home. But of course she took the long way and passed the apartment building three times. She was avoiding entering the building. It wasn't like she didn't want to go there, but she just wanted more time to think.

What did she want in her life? Adventure? That was actually easier to answer than she thought. Though that was what she had been thinking for a while. So why did it feel… wrong? She wasn't entirely sure just yet. She wasn't getting anywhere and was getting frustrated.

Now she was going up the elevator with a frown on her face. Walked over to the apartment and went inside.

"I'm back Lera."

There was no answer, but in a way she did expect that. Though when she looked for her little sister, she wasn't anywhere around. She was happy and worried at the same time. Either something bad happened or Lera finally went outside. So she sent a few messages to Lera.

[I'm back. Where are you?]

[Are you okay?]

[Please answer. I'm worried.]

[Lera?]

She was mostly worried. Although she was aware that Lera was the most powerful being ever, that didn't mean she didn't have to worry. She was mentally fragile, but she was making progress. So she messaged Ayanni.

[Where are you?]

[Almost back to the apartment.]

[Is Lera with you?]

[No. Did she go missing again?]

'Seriously!'

Paroppe has had enough with Lera leaving. Why couldn't she understand that she would be there for her?

Paroppe saw the door opening.

"We need to go right now!" Paroppe was practically shouting at Ayanni as he walked in.

"Where to?" Lera asked.

It wasn't Ayanni like she thought. Paroppe went over and hugged Lera.

"Where were you? I was worried about you." Paroppe gripped Lera on the shoulders tightly.

"I was next door. Talking to Thrann's mother."

Only now did she see the plate of cookies that Lera was holding.

---

Ayanni was running back as fast as he could now. He pushed past a few people, as gently as he could. If Lera left him and Paroppe on this world, he was going to be furious.

'She better still be here.'

Everything was going well. He honestly couldn't understand why Lera would leave. He was getting more messages and he assumed they were from Paroppe freaking out. He quickly looked down at his wrist and yes they were from Paroppe. So he moved faster throughout the crowd around him.

Until he bumped into Neven who was eating a sandwich. He just happened to pop out of the store Ayanni was about to pass by. It was either him or a mother holding her child. It was the best choice, although meeting him again had been entirely coincidental.

"Are you ok?" Even though Neven was covered in vegetables and meat, he was the first to get himself up and help Ayanni up at the same time.

"I'm fine, but I'm sorry I need to go now." Ayanni took off her hearing call after him. He turned around to see the man just standing there cleaning himself off.

Thankfully the apartment building was right there. He pushed open the doors and ran inside. Pressed the arrow up for the elevator. It was taking its sweet time. He was looking at the numbers on the multiple elevators. All of them were taking too long, so he opened the staircase off to the side. Thankfully he already used the stairs once to walk down. Of course now he had to go up seven floors.

He was breathing heavily the whole time and when he reached his apartment door he felt like he would fall apart. Once he opened the door he could barely voice his worry for Paroppe, who was likely distraught over Lera. His eyes fell on the two sitting on the couch.

"What's… going on…?" He got that out of him before he slumped on the floor in exhaustion.

"Why haven't you answered your tech pad?" She asked that before she turned around, but once she did, Paroppe ran over to Ayanni. "What happened to you?"

"You said that Lera ran away again."

Paroppe looked through her messages. "I messaged you that everything was fine, but you didn't reply back." Then she leaned into whispering in Ayanni's ear. "She was helping Thrann's mother, I couldn't find her and freaked out. Everything is better now. I'm sorry I made you worry."

"It's fine… just let me catch my breath."

---

They all took the next day off spending the time watching Sparkling Gate and eating the bread that Lera had made. Paroppe had made Lera promise that if she went anywhere she had to message both her and Ayanni.

Before that night ended, Ayanni had a small conversation with Lera. Making sure she was ok. He also brought up a suggestion for Lera.

"I've been looking up different things. One of those things has to do with you. Psychology. I think it would be best if you talked with a therapist. You have always been better talking to Paroppe, but you need someone outside of us to talk to."

Lera didn't want to decline. She did have things she wanted to say. To work through, but would talking to someone be the best idea? Some of the things she wants to talk about include things not of this world.

"Are you sure it is a good idea?"

"I do. I'm still looking into it, so if you want to wait until I do more research, then I'm fine with waiting. Though keep in mind our time we are heading back to Suul is in two weeks. I read the earlier you talk to someone the better and you will need all the time you can get."

"Alright."

Having to run up a flight of stairs had made Ayanni a bit frustrated. This was one of the things he looked up, but it was far from the top of his current list. After that event though, it had jumped high up. He had already made a call the previous week to a doctor about it. The man was understanding enough that he didn't need to go into detail too much and had answered his questions.

Now, he was ready to make a call for Lera. She needed to get better before they went back. He did not… want to deal with Jev if Lera was broken again. Once everything was set in stone, he told Lera to tell Paroppe.

---

Two days later, Lera found herself in front of a building. She walked inside, found the staircase to the second floor and entered the office. She filled out a form with information that she had created to not arouse suspicion. It was a request from Ayanni after telling her that she would need some form of identification. At his request, she made the same thing for him and Paroppe. Like their bags, it would serve them across worlds in the future. All of them did show interest in traveling to more places.

After waiting for a few minutes worrying over what might go wrong, she was called. She tried her mantra, but it didn't help the anxiety she was feeling. A woman, with blond hair, asked her to follow her. After sitting down on a chair across from the woman, Lera was fidgeting with her hands.

"Nervous?" The woman asked. Lera nodded in response. "Don't be. My name is Dr. Hemmy, just call me Hemmy and you?"

While she had written her name down on the paper that Hemmy was holding, she still asked it.

"Lera…" She was a mess right now. It was a bit easier since she talked with Rozaa the other day, but the mess she made from her leaving had set her back a bit.

"What brings you in here?" Hemmy asked.

"A friend said that it might be helpful for me." There were multiple questions that Lera had answered truthfully.

Hemmy just glanced at the paper in front of her. Lera felt bad that she was making things more difficult for her. But it was too difficult for her to speak up without a prompt from Hemmy.

"Tell me a little about yourself. What do you enjoy doing?"

"Cooking and watching the stars at night."

"What kind of foods do you enjoy cooking?" Hemmy seemed enthusiastic about that question.

"I made loaf bread recently. It was banana nut bread."

"Those do taste good. Nice and warm with a little butter on top."

Their conversations went on for a while about food.

"You mentioned the stars. Why do you like looking up at them?"

"I guess I always did, I just don't know why…"

"Did something happen?" Hemmy pressed Lera. She had looked away at that moment after looking straight at Hemmy when she was talking about her food creations.

"I lost my memory about two months ago." Lera wasn't sure why she was saying this now, but she didn't want to stop. "I had met some people that had given me a name and taken care of me. Later when we found my home, there were recordings left by my past. With pieces that I had worked out and what was left behind, I learned that I had made mistakes. Hurt people and they hated me…" Lera had tears in her eyes.

"In the last two weeks since I came to this city, I've had this feeling of familiarity. It was strong and was impactful on me. Though once I went to, saw, or interacted things that I had in the past, that feeling lessened. Like my current memories were filling in the gaps that I had lost."

It was nice and terrifying to tell someone else about her.

"That must have been scary."

"It was."

"Are you still with these friends of yours?"

"Yes."

"Good and keep them close. I noticed that you care a lot about them." Lera smiled. "I'm sorry to tell you, but our time is up. For now just talk to your friends and if you need to talk, call my office."

Lera nodded understanding that she was out of time, but she wished there was more. Perhaps she could stop time and have Hemmy talk to her? No, that would be essentially kidnapping and forcing Hemmy to talk with her. That wasn't right.

She set up another appointment with Hemmy on Friday. She said she had an opening and that since that session was more for introductions, it was best to get another appointment right away.

---

Lera was back at the apartment to find that Ayanni, Paroppe, Thrann, Carxs, Ophebo and Urenol were sitting around the tv. There were snacks on the table and the counter top. There was a game console hooked up to the tv. It was a fighting game, she felt a small chunk of that feeling fly away, Ophebo and Paroppe were going at it. Based on the health bars on screen, Paroppe was losing against Ophebo, who was getting into the game. He was barely on the couch. The others were sitting on pillows and blankets on the ground.

"… Jev was like 'my sister is such a handful'. She challenged him to a duel. There was a crowd standing around watching them, because of how vocal their bickering had been."

"I wasn't bickering. He just didn't understand that my fists were as good as his." Paroppe quickly corrected.

Though it fell on deaf ears and her character on screen was pushed into a corner. "As I was saying… They were bickering and during the whole duel neither of them would shut their mouth. The ground was dust and soon both had kicked up enough for them both to start coughing. The both stopped right there while the crowd was laughing. I was the true winner that day."

Paroppe was frustrated after losing her match, threw the controller, lightly, at Ayanni who caught it in the air. Ayanni passed the controller to Thrann who faced off against Urenol.

There were chattering, laughing and crunching of different foods around. Paroppe walked over to Lera and gave her a hug. Though when she talked to Lera she kept quiet.

"How did it go?"

"It was good. I guess it was a good idea Ayanni thought about it." Lera whispered back.

Paroppe smiled and brought her over to sit next to her. Lera just watched everyone's happy smiles.