"Right," Collette said, sounding chipper. "It doesn't matter, and it won't make us upset or feel alone at all. Nope! Or at the least, we won't stay down."

She smiled with a certain edge of understanding, perhaps even a hint of amusement following on remembering what it felt like every time someone left, or was lost, or went places she couldn't follow. It hurts.

"You keep caring for them anyway. And caring for others, too. Being lonely's not a way to live forever!"