Cassiopeia's View Been underestimated my entire life

"Do your best and leave everything else for them to figure out," Lele replied, thinking briefly about Larkspur and what her role had been in her life. She had not attempted to replace anyone. Not even pretended to do so and yet for a long time Lele had seen her as a mother figure, because that was, how families in the traditional sense worked? And if only she loved her step-mom enough, she would change. She had never asked, but - perhaps - Tambourine had believed in this too. That and the fear of abandonment. 

"No, I do not have any children," she shook her head, though she wished to have them just to prove that there was so much in her to give and to remedy every piece of neglect and abuse she had ever suffered from Larkspur. But then... it often occurred to her - was her wish to battle and win demons of her past the right motivation to bring children in this world? Just the same way as having a relationship for fear of being on her own? The latter had applied to her father - as more years passed, she saw it more clearly. He had stuck with a person, who had made his life miserable, as long as he had, because the alternative had been worse. Messed up, really.

But it seemed that those with better backgrounds (Maia had not said a word about this, but she assumed) did not have it any easier in life. "You live nearby?" she asked.