I write today not with news, but a plan which Inca and I both believe will turn things around for Mary. Our young charge has continued to struggle—though the bullying has fallen off, she still feels lonely and cannot see the good in herself. She keeps a sharp object in her desk drawer, and sometimes late at night she will take it out and look at it. All that Inca and I have done keeps her from using it on herself, but we cannot persuade her to discard it entirely.
“This is why I am here,” Inca told me when I expressed frustration with this. “This is true danger, and if she yields to it, it will change the course of her life.”
“And it will be a pain that she carries with her forever,” I replied, looking down at Mary’s as-yet-untouched wrists and arms. She will often look at them, too, tracing her fingers over the smooth skin.
“The root of the problem is isolation,” I said after a while. “We are here for her, and that does help, but she does not know that we are here. She cannot talk to her mother because she is afraid of worrying her, and her brothers are too young to be any help. They can only be temporary comfort. She needs someone who can both understand her and respond to her.”
Inca suddenly straightened, her wings stretching out. “Asa’el, that is it! Stay here.”
“Wait—tell me what you are thinking,” I urged her, for she was on the point of leaving that instant.
She flicked her wings impatiently, but answered me. “There are other such young people in similar situations,” she said. “I may not have been assigned to them, but I should be able to find them—I know the taste of this pain. And then perhaps with your help, we can bring them together.” She was radiating excitement. “Asa’el, do you not see? This is a way we can help them all. We were sent for one girl, but perhaps we were meant to help many by bringing them together.”
“And teaching them to help one another.” I was beginning to feel the same excitement she did. “We will do exactly that. Go—I will stay with Mary.”
Beaming, Inca disappeared, and I bent over Mary, sharing my anticipation with her. She took a deep breath and went back to her homework with a lighter mind.
I know that there will be difficulties with this plan, but I think we have finally hit on something that will work. To have brought Mary into safety and happiness at last—it would be such a relief. I know, brothers and sisters, that your prayers and good wishes go with us as we proceed, and I am grateful, for we will need them.