Anya loves her mama not because she makes up for what her papa lacks, but because of the way she smells when they hug. The way she holds Anya 's hand with both of hers when Anya tells her secrets that she knows would blow her papa 's top off. The way her mama will sing to her at the drop of a hat, and the way she makes Fettuccine Alfredo with extra everything on the days she comes home from school with a scowl on her face.

The last one is a more recent development, but she likes that about her mama, too. That she likes to try. And for the first few days of Yor 's absence, these reassurances feel like enough. Her mama will come back, because that 's the kind of person her mama is.

But with each passing day, the fear she 's carried since before any orphanage or science experiment grows a little louder. So when Loid tucks her in for the fourth night in a row, she asks, voice small, 'Will Mama ever come back? '