[ Alice figured as much. If Emporio has never learned that there are supposed to be adults who take care of him, then there most likely never was a figure like that around for him, Alice thought. And it turns out to be true. Not that Alice blames his mom for it - if she died when he was that young, she must have been pretty sick, unable to take care of him. ]

When you're still as young as you are.. Your parents are supposed to take care of you. And if they aren't there, then another adult ought to do it.

[ Granted, she knows things don't always work out that way. That awful Bumby is the perfect example of how it's not supposed to go. But in theory, in an ideal world.. ]

You're too young to worry about big things. Like food, or protecting yourself, let alone protecting others. That's what your parents were supposed to do. It's what my parents did for me, until they died as well. [ See, that's the difference. Even if Alice's parents died in such a sudden and awful way as well, she still had a good few years with them. She was younger then Emporio is now when they died, but she was old enough to remember them, to remember how they took care of her before everything went straight to hell. ]