"What's the plan then?" asked Sacha after a few minutes of silence.

Rona pointed up Victoria Street, striding purposefully but cheerfully. "My friend works just up here" she said. "We'll drop in and say hello."

"Right. Hmm . . ."

Even Rona, in such an eager and oblivious frame of mind, couldn't ignore the tone of discomfort in Sacha's voice. "What's up?" she asked.

Sacha thought for a moment, composing her words carefully. "I get the feeling you've decided to be my chaperone in this town or something. It's . . ." she suddenly stopped. She knew precisely what was irritating her about Rona today: it felt to her as though Rona had decided she needed looking after - as though Rona had decided she wasn't capable of taking care of herself. It offended Sacha. She'd been managing perfectly well in this city before Rona came along - hadn't she? And now all of a sudden it seemed she was being treated like a child. She felt patronised, and it annoyed her deeply.

And yet when she looked at Rona, who was waiting eagerly for her to finish her sentence, Sacha suddenly realised that she didn't want to say any more. Even though so much hurt pride was building up inside her, she now realised one thing more than anything else: she didn't want to hurt Rona's feelings. Having prepared her complaint, Sacha now couldn't bring herself to deliver it. Instead, she concluded simply: "It just feels a little odd, that's all."

Rona giggled. "Gees" she said, "you're acting like you don't actually like going to new places and meeting new people." She grinned at Sacha; Sacha just raised an eyebrow and looked at Rona over the top of her glasses - no mean feat, given Rona's stature. "Oh I know, I know" said Rona. "Anti-social, non-social, blah, blah, blah, whatever. Come on." She stopped outside a grocery and pushed the door open. Vietnamese lettering was scattered boldly across the shop-window. Rona entered the shop and Sacha followed.

At the far end of the shop was a counter with a cash-register on one end; behind the counter was a young Vietnamese woman. She looked up when she heard the door open and broke into a broad grin. "Rona! I haven't seen you in so long!"

Rona walked down the length of the shop with her arms stretched wide; the Vietnamese woman stepped around from behind the counter and met Rona in a warm embrace in the centre of the shop. "How are you?"

"You know me!" laughed Rona. "I'm always great. Here, here, you've got to meet someone." Rona dragged her friend by the hand towards the doorway, where Sacha was still standing, examining something on a nearby shelf with studied absent-mindedness. "Phuong, this is Sacha. Sacha, Phuong." Sacha turned and smiled as sweetly as she could manage. "Hi" she said. "Nice to meet you."