The first time Pepper met Carmine, she was twelve, and she was directly responsible for the woman's temporary destruction.
She doesn't consciously remember that meeting. But sometimes Carmine features in her dreams.
The next time they met, in some war-torn town a long way from Lower Tadfield, Pepper was no longer a child. She took one look at Carmine's red hair, and her almost unnatural beauty, and forgot why she was there, although it had been important to her once. When the other woman held out a hand, Pepper took it without question.
She has been following Carmine ever since.