Betty didn't believe this, "Hold on, before the roman lupmans didn't know an Inquisitor was
a man's only job among humans, and so when Kathrine bungled and said 'she' when asking
for training they didn't go to the authorities. But suddenly, when Marie herself shows up to
figure what Kathrine is up to, they suddenly know that logically Marie shouldn't be able to
have the job?"
And Lawrence added, "And THEN the Roman lupman said they assumed the person
Kathrine wanted to help was a man, when she had said 'she' repeatedly when she was
pleading for them to teach her!"
And the last adult Maddex present said, "And Marie said she did her best to hide her
gender when out and about, but the assassin who she fought and killed before recognized
her as a woman!"
And Lawrence added, "Did the word 'asylum' even EXIST yet? This was between when the
mentally ill were seen as either victims of possession, or were visionaries, and expected to
be taken care of by their loved ones, and seen in 'modern' times as a genuine illness. In
other words, when the insane were nothing more than animals that needed to be tamed via
harsh almost inhuman methods. They were considered no better than animals, and were
treated no better than animals."
Glass Marie felt a headache coming on. She felt as if the past as continuing to change as
things balanced themselves out, with people catching up to things at different rates. All in
all, it was just giving Glass Marie one big headache!
+++++++++++
Jesen was in his office, but so concentrated on his long neglected task of keeping an eye
on the pack's holdings, that he never once looked outside the window and never once saw
the dance of chaos that he, the teens, and nearly everyone who wasn't looking after the
injured or listening to Glass Marie's story was now engaged in.
Zelipe stayed with Amy in her small scale Shinto shrine.
The dance outside had become a full scale spontaneous production by those who now had
the dance of chaos engraved in their bones and those who were entranced into joining in
as they looked at the hypnotic movements, several times more powerful than the Omega's
dance.
Even the mourning cubs for the death of their mothers were pulled into the dance,
becoming one with it, become whole with it. It was almost a pity one had a video camera to
record any of it. The practical sea of naked furry brightly colored bodies moved like an
ocean with waves and tides.
And at the center of it all, Amethyst remained... her heart pounding, her arms and legs on
fire to where she wondered why they didn't burst into flames. Her lungs gasping in and out
for air.
This went on for hours. To the point where some of the pack and pride wondered where
some of the other were, the ones who wandered off joined the dance.
Amethyst knew this was beautiful, she knew it was good, she knew the dance that never
repeated itself in precisely the same way was transcendent... finally the six foot tall plus
lupman's legs gave out from under her and she fell to the ground with a thud. Gasping for
breath on her hands and knees before those gave out too.
The dance stopped like a plug had been pulled, some crash into each other, others stopped
right where they stood like statues, yet others stood around looking about as if they had
just woken up from a dream.
Garnet was the first one to reach Amethyst with concern for the eldest gem wolf... true to
the curse Garnet was sure was placed on her as revenge towards her absent parents,
Amethyst cost that moment to collapse totally and Garnet was underneath her pillowy
breasts with Amethyst breath blowing on her fur. Garnet sighed, 'Oh whatever... at least it's
comfy...'
++++++++++
1685 Fall
'Three years... three years... dammit... ' Marie considered leaving Kathrine behind and just
go with Vatican and Draco as soon as she could, but she was honor bound to test
Kathrine's abilities at the end of the lupmans' three year training regime. 'At least there's
no way Kathrine can possibly win. I may be half-blind but my gift can see just as well. I'll
know what she'll do before she does.' Part of Marie really wished she didn't need to bring
along any allies, including Vatican. 'Gargoyles don't heal at all... if any body is damaged to
broken, it stays that way... ' They might have been made of stone, but that meant nothing
to these enemies.
"Ya hear? The Inquisition is not doing so hot!" Said Zoey to one of her gossip sisters. What
was with her and standing in the hallway and blabbing these things? The Abbess was going
to punish her eventually for this.
"If you ask me they have it coming. Whatever happened to... 'ye shall not kill?' " Said a 'nun'
yet to take her final vows until later that month.
Marie sighed.
+++++++++++
1685 Winter
Kathrine panted, using the spear as a cane, her muscles burned, and every time she
thought she had reached her limit or maybe was making a little headway, Armando either
pushed her harder or slowly made the training more intense. It was somewhat oppressing
on her sense of accomplishment. But improving she was... slowly but surely she was. She
just needed to... needed to... catch her breath and maybe... lay down for just a little bit...
"Cat, monkey."
It was about as ugly a slur as calling a lupman a wolf. And Armando used them to prod
Kathrine into getting back on her feet whenever Kathrine felt now as a good time for a little
good sleep where she stood.
Kathrine thought of the cover story used to make sure that her life as a would be nun and
the side kick to a trained killer for the church didn't contradict each other.
"I need to ask," Kathrine said, "Who IS precisely looking after the pups your Omegas had?"
Armando said, "The Omegas of course, and when of course they're busy turning the
smaller wheel of the pack, we had whoever happened to be on hand do it. ... Worthless
Omegas, breaking tradition, having pups, what a waste."
Glass Marie said, "This was sixteen-eighty-five, what did you think they were like? And
remember this wasn't -your- pack, it wasn't even from the same country!
"Draco was NOT HAPPY to hear he'd have to shift his entire plan to getting them legally
across the sea by three years! And that would leave Marie only about two years before she
knew the lines of fate reached the point of no return and the world the witches wished to
create would inevitable become reality. But, as much as Marie loathed to admit it, she had
given her word. So she used what time she had productively, learning anything she could
about how magic actually work, and how it -didn't- work. And of course... taking care of
business for the Inquisition on under the table affairs.
"I could have been... immortal..." The alchemist gasped out, his blood, as much blood as
quicksilver it leaked from his body. His fully grown Homunculus was impaled to the wall
bleeding white seamen.
"And all that time I thought it was going to be another blood sucker..." Marie thought,
looking at the ruined lab. And the quicksilver poisoned corpses of the alchemist's test
subjects... some willing, some not, all promised immortality of it had worked. "Idiots...
God is the only path to eternal life." Marie said simply before gathering some items to
submit to the inquisition and left.
That christmas, Marie and Kathrine exchanged gifts on New Years. At the same time Marie
was wondering if she should tell Draco she was 'Marius.'
++++++++++
1686 Glendale - Spring
The three witches had finally physically recovered from the rune fiasco. The magical
shockwave had damaged many of the geasses they had placed on the various citizens.
They would have to repair them one by one.
It had taken months for them to realize where they had gone wrong. This was done with
the fairies pointing them in the right direction, one fae explaining they were merely
returning the debt they owed the witches. Though the fae weren't quite sure what that
debt was, some had the odd feeling it was towards their very existences.
The damage to Gogatha was glaringly obvious... half her face was effectively gone,
replaced by a death's head which she covered with her hair.
"I think we tried to do too much at once." Gomorrah said Solome on her shoulder.
"What?" Gaal snapped.
"I just mean, maybe we should try to balance things out, if we can't change everything at
once, and if we can't do much good to save children from becoming adults just one at a
time... then we need to figure out a middle road."
Her two sisters had to acknowledge this begrudgingly. So they began their research and
plans from the ground up, but at a much faster pace than before...
+++++++++++
"How are things looking?" Madam Serenity asked Father Mike.
"Paul is keeping track of our stockpile so far... not nearly enough to use for the water
supply... then again, we knew this would take more than a day... or a week for that
matter... "
Madam Serenity nodded. This cure wouldn't magically make itself into the large stockpile
they'd need.