"Mal'akh went to the witches' manor?" Samantha asked, "I would have thought they would have scared her from even considering it."
"Aimiliona was her sister, and they loved each other dearly," Marie-Eliza told the other glass pup, "family bonds commonly overcome fear and potential danger. It's why your father, mother, and aunts all fought against Kurse. It's why your sisters fought to free you from her. It's why my father tried to protect me from a highly venomous creature despite my indestructible form."
"Would Mal'akh save her sister?" Lilly asked.
"That would be getting ahead of things," Marie sighed.
++++++++
Joella made her way toward the Bialyk home in a very deliberate manner. The young lioness that she had seen talking the Leoman cub that had recently come to live with them was the sister of that cub, and being the kind and innocent child that that she was, Joella felt she had to ease the other cub's fears. She was met by the father, Mahershalal, before she could even knock on the door.
"Is my daughter cured? Or... or..."
"She is fine and happy," Joella answered, "I've come to talk with your other daughter."
"Mal'akh?... what is wrong with Mal'akh?" Mahershalal asked.
"Nothing that I know of," Joella answered, "she came by the manor the other day seeking her sister. I tried to tell her that she was welcome, but she fled."
"I see," Mahershalal answered, "Please follow me."
She then followed the male Leoman into a relatively small living room where the young lioness was reading from a book. She did not notice Joella's arrival, yet.
"Mal'akh, you have a guest," Mahershalal announced as he gently urged Joella forward.
This time Mal'akh noticed Joella, and only her father's presence kept her from fleeing.
"You are Mal'akh, right?" Joella asked, wanting to be respectful, "I pronounced it right?"
"Yes," Mal'akh answered, "what is your purpose for your visit?"
Joella inwardly cringed, not understanding why this Leoman was so scared of her.
"I just wanted to say you were welcome to visit your sister whenever you want," Joella spoke, "you and your family could even stay if you wish."
Mal'akh shook her head, "I don't want to be mad. I want my sister back."
"Aimiliona is being cared for."
"I doubt that," Mal'akh replied, "Not in a way that would HELP her. Those witches want her to be mad."
"Goldwyn wants everyone to be happy," Joella said, "she doesn't want anyone to mad at anyone."
"No she doesn't," Mal'akh said back firmly, "I know she doesn't."
"No you don't," Joella argued, "Goldwyn helps people. So do her sisters."
"Help them go mad you mean," Mal'akh retorted and slowly backed away, not really caring if this was "uncivilized" or not. She knew what she had seen.
"They've done no such thing," Joella said, not understanding why the cub was accusing her "foster parents" of everything, "they're trying to help everyone. They wouldn't hurt anyone."
"I WATCHED them drive my sister mad!" Mal'akh growled, "I watched them give my sister that candy and it drove her mad. I saw them do it... and then they killed our dog when he tried to protect us."
"That dog was rabid," Joella repeated the witches' lie.
"Why would we keep a rabid animal?" Mal'akh asked back.
++++++++++
"Rabid?" Cassandra asked.
"Having Rabies," Lawrence answered, "a lethal disease of the brain that makes those affected bite others, transferring the virus through the saliva. It's why we get annual booster shots to maintain a vaccination against the disease."
"Was there a vaccine then?"
"No," Lawrence answered, "from what I've read, Lupman and Leoman that were bitten by Rabid animals were commonly hung shortly after being bitten and then their bodies burned to kill the virus."
"Why hung?" Betty asked him.
"Reduced the risk of some scavenger coming along and licking up the spilled blood with the virus in it," Lawrence answered, "though, something tells me that Joella and the witches had little understanding of the disease other then that it was lethal and dangerous."
Marie nodded.
++++++++++
"If Joshua was Rabid he would have bitten anything and we would have contracted the disease," Mal'akh spoke, "and we would have to die to stop that "chain" of the plague that Rabies is."
Joella didn't really get the cub's point. The dog did attack Gaal rather quickly and got Solome by accident. Wouldn't that have qualified as Rabid behavior? She guessed that Mal'akh loved the pet as much as her sister did and didn't want to admit that her friend was sick.
"I didn't come to fight," Joella spoke weakly, "I came to say you visit your sister whenever you liked."
"And they'd just let me come home afterward?" Mal'akh asked, "they wouldn't drive me mad so that I'd worship those witches too?"
Unaware that that was precisely what would happen if Gaal, Golgotha, or Gomorrah caught Mal'akh there, Joella nodded.
"Of course," Joella spoke, "we're trying to help people."
"Well... I thank you not trying to keep my sister from me," Mal'akh then said, noticing her father's almost stern look, "but that place scares me. I'd prefer it that if we visited it was at the outer edge of those thorns and with no one else around."
"I'm afraid that may not be possible," Joella spoke, "there are these evil hunters that have come to kill all the children. Goldwyn doesn't want any of the children to go away from the house her knowing or without a bodyguard."
Mal'akh wondered what this was about but didn't say anything for a moment.
"Maybe with a Leoman then," Mal'akh offered, "I'm not out to start a war. But your foster parents scare me and I will not go near them if I can help it."
"I see," Joella nodded.
++++++++++++
"Joella told Mal'akh about the hunters?" Samantha asked.
Marie nodded, "Joella had to explain why the witches preferred to have any interaction on grounds that the witches unquestionably controlled. And from Joella's point of view, protecting the child familiars was a good thing, because she didn't know that her foster parents were merely using them."
"Yes, we get that point," Maddex nodded, "but... who's that?"
Marie looked curiously the to mutant wolf wondering where his question came from. It was answered when she heard a voice speak that made her blood run cold.
"Here you are, Marie," came her mother's voice.
Marie slowly turned to see her mother approaching calmly from behind the group.
"Mother? How did you..."
"The same way you did, dear," Eliza came forward and lifted up her daughter, "I sensed you encountering something troubling did what I could to help."
Marie was speechless and practically paralyzed with fear. Her mother was a normal human. There should be no way for her to enter the mirrorverse without her help. And the line about her mother doing something to help frightened her even more. Did this have something to do with the love dolls she and Serenity had encountered...
And as that thought hit her, Marie realized that that had to be it and the reasons why. She had cheated in trying to restore the souls that had been with the love dolls before reality had shifted making them nothing but love dolls and those souls had never existed... ever.
"No," Marie gasped in horror and then clutched at her mother, "NoooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Her cry became a fearful and guilty sounding wail as Eliza continued to hug her daughter, her mind feeling Marie's guilt on every possible level while Lawrence, Betty, Alice, Abbey, Samantha, Lilly, Cassandra, and Maddex all looked on in confusion.