As if to add to her words, the two black wolves on either side of her growl loudly as a warning. I know who those two are, but...
"Liam?" I mutter to Nora. "Where is Liam...?"
"He's fine. Don't you feel him? Mara, calm down, he's alright. I healed him before I came to you."
I nod. Indeed, I... I can feel him. He's coming this way. Thank Moon Goddess... Nora smiles, and caresses my cheek gently.
"You've done great," she whispered. "We didn't want to let you fight alone, so we waited until we could intervene... You did great, Mara."
I chuckle nervously. Moon Goddess, why do those words feel so good...? I nod, and before I can resist, I start crying again. A few steps behind Nora's shoulder, Selena's golden eyes are on me too and she nods.
"That's right, witchy. I'm proud of you too. But remember, no matter how strong of a fighter you are, you need to trust your friends, okay? We are no good without backup. Moreover... you're part of the pack now. Remember that. You're a witch, but you're also one of us, okay?"
I nod between my tears, but my throat is too tight to answer. Selena sighs.
"And next time you go head first into a fight without warning us, I'm kicking your ass. So remember that too."
I laugh nervously and Nora chuckles, grabbing my wrist. She uses this... strange white halo thing that I can't even see clearly between my tears. Meanwhile, though, Selena goes back to being serious, and still crouching down, she pulls Ayesha forward. The Fire Witch has lost all of her previous arrogance, visibly terrified of Selena and the two black wolves.
"Now," she says, "I strongly suggest you start talking because I'm tired of watching Mara run around for answers and not getting any. So, what the hell is wrong with you guys? Why Silver City, why us? Is it about the Royals’ power again?"
Ayesha grimaces, but the three-legged wolf next to Selena growls in warning.
"I-I wouldn't care for your city... It rains all the damn time here, why would a Fire Witch care?!"
Selena slams the back of her head, pissed at her attitude, but… she does have a point.
"So?" I ask, frowning. "Why the hell are you here if you don't care about Silver City?"
Ayesha rolls her eyes.
"You... You said you wanted to break that curse, didn't you? Well, you're not the only one! Isn't that why we're all here in the first place?"
"...What?"
"The curse... Wait, you really don't know?"
She stares at me, looking surprised, as if she had just understood something. Then, she glances at Selena before turning back to me.
"The curse, you have to break it where it first started! Here, in Silver City!"
Nora and I exchange a glance. I did not see that one coming...
"The curse began... in Silver City?" I repeat, baffled. "The whole... the tale of the witch and Luna, it was... here?"
"Yes," says Ayesha, rolling her eyes. "Damn, I thought you were just trying to keep it all to yourself, but you seriously didn't have a clue? Everything leads us here. Witches have been trying to break this curse since... well, ages."
"So Silver City was the starting point?"
"Girl, that's what I've been saying. You think we like knowing that there's a curse waiting to drive us nuts? I don't care much about the werewolves or the humans, but no witch wants to let that damn curse go on. We try to protect the few children we can have."
It makes sense... Witches are becoming rarer and rarer, and that curse probably hasn't been helping with that. If they couldn't even fall in love with a werewolf without risking the possibility of their partner going crazy, then this ought to be a real issue for any witch. Even those who don't care about werewolves, they might have tried to break it just to protect the future generations.
"Generations of witches have tried to find a way to break it," she continues. "Eventually, we narrowed it down to Silver City. From what we know, this is most definitely where it all began."
"...Ravena mentioned that to undo a curse, you have to take it back to its very start."
"Yup," she sighs. "It’s like a knot, you need to find the beginning and the end to undo it. Otherwise, you'd risk making more of a mess. So we had to find where it happened, and why. Unfortunately, Silver City has been a bit of an... occupied territory."
