Two worlds colliding; the final trial

Isabella went to the lake. She pretended to take the baby around. There, she found him, as Josh had described him, fishing.

"We have to go," Tatin looked at her.

She looked at him, wondering at how he looked now that he was again in front of her after a long time. Nothing changed with him: "bushy eyebrows, small lips, fine nose, fair skin and almond eyes that were tame and could attract any woman." His skin was fair and he was tall.

She felt awkward as she was with a toddler.

He looked at her. She had not changed either. She was a beauty— a waist so small and skin fair and smooth. Any man would get attracted to.

She smiled. He smiled, too, glad that they found each other. Then, they embraced—they had longed for that moment—two souls separated by war. Then "snap"--the two stepped into the beasts' world.

They would resolve an "issue" of the past.

They stepped into a palindrome portal.

Back at the wolves' world, the arguments at the court had invited hundreds of beasts to the venue.

"The more that she put us in danger," Tatin and Isabella overheard a man said. He was in his senior years.

They were quiet. Tatin had prepared for this moment. He was her defender in the court.

After a long time, he could not afford that he and Isabella lost their argument to the other side so that they would be separated again.

"Death to traitors!" The crowd was noisy.

The pro-love wolves in the audience quickly transformed into beasts' mode. They would not give Isabella to the present government, not again. Not again. Not after a long time and they had prepared for this final battle. They would have to gain grounds, physical or by intellectual arguments.

"What is wrong when a wolf finds his heart throbbing?" began Tatin.

"Woah!" young wolves sneered while the faces of the elders were serious. "We want to know!"

Michael was seated behind Isabella and Tatin.

"Doesn't our hearts beat for only one reason? He walked closer to the young men in the venue, looked them in their eyes.

Then, in a voice that was full of emotion and drama, he started his arguments with a few lines from Shakespeare's 116th sonnet.

Was he able to get their attention? Tatin was trying to feel whether he could turn public opinion to his side. Isabella and Michael were calculating the audience. There were smiles on the lips of young men. The arguments that followed stirred up more whispers that grew into noise.

The older men, however, were not impressed.

One of them, Ares, stood up.

"How many times have we been penetrated by the enemies because of that sickening love thing? How many times has it endangered the wolves' security and people tried to burn us alive because they can't stomach how we look and think? How many times have they tried to kill us as citizens of this country? They could not tolerate our divergence."

"Well said," one of the men in the audience said loudly. The argument was likewise well applauded.

The panel of magistrates decided to postpone the hearing on the issue. Tatin, Isabella, Michael, and Gabriel left together. They had guarded each other since then when Tatin let Isabella and Michael enter another world.