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	"Dory," Diana started quietly.  "I'm so sorry.  I had no idea it affected you like that.  I..."

	Dorothea sniffed back a few tears.  "You couldn't have known.  You had father to help [i]you[/i] cope," she hissed with venom in her voice.  "I... I honored our agreement to stop mating with him after Warren and I became serious... but to watch you and him comfort each other like that, I just..."  She sniffed yet again, this time bringing an arm up to wipe her eyes.  "Fuck... it wasn't even that you were doing it.  We'd talked about it, and I said it was fine... but that night I found you two and... just... how rough he was being with you...."

	Diana gasped quietly.  "Did you think he was...?  Dory, no!  He wasn't...!"

	"No, no!" Dorothea barked back.  "I know you both better than that!  I [i]know[/i] that's what you liked!  The [i]problem[/i] is that... well..."  Between her tears and her anger, a dark flush tinged the older sister's cheeks.  "He never did that with me, even when I begged him.  It was obvious that he favored you if he was willing to.  It was the final straw, and I just... I couldn't take it anymore.  So I cut you two out of my life for good, or at least tried to."  Dorothea's hardened gaze turned to Starla.  "So, did the old bastard put you up to this, Starla?  Another effort to torture me?"

	Starla took in a deep breath and steeled herself as best as she could.  "No, this was entirely my idea," she admitted.  "Grandpa misses you, both of you."  Her gaze shifted to Diana.  "And before I started asking questions, you had no idea why mom left home.  Neither did grandpa."

	"He had no right to an explanation," Dorothea insisted tersely.  "He should never have played favorites."

	"He didn't play favorites," Diana interjected sharply, sympathy flooding her gaze as she gripped her sister's shoulder.  "I... I twisted his arm for the rough treatment."

	Dorothea's glowing eyes appeared to flicker for a brief moment.  "I... I don't believe you."

	Diana's lithe form seemed to shrink a bit into her robes.  "You and I both know you're lying," she quipped with a light chuckle.  "He hated, and I mean [i]hated[/i] being rough with me, but I wouldn't take no for an answer.  You know as well as I do how much of a pushover he is, and I wouldn't stop pushing him...."  It was the mage's turn to tear up as she looked to her sister.  "I had absolutely no idea that that's what bothered you, I swear it."

	The slate-furred Dorothea sniffed yet again and appeared to physically bite back tears.  "Then how come he wouldn't give in for me!?  How come he wouldn't come for me when I needed him the most!?"

	The mage's maw quivered as she struggled to speak.  "'Cause you're the better daughter, stupid.  You respected him when I wouldn't."  Diana had become increasingly distraught the longer her sister poured her heart out, and ultimately the mage fell to her knees, choking back sobs as best as she could.  "Dory... I am so, so sorry... please... don't blame father for this... it's all my fault... be mad at me, not him...."

	Suddenly, Dorothea was upon her sister... wrapping her arms around her and clinging to her as the both of them finally let their tears loose in a serious bout of ugly-crying.  Their exchanged words became unintelligible, but it was at least somewhat apparent to the observant Starla that some semblance of understanding had finally reached her mother.  The snow-furred worgen smiled slightly to herself and quietly stepped back to close her mother's front door as the sisters cried, and as awkward as she felt watching them, a swelling of quiet hope overruled the awkwardness.  As concerned as she was about her grandfather, she knew better than to disturb her mother and aunt, and as quietly as she could she tiptoed upstairs to her room and shut herself in for the time being.

* * * * *

	As their tears steadily subsided, the two sisters began to speak coherently once more, and before too long they were speaking as if they were true siblings once more.  Dorothea's anger had abated at least for the moment, and Diana desperately worked to answer any question she had and assuage as much of her negative emotion as she could.  Ten minutes later, the two were practically laughing with each other at some of their old memories, carefully helping each other up as they wiped away the last of their tears.

	All of a sudden, Diana's fur bristled and stuck straight out the back of her neck.  "Shit!  Dad!" she echoed and grew serious once more.  "I think he might be in a bit of trouble," she admitted.  "When Starla came to me, she seemed nervous about some howls out in the countryside.  I think they might've been him, which is why Starla asked me to come here."

	Dorothea grew stern once more.  "Ugh, that girl... you see what I've had to endure for the past decade?  Constant trouble, I swear."

	"You think she sent him off the deep end?" Diana joked with a laugh.

	"Maybe," Dorothea returned in all seriousness.  "I doubt he told her to do this.  She probably snuck out on her own, and since we both kinda did that to him...."  The stern worgeness let the thought hang in the air for a moment before turning heel and thundering up the stairs.  "STARLA!"

	Starla gently opened her door just a crack to peer out at her furious mother.  "Y-yeah?"

	"Come.  We need to find your grandfather," she added sternly, though the fiery anger wasn't nearly as strong in her voice.  "Diana, can you take us to his hut?"

	"He's probably not there," the mage reasoned.  "He was howling much further than I recall his hut being."

	"Then I'm sure I know where he went," Dorothea added confidently.

	"Yeah," Diana agreed.  "Take my hand, squeeze your buttcheeks, and don't let go, both of you."