Mellisa looks over at the door. 'Another visitor?' she wonders.

  "Hello, I just came to check on Laurel since I heard she wasn't feeling well," Franklin says through the door.

  "Oh, that's nice of you," Mellisa says as she opens the door.

  As the door opens, Franklin sees that Elanor is already here. "Oh, I'm sorry you already have a visitor," he sheepishly says while rubbing his head.

  Elanor laughs and states, "It's alright. Come in the more, the merrier!"

  'Isn't this my house?' Mellisa curses to herself. She is too afraid to complain, though. So with a frown, she steps aside to let the boy enter.

  Franklin avoids making eye contact with the fuming mother as he shuffles over to the bed while avoiding Mellisa's eyes. "How are you feeling?" he asks apprehensively.

  "I'm doing alright. It was pretty rough in the morning, though," Laurel responds with a slight smile. As she answers, she stares at the boy's eyes. "You have green eyes."

  "Yeah, so what?" Franklin asks in confusion.

  Elanor strokes her chin with a bright smile on her face and says, "hmm, oh, you mean that!" she giggles to herself as she continues, "Aren't you too young to be thinking about such things?"

  Mellisa's face contorts into a mix of disgust and anger. Elanor glances over at her with a playful smirk ignoring her rage. The two kids are entirely dumbfounded, not knowing how the conversation has veered off-topic.

  Laurel jumps in to question Elanor, asking, "what are you..." As she begins to question Elanor, she is cut off by Elanor covering her mouth with her right hand.

  "Putting that aside. If your guess is right, he is also too weak to learn that as well," Elanor states as she flicks the boy's forehead with her left hand.

  "Owe!" Franklin complains while making an aggrieved face. He grabs his forehead to feel a bump already rising. As Franklin is about to voice his complaint, he is cut off by the door flying open.

  A red-faced Donna bursts through the door into the overstuffed room. "Laurel! Daddies is being poopy," the little girl grumbles as she runs into the room. She ignores everyone and flops onto Laurel's stomach.

  "oof," Laurel huffs as the girl's head butts her in the gut.

  Mellisa scowls at the girl 'When did my house become a place that people can just barge into?' she thinks angrily. "Donna Laurel is sick. You shouldn't rough house like that!" she scolds as she moves to pull the girl off.

  "I told you I'm fine, mom!" Laurel rebukes her mom as she pats Donna's head.

  "Really, how did you grow up to be so willful. You were so good when you were little," Mellisa complains as tears form in her eyes.

  "Mom, I," Laurel responds as her eyes float down to her hands.

  Wilbur then comes running into the still open door looking deflated. "Sorry, Mellisa! I don't know what's gotten into her," he says while making an apologizing gesture with his hands.

  "Daddy poopy!" Donna yells while trying to dig her face into Laurel's stomach.

  Elanor laughs and picks up Donna by the collar. Now hanging in the air, the girl crosses her arms and puffs out her cheeks. 'Even a mad pouty Donna is cute,' Elanor thinks. "Come on, tell big sis what's wrong," she says as she pulls the girl into a big hug.

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  Donna slaps Elanor on the shoulder as she squirms in the women's iron grip. "Bugh SS!" Donna yells while being suffocated by Elanor's ample chest.

  "Oops, sometimes I forget about how well endowed I am," Elanor says in embarrassment. She covers her mouth and giggles coyly as she releases the girl.

  Donna pops out from between the two peaks and gasps as if she hadn't breathed in minutes. "Big bully sis, Daddy says bushy can't talk and move. But bushy did!" the girl explains.

  Wilbur takes a knee while trying to gesture for Donna to come over. "Even if you say it did. I'm sure you just took a nap on the hill and dreamed it," Wilbur concludes. The big burly blacksmith with his beard blowing in and out looks quite funny as he tries to entice his daughter back from the doorway.

  Elanor pats the girl's head and consoles, "Oh, the dumb bush on the hill? That idiot, if he's going to pretend to be an ordinary bush, he really should do better," Elanor then pauses and looks over towards the hill before continuing with a mocking tone, "What are you going to do next? Do cartwheels through the village?"

  Everyone looks at Elanor with twitching lips. Isn't this humoring the little girl too much? However, Donna has a smug look on her face as if to say, see, I told you.

  A male's voice abruptly sounds in everyone's head, "I clearly can't do cartwheels when I'm rooted in the ground. Are you trying to make me a tumbleweed? Those are dead, you know."

  "Bushy!?" yelps Donna, who is also surprised by the bush talking from so far away.

  Mellisa stumbles in shock and is saved by Elanor's solid arm grabbing and holding her up. Wilbur blows out his beard with mixed feelings. He's happy his daughter wasn't lying, but this new presence might be dangerous. Laurel's mind returns to the visions she'd had of a tree battling in the sky with wide eyes.

  Franklin has a queer expression on his face as the familiar voice fills his mind. "Teacher?" he asks inquiringly.

  "Yes, it is I, John!" His voice sounds in all of their heads.

  Unimpressed by John's theatrics, Elanor states, "he's just an idiot who had a defective reincarnation. It's not that impressive."

  John's branch droops as he replies, "Well, the reincarnation part is true. You can still be a little impressed."

  "No, you can't," Elanor retorts with disinterest.

  "Bushy is so far away but can still talk! Bushy magic!" Donna exclaims with bright eyes.

  "He's not magic. I can do it too! There's nothing special about it," Elanor competes by sending her voice into everyone's head.

  John becomes a bit more upbeat and says, "well, that being the case, if you ever want to converse with me, you can do it by calling my name. Unless I'm busy, I'll respond. But don't rely on me too much."

  "Bushy lazy," Donna concludes.

  Elanor laughs and ruffles Donna's hair. "That's right," she praises.

  Gregory's voice floats over from the open door as he yells, "Donna, come feed those devil rabbits before they bite off my leg!"

  Due to an incident with demonic bunnies and Donna feeding them her snack, the village has created a small cage for the rabbits. They are labeled as emergency food, but no one wants to see the little girl cry rivers due to losing her pets.

  "Silly Gregory, they are just little fluffies!" She squeals at the silly older man. "Bye. Bye!" She says as she leaves, waving.

  "Sorry about this, Mellisa. You kids don't bother her too much," Wilbur says as he follows after his daughter.

  Elanor stretches happily, thrusting out her chest sensually. "Well, this was more fun than I expected. But I should be going too," she states. She then grabs Franklin and lifts him by his torso. "Come on, boy, she's not in the mood for your sweet nothings today!" Elanor laughs as she exits the shack.

  "Good riddance," Mellisa harrumphs as the door closes. She then turns to clean up a bit, only to feel her sleeve being grabbed.

  "Mom..." a teary-eyed Laurel whimpers. She'd held in her worries and fear for the visitors, but now, with them gone, she is exhausted.

  Mellisa wraps her arms around her daughter as they both cry. "It'll be alright, darling," she says while gripping with all her might.

  Outside, Elanor observes Donna feeding the demonic beasts in the pen. Donna is dancing with the rabbits as she teaches them the necessary steps. During the escape into the Unbroken Region, her father had carried the girl to the clearing. Her head was shoved deep into his chest. While she heard the screams and howls, she avoided much of the trauma of the other children.

  Donna waggles her finger at one and scolds, "Fanny, you did it wrong again, try harder!"

  The scolding causes the bunny named Fanny's ears to droop dejectedly. They all hop around and on Donna without their typical ferocious nature. Even the big men are scared to enter the pen to feed these beasts. While like Joe, they only eat vegetation, their teeth are as sharp as a piranha. They'd get at least a few bites no matter how careful they are. But this little girl has easily tamed them with just a bit of fruit.

  'Perhaps she has a knack for beast taming. Maybe I should call it pet training and give her a few tips?' Elanor muses as she goes off to find better prey for the wedding feast.

  Out in the field, Anna solemnly says, "We need to talk."