Chapter 21
On the kitchen table, the giant pizza was nearly finished. Anemo was just thinking about taking a break from planning his trip to Egypt to enjoy a cosy family evening when the loud, sharp ring of Aura's phone snapped him back to reality.
The woman answered straight away, looking calm and happy, but the expression on her face changed almost instantly.
"What do you mean, A&E?! Yes, of course... I'm on my way! CCU, did you say? The Coronary Care Unit? Oh, my goodness, I'm coming right now!"
Aura hung up the phone with shaking fingers. Trying not to panic, she grabbed her handbag in one hand and her car keys in the other, and spoke to the family in a tight, worried voice:
"I have to go right now!" Her eyes were filled with tears. "Daisy... poor Daisy! She wanted to be in top shape for the book club she's hosting at her house, so she suddenly took up running. You know she's a bit chubby... she pushed herself way too hard, far beyond what she could handle, and she's been rushed to the CCU! But the problem is, I can't come back alone. I'll have to bring Lady Bell here, her little perfumed Lavapoo. I can't leave her all by herself in that massive house! Anemo, get ready, I'm bringing her here for a bit!"
The door slammed shut behind her, leaving a heavy silence in the kitchen. Anemo and Professor Simoon stared at each other, completely stunned. There was no room for making fun of Mrs Queen anymore. Now it was crystal clear that all the joy she always showed was just a mask. It hid something deeper and much more painful: her struggle to be liked by everyone, to look better, slimmer, and fitter... It was the desperate desire to fit into the perfect boxes created by society. Box ticking like that shouldn't make anyone's life so hard.
In the living room, Fleur dropped the remote control, and the furry friends went completely silent for a few minutes.
It wasn't long before Aura came back. She dropped a bright pink canvas pet carrier on the hallway carpet before rushing off to the hospital for good. Straight away, a familiar, rich, and fancy scent of lavender and lilies filled the House of the Winds, completely covering up the smell of pizza.
Through the fine mesh of the carrier, two big, brown, bead-like eyes, filled with endless sadness, peeked out nervously. She looked around the room where she had been a guest just a few days ago, back when she was still with her "mummy".
The furry friends gathered at the edge of the living room, ready to welcome the little chocolate-coloured pup. They all had a soft spot for her ever since that match on Ether Rise, when Lady Bell had tried to adopt their master's dog-shaped slippers.
They just felt incredibly sorry for her. They had known her for ages: a lonely little dog, missed out on any real fun, living a life without a proper childhood. She was locked away just to keep her clean—treated like a luxury accessory to match her owner's outfits.
"Look at her," Mistral meowed softly, his voice unusually warm for such a proud chat noir. "She's worried sick about her mummy."
Sirocco took two steps forward, sniffing the perfumed air. In his ginger pirate eyes, all thoughts of sports rivalries were completely gone.
"Miss Remi," he said, turning to the white cat, "you tell her not to worry. She trusts you, especially since you gave her that pink ball of wool."
Remi-Bise took a few steps towards the puppy and, using her gentlest voice, coaxed her to come out of the carrier and join them.
"I promise you, little one, your mummy is in safe hands now. And as for us—we're going to look after you and let you play with all our toys. You can even go out and play on the grass in the garden."
"But won't I get dirty? If I get dirty, Mummy will be cross."
Aeolus appeared from behind the table leg and wiped a paw across his whiskers:
"The perimeter is totally safe for her. Don't worry, Bell, our grass is spotless. Look at Sirocco! He hunts in the garden all day long, and his fur is still super shiny."
She stepped timidly onto the fluffy carpet, her little paws shaking a bit. Fleur knelt down on the floor and opened her arms wide:
"Come here, Bell! You can tell me anything. I'm one of you! No one is going to stop you from playing here."
The puppy looked at Fleur, checked out the tomcats, and, for the very first time since passing through the metal arms of the turnstile, her chocolate tail began to wag—timidly at first, then faster and faster.
"I think I'll take a little holiday here in the House of the Winds," she said, sounding a bit braver. "Mummy will come and get me as soon as she's better!"
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