She boarded the small personal jet Lazarus had reserved for her and looked out the tiny window. She hadn't been back to Italy in almost fifty years. She hadn't been back the Asylum in over a hundred years. She hadn't been to her home in over two hundred years... She sat back in the plush swivel seat and closed her eyes as the captain's voice came overhead and told her to buckle her seat belt. How she wished she could have taken the boat. These flying contraptions were trouble waiting to happen. She gripped the arm rests tightly and waited for the stomach dropping take off.

****
It was dark and raining the night she turned 18 and saw that ghostly figure outside the Asylum window. Had it really been Antonio? Had her brother survived the sinking ship off of the coast? She had learned that stranger things were possible. She had heard him speaking...
"I am sorry Don Vincenzo, she is my one weakness. I will watch over her all my nights, but I understand why we must let them have her instead of us."
Dear Lord no! Her brother *was* alive and was going to give her over to someone else?! This couldn't be right! She slammed her fists against the window, trying to get Antonio's attention, to let him know she saw him there. She raced to the door of her cell, pulling on it futilely, screaming madly
"LET ME OUT! MY BROTHER IS DOWNSTAIRS! I MUST SEE HIM!"
The guards merely banged on the outside of the door ordering her to be quiet.

She ran back to the window and saw that her brother was now standing alone, looking up at her window. He pulled a rose out of his cloak and laid it on the ground next to the tree he was standing under.
Again she could hear his voice so clearly.
"Little rose, you will always be in my heart and in my mind, even if you cannot be in my life anymore. I am sorry I cannot rescue you from this place, but know that rescue is coming. They say your mind must be fractured to hide the secrets you know. I will never forgive myself for agreeing with them. And I hope you never forgive me either. Goodbye little rose."

She slammed her fists against the window, rattling the bars, screaming at the top of her lungs "NO ANTONIO! DO NOT LEAVE ME!!!!"

****
Maddalena awoke with a start, body still sitting in the plane. She knew that she had been sleeping as they crossed to ocean. The captain's voice came over the speaker again announcing that they would be landing shortly. She unsealed the window cover and looked out at the lights of Italy. She would meet Kendov in Rome, and then head north to Piedmont, to the Asylum, then she would go south, home. Home.

Several hours later, she was in Rome and driving the rented car to the Coliseum, all of her mind working to keep Josephine away from the surface.

Kendov walked lightly across the moon covered steps of the coliseum's seating he bent low over a small area running a hand over the stone seating. it had been a long time. Kendov looked up to the royal box where he would meet Maddalena for the first time since praxis had changed.
Maddalena 's laughter can be heard echoing off the stone, bouncing crazily from almost every direction.
Kendov's face firms and jaw sets he was sure this was not the Maddalena he knew. "Maddalena, are you here?"
She whispers "Yes, are you?" she giggles.
"Yes I am here, just as I said I would be." he replies.
Maddalena moves out of a shadowed corner, everything about her screams unstable as she says "So you did, so did I, and here we are."
Kendov sits down removing the newly acquired sunglasses watching her withthe yellow wolf-like orbs
Maddalena tilts her head and peers at his eyes. She giggles softly. "Who has made you so angry?"
"I can assume your not really the Maddalena that i have gotten used to... Angry?"
Maddalena smiles "Am I not the Maddalena you had gotten used to... I suppose I am not. But I am who I was."
Kendov asks "so this is the true you?"
Maddalena laughs and leans forward to whispers "I don't think you meant to use the word True."
Kendov replies "Perhaps it's an oversight but I speak plainly..."
She smiles "The Truth is something most cannot perceive properly. It causes them difficulties. You want to know if I am the girl who accepted that rabbit from you?"
"If she's there. If not, I can't make you bring her back" He shrugs.
"You know the situation in Lamar was breaking her, yes?"
"No. She would still not talk to me openly about it all."
They continued to talk for some time as she explained what had happened in Warrensburg. Finally the conversation seemed to wind down.
Maddalena asks "Are you heading back to Lamar from here?"
Kendov says "Yes, I have to stop and get a bottle of wine from a very old crypt if it should still be there."
She looks up "Would you tell Stan I got his message?"
Kendov nods "I will, however when you get back to Lamar I will have a small gathering. I might even be persuaded to play for you."
Maddalena blinks and then smiles. "If all goes well, I will look forward to that."
Kendov smiles lightly at Maddalena "Even if it doesn't I'll come to bring you back."
Maddalena smiles "I see why she is fond of you. But I hope it does not come down to you retrieving us I will do my best to make sure she comes home."
Kendov frowns "Make sure you *both* come home."
She nods "I will try." and then she stands and begins to hum a song as she walks off into the night.