win back Tara

That evening Tara heard a knock on her dorm room door. She opened it to find a worried looking Dawn.

"Tara, I need to talk to you," Dawn said.

"Dawnie, what's wrong?"

The young brunette walked into the room, closing the door behind her. "Buffy's acting strange. And..." she bit her lip. "And I think Willow has something to do with it."

Tara was afraid of this. Willow had gone so far overboard with her magic over the past few months... more than anything she wanted the sweet girl she'd met in Wicca group back, or the confident, responsible woman who'd stepped up to take care of Dawn after Buffy had died. But the person Willow had become in the last few months... Tara was afraid of her. Willow was still good at heart, she was sure of that, but she'd gotten so IRRESPONSIBLE... "What do you think she's done?" she asked.

"I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the thing in this box," Dawn said, pulling a small cedar box out of her tote bag. "Do you recognize it?"

Dawn opened the box, and light flooded the room. Tara tried to look away but found she couldn't. She tried to close the box, but her arms wouldn't obey her. obey New thoughts flooded into her mind, pushing against her defenses, trying to change her.

"Dawn," Tara said, "close the box. Please."

"Why?" Dawn asked, looking innocent.

Tara tried to answer, but it was hard to form coherent thoughts with so much of her energy devoted to fighting against the from the glowing orb. "It's t-telling me things," she finally managed to say.

"What sort of things?" Dawn asked.

"That I'm a lesbian," said Tara.

"Well yeah," said Dawn. You are."

"That I love Willow."

"But you still do. Everybody knows you're not over her. So the box is just telling you stuff that's true?"

Tara tried to explain, but it was so hard to stay focused. "It's also telling me that Willow is a Goddess... that I worship her... that I need to share this with other women..."

"So if it's telling you stuff that's true, and it's telling you that Willow is a Goddess, that must be true too," Dawn said reasonably. "If it's telling you to worship her and spread her worship, that's what you should do. Right?"

Tara tried to shake her head, but her neck muscles wouldn't obey any more than her arms would. It all sounded perfectly logical...