Episode Twenty-Nine: Aurora Silver is Willing to Wait

In which someone plays a long game. Featuring: a woman with a dangerous goal, a girl-turned-bird-turned-girl, a second treasure hunt, a gift from the past, a dawning comprehension.

Episode description: Almost twenty years ago, a terrible induction.

Episode Overview
Aurora Silver plays the ringmaster. The girls go on a treasure hunt.

Trigger Warnings

 * Abuse, manipulation, starvation, dehumanization, references to captivity/slavery.















Episode Summary
The episode opens with Aurora Silver monologuing at a fifteen-or-so years younger Mabel about the process of purification, welcoming her to El Segundo Academy, Mabel's boarding school in her teenage years. We cut back to the present, where an incredibly freaked-out Mabel screams at Anna about cutting herself apart to get Mabel back from the House's jaws (see Matryoshka).

Veratrine starts being a jerk about it and Anna and her have a fight highly reminiscent of twin sisters going at each other. Mabel cuts them off, talking about how the House has trapped her for her entire life. After they fight for a bit, the House starts making noises and Anna moves away from the other two, Veratrine trying to convince Mabel to trust her. Mabel refuses.

It doesn't work, and Veratrine mimics Anna's first line ("I'm going into the ground for you") before mocking Mabel as they follow Anna. Anna finds a key in a broken mirror; Mabel threatens to murder Veratrine, and they decide to go find the clock that the key belongs to. The Unknown Voices continue Freaking The Hell Out, only being more worried when they get a call from Aurora Silver. Anna opens the clock and finds the owl pellets Mabel collected as a teenager, along with a picture of Lily's old room. Once they head to Lily's room, they find a datura seed pod. Anna tells Mabel she loves her.

They then find Mabel's childhood diary, which is horrifying as most of Mabel's childhood was, and Mabel and Anna fight before Veratrine says that Anna is a murderer; after a small bit more of arguing, Mabel realizes her journal holds a nursery rhyme which becomes the key to the whole affair. They realize that, since the King cannot back down from a challenge, Anna needs to create a ritualistic challenge in order to become a challenger to his throne for real.



Continuity
''' Please note that this section contains spoilers for later episodes of Mabel. Continue at your own risk. '''


 * Mabel's journal is yet another example of exposition being handled by a Martin girl's old diary.
 * The nursery rhyme is explored in more detail here.
 * Vera calling Anna a murderer centers around Anna severing the connection between herself and Mabel while at college.
 * Tressa Davies can be heard in the walls in this episode, three episodes before she properly arrives in Tressa.





Trivia
'''Please note that this section contains spoilers for later episodes of Mabel. Continue at your own risk.'''


 * This counts the third time Anna tells Mabel she loves her, and the first time she says it to her face rather than over voicemail. Mabel has a hard time understanding that people care about her, and thus is dumbstruck for a solid minute.
 * The treasure hunt through the House is a well-used literary trope, especially in fairy tales.
 * The picture used when this episode dropped is the painting Perfect in Their Misery by Arthur Rackham.