It hadn’t taken long for the Guardians to show up and take everyone into custody. The event had echoed throughout all ley-lines and places of power within the region. Elissa and Garrett had both been placed under house arrest while Nannade was taken to a special containment cell in the Lodge’s main administration building in Sosken. Loganna was furious, only thanks to Elissa’s diplomacy, Garrett avoided being thrown into a cell as well. But the Guardians stationed outside their hut remained, they were still officially under arrest and would stand trial to, as accomplices to Nannade’s grievous transgressions. The Guardians also took all flux-containing substances and weapons from the hut they could find. Elissa was sure Garrett had hidden some more somewhere else, but he didn’t seem eager to resist or fights any more for now.

Faan had been somewhat stabilized. His spirit was still not completely reattached to his body, but Elissa was making progress. Most of the time, he still acted mostly like a regular cat and barely ever spoke. He needed to regain a lot of his spiritual essence and so Elissa was allowed to take him to the glade, accompanied by a Guardian, to bathe him in the stream of life force that had finally calmed down; the spirits had returned from their flight and the animals started to act normally again. The effects on Elissa had disappeared except for harrowingly empty dreams and fears. At the glade it felt like burning pain going through her head, and her soul wanting to lash out and leave her body. A spectral venom had been injected into the mental bond between witch and familiar.

It had been two days after the fateful night in the glade when the Guardian stationed with Elissa notified them of the newest development. Arch-Druid Loganna had decided to call in an expert on blood pactitioners. He was expected to arrive within six days. He would then start and lead the investigation in preparation for the trial. Who this specialist exactly was, the Guardian would not tell them.

The two tried to distract themselves as much as possible. Garrett was going through all his notes, as if he could find a clue as to what could have gone wrong. Elissa read old books she hadn’t read since she left her teacher’s house.

On the sixth day, they were notified that the expert had arrived. Then, on the seventh day, the specialist sent for Garrett; he was to take his notes with him. Then the Guardian took him to Sosken, via air.

Sosken was the “capital”, so to say, of Sturreland. It was a large town, with stone-paved roads and a few high buildings, even a simple sewage line, but no walls. Instead, it had an open structure that let the wind breathe through the streets. The largest building was the headquarters of the Lodge. It looked very new and Garrett guessed it could have been built during his lifetime. It had a large front with two long wings to each side, making a horse-shoe shape. It housed many administrative facilities, especially for the mundane citizens of the land.

Garrett was led into the building's basement. It was rather clean, no mouldy smell or damp corners. The floor was covered tiles and the doors were made from solid wood, the walls were made of black basalt blocks. All of them, every tile, every block, every board, was engraved with mystic runes and arcane glyphs to weave powerful protection and containment spells. This was most likely where the Lodge stored their most powerful artefacts, their most sensitive information and their most dangerous criminals. The Guardian stopped at a door and knocked. The person who opened had a sharp-edged appearance. He had pale skin and long straight black hair bound into a low ponytail. His joints and muscles pressed their outlines through his skin to the point of being anatomical showcases, his face was long and hard, his eyes piercing and cold. He wore a long dark grey robe with a leather apron.

“You must be Garetas, also known as Purple Paw, Nannade’s teacher?!”

Garrett nodded.

“Pleased to meet you, my name is Black Surgeon of Hozorcia. Please come in.” He stepped aside; the Guardian stayed outside the door. The call sign told Garrett immediately that he was a Hidden Hand too. Black Surgeon’s voice was maintained and neutral, with a hint of warmth, like some people would expect the ideal manservant to speak.

The room was a sort of study, with a desk, a small bookshelf and a long table in the middle.

“I trust you realized that I am a Hidden Hand by now. I specialize in dealing with pactitioners, abominations and chimeras. I bear no ill will to you, so don’t be afraid, there is no assessment of your work going on, only of the girl. For her however, I cannot guarantee any safety or leniency.” He raised his hand. “This is Aaka, my familiar, I was told you’re not a medium, but formalities where formalities belong.” On his hand, Garrett saw a small spider, waving at him. Garrett waved back. “I hope you brought your notes as I requested.”

“Of course, what is this about?”

“I am currently evaluating the girl’s physique and psyche, and although I found some reliable references on demi-humans in general, I am still unsure about crolachans specifically. I needed someone who knew the girl’s physique before she changed. Therefore, I’d like to have your expert opinion on it.”

“I will do what I can to help.” Garrett caught himself worrying about the girl and almost poking at Black Surgeon for more info.

“Later, we will take a closer look at the girl, but for now we’ll make an inventory check on what you have written down.”

“Sure, but you should know that Elissa kept notes too, she was much more attentive to the girl’s growth.”

“Understood, noted, then let's get started.”

Garrett spent most of the time going through his notes about Nannade’s growth and behaviour and reading the relevant ones to Black Surgeon, who wrote everything down in his own notes. When he was done cataloguing Nannade's development, they moved on to examining the girl herself.

Black Surgeon opened the door, peeked outside and talked to the guard, then he returned.

He folded his hands together in a calm stance. “I have no Arcane Gift, so my Familiar has been most helpful in keeping the girl in check.”

Garrett didn’t exactly know what he meant by that until the door opened and the girl was led in. She was dressed in a white, long prison gown, her hands were in cuffs and her legs closely shackled together, so she could only take very short steps. Runic inscriptions covered everything she was wearing. She was glaring at everything with angry eyes, as if her expression had been frozen since that night in the glade. On her shoulder, Aaka was sitting, as a huge brown spider, baring fangs like fish hooks, visible even from a distance, ready to sink them in at a moment’s notice.

“Hello Nannade, are you well?” Black Surgeon asked with a friendly twist in his voice. A moment passed. “No answer? Well you look healthy at least.”

Garrett didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what he could say. He couldn’t even look her in the eyes properly. She was looking at him with spite burning in her green eyes, and feelings of shame and guilt rose in him, but also disappointment and anger.

“Please, sit on the table.” He opened the shackles on her arms and took off her gown.

Nannade complied, still keeping up her angry scowl, in the Glade he had almost seen the otherworldly presence coiling around her, writhing and slithering across her skin, but here, all that remained was this piercing, caustic green in her eyes, like a fire of pain burning within her, yet there was a certain coldness to it, not the hot joy and viciousness he had seen in the Glade, but a cold calculation, following his every move, as if she was planning her next strike.

“Is the... spirit still there?”

Black Surgeon looked up from his notes. “Hm? The Serpent? Yes, it is still attached to the girl’s spiritual body. The full extent of their union will become clear in my finalized report, now please focus on the corporeal.”

Garrett still felt uneasy. He hadn’t seen the girl naked since she had been twelve and it made him feel uneasy, especially her further developed body. He started to examine her, running his hands and fingers over her body, feeling feeling her bones, sinew and muscles under her skin. She seemed more wiry than usual, even an inch taller, it was as if there was nothing left of the usual short and stout crolachan stature. Her spine was much more flexible in all places and directions, flanked and wrapped by muscles tense as steel; when her felt her joints, they seemed to easily move and shift, as if they were ready to dislocate, slid out of the way and relocate at a moment’s notice. Her fangs seemed longer and pointier than be remembered them to be, as well as her tail, reaching all the way to her knees. Apart from her height and her tail, she seemed largely unchanged at first glance. Black Surgeon was correct to ask Garrett and Elissa for help; someone unfamiliar with crolachans would have mostly ignored her exterior.

Throughout the examination, he tried to catch a smile or at least a letting up of the scowl from her, but to no avail, even when he tried showing her a melancholic smile himself. The room seemed cold and empty.

Garrett had finished his part and was escorted back to Elissa’s hut, where she squeezed him for every bit of information, but he denied her every answer. He had to swear secrecy to Black Surgeon, in order to not taint the examination Elissa would have to do.

It was the next day, after Elissa had returned from her part of the examination, and the two of them were sitting at the table, their minds still whirring with worry and fear.

“There was this spiteful burning in her eyes.” Garrett said at one point. “Back in the Glade, when we thought. She seemed like a vicious monster.”

“I noticed that.”

“But when I was examining her, she seemed... timid. Controlled. Still spiteful, but no longer viscious or violent. I thought the girl was gone. I thought I was fighting a monster, but the girl I saw...”

“...she’s still in there.” Elissa finished the sentence before he could.

“Yes!”

“But, the spirit is, too. I’ve seen it. They are like two heads of the same person, both so spiteful, as if we had betrayed her. We won’t get her back. At least not like she used to be. Her soul is now bound to the spirit.”

Garrett’s thoughts wandered back to the night in the Glade. “I would have killed her. Obliterated her head and heart.”

“I saw.”

Garrett stood up and hugged Elissa deeply. “Thank you for stopping me, Lissy.”

Elissa hugged back. “Thank you for coming around.”

The days dragged on and the court date hang above them like a block of granite suspended on brittle chains, its straining and aching robbing them of any sleep. Finally, they were told the date: thirteen days after the night in the Glade; two more nights of restless sleep to get through, if any.