Next thing Rowanne knew she was in a grove full of oak trees. At the centre was an ancient and crumbling well fed by a spring, and behind that an old mound with a beautifully carved stone door.

“Oh bloody hell “ she muttered to herself, Keeping calm was no longer an option, and she could feel the panic rising. “please tell ous I havena been snagged by the queer fowk”.

Suddenly there was another voice around her, but not spoken, it seemed it was echoing directly in her head.

“Macian êow tôsprecan Englisc? blôdgêotende weargtreafu ðæge pro pîslic sê ungelîc tîmlic, yfel tôdêmangeondscêawian êower hordloca, wiðercweðan mid me dimf b¯æm brachwîl, bûan ætstillan morðor,hûru gif êow cwylmian ne lustfullian dôð ðôht un−l¯æd êower brægen healdsum brîw.” It rumbled, and then if the last moment had felt like something speaking in her mind this felt like a pair of gargantuan hands reached inside and had a thorough rummage. Rowanne let out a scream as the needed thoughts were plucked from her mind and reassembled at the whim of whatever the hell this voice was.

“Alreet lass, let’s try this again, mebbe this time ah’ll mek mair sense to ye”

“Who are you and what dea ya think ye’re deain in mi hied,” she asked, trying her best not to let anger show on the outside, because a being capable of rummaging around in your head was usually not one to annoy if you could help it.

“Well if ye’d rather I can put ye back reet now, but ye would na like that very much I reckon, given that your blood just awakened, lass, the last place ye want ta be during the process is there”

“Awaken?” she asked at just the moment it hit. It felt like she was dead center in a boiler explosion. Every inch of her felt like it was burning alive. Even her hair hurt. The feeling pulsed and tore at her as if it was trying to rip itself free of her body. Yet somehow her body held together through the indescribable pressure.

She screamed and screamed til her throat was raw, yet still the unrelenting pain continued, oddly it felt like her body was trying to reclaim this thing, it wasn’t her yet somehow it felt like it was.

“Divvent fight it if ye want ta live lass, it’s part of ye and always was, but try ta drive this side away and it will consume ye and ye’ll end up nea better than the thing ye call Cutty."

Thinking back on that creep froze her for a moment and she stopped pushing back against this strange power. At that moment she knew, it was her. It was the parts that had the knack for finding the best seams. The part that warned her in time to avoid a collapse. The part that knew when the pumps might fail. No matter how alien, it was her. Instead of fighting it, she let it in.

The sensation in that moment was completely different, a euphoria and feeling of completeness she had never felt before. Like the gaps in her spirit were suddenly gone.

“That's the stuff,” the strange voice said, sounding almost like a proud parent for a moment - in an extremely patronising way.

“B-by awakened,” she stammered, “what exactly did ye mean, ah divvent get it”.

This time there was an amused tone to the laughing response, and against what little logic applied in this strange place she still couldn’t see who or what was talking. “Ye still reckon ye’re pureblood maartal, human?” the amused laughter continued. “Ye touched hearts blood, the other side of ye is waking up, ah just reckoned ye’d rather na be ripped ta shreds if a bogle happened upon te while it was happening.”

“Ah dea appreciate that, really," she said, looking around once more, hoping to locate the intruder in her head. ”But if ah’m na pure human then what kind of creature is in mi blood?”

Suddenly the blackness closed in once again as the reply came “time will tell, ah will na. Look tea the past, and ye’ll figure it oot.”

With those words unconsciousness claimed her once again, though she could have sworn her eyes caught a fleeting glimpse of scales.