"Her belly?"

"Her womb, to be exact, sir." Senior Healer Hill nodded, her hands still on my shoulders, concern in her voice. She meant well, not wanting to make another mistake but in doing so, she made me want to hide in the darkest corner of the morgue and not come out. Remembering how the deranged asshole and the shoelace bitch acted, there was no doubt that having a beast core was something unheard of - or at least very, very rare. And as Scoresby said, rare was prized and prized was sought after.

"You think she's pregnant?"

'Huh? How the heck...?'

"No! I'm not!"

'Shit! Are you stupid, Korra?'

Why not go with the lie? Why squeal like some teenage girl embarrassed to have others think she got knocked up? I might as well have spilled the beans.

"No, sir, she's not. I checked for signs of rape, and..."

"Right, with her regeneration, it's pointless."

'Rape? What the heck?'

On second thought, it was a fair assumption. I had been ambushed and dragged into a back alley. But was the pregnancy here that swift, or were the healers that good, and able to tell if the girl was knocked up just a few hours after the… act?

"All right, Becca, let me see," Chief Healer said, concerned to see the issue my lap held. However, when he noticed Captain Rayden's disapproving stare, he paused before even touching me. "Right, but first, the hot chocolate. The morgue is no place to address such things. So, lass, what do you say? Are your taste buds ready to explore new flavors?"

The prospect of a comfy chair, a blanket, and a sweet treat sounded a lot more bitter now, but with the help of Senior Healer Hill, I climbed down from the stone table, trying to use my rather stiff limbs.

─◇─◇─◇─

"So, is it good?" Chief Healer asked me, himself sipping on a cup of hot chocolate he had prepared. "My very own recipe. It took me years to perfect it."

"Yes," I breathed out, barely able to speak. Not knowing any better, I would think I must have come from hell to heaven, that I woke up from a nightmare in an alley followed by a morgue into a dream of fuzziness and intoxicating sweetness. Curled up under a soft blanket, I sat in the small back room of the infirmary, the Chief Healer's office, in an incredibly comfortable chair with a mug of hot chocolate that actually tasted like the chocolate I remembered, if only with flavors I couldn't quite put my finger on.

'I mean - what else could it be but a dream?'

"It's delicious," I piped, sipping from my mug again.

"Glad to hear that."

"Don't look so smug, Marcus."

"How could I not?" the Chief Healer countered, unfazed by Captain Rayden, pointing at me. "Look at her ears doing a little happy dance. One mug did more than all our weaves put together."

'Oh, those. Never again.'

No, not the ear thing. Admittedly, though, it was kind of weirdly funny how my ears wiggled all by themselves with my joy.

Nevertheless, a shudder ran through my body at the memory of how dazed I had been by the weaves, skills, and abilities thrown at me without my permission. It was sickening. Almost worse than having a collar around my neck and a Slave array binding my mind.

No, in my eyes, the Chief Healer deserved to be proud. Not only did his hot chocolate make me feel better than Senior Healer Hill's touch and Rayden's aura combined, but it kept my mind clear.

"Eh… c-could you not… y-you know, NOT to use the... those things on me again? Please."

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Not exactly words overflowing with confidence, more like the plea of a weakling. I couldn't help it, though. With Senior Healer Hill gone, excused as the involvement of mind mages was a matter beyond her rank; I was the only weakling in the room. Those two were simply strong - like, really, really strong.

[Warrior: ₪₪ sigils]

[Healer: ₪₪ sigils]

The two weird runes - I mean “Obscures” both of them, over 96 sigils more than me, the power that the Lattice judged was beyond my ability to read. But the runic lines binding this world were wrong. When I looked at the two, my instincts screamed danger. The stoic woman and the chocolate wizard were more than just a Warrior and a Healer. They had not just one fight under their belts; they were a pack, a strong pack.

"What do you mean, Grey?"

"The soothing thing. It was..." I paused, searching for a word that wouldn't offend Rayden. "...too much."

The Chief Healer laughed. "Too overwhelming, right? I've been telling her that for years. The [Soothing Touch] Becca used would have been enough."

"That's arguable," Rayden said back, unperturbed. "Given the situation, I judged it appropriate. Speaking of which, do you feel fine talking about the said situation and how you got into it, Grey?"

Did I?

'No!'

I would prefer to stay tucked under the blanket, oblivious to everything happening outside of it. But as much as I hated it, I eventually had to face the nightmarish reality of my life.

"Um-hmm." The half-hearted nod, followed by a sip from the mug, was more than telling of my willingness.

"All right, keep in mind that this is not an interrogation; you're not under any truth-telling enchantments, nor will either of us use weaves to force you to tell the truth. But since this conversation is being witnessed by a Castiana City Guard lieutenant and myself, it will be considered as an official statement that will carry weight."

"O-okay," I stammered, giving the room another glance. It certainly looked a lot more cozy than the gloomy, empty place where I first talked to Rayden. Thick carpet on the floor, coffee table in the middle, wide sofa, three comfortable armchairs - there was no desk, nothing giving the place an office vibe.

"You should water them," I whispered without thinking at the sorry state of the many potted plants breathing life into the room.

"You think so? They look fine to me, lass."

"Um-hmm." Watering plants only when they showed signs of withering was like eating when you were already starving. It was a torture. Speaking of which, at the moment only the hot chocolate was holding back the beast in my stomach from growling. Whatever I had eaten before, and it wasn't much, just the little Scoresby had given me for breakfast in the ruins of the inn in Esulmor, now lay on the ground in this back alley..

"Don't worry, Grey. It may look like a companion's hovel, but the walls here have the same enchantments as my office," Captain Rayden said, mistaking my hunger-derived wince for a frown over the room. "No one can hear us here. So, tell me, what happened in that alley?"

─◇─◇─◇─

"...and then I reached for Ria - is she really okay?"

"Yes, she is," Rayden said with a sigh, massaging the bridge of her nose, tired of my constant questions about Ria. Apparently, the little kitsune was still unconscious when she was brought here - a blow to the back of the head. Nothing serious. A light healing was enough. "She was confused, naturally, but returned safely to the City Hall."

"According to the report."

"Look, Grey, when we're done here, you can run over and see her, but now stick to telling me what happened in that alley."

"S-sorry," I whispered, pulling back in my armchair a little. "Not much else happened, though. I felt the pain in my back and saw the spear sticking out of my chest. Then… who was that witness you mentioned? Ria?"

'It couldn't have been her, could it? She was unconscious the whole time.'

"An alley cat."

"Oh."

'Wait, what? A cat? A cat was a witness? Was she serious?' The ridiculousness of it quickly faded away, though, once I remembered my own ability to talk to animals. Actually, taking them on as eyewitnesses was quite a smart move. If Castiana was anything like the cities on Earth, the streets were full of walking CCTVs.

"According to our beast talkers, it saw the whole thing. But not what you should be focusing on. You were stabbed, and then?"

"T-then the next thing I know, I woke up in the morgue."

"I see, thank you."

"It wouldn't be a bad idea to put in some enchantments," the Chief Healer remarked, giving Rayden a hopeful look. "You know, to alert us that there's someone breathing."

"Sure, but don't tell me; tell our City Lord," she retorted, bitterness at the mention of the nobleman of this city lacing her voice. But then, looking no less bitter, she turned to face me gravely serious. "Look, Grey, I know saying my apologies is pointless. As bad as it sounds, if it wasn't for you, an innocent life would have been lost. There's no excuse for that. I take full responsibility for my men, it's no less my fault than theirs. But what we need to talk about right now is this."

There was a lot to talk about and even more that I didn't want to bring up, ever, but Rayden was right. The piece of paper she placed on the table, with the reward of two hundred gold coins put on my head, raised many questions.