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Isabella sat exchanging looks to Drake and the others as they talked while she nibbled down her food. Her pace of this stalled out finally, seeing Nadia float over and exchange an intense moment with Drake that resulted in the apparent creation of....a mantis? She stopped, staring at it in thought for a split second before realization took her. That wasn't a mantis, that was the mantis. Her eyes widened and stared longingly at Nadia as she turned and began floating back towards her seat. Jealous fear entered her then...that was her mantis after all.

Something then occurred that Isabella did not expect. Nadia turned and approached her, and Isabella's only response was to drop one of her hands onto her tome protectively. It wasn't that she thought Nadia in particular would take it, but more of a reaction to anything that might approach the book.

She watched as Nadia let the mantis onto her shoulder and stared with a dropped jaw a moment while she reiterated the creatures title and returned to her seat. Isabella's mouth closed, and a smile began to form on her face as she reached her opposite hand up and held the jerky out towards the mantis in an effort to collect the insect upon it. The creature resisted, using it's little limbs to almost push the jerky away and stare off past it. Giving up, she stuck the jerky halfway into her mouth and held it there, using her hand now with palm up to encourage the bug onto it. As if the bugs preferences had been met, it eagerly crawled onto her hand and the child maneuvered her hand down onto her lap, where she discovered two other beetles already making their way across her thighs.

She looked to Nadia with a shy smile guarded by only a little shame. She was glad to have her mantis back, and felt a little badly for the mean looks she gave her. Still, what Geoff had done was wrong, and Isabella still didn't appreciate Nadia guarding him after his behavior at Telmarune.

It took a moment of maneuvering the food and the bugs, but eventually she had the mantis on her lap, seeming hanging out casually with a couple of beetles and some fruit, but also the jerky in her hand still munching on it. She stared curiously at Drake as he less than subtly brought up the shard, but to his credit, Isabella had yet to realize just how important and sought after it was, even despite the video she watched on the holodisk. Add to that her childlike attraction to him thus far, and it wasn't something she was incredibly shy to discuss with him.

"You mean this?" Isabella asked casually as she reached with her free hand and opened her tome just enough to retrieve the shard from within it. She turned to look at Drake, still clutching the shard in her fist and holding it up between the pair. "Wait..." she said skeptically, squinting her eyes and dropping her brows inquisitively, "Do you mean everyone has one?"

Lisa replies with a tired, bewildered grumble, Victi's friendliness as confusing as ever. She rubs her eyes and forces a swallow to soothe her parched throat. When she's offered water, the chimera hesitates only briefly then quietly nods.

Waiting, she turns fully toward the kitsune, shifting her legs so she sits cross-legged, leans slightly forward and folds her arms in her lap. After taking a sip of clean water, if she actually gets some, she adopts a hard, serious expression. Eyes narrowed, pulling a slight frown.

"Alright," she says, her voice still a little hoarse. "Let's get this over with. Should...should I just start talking or do you have specific questions for me?" She casts her eyes down and pulls a sheepish smile. "Listen, can't say I've really been interrogated before, so forgive me for not knowing how to start."

Victi keeps her word, a fist-sized orb of water condensing from the moisture in the air, floating just above the kitsune's raised palm. She grabs it and hands it to Lisa. "Licking it or slurping at it should both work," she explains, "It's probably pretty cold, but is very pure. You've probably got enough solutes to dilute."

"I have questions, yes. Letting someone just talk is letting them take control, which isn't helpful," Victi replies with an amused smile which is probably about as unnerving as it is gentle, "Most people don't get interrogated, so that's normal. Anyway, let's start with this: Tell me about the event that got you involved in all of this."

At the Library:

"Let me take a moment to take apart what you've said," Thalia sighs as Adriannu finishes speaking, pulling out a small jar of ink, a pocket-sized book, and a pen, "She has some kind of code, but is fairly sadistic. She's probably gathering information, and hoping that the chimera either has these books or remembers things from them. Did she ever say anything about her stance on torture? " The Inquisitor pauses for a moment to get a yes-or-no response before moving on. "She's... affable? Mercurial? Regardless of the word we want to use, that's... strange. I'll want you to elaborate on that more, later. Understanding the enemy makes them easier to deal with, as I'm sure you know. She can smell auras, which is... dangerously vague, and potentially extremely problematic depending on how literal that is. Some of the wizards have tools to see magic and auras, but does this mean she doesn't need a direct line to know someone's there? Are there forms of up and down wind on the spiritual level that need to be considered? If there are, are those detectable? I'm not expecting that you'd know those answers, to be clear. I'm trying to figure out the strategic implications of all of this."

Thalia jots a few notes onto a blank page in the book before continuing, muttering to herself as she did. That ability could be a serious problem in avoiding engagement, and all of the rest was bizarre enough to be taken down for later.

"I'm glad that she isn't precognitive or telepathic, from what you said," She continues with a relieved shake of her head, "Were she, this would be a very, very different situation. What do you mean when you say 'blow up,' regarding the tea, by the way? Liliath seems to have learned to heat water with that damnable artifact... was it just that to a high degree, do you think? If so, was there any sign that our enemy was burnt or scalded by that? I know she was under an illusion, but if you can tell at all if or how it hurt her, that's important. It's the difference between being able to hopefully ambush and incapacitate her, lethally or otherwise, or just being able to work around her. If this magistrate is to be believed, she's tougher than a dragon, so any holes in her defences are good to know."

"I'm not sure what to make of the lapse in her illusion. It was implied that illusion is one of her stronger skills, so that may have been intentional. Or at least not coincidental. A property of the tails themselves, perhaps? Something else going on? Again, I'm not sure, but I feel like more is going on underneath. Almost as an exact contrast to that, you had been told that she isn't the most socially skilled, which suggests to me that getting the guardsmen to leave was a practised response, or at the very least she's had situations like that happen in the past. From the description of her behaviour, that seems likely. Assuming, of course, that this.... Kylarion," she says the name with some suspicion and possible distaste, "is actually telling the truth and has good information."

"I know how people react when my inquisitors come to investigate them," the High Inquisitor replies with an irritated amusement, "I would assume the reaction is similar. This is slightly unrelated, but do you mind explaining why you felt the need to escape?" she asks, looking up from her book, sharp eyes locked with Adriannu's, "While yes, you were with a dangerous person, I just want to know what told you that she was going to act. You said she brought you there to talk, but I assume you thought she was going to go a lot further than that, so if I can get those details that could be helpful. You don't seem like the type to risk innocent lives for no reason. Your kind have good instincts for this kind of thing from what I've heard, so I'm hoping you might have noticed some tells. Either way, it's interesting that she prioritized abducting Lisa so highly, considering that there were probably other materials still available here. Cornelius doesn't let anything from his private collection leave the library, no matter how much we need it for official business..."

"That attack bothers me. It was focused. Too focused, apparently, and a guardsman was found dead behind the shops with strange wounds. Some people are saying that the goblins had help, specifically help with powerful magic. And, even more likely, that it was less help and more orders" Thalia grumbles, quietly realizing that she and this girl were debriefing far more professionally than she had hoped, to the point of bouncing thoughts off of her like she would with one of her own people. It was concerning, but her intuition told her that this was actually fine. It was weird to her, but her intuition hadn't failed her on things of this sort before. "I can feel that all of those things are connected somehow, and I get the feeling you feel the same way. Someone put work into ensuring that arson took place."

"I'm not going to bother taking those weapons, before you get paranoid. I have my own weapons, I don't need yours. The important things, though, are what you were told. His strategy is smart. Be unobtrusive, and strike when possible. Even more importantly, I don't think a direct strike is actually the right way to go. I won't even pretend to understand how defensive magic like that could even work, but I know that we aren't likely to be smarter than everyone else who has tested it over however long she's been using it. Any strategy used against her must be entirely independent of bypassing those wards, we can't assume any vulnerability will stay open after we discover it."

"I'll re-iterate my questions," Thalia says, looking back through her scrawled notes, "What do you know, if anything, about her stance on torture? In what way did the tea blow up, and did it seem to do any actual damage that you could see? What led you to feel a need to escape as urgently as you did? I think that's all for the moment. I will want to talk more about her personality and behaviour, but not right away. That could end up being a bit too open-ended."

Adriannu would give Thalia all the time she wanted to think about what she had said. and listen to the woman's outloud musings while she waited for any questions that might be coming her way. One question that came her way was a question about Victi's willingness to engage in torture, a question that actually made her ears twitch. "Not in words." Truly an ominous answer, but if pressed, Adriannu simply said that it was probably best to finish taking apart everything before she elaborated further.

Now the child was having a bit of a hard time understanding a bit of Thalia's outloud thinking courtesy of some of the words she had used. As such, the Cathera thought it would be best to ask about said words so she could understand better. "Thalia, what does affable and mercurial mean?" Her question possibly ended up serving as a small reminder to the inquisitor that despite the child's capabilities, she was still a kid, and thus it would probably be wise to limit of use of such advanced words unless she was up for explaining their meanings each time.

Thalia then asked a bunch of other questions that she couldn't answer, though luckily it was clarified that she wasn't expecting her to know the answers which was a bit of a relief. Shortly after, the inquisitor inquired about what Adriannu meant when referring to Liliath "blowing up" Victi's tea. "It turned into a pillar of steam right in her face, so I'd believe that is indeed the trick Liliath used. Also I highly doubt she was injured given how she was just annoyed and complaining about the money she lost because of it. Though I suppose it is possible that she was just covering up the pain and using an illusion, but she didn't give even the slightest hint of being in pain in either her body language or voice. Honestly just surprise and shock more than anything. Personally I would think that would be very hard to do if one had just been scalded or burned directly in the face and her fur was genuinely wet so it was a direct hit. Finally given the information regarding her wards, I find the explanation that she took no damage to be the likely one."

The topic then turned to her exposed tails where Thalia wondered it it could have been intentional, or coincidental. "I really don't think it was intentional of her judging by her reaction which was to cover it up and then looking at them while they departed with a mix of neutrality and smugness. Like she was perhaps pleased to have pulled one over them."

Unfortunately it was now time to deal with the topic that Adriannu really hadn't wanted to discuss due to her guilt over it which was made clear by her ears pulling back. However a deal was a deal and thus the child reluctantly started to explain her ominous answer from before in conjunction as to why she had tried to stage an escape. As such, Thalia was told about the uncomfortable question Victi had given her regarding her targeting of juveniles and the answer she gave in response before explaining why she had chosen to answer with the truth. How that lead to a clear threat against her life and Lisa taking an attack meant for her and how the Chimera had clearly suffered for it. How it had gone on until the incident with the guards which was another reason why she believed the exposure of her tails hadn't been intentional. As the cathera talked, it was clear that she felt some guilt for Lisa having to endure that for her sake which likely explained her reluctance to talk about it until now. Finally she finished up by saying, "I was concerned that if we stuck around her, that there was a chance that something might set her off again. While I don't think she would have killed us even if that did happen, but that doesn't mean that she couldn't use more torture or maybe even something worse on us. Lisa wasn't in any shape to take another round of that, I might have been able to since that wouldn't be my first brush with it as I got beaten and starved a lot in the orphanage, but I really didn't think Lilith could have taken it. I admit that I don't know much about her, but I do know most kids would crumble under that."

Adriannu's first answer makes Thalia's lips tighten, but it isn't the most pressing issue, anyway. Mostly it was just a question of how urgent finding anyone the sorceress took would be.

The Inquisitor does quickly clarify, "Being affable means being willing and able to talk and engage in a friendly way. She isn't excessively stoic and grim or a raving lunatic like a lot of would-be world destroyers are, she seems not quite friendly, but definitely not unfriendly, either. It's very strange. Mercurial means prone to change, erratic, or flighty. Again, unusual given what she's doing."

"I suspected as much," Thalia remarks grimly, "Some form of heat protection, but that still would let the water come into contact with her is... strange. I wonder why it didn't just stop the hot water outright.... She probably has defences against acids, though, so I don't think boiling acid at her would work anyway."

Thalia's jaw tightens as Adriannu describes the illusion failure and the incident that led up to it. "I was expecting to have to give a talk about risk assessment and the dangers of having innocents get into fights with trained and equipped soldiers as a distraction, but your decision seems... very much to be the correct one. A second incident like that probably would have made her more violent, given that it sounds like she was going to crush you to make a point. But possibly only to make a point? It's strange to me. The fact that she doesn't use truth-discerning magic is important, though, if learned through unfortunate circumstances. What really worries me is that she seems to be saying that her rules on herself are protecting you, and probably everyone else to some extent. We need to find out what could cause her to decide the rules don't apply anymore, other than apparently telling her that they don't. No offence meant to you, you thought you were under pressure to be honest. Most people who think that much would have done the same."

"I think that's all, then," Thalia sighs, "I don't have more information to share, and it sounds as though you don't either. Let's go find out what Liliath and the dragon figured out, and make a decision about what to do with the books."

As Liliath voices her fears that Victi may have killed Lisa, Cornelius smiles and shakes his head slightly. He replies calmly with the most sincerity he can muster. "I don't think that will happen, see?" With a flourish, he shifts, cutting his height by about half and adopting the same bipedal cat-creature shape he'd had before Liliath left with the two women.

A low, gentle purr vibrates in his voice. "I firmly believe it is in her best interest to keep the chimera alive for awhile." He pauses and points at his large ears. "Not only did she potentially have valuable information, but Ms. Aurora told Lisa so herself, whispering too low for you but perfectly audible to everyone else, myself in this body included. 'Don't worry,' she said, 'you don't have one, so you're a lot more useful alive.' The 'one' is, presumably, a fragment of this artifact everybody seems so interested in. Lisa doesn't have a shard; therefore, Victi doesn't have a reason to kill her, understand?"

Hoping that expedites Liliath's recovery, he listens to her theory about the goblins, then raises an eyebrow. "That, dear girl, would be highly unusual behavior for a goblin horde. It isn't that they aren't going to try to avenge their fallen. It's more that...how do I put this...they tend align themselves with chaotic idiocy. They would not be clever enough to track you all the way from the wilderness to the middle of Telmarune without getting caught. It's more likely a group of them wanted to cause trouble and all of these incidents are totally unrelated, though I admit the timing is impeccable. And again, how they'd get so far into the city is..." He trails off, tapping a finger against his bristly white chin.

"Let's ask Lady Thalia about the aftermath, shall we? She would have had her people investigate the area thoroughly. If Victi honestly had nothing to do with it, I suspect yet another party has dipped their spoons into the melting pot."

"Yes for awhile, but what will happen after awhile-" Liliath slowly started smiling again "Did she, than Lisa won't die! Yes that's true Lisa doesn't have a shard, but I do. I only wonder what Victi will do to me so I give her my shard. Not that I will give it, but she surely has some tricks which could make me do it." Liliath sighed, but decided not think to much about it. Lisa wouldn't die so that was good.

"So those goblins are just stupid. Well then I won't worry about that anymore to. Yes let's ask Thalia. Somebody else? Maybe other people figured out we have shards. They maybe wanted to create chaos, which they had hoped we got overwhelmed with and then they might had wanted to attack us to get the shards!"

Goblins and maybe another enemy, Liliath didn't like it. "First we need to figure out how to get Lisa back and how to defeat Victi."

Very little of Alastor and Urug's body language goes missed by Raven, but as they slip out of town and trek through the countryside, she masks how much she observes by trotting toward the front of the group, her eyes fixed on the road ahead with a facade grim determination. The subtle things- her bright, eager eyes, a slight smile, a raised, twitching tail - betrays her unbridled excitement.

The mask almost crumbles as her companions press her for details on her missing friend. She brakes softly with a couple of little bounces, then picks up the pace closer the middle of the group where she can share her starry-eyed expression with everyone as she talks.

"Oh, you mean Lisa, right? She's the best! Kind, gentle, fun to talk to, and also to mess with. I wouldn't say she's gullible- more or less the opposite -but she's easy to fluster. When you surprise or tease her, her face gets all red and you can really see it 'cause her skin's pale as white flour. She has long dark hair and our eyes match. So do our ears, almost." Raven's ears swivel for emphasis. "She has black ears with gray inner tufts and I think mine are just all black. Haven't checked for awhile so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong." Ravens ears are indeed thoroughly black like the rest of her; not a speck of light marks her coat.

"Also, keep an eye out for a sca...unusual-looking crow, and if we cross a big shadowy lioness with a sharp tail and bloodshot murder-eyes, don't hurt her."

"Oh! While we're on the topic of who we're looking for, last time I saw Lisa, we also had this young girl with us who I found in the woods. She's probably nine or ten in Alastor's years. Real feisty, clever thing. The child was nice to me, but a little cold to anyone who walked on two feet."

Apparently pausing to take further questions, she sets her course toward Urug's feet, purring quietly. He'd made a great impression on her, adopting such a convincing oafish persona; you could say that Raven admires good actors.

Adriannu gave an evasive answer regarding the question of Victi's willingness to torture someone. Yes she knew that she had to answer the question and would do so, but wasn't quite ready to do so just yet. Instead she chose to ask Thalia about two of the words she used. After the inquisitor explained them, Adriannu nodded in understanding and did agree that the words affable and mercurial seemed to fit Victi quite well.

The conversation turned to the topics of Liliath's exploding tea attack and its effect on Victi as well as the exposure of the kitsune's tails. Here she quickly gave her thoughts and reasoning behind the opinion she had before she knew that it was time to fess up and talk about that. As such, she reluctantly told Thalia everything regarding the situation involved Lisa taking an attack that had been meant for her and the events leading up to it. After finishing her story, Thalia said that she had been expecting to have to talk to her about her willingness to pit innocents against trained guards, but instead thought that her decision had been the right one. The inquisitor commented on how strange it seemed to her how she had been willing to go so far only to prove a point and also expressed her worry regarding the fact that Victi's rules seemed to be protecting her and everyone else to some extent. "For what is it worth, she made no attempt to take Liliath's shard during of all it even after she used it to attack her with the tea. As for my decision...I regret what happened to Lisa, but I know I went with the smarted choice given what I knew at the time. Could I have gotten away with lying to her? Possibly, but I had good reason to believe that I couldn't at the time.. All that can be done is to make use of what we learned from it and...try to make it up to Lisa later. However Adriannu didn't know if she would get that chance to make it up to Lisa considering the mess the Chimera was in. All she could do was hope that Victi's words about seeing no reason to kill Lisa was and would remain the case.

Thalia then suggested that they meet up with Lilaith and the dragon again to see what they had figured out and also decide what should be done with the books. This was said on the basis that they didn't have any more information to share which wasn't actually completely correct. "Do I have nothing more to share regarding Victi? Yes. Am I out of information to share? Well I'll let you be the judge of that." With that, she grabbed the crude sheath kept around her neck and pulled out her shard. "Now I figure that you already guessed that I had a shard, but here is something you don't know. I have had my shard for two years so I'm the best source of information you have regarding their use. Unfortunately my shard was of little use in dealing with Victi at the time which is why I didn't bother to use it. Now one last thing before you start asking me whatever questions you might have for me; I'll kill anyone who tries to take my shard from me and that includes Victi even if it gets me killed." However looking at her face and listening to the tone of her voice, it seems that greed or a lust for power was her motive for her possessiveness regarding her shard. After all, she hadn't been nearly as protective over her daggers and even now was keeping the shard firmly in her grasp, not even letting it so much as touch the table.

Thalia raises a hand for silence as Adriannu expresses her regret regarding Lisa's abduction. "Regret things that were your fault. That wasn't," Thalia instructs. She closes the second book and stacks it with the other as she continues, "The sorceress abducted Lisa during the attack. I think it's safe to say that she took advantage of the chaos. The only likely different result had you interfered is who she took and how much she hurt the other in the process. That said, the point about not having taken action against Liliath is important. It means she either follows the code she claims she does, or is willing to do what she has to do to maintain the façade."

Thalia stands, straightens her back a bit, and pushes her chair in as she replies to Adriannu's offer about the shards themselves. "At a guess, the more blood the shard is given, and the better the quality by various arbitrary metrics, the stronger, more versatile, and more precise the effect will be. This is not my first time dealing with blood magic artifacts," she explains with a hint of amusement, "It also isn't my first time fighting narcissistic psychopaths with a perceived cause, so I do actually doubt that she will use the shards until she has them all. Unless you want me to be your commander and use you as a strategic asset, then frankly I don't need to know the details of their abilities. As for fighting to the death for it, I'd suggest considering flight as much as fight. I mean, unless you value your pride over stopping her, but we can discuss that later."

She leads the way out of the room and back toward the front of the library. As the desk and grand doors come into view, she asks Adriannu, "Did you ever find out when Lisa and Liliath met our enemy? Obviously before you met back up with them, but I don't know if anyone mentioned the details."

Lisa eyes the sphere of water dubiously, but takes it in her cupped hands regardless, shuddering as the cold liquid touches her skin. This is...weird. The globe trembles in her grasp but stays put-together, contained without a container.

She squints at it for a moment, then her eyes dart up to Victi and back to the sphere. She slowly, cautiously, brings it toward her face and laps at it with her tongue. First, she jolts back a little, surprised at how clear the water tastes. For once, a bizarre experience which isn't unwelcome, she touches her lips to the globe and polishes it off in a few slurps while Victi starts the interrogation.

"It's a...actually no, it's not a long story," Lisa starts. "I woke up about a morning ago, at...at home..." she chokes on the word 'home,' possibly long enough it'd be fair to expect she's going to break down again, but Lisa recovers with a tight-lipped smile and continues, "...to the ghostly figure of this vulpine man, reddish-furred with several tails. He told me about the shards and their power, said I had one, and then warned me you."

She raises a bandaged hand and unwraps the gauze before turning her palm toward Victi, showing a shallow cut running from the base of her thumb along the length of her hand. "I tested it, just to be sure, and afterwards wanted nothing to do with the thing. I thought of taking it far away from here and hiding it someplace to forget the whole ordeal. I'd never dream of going against the likes of you, but one string of disasters later and-and here I am."

Victi watches in mild amusement as Lisa figures out her way around the magically stabilized globe of liquid. Even though this world was... fairly rich in magic, use of magic in everyday ways like this was probably still considered novel, at least outside of aristocracy or something. Victi frankly didn't know, but it seemed likely.

She withdrew from her short train of thought as Lisa finished drinking and started talking, letting the sorceress dismiss the stabilizing spell that had been reduced to more or less a point. The chimera's explanation was both bland and interesting, somehow. Bland in that she'd gotten the message, confirmed the contents, and noped out of the deal like any sane person without a desire for blood magic should. The interesting part was what was missing.

"So you probably didn't hide it," Victi notes, "thought about rather than did or was... So I'm guessing you either lost it or gave it to someone."

She thinks for a few moments before switching topics: "What was the incentive to actually follow through on getting in my way? Being the species he and I are, I don't think he would just hope that everyone who happens to have one of these is willing to throw themselves into my spells out of the goodness of their hearts. Well, and our rep of finding everyone's price and hiring people for things we never have to pay up on isn't exactly unwarranted, though you wouldn't know that bit."

She continues to ramble, switching subjects again apparently out of the blue. "Right, did he ever mention how he was keeping an eye on you in that transmission? Where he is if you need to contact him? I mean, the correct answer is probably 'in orbit,' but I was wondering if a ship was ever mentioned. Pristine Swordstrike? Valiant Dancer? Iridescent Bliss? Snow Princess's Lament? Nine-Tailed Kiss? though that one's ancient, obviously, because obvious name to take. The point is, something poetic but not exactly tangible or literal, usually. Seems like he owes you a couple explanations, so if I knew the ship, I could probably send a transmission and let you ask why he tried to have you murdered, but on your own terms rather than waiting for another mysterious image. Something like that."

"Wait, no, these are important, but I should prioritize!" Victi exclaims, straightening and having her ears stand up straight, eyes widening as she breaks her distracted tangent, "Info! Shards and the Vase and things. What did you learn in those books and scrolls before that last bit of your string of disasters showed up at the library? I.... I'm referring to myself as the last part of the string of disasters, in case you didn't pick that up. Anyway, there must have been some useful leads in there at least. Activation conditions for the Vase or something. You'll be helpful and share that, right? And hey, if you did something silly like give yours to a loved one, or at least someone you don't feel like I should kill horribly, I can probably be convinced to.... not kill them, horribly or otherwise, if you're helpful. It'll be effort, but apparently keeping the information out of my hands is worth killing, well, you, so I figure getting it from you can be worth making sure someone else also doesn't die in the process of me doing my thing."

"So, does that sound like a deal?"

“Oh! I have-” Naida started excitedly, happy that the group had something to talk about together. But Ren stopped her with a look, clearly emphasizing her lack of trust for the chimera.

“Not everyone,” Ren said with a look to Isabella. The innocence of the child calmed Ren briefly, but worry replaced that calm. What did Drake want with these shards, and what might he do to get them? “But perhaps Drakie could tell us what he knows about the shards? I mean, he’s obviously trying to get ours.”

The Library

Cornelius beams with relief as Liliath brightens up, happy to know that her "best friend" might actually live to see her again.

He raises his brow as the child tries to conjecture about the motivations of his hypothetical third party. "Someone else wants the shards? That is...possible, actually. We'll hear what Lady Thalia knows- ah, speak of the De-" he bites his tongue as the High Inquisitor's voice echoes through the corridor, followed by the imposing woman herself as she turns a corner with Adriannu in tow. His ears pique at the question she asked, not directed at him at all, but he has a good guess for an answer.

"My Lady," he calls, striding toward her on his current bow-legged, digitigrade legs, long white tail trailing behind him. He smiles assuredly toward Adriannu, realizing he hadn't done his shapeshifting in front of her and that such a drastic change in form might throw her off. He raises his head to look up, squinting at her over the rim of his round glasses. "Welcome back! I hope your meeting was productive, perhaps we can exchange further questions together? I have a few suspicions I hope to confirm."

Adriannu nodded slowly as Thalia told her that she should save her regrets were things that were actually her fault as she wasn't to blame for what happened to Lisa. However she shook her head when Thalia talked about about what may have happened had she tried to interfere with her abduction. "I couldn't have interfere in that as I was too far away at the time and really only saw it because I had a good vantage point of the area. I know that I could have done nothing for her there. As for her code, let us hope that it is the former as that would at least give us something to work with."

Thalia then suggested that they meet up with the dragon and Liliath again on the assumption that she had no more information to give. However the Cathera instead chose to reveal her shard and explain that due to having had her shard for two years, she was the best source they had on how they worked. Yet the inquisitor didn't seem too concerned by this and quickly offered up her thoughts on how the shards worked. "Well, I have to say that you got part of it right, but only part. Also I wasn't offering the information because I wanted you to be my commander, but so that you could perhaps inform other shard holders should you encounter them. Also I'll say this much, it's not just a case of gathering all of the shards for Victi, but a matter of how to power them as well. She can't just kill someone and give the shards their blood, that won't work. It has to be your own blood for you to use their power, and you can imagine my disappointment when I learned that one. Though before you give me I talk about killing people, I first tried animal blood and then didn't test the blood of other people until I had to kill some lowlife who tried to kill me for my food and shelter. Anyway she also can't use older blood of her's that she might have prepared beforehand unless she wants a much weaker effect and she doesn't seem like the type who will settle for anything less than its full power. Now before you say she could just make that up by simply using a lot of blood, well she can't. It's now about how much blood you give up per se, but how well you coat the shard with it. Once the shard has been fully coated, adding any more blood is just wasteful. So how will she overcome that problem? Figure that one out and we'll know an important part of her plans. "

Isabella looked to Ren, a little confused by her comment, and unfortunately not understanding the subtleties Ren was abiding with her intentional silencing of the fairy beside her. The dropped brows continued as she pulled the shard back towards her, looking down at it and still clutching it tightly.

Her confounded face found itself again staring at Ren when her question ended, finding that she, too, had questions...and deciding to interject at possibly the worst time.....right this second in the momentarily lull of silence as the group all seemed to dance around the overly important subject of the shards.....all that is, except Isabella.

"Wait," Isabella began, "I don't understand." Her face lifted, and her gaze affixed for the moment on Ren again. "Who else has a shard besides me and Nadia then?" she asked curiously, then looked up to Drake momentarily and back to Ren, "And what would Drake want with them?"

Isabella's eyes lingered upon Ren several seconds, then moved up to Drake as if hoping either one of them might answer. The childs genuine confusion illustrated just how naive she was about the situation at hand, which was likely as unfortunately dangerous for her as it was telling for the entire group.

Drake nods with a satisfied smirk as Isabella pulls out her shard, clutching it in her tiny pale fist. As her brows furrow, he lifts one of his and the smirk mildly intensifies.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about."

Nadia's shrill voice grabs his attention, his ears swivel toward her and he glances away from Isabella briefly. Her exclamation, abruptly cut off with a stern look from Ren, clues him in that he might actually be in the presence of multiple shard-owners. For the moment, however, he doesn't give any indication that he suspects as much.

"Alright, hun," Drake says to the elemental, his tone even as he leans forward, still smiling, as suave as ever. "To be honest, I probably don't know much more than you about the shards themselves, but I do-"

Isabella interjects, He cuts off and lets her speak, stroking his chin while trying to come up with an answer that won't totally ruin her trust of him; he feels suddenly that it's started to slip, and that's the last thing he needs right now.

On the bright side, now I know they have at least two. Thank goodness for the naivety of children.

When she lifts her bewildered gaze to him, he feels a rush of relief. She's just confused, that's fine.

"Isabella," he answers warmly. "I also got a shard, and a message, too, assuming you got one of those, too. Can't speak for the-"

"I don't have one!" Geoff crosses his hands in an X and shakes his head with fervor. "I still barely know what's going on."

"...Right. Anyways, I also had an...encounter with the person who's looking for them. What I want is to make sure you three- OK, maybe four -don't have to deal with her. Does that make sense?"

Urug rubbed his chin, thinking over the descriptions. "So... Look out for a pale girl with cat ears and eyes, a... crow, a angry lioness with a pointy tail, and a kid." He then smiled and pointed to Alastor. "Good thing we got you, eh boss? There isn't nobody who can spot things better than him!" The slight wave of a hand was the only response he got from the man leading them. Urug could only look on for a second at his partner, recognising how strange it was to have him so silent. Something's bothering him. I'll need to check up on that later.

As he continued to walk forward he turned his attention back to Raven, trying to move to a more informal topic. "Lisa sounds fun! Some of the kids back at home are like that." A memory elicited a quick chuckle from Urug. "Actually, one of the girls there got tricked by Ky, that minister fellow from before, before you lot showed! For some reason he had a frog in his pocket that jumped on her! Scared her right back into her room, poor thing." Reaching down to give Raven a quick scratch behind the ear, he continued. "I bet you have great stories of you and Lisa! We got a bit before we make it to the next place. Got any fun ones?"

"I understand that you couldn't react given the position. Honestly, had you been able to, I have a feeling you could have been injured, or taken yourself. Keeping clear and having a good view of what happened may have been the most helpful action you or anyone else could have taken," Thalia says in reply, tone and intonation neutral. It's a tactical analysis from her, nothing more. "Also, while hoping for the best is a way to keep morale, always plan for the worst that you can plan for. In this case, we should assume that Lisa is dead until we know otherwise. It does seem like most of the rest of what was said about her, at least in regards to actually engaging with her targets and not... publicly slaying children, is true. If all of that is false, well, we can't usefully prepare for it, so we just prepare for what we can."

At the longer response, Thalia shakes her head quietly before answering, "While the use of one's own blood only is useful information, thank you, I think we can safely say that she wants the Vase, assembled, not the shards alone. All the fragments of stories we've found here seem to suggest that the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts, and, given that it is a Vase, I would assume needs to be filled rather than coated."

Her attention switches to the Librarian. "Very well, Cornelius. I assume you've told Liliath most of what we need? Anyway, what are you wanting to know?"