"No, you'll want to aim for the court grounds somewhere."

"Cool." 

She briefly looks up some public court grounds on her phone and then teleports them there. 

The place has been updated but the basic layout is the same. Xie Lian takes the lead.

Wei Ying physically crosses her fingers that this is the right move and the Empress isn't secretly evil. 

The lowest level functionaries don't recognize Xie Lian, so they have to wait for a while while the request for an audience is processed.

Wei Ying quietly judges them as a distraction from being nervous about the Empress. 

Thinking about how she wants to think about things other than the scenario where the Empress is evil makes her think about what Rhonda said about Lan Zhan. She looks over at her friend. 

Lan Zhan is also looking at Wei Ying. Of course she is; why would she look at not Wei Ying when Wei Ying is available and there aren't immediate concerns like looking where you're going?

Well. 

Wei Ying is NOT going to hug Lan Zhan in front of random low-level imperial functionaries. But she can hold her hand. 

Eee. Handsqueeze. 

Eventually the Imperial Secretary emerges into the waiting room. "Xianle, long time no see."

"Hello, Ling Wen." She bows.

"Hello." Wei Ying stands up. "She's mostly just here because I know her and she's met the Empress. I'm the one who found out something important." She belatedly bows. This is the time for manners, right???

"Something important. Well, what is it?" She materializes a notepad and a flashy inkbrush that must be her magic "weapon".

"Magical girls don't die when they run out of charge, they turn into witches. And I can fix them. Well--give them their minds back. Not turn them back into magical girls."

"Do they continue to have the powers and inclinations of witches when you do so?"

"Powers yes, inclinations no. Uh, also, this turns out to result in all the other witches of that type vanishing, and the one who regained consciousness has all their seeds. So, uh, if you know of anyone who had a Doll of Bedlam seed, they may be entitled to compensation? From us."

"...in what form would you mean to compensate them?"

"I have other seeds."

"I can check with my staff in the records office but it's pretty uncommon for girls to register kills with us. Without looking I only know of one person who had one."

"--I only have a couple seeds on me, but--" she pulls one out. "This one's empty, if you gave it to whoever it was."

"I don't think she needs it, but if you'd like to leave it here I can make sure it gets to her."

"Thanks, I'd rather minimize how pissed off people have a really really good reason to be at me." She hands over the seed. 

"So who, ex hypothesi, is the Dolls of Bedlam?"

She would REALLY PREFER not to give this person more of Wen Ning's personal information than necessary but it looks like this is necessary. "Her name is Wen Ning, she turned into a witch--would be on record as dying--in 1937."

"Wen Ning. Do you know the characters?"