Not making a mud pit: good. Control practice: also good.

Well, it's hard. And possibly more satisfying than it has a right to be for what progress she's making.

After an hour, they tell her exercise time is up, sorry.

Ugh. But okay fine she's not going to argue.

...She's also not going to detransform unless someone tells her to, although she will pretty promptly if they do.

They insist on it for the trip back, but if she wants to be transformed in the holding area that's okay - so long as she doesn't actually use magic.

She will not do magic but she really doesn't like the feeling of powerlessness being detransformed gives her, it is the exact opposite of jiving well with the whole "abuse" and "only probably not going to be executed" bits.

The officers quietly grumble that it's nerve-wracking just to be near Spirit Bearers if they might be unstable so deal with it.

Yeah she will detransform without complaints for the trip back but she turns back as soon as its allowed. Also, it's not like she's not more stable with it on.

Well, just remember that they have the Bureau of Menace Management onsite if she decides to get violent. They're not going to try and touch her or anything though. And dinner, though mediocre at best, comes right on schedule.

She does not misbehave at all! She is quiet and polite and meek and says thank you when her mediocre dinner is brought.

Then she'll be left alone in the locked it's-definitely-not-a-jail-just-a-holding-area with four beds and a toilet in the corner until lights out, and overnight.

She goes to bed promtly at lights-out, still in her magic outfit.

...Yeah she can't really sleep like this. It's too eager and worked-up. When she starts to drift off she'll detransform automatically.

The dull ache of going unpowered is lessening, at least.

Ah. If she can't sleep like this are there provided nightclothes?

All she has to do is ask. By shouting to make the nearest guard hear, but she does bring them and then go.

No, shouting to ask for things is not happening she will just sleep in her dayclothes.

...Actually they remember she might need some at around 10 PM and bring them down, plastic-wrapped, with a brief apology anyway.

Oh good. She accepts them with a small nervous smile and a thank you.

Yes this 'holding cell' is definitely following the rules for proper incarceration, please don't report any mistakes...

The morning sees the 'Spirit Bearer Division' foster system guy come back to visit her again. "Good morning, Anna-Seraphina. Are you feeling alright?"

"Um mostly yeah." She does not sound entirely alright.

That's kind of expected. "I'm here to talk about how to go forward with the probation program... We need to talk with your lawyer again today, and file some paperwork. Sooner or later you'll be out of here and with a new guardian - who exactly is not yet determined, and I'd like to give you a say in it if you feel up to that. Also whether it's 'sooner' or 'later', but 'later' still only looks like about a week. And you'll need to go back to school, probably."

"I'd rather have a say in who than when."

"Right. I have some dossiers for you now of some of the candidates - it would probably be just one parent, as we need you to have another Spirit Bearer for a guardian, but the only Spirit Bearer couple refused to be considered for this. Some of these candidates might get disqualified after they interview with Soothseer, I've marked those." He passes some papers to the officer, who looks through them. Presumably for weapons or something. And then hands them through the bars to Sera.

She reads the dossiers.

Foster Guy does paperwork.

There's half a dozen of them, five women and one man. It's kind of hard to get a sense of them from just the dossiers. This one's over 200 years old. That one has precognition magic. All of them are stable and well-off and have zero criminal history and had at least one kid themselves.

Does 200 year old one look like they have 200 year old morality because she's pretty sure they believed in much worse corporal punishment than spanking back then and even if this one in particular doesn't it could make her nervous at best if their beliefs in general date to that era.