"Really, I think, it comes down to how long it's going to take to find a way to close it. And - we just don't really have solid leads there, yet. But I'll run the numbers."

"Can Tanat banish stuff?"

"Yes, when we can spare her." It's seventh for wizards, so directly a Mansion.

"Well, it's lucky we haven't moved people yet. When we have - well, probably this specific thing won't come up again, but lots of things like it will. But Nenio is some kind of - I kind of expect her to hit eighth next year. So we'll see."

"I'm going to go work on scrying Xanthir Vang and Jerribeth, just to double check that they're as we left them. If you're not doing anything else urgent, you should drop by the command center in time to see the results, just in case something stands out to you about them that doesn't to me."

"I can come by for that. Should I have Tanat do the Banishment?"

"...yeah, although I doubt she has a spell open now. It's okay if she has to wait until morning, but yeah."

"She usually saves the spell from her arcane bond until she goes to sleep, I expect she can get it today. And I'd rather she do that, holding demons for an extended period isn't the kind of thing that reliably works out well."

"All right, in that case now is good. Thanks."

And she'll head off to do the boring work of scrying.

Ember comes out of the dungeons, too, around that time.

"I wouldn't have needed to stop you, you know," she says to Marit. "You stopped yourself."

Marit's own analysis would have been that - though he still wouldn't have predicted it'd get cooperation literally from demons - that that worked where it shouldn't have worked because there's a significant advantage to being someone who is present in the interests of the prisoner,  and it may or may not be larger than the advantages of being able to interrogate prisoners where this is not remotely in their interests, but certainly if there's someone present it's true of you open some doors that would have otherwise been closed. And Marit is obviously competent to not harm prisoners, but not to be someone who is there for their sake; it's that he needed Ember for.

Which except for the paucity of people like Ember really suggests a prison system with dedicates sworn to serve the interests of the prisoners alone, who can interface with a larger system that inevitably has other purposes. It's an appealing enough idea to play with further, even given the paucity of people like Ember.

....that would have been Marit's analysis, but sometimes it's more gracious to let Neutral Good have the hit. He nods to her. "I am grateful for what you did, there."

"I don't think I did very much, but I'm glad if I was able to help," she says brightly, and then wanders off into the cold.

Alfirin returns to Drezen that evening, after having made spent most of the day investigating the apparent debacle that was the Galtan revolution and given Cansellarion a brief update on the location of Heart's Edge. She flies into the city invisibly and then wanders around the citadel wearing the same face as when she arrived, looking for the Knight-Commander or one of her companions.

Korva is in the command center, and is juuuust about done attempting to scry a sapient swarm of locusts that have each been individually pinned to a canvas.

"Knight-Commander. I was just coming to offer my remaining spells for the day, if you still need scries. I assume that's Xanthir Vang, did you do Terendelev already?"

"Yep, here he is, about as we expected him. We haven't done Terendelev yet."

"If you don't need to see for yourself, I have a greater left, more likely to get through and it'll be faster. If anyone here has met her I can also do a share memory first which will also make it more likely to go through. Even so, I expect to get nothing, dragons are very good at resisting spells and I'd expect to have trouble scrying her whether she's in Apsu's realm or raised as an undead."

"I've met her, and I have one of her scales. I don't think there's any reason I'd need to see for myself."

Share Memory.

The pain in her chest is horrific, and hard to think around the edges of. She thinks she might also have a head injury, which might be another part of why it's so hard to think, but the other wound seems worse by far. She can't remember where her masters are, whether they were killed in an attack or were merely separated. People are talking, and she has the sense that she ought to be listening, but it's so hard. It might actually be worse than the day she was expelled from school. She spends a moment trying to compare them, and can't remember; this pain is too immediate, too intense, and swallows up the memories of any other. There's blood everywhere, splattered on her clothes and her skin, dripping from the metal collar around her neck. There shouldn't be so much blood - someone already tried magic healing, and that ought to have stabilized it, but the wound resisted it, like the injury somehow has a will to kill her. 

     "I've been informed that she was wounded near Kenabres," a scarred old man is saying. The Prelate. He wears armor bearing Iomedae's holy symbol. "That means that the demons are prowling just outside the walls. And the city is crawling with their spies! Others may be able to relax on this holiday, but not you or I - not the defenders of the city!"

He stalks off. A woman - the one the Prelate called a dragon, Terendelev - leans over her. She is beautiful, ageless, and sad. Whether she grieves for Korva or for some other reason is impossible to say. Her hair is silver, and shines almost like metal.

          "Pry loose the grudging grip of pain," she says, pulling together a spell. "Cast off the veil of suffering flesh. Let light and life go forth in triumph to repel the skulking shade of death."

And at last, the pain recedes, and Korva can breathe again. She stares for a moment, stupidly, trying to get her bearings. "What - what happened?"

          "I do not know yet," says Terendelev. "And that troubles me. I am not entirely sure what the demons did to you. This wound is no ordinary injury, and it was inflicted by no ordinary weapon. I have rid you of your pain and restored your strength, but only time will allow you to heal fully."

Well. She'll try the scry, twice.

"Nothing. I'm sorry."

"All right. Thanks anyway."

"Did you want to go across tonight?"

"Tonight or in the morning makes little difference to me. If we cross in the morning I can do some more quick spellcasting for you before we go."

"I don't think we have any high-priority immediate spell needs, unless you'd like to try scrying Terendelev again, and I don't know that that's particularly urgent. I can take you across now, if it's convenient."

"It's convenient."

Then over they can go. She's still going to alter self herself in case of any Lastwall people. 

She'll need to at least stay long enough to check in about when she can go back. ....also she should probably ask if they have any of those wands, she guesses. She's going to need a lot fewer of them than she thought, but she's not sure she gave good numbers before anyway, and they do still have a few more days before they can possibly begin the redeployment plan, so she's going to try not to be completely mortified about the fact that her plans have changed in the last two days.