"Would that we lived in so sane a world." 

She suddenly wishes they were close enough she could reach out and rest her hand on top of Crin's. That's a very familiar feeling, there, but so much larger in scope, calibrated for a world much less sane than the one she knew.

"If only."

"Still, all is not lost. There are people like Ishaza in the world, and perhaps also people like you. There is work to be done, yes, but best to be about it as joyfully as reasonable."

"Indeed. The world is not as it should be, but some within it are, and we can build something better in our own little corners of it."

"And with our combined sensibility, if we try hard and believe in ourselves we may yet be able to eat the magic."

"Who knows, with the right recipe anything might be possible. But I do somewhat doubt it."

Ishaza has been steadily eating her bowl of gruel. 

She looks up at Crin. "Crin's dieting anyway though. So I suspect magic won't be on her menu."

Her brow furrows a moment at the mention of a diet and then she realizes Ishaza must mean that Crin is drinking very little blood, or else just be completely joking. That said, the small amount of blood Crin drank yesterday points in the direction of a general policy.

"Truly a stringent diet if it does not allow for eating the magic. Her virtue knows no bounds."

Crin opens her mouth - 

And Nikola comes in the front door, trailing a half dozen villagers. 

"We are ready," she says to Crin.

"I see. Well, then, let's get this grim business underway." She looks over at Alethia. "You don't have to come if you don't want to."

"I think I should."

"Brave. Alright, then let's go." 

She steps out of the inn, and blows another shrieking whistle.

Nikola follows her, along with her peasant posse.

And in the distance, a wolf howls.

And Alethia will follow along, carefully holding her emotions in equanimity.

It's a long trip to where the body lies, punctuated by whistles and howls back and forth as Crin's astonishingly smart wolves lead her onward.

Nikola doesn't speak, nor do any of the men she brought with her.

Ishaza has joined the group, and her face is impassive as well.

She hopes- she should not hope. That would be unwise, right now.

Eventually they come upon the body. It's lying in a patch of anonymous forest, staring sightlessly up at the sky. A great black wolf sits by its side, keeping away the scavengers. 

It's pallid and beginning to decompose. 

Nikola gestures to the men she brought with her, and they take up the body, carrying it together on their shoulders.

Crin just nods, and the group turns around and makes its way back towards the town.

Ishaza stays behind for a moment and washes Hysh across the soil where the body lay.

She'll watch, curiously, as the Hysh washes out, but after that moment of flowing Hysh passes she'll walk back with the group.

Then she looks from side to side, taking in the terrain, and the atmosphere, and the pays attention to her defences enough to feel the pinging against them.

Sylvania really is an experience.

Hopefully she can make it a little less of one, eventually.