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Things take a darker turn.

Giselda leaned against the door, taking a deep breath as she turned her to regard the wolf. With a grunt she made her way to her worktable and began pulling herbs from a cabinet.

As the gruff bear worked Tirola nervously looked around the room, it was quite large and filled with cabinets, few tables with unfamiliar implements and tools, a narrow bed in one corner. There were bunches of herbs hanging from the stone ceiling here and there. The smells were undefinable but pleasant. There were several doors connecting to this one.

“So, Tirola was it?” The bear said without turning from her work, she was grinding herbs in a stone bowl.

Before she could reply the bear continued. “And he told you nothing, do you even know that you are a trainable mage?” Tirola blinked at that, she’d had a feeling but she couldn’t recall being told about it.

Giselda sighed again. “That man…” She grunted giving the herbs a vicious jab and a grind with the pestle. She added a splash of water to the herbs and turned to the wolf.

“I am Giselda Thorvann, Grandmaster apothecary and Master healer, apothecaries deal with the more mundane illnesses with herbs, potions, poultices and bandages, and healers deal with the rest.” She took a breath and continued.

“I’m going to check you both bodily and magically and what happens in this room stays in this room, and despite my gruff demeanor I take the well-being of my patients very seriously”

“If you have questions ask, if you feel uncomfortable for any reason, say so.”

Tirola nodded, so just like a doctor then.

“Please take off your robe.”

Tirola complied without a word pulling the robe over her head and dropping it on the stone floor.

“Stand up straight with your arms to your sides.” She ordered as Tirola tried to stand up but even more so.

The bear circled her, prodding here and there, running a hand down here while muttering to herself, instructing her to squat, lift a leg, arm, wag her tail and so on through multiple such motions.

“Lay on the table.” The wolf did so.

“You had no discomfort from any of the movements or positions just now?” Grunting as the wolf shook her head.

“Alright, I’m going to check your body using magic, just lie still, this will just take a moment, you will not feel anything, this is quite dull.”

Giselda closed her eyes for a moment as she concentrated, then opened them again to find the she-wolfs entire form slowly starting to glow green, she stepped closer and meticulously went over her body, checking for any irregularities. To her lack of surprise she could see traces of what the pair had been up to just recently and even more so as she focused on the wolfs abdomen, wasting no time eh? Well, it was to expected as she pulled back her senses and went looking for actual problems.

Nothing. She blinked in surprise, usually there was something, anything, but the wolfs form was unbroken by a single blemish, she could not pick out anything marring the flow nor the glow.

Her brow furrowed as she focused more strongly and then she gasped as the glow turned to a fine mist that seemed to pour from her body. She was practically radiating life-force and vitality, no wonder there was nothing wrong!

As she unfocused her mind the mist faded away as did the soft glow. She blinked to clear her eyes. Tirola was watching her.

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with you, you are as healthy as one can be, you can get up and dress.” Giselda snorted.

She went to the table to pick up the bowl and paused. Possessing such vitality was rare but not unheard of but she was a mage as well. They’d had lectures about this, there had been cases. Damn.

She turned with the bowl in paw her face betraying nothing as she walked back, the wolf pulling the blue robe over her head again.

“You know what this is?” She said waving the bowl.

“Yes, its for, umm, cubs.” Tirola replied as she sat on the bed.

“Yes, and it is customary to take it after your first heat, I will not force it upon you, will you drink it?” The wolf simply nodded.

As Tirola gulped down grass-tasting stuff and wiped her muzzle, the bear offered a glass of water as well.

She’d have to check on her in a few weeks and go through the tomes to make sure she was remembering her academy days correctly. But she could not tell her or Lord Davies about her suspicions, not yet.

“I think we are done here for now, I will summon Lord Davies.”

But before the bear could focus she was interrupted by Tirola. “What is the crest?” She asked.

The bear blinked, she’d forgotten about her asking about it previously. She sighed in annoyance, she was going to give Davies such a smack for this!

“The Slave Crest is a forbidden spell used for forcibly binding a living being into servitude and putting them under the control of the caster.”

“It also has other properties, for example, in your case it was used in conjunction with some other forbidden spells to pull you from the brink of death.”

Tirola frowned ignoring the rest, control? Dark suspicions started to form at the back of her mind.

The bear continued not realising what dark pathways the wolfs mind was racing along.

“You were accidentally flung to this world, through an inactive portal, and you are to our knowledge the only one that has survived, ever.”

“But you were dying, the others before you were killed instantly through portal-shock and you were going fast as well, they had to break many rules just to give you a chance at life.”

“Lord Davies risked his life to save you, not to mention going against the council, a lump he is at times but he is a good and brave man.” The bear sighed. Not realising that Tirola wasn’t paying much attention. All of this happening so quickly, so easily, her just going along and taking it all in stride. She knew.

_ Compulsion _.

She suppressed a growl doing her best to keep her features calm.

“I will summon Davies if you don’t have any other pressing questions, he will teach you all of this, I will make sure of it.” The last part was said with a mix of amused growling as she once again focused.

[We’re done here]

She could feel his acknowledgment though he didn’t bother with a verbal reply.

“He’ll be here soon.” Giselda said turning her attention to Tirola. She frowned, she could tell there was something wrong.

“Are you alright?”

“Y-yes.” She said raising her head, the bear could tell she was lying but didn’t pursue it and just nodded her head as she went and rummaged around in a leather bag hanging on the wall.

She pulled out a simple wooden pipe, stuffed it with fragrant leaves from a pouch and lit it with a flick of her finger. It went with such practised ease that Tirola only realised the bear was smoking when she could smell the smoke. It was aromatic and pleasant, though she could not recognize the smell.

As the bear took a a pull and savoured the sweet smoke, she studied the wolf.

She was physically healthy and that was that, if there were other issues then they’d come up as they went along. She knew the wolf would have some issues no matter how easily she took into her new form and life.

“You can come to me with anything and at anytime.” She said softly as she blew out smoke.

Tirola nodded uncertainly, looking at the bear now with the pipe hanging from her muzzle made her think about her grandmother. She’d had the same calm air about her and she knew she could probably trust the matronly bear with anything. And then her thoughts turned dark again, if she could, she thought with bitterness. How was she going to deal with this, feeling out of place, confused and alone. Again. She banished the thought.

And then the door opened revealing Lord Davies. “Ahh you’re all done, good!” He said with a smile as he entered the room. Tirola suppressed another growl.

“Shall we go, I was thinking I’d show you the library and also go over some of things that you should know.” He finished with a nervous glance at Giselda who grunted with an evil little gleam in her eye.

As they left the workroom Giselda stared at the wolfs back, worriedly chewing on the stem of her pipe. She’d seen her reaction even if Davies hadn’t. What had happened? She went over the entire encounter from the moment she'd first opened the door, analysing every single word. She froze. And as she turned to the door she heard the snarl.

Tirola simply stood and followed Davies out into the corridors. As they walked along her thoughts were a whirlpool of anger, of being used and betrayed, she shuddered. And with a crash his previous life dumped all the depression, sadness and loneliness into the mix, everything he had sealed away. He stopped dead, shivering. Not again. Not again. No, he-she could not take it again, not that betrayal, used, discarded, abandoned. Would not take it again.

She growled.

Lord Davies stopped realising she wasn’t following him and turned sharply at the sound of her growl. He spun halfway scanning the hallway both ways but relaxed. None of the wards had activated and the hallways were empty. He turned to her wondering what was wrong.

As the she-wolf raised her head and fixed that orange stare on him he took an involuntary step back. Despite being the veteran of countless battlefields he felt uneasy. Those were the eyes of someone about to kill.

“Is it all real?!” She growled softly, her hackles rising..

Davies just stared blankly.

“IS THIS REAL!” She snarled, snapping her muzzle. She looked ready to pounce, fingers flexing.

Davies’ mind was racing, what was going on?

“_ The crest” _ Tirola rasped.

Then it hit him. Damn. Giselda was going to have a field day with this after she’d snap his head off as he quickly thought about his options. He couldn’t physically subdue her, spells were out if he wanted her alive and in one piece, he could shield himself but that was about it. The only other option he could think of was using the crest and that was probably the stupidest thing he could do in this situation.

As he started to open his mouth to issue the command he was interrupted by loud stomping.

“And what the hells is going on in here!” Giselda bellowed rounding the corner. Tirola turned and snarled but the large bear just walked up to the wolf and smartly rapped her knuckles on the top of her head and growled right back at her. Tirola cringed back, ears laid back, her tail tucking between legs.

“None of that girl!” The bear snapped turning to Davies and giving him a long look. Davies gulped, he’d probably prefer Tirola right about now.

“She’ll make a fine mage one day, she figured it out despite her limited knowledge, see, she knows what might be happening.” Giselda said in a calm tone as both her and Davies looked at the wolf.

Tirola shook her head and gave both of them a suspicious look, a small growl and kept a cautious eye at Giselda as she backed away.

“You figured it out but came to the wrong conclusion.” Giselda continued. “The crest is only for physical command over the recipient.”

“But this puts us in a fine pickle since you can’t trust anyone now, right?” Even as she talked she focused deeply and could see the misty glow surrounding the wolf once more. This time the area of her head was deep green, almost black. She gasped softly. What the hell was going on indeed? Normally a healer could only see issues plaguing the mind if there was great turmoil but this? This was not good, this was not normal. They were not going get through to her in this state.

Giselda focused again and gently raised her hand and muttered “sleep”

The wolf had started to crouch as the hand rose, snarling and opening her maw and then Tirola blinked once and keeled over.

Davies looked surprised. “Was that necessary?”

Giselda just gave him an annoyed look as she went to the comatose wolf. “Of course it was!” She napped picking her up.

“I don’t know where the hell she came from or who she was but it was not a nice place or a nice life judging by the aura around her head.” She growled as she gently cradled the wolf in her arms, she didn’t seem to have any trouble with her bulk as she turned and started to walk back to her rooms. Davies followed after her silently, he was no healer but he knew some things, and if Giselda was acting like this it was bad.

As they made the short trip back Giselda was muttering and cursing as she carried her patient, a body so healthy that it’d probably never be sick and enough latent power to flip mountains upside down and mind so broken as to make it all useless. She growled. Looking down at her face she was surprised she had lasted this long, this close, with the wolf in such a state she could feel the surface of her true being. It made her shudder.

As they entered the workshop again, she made her way to the sickroom door at the back.

The room beyond had several comfortable looking beds and the whole room was brightly lit. She made her way to one of the beds and gently laid the wolf down.

“So, what now?” Davies asked anxiously.

“I don’t know.” She answered, softly stroking the wolfs brow. “I don’t know.” She repeated sadly.

End of Chapter VI