The plan to restore the pool of Master Zahirinee turned into an utter disaster. Fingers of blame have been pointed left and right. All sorts of accusations have surfaced, and nobody seems to be particularly happy. Attempts to renew the ritual failed utterly, as Chaos Mages declared that damage had been done which might take years, maybe even a century to undo.

As soon as word got out that Wynona had something to do with the incident (never mind that her role was in trying to stop the ice-monster), all Dagh broke loose. For the sake of "keeping the peace", she was quietly stuffed on an air-carriage, and shipped off to an airship bound for Rephidim, in order to appease those who seemed convinced that her mere presence might bring more disaster.

Most of the assembled mages trickled away from the site, as it became more and more evident that this was not only a lost cause, but a great blot on the record of the College Esoterica of Rephidim. Suggestions of sabotage flitted back and forth, but ultimately it looked pretty bad that – even if there might be a renegade amongst them – that the whole of the rest still let a disaster of this magnitude take place.

With all the blame-making going on, Roho even fell under suspicion, at least for a time – either guilty of neglecting to keep better watch over his charge, Scarlet, or perhaps of even somehow being involved in a convoluted plan to destroy the pool for who-knows-what cause. But then, it should also be noted that there were even wilder theories floating about, placing the blame on everyone from Skiree, Master Zahirinee, rivalries amongst the Spheres, Dagh, Babelite spies, Naga spies, a Temple conspiracy, Exiles, and on and on.

Presently, Scarlet has been kept separated from the other mages, resting in a make-shift cabin near what's left of the pool. She has been claiming disorientation and all sorts of illness, and generally keeping Roho busy. Envoy has also been stranded here, since, in the rush to ship Wynona off to Rephidim, nobody brought up the fact that the Exile had come here with Wynona, and that arrangements had originally been for her to leave in like fashion.

So, it's another evening, camping out under the Procession, near the markedly more shallow pool of Zahirinee. A couple of Jupani – Snowstorm the Ice Mage, and Gusty the Air Mage – share hunks of meat with the fennec doctor, from a feral Rughrat they caught in the woods nearby. The time of the extravagant all-tastes-accommodated Ring Day buffet is most certainly past.

Envoy returns from examining the pool to see if the fish survived, and sits quietly near Roho.

Roho sits close to the fire, letting the warmth of the flames nearly singe his whiskers. He looks fairly lost in thought. The recent events have shaken him somewhat, particularly in the aftermath of accusations and tending to Scarlet. He turns slightly as Envoy sits down. "Good evening, Lady. Did you find anything?"

Gusty quietly scoots over a little more, giving Envoy some more elbow room.

"The fish are all gone," Envoy says. "They didn't survive the temperature drop. How is Scarlet faring? Will she be sent back to Babel for the mind-transfer mages to poke at?"

Snowstorm pours a draught into a mug and offers it to Envoy. "Hot xocholatl, ma'am? It's the cheap powdery kind, but it's still warm."

Envoy smiles and accepts the mug, "Thank you. I haven't had xocholatl since the time Wyckyd tried to kill Fenter with some… "

As if to answer to Envoy's question – at least in part – some curious noises come from Scarlet's cabin – they sound like snarling, feral noises, and then a squeaky "Dead?"

Blinking, the Exile looks towards the cabin. "Is there a Fuff'nar in there too?"

"Kill?" Snowstorm gives Envoy an incredulous look. "Really… Oh … Fenter!" He slaps his forehead. "Oh, yes. That sounds … likely."

Gusty turns to look curiously back at the cabin. "Hey … don't say that 'kill' word so loud. That sounded like a fuff'nar, like Miss Lothrhyn said." He slowly gets up from his log seat.

Envoy whispers to Roho, "Why are people being so polite to me?"

Snowstorm sniffs tentatively at the air. "I don't smell a fuff'nar… "

Roho turns to Envoy, "Well, Scarlet seems to have very little left in the way of physical malaise. Spiritually, however… she is getting no better. Something bad has happened, whether it was intentionally done during the transfer or not."

Envoy says, "I was put into a candle flame once, but it didn't have any side effects like this."

"So … what really happened, anyway?" whurfs Gusty. "I mean … with the monster and all that?"

Roho shakes his head, "I have no idea." He holds his paws out to the fire, warming them. "I haven't been able to get anything coherent from Scarlet, and I don't know magic."

Gusty raises an eyebrow. "Hrrr? You mean Scarlet might know?"

Roho says, "I don't know if she will. She was at the heart of the golem, though. She may have been behind it, or she may have simply been at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"She's a Water Mage," Envoy says, "so she could have conjured it up. But I've never heard of an elemental taking over a mage before."

Snowstorm raises both eyebrows. "I hadn't heard that part before. I … hadn't heard anything to make me think that Scarlet would be capable of such a feat."

Roho shrugs, sitting back a bit. "I can't say for certain it's her. Enough people have felt a change in her since the operation that I don't know if she was the one in control of her body."

Envoy asks, "Is it possible for Chaos magic to have boosted or altered one of her spells then?"

Gusty hushes Envoy. "Don't say that so loud! Everybody likes to blame Chaos Mages. Yeah, sure, anything is possible … but that's quite a stretch. Why her spell, and not someone else's? Why ice? Why an elemental? Why here and now?"

Roho says, "I just don't see what anyone would have had to gain from this. The only thing that I can think of would be destroying relations between Rephidim and Babel… "

Envoy frowns. "Isn't there a sphere that deals with forensic thaumaturgy to investigate these sorts of things?"

Snowstorm says, "Light Magic would be a possibility. Scrying. But the Light Mages have only been getting 'blurs' – some sort of side effect of this pool being messed up so badly. Apparently such a concentration of energies, tuned to the Sphere of Light, being disrupted so completely has dampened the ability to use such magic here. Hopefully it's only temporarily, or Master Zahirinee will have to move."

"From what I understand, this place was a bit like an anti-Forbidden Zone, right?" Envoy asks. "A place where magic was very orderly?"

Snowstorm nods. "Yes. Something to that effect. The pool itself was naturally attuned for Zahirinee's purposes – especially powerful in the Sphere of Light … or, that is, Scrying. I've heard of other pools like that, only that this one was supposedly quite special. He could see into the past, present and future with a great degree of accuracy … even finding out things that had been hidden by anti-scrying wards, it's rumored."

Roho nods. "But it's quite ruined for now, I hear. Perhaps that was the goal, as well… "

Gusty finishes off his mug of cheap hot xocholatl. "Well … maybe. It'll take a lot of work to find out now. I'm sure the College will be devoting an investigation committee to it. We look pretty bad right now. Real bad. And … I think I'll get some shut-eye. I'm not going to be doing any good here, so I think I'll be taking the next ride back to Rephidim. A good night to you all!"

Envoy hmms. "Umm, there might be a way to restore it. But it's a slim chance, and would require me returning to Fortunatis." She doesn't look to enthusiastic about the notion.

Roho tilts his head, "How did you get there the first time?"

Envoy says, "We walked."

Snowstorm spews xocholatl.

Roho calmly wipes off the sleeve of his tunic, "You … walked? How?!"

The Exile blinks and scoots a bit further away.

Gusty just shakes his head, used to these non-sequiturs from Envoy by now, and takes his leave of the group.

"It's a secret," Envoy tells Roho. "Sorry. Anyway, it would require all sorts of clearances and stuff from the Temple, and even then they might not want me to try."

Snowstorm wipes his muzzle, clearing his throat, and giving Roho and Envoy an apologetic look. "Ah … of course."

Roho nods, "Well, I guess the more immediate concern is finding out what happened, anyways… We can help poor Master Zahirinee afterwards… "

Envoy realizes something. "If the pool had been working during the Rephidim-Babel war, would Master Zahirinee have used it to help the Sabaoth, do you think?"

Snowstorm shrugs. "I've no idea. That's not the sort of question to ask politely now, though. War's over. Got to put those things behind us."

Roho rests his chin on his knees as the fire runs a little lower. "I'd hate to think that someone was trying to start it again, through an incident like this."

Snowstorm finishes off his xocholatl. "Well … that's enough for me. Good luck watching Mage Scarlet, Doctor Roho. And I hope you get some rest as well." He gets up to leave. "And a good evening to you, Miss Lothrhyn."

Envoy asks, "Why would anyone want to restart a war that had no purpose in the first place, Roho?"

The Exile waves goodnight to the retiring Mage. "The Mages here are much more polite than the ones I usually encounter."

Roho shakes his head. "I don't know. Why would they start one without purpose the first time?"

Some more growling noises emit from Scarlet's cabin, and the sound of ripping fabric.

Roho's ear swivels. "What is going on in there? I know they're busy, but I should probably check. Scarlet is still my charge after all."

Envoy lays down her mug and stands. "I'll come too, just in case there really is a fuff'nar in there."

Roho smiles. "Thank you." He then stands, and heads for the sounds.

The cabin door is unlocked, and it opens, revealing a dark room inside. Not that Roho would notice. It smells of an Eeee Water Mage, a few bits of incense and wax here and there – magical supplies – and of wood.

Envoy enters, and looks under the bed, asking, "Are fuff'nars really vicious enough to chew peoples' faces off?"

Roho shrugs. "I've seen some that would." He enters, and snuffs around. "Scarlet?"

Alas, since the room is quite dark, and Envoy hasn't any night-vision or quite the wonderful senses that Roho does, she can't see a thing under the bed. In fact, she bumps her muzzle against the bed frame in the process.

As she does so, however, Roho's keen ears pick up the sound of a paper falling to the floor.

Roho goes for the paper, and plucks it up.

Scarlet makes feral whimpering noises, and rustles around on her cot.

Envoy rubs her muzzle, and says, "Scarlet is making the noises. I think she's having a nightmare or something."

Roho nods. "A strange one … She does sound like a fuff'nar." He hands the paper to Envoy. "Can you tell me what's on this?"

Envoy takes the paper over to the open doorway, to try and read it in what little light comes through.

Meanwhile, the Eeee mage makes some murphling noises … then stirs from her bed. She mumbles, "Who? What? Who's there?"

Envoy squints to make out the writing. "I think it's a journal entry. 'Everything has gone as planned! I'll have my revenge yet! The Temple will pay for betraying Aelfhem and allowing it to be plundered! I shall have revenge for the humiliations I have been subjected to!' and so on. It doesn't sound like Scarlet at all."

Roho shakes his head. "Not at all! She was not the vengeful type."

Just then, the bat squeaks, "What?! What's going on here? Journal entry?"

Roho's act of rubbing his head in confusion is interrupted as he jumps at the sudden squeak.

The bat stumbles off the bed, and staggers toward Envoy. "What's that you've got there?! Give that to me! What are you doing in here?"

Envoy blinks, and hands the paper over to the irate Eeee. "It's only me, Scarlet."

The Eeee grabs the paper, and leans over into the doorway so she can read it. (Bats can't read in pitch black, after all, good ears or not.) She crumples it up in her hands, and mutters a curse under her breath. Or, at least, it sounds like one.

"What's going on, Scarlet?" the Exile asks with concern.

Roho stands near the Exile and the bat, quiet, listening.

Scarlet hunches over, her eyes looking wild and desperate in the faint light coming through the door. "So that's it … it's all up now, isn't it? I'm the freak, the mad saboteur … and … guess they'll be breaking my neck any moment now… " She suddenly jerks her head back toward Envoy. "No … no, they have to know, first. Someone has to say something. Well, you know what? I'm not playing along! You hear that? I'm not!" She dashes back into the shadows, and knocks several boxes and bits of magical paraphenalia over as she rummages about madly.

Envoy blinks three times, despite the darkness, and whispers to Roho, "She sounds worse than I did when my personality split three ways. I think she's paranoid now. What did you give her?"

Roho whispers back to Envoy, "Nothing. It's been worsening since she was taken from the pool. I haven't given her anything that could touch her mind in that way."

Envoy tenses, and pushes Roho aside as she rushes towards the Eeee. "What is that in your hand, Scarlet?" she demands.

Scarlet slashes out with a chitin dagger at Envoy, making a thin ribbon of blood on the Exile's right arm. "I'll … I'll say someone attacked … and … oh, Sunala take it! Just die!"

Roho hears the sound of the slash, and draws his staff up close, ready. "Envoy! Are you okay?" He calls out louder, "Is there anyone outside?"

If there's anyone outside, not enough time has passed for them to respond to the noise.

Envoy hisses at the slice, and tries to grab Scarlet's arms.

Envoy's grab succeeds for the most part … but in the scuffle, Scarlet's dagger thrusts true … and plunges deep into the Aeolun's gut.

The Exile cries out, and her wounded arm loses its grip. "Scarlet, stop… " she pleads.

Scarlet lets out a shriek, and staggers back. "You – you … Blast you all!" she screams. Someone has to have heard that. She lunges for Roho.

Roho trains his sensitive ears in on the scuffle. It's all too clear what just happened … but it also gives him a fairly good idea of who's where. He takes a breath, and goes in with his staff, trying to knock the Eeee cold, or at least away from Envoy.

Roho's just as good fighting in the dark as he would be in broad daylight … and it shows. His staff connects, hitting the Eeee in the midsection, prompting her to buckle over. The knife, however, doesn't fall from her grasp.

Roho doesn't press the attack, not wanting to hurt Scarlet, hoping that reinforcements will come towards the shout before Scarlet can gather herself up again. He instead moves himself between Scarlet and Envoy, holding the staff in both hands across his chest…

Dizzy from shock and the drain of her own healing process, Envoy still warns Roho, "She still has the knife, knock her out!"

Roho hears Envoy's words, and strikes out again with his staff.

Once again, Roho proves himself to be quite capable with the staff. The dagger falls from Scarlet's hand … but there's also the sound of breaking bone. Scarlet shrieks again in agony, and falls to her side.

Shouts can be heard outside, and bobbing lights herald the approach of others bearing lanterns.

Roho stays in front of Envoy. "Scarlet, please, stop… " He keeps his staff ready, unsure of how long his luck will keep up.

Envoy just sits on the floor, since she'd only fall over if she did otherwise. "She's down, Roho, and has dropped the knife."

Roho nods, hearing the approach of the others now anyway. He drops to Envoy's side. "Are you hurt badly, Lady? Where did she get you?"

Scarlet whispers, "Just … just finish me off. Once they find out … " She hisses through her teeth. "… they'll … "

"No place critical," Envoy says, sounding a bit tired. "Scarlet's hurt worse, I think."

Roho sighs and nods. "I didn't want to hurt her. Guess this kind of defeats the purpose of being her personal physician."

Roho tilts his head. "I know you … heal differently than we do. Do you need any help from me, or would you rather take care of it yourself?"

Scarlet slumps down, falling unconscious – or putting on a good act of it, anyway.

Lanterns poke into the doorway, along with several curious faces. "What's going on?" "Miss Lothrhyn's been stabbed!" "Bandits?" "Spread out! Catch them!" "Are you all right?"

Envoy says, "I'll need to eat something substantial later, is all, and I'll be in sleep mode until then essentially." Her eyes are already closed.

Roho calls out, "No bandits! Mage Scarlet seems to have suffered an … episode of sorts. She attacked us, and stabbed Lady Envoy."

Roho nods to Envoy, not saying anything, leaving her in peace. He moves towards the others. "Envoy is okay for now, she's healing herself. Can you help me with Scarlet?"

The assembled mages, apprentices and guards help Roho with Envoy and Scarlet.Roho is kept up quite late tending to the wounded bat, but at least she'll live … and Envoy's wounds seem to be healing remarkably fast. Maybe, in the morning,Roho will have a chance to get some answers.