The long rabbit ears bent and folded in thought as the monster priestess read the medical report given to her by the human doctor who had penned it. He was sat on the opposite side of her desk next to the Monster Mage who the report was about. She was wearing her spare robe which she hadn't needed for the travel to Clinic Hill.

Cter didn't catch herself having put it on until she was halfway down her tower's staircase and tugged it up to not trip over it. She had to pause for a moment to properly register that she had dressed herself proper. It was a good sign, and she took it with her all the way the rest of the stairs and out the hallway where Sarbor had waited for her to dress herself from her nightgown.

He was glad too to see Cter realize it too.

Most glad though was Priestess Frioke when she saw Cter and Sarbor walk into her office. Her sigh of relief seeing that Cter was dressed properly transitioned close to her ears flopping over her face to hide the tears welling up in her eyes. "Singe my soul," she breathed out before her two guests had gotten through the door fully. "Oh how good it is to see you on your feet and clothed like that, Cter."

While Cter sat waiting for Frioke to finish reading through Sarbor's report and study his tracing of the pattern on Cter's left arm she let the priestess' words dance around within her, savoring the relieved and happy tones as she waited for the monster priestess' deliberation of Sarbor's findings.

"Would you judge that Cter is in good enough health physically, doctor?" she asked after she got through all the notes and drawn diagrams. Her ears raised attentively to hear. "That she has recovered from the condition she was in when she arrived here at the castle with you?"

Sarbor looked to Cter for a nod to tell him that it was okay with her. She gave him one, but not before she gave him a thankful one for the thought.

"From the outset she is in as good a health physically as she were when she set off from Jarasevo Castle, apart from the state her left arm is in. She has been eating well and gotten rest, even if the rest that she's had has been plagued with nightmares. Her body has been too much in need of the physical rest that she has not woken up from them. Today though it seems that she had her first full, gentle night since the two of us arrived here, and thus I would judge that her condition is well enough for you to continue with what you have planned."

"And you?" Frioke asked before nodding in acknowledgment. "How are you feeling, Dr. Fech?" She closed the folder with his notes and drawings to show that she was giving him her full attention. "Anything that's been bothering your body? How is your shoulder?"

His shoulder?

Cter didn't have to guess which one it was. Sarbor rolled his left once while grimacing with half his face. "It has been healing nicely with the tools and tinctures you've provided me with, priestess. Thank you for asking."

Where Frioke looked pinpointed exactly where on Sarbor's shoulder he was hurting. A finger's or so length in from his armpit, just above his…

"His shoulder," Frioke repeated to Cter's face paling beyond Kurant's. "Just his shoulder, Cter."

B-But...how? And when?

"Later," Sarbor asked gently of Cter with a soft blink.

Did it happen when Sarbor was escaping with Cter? From where though? The fusion? Was it not dead? Was it still roaming? Was it still ali–

"Cter!" Sarbor asked strict of Cter with a hard blink. "Later."

The outburst startled Cter, almost knocking her off her chair. She gulped at the curl of his lips which relaxed as he saw the shock in her eyes.

"S-Sorry," he gulped while hesitating to reach out to help her. "S-Something came over me. I don't know what, and I..."

A leathery tightening had the two human heads turning towards the monster head half hidden behind her interlocked fingers. "Hm..." she uttered in her thinking. "Maybe we should begin with you instead then, Dr. Fech." Her eyes peered with a narrow focus over her claws drumming on her knuckles. "I wanted for you to approach me about the subject before I made any mention of it." She observed as the human doctor's shoulders sank underneath his felt jacket and his well-used fingers pinched the bridge of his nose. "And while I expected that you would do it from your human side, I'm happy that you did it via your monster si–"

"Monster priestess!" interrupted Sarbor with a sincerity to his tone that rivaled Sir Gerson. "With all due respect can I please ask of you not to refer to my aura as my monster side?"

Even with all the due respect, the request still had Frioke's ears shooting up like question marks on the verge of popping off her skull with how fast they shot up. "You do realize that I must ask of you to explain why not, Dr. Fech. Having had a magical potential for so long and not wanting to mention it I can understand, and I do apologize if I've touched a nerve. However, never in my long life have I ever met someone who has roared back at me with such ferocity. I've met many humans who've not wanted to acknowledge their auras, but even then…"

Sarbor, feeling alone in the situation he was being forced into, looked to Cter for support. He wanted to ask her what he should answer, but how could he to begin with?

"He's not had it for a long time, priestess," Cter spoke in the human doctor's stead. "He got it at Clinic Hill." She extended her left arm. "He got it from the...fusion."

Frioke's eyes widened enough that her pushed-up forehead tripped her ears backwards. "You got it from the fusion?" she repeated in a stunned whisper. "Singe my soul..." Her hand came up to her mouth as her head shook from the information settling in with her. "I...I apologize, Dr. Fech. I apologize with all of my sou– With all of my being to you. I couldn't...I cannot fathom that such was the case. I am..."

She didn't know what she was.

"I'm s-sorry, I..." the monster priestess stuttered out while her loosened-up weight sank into the chair. She blinked, yet it did not change anything about the whirl of thoughts that trickled out of her mutter. "An aura sprouting..." Even when hearing it from her own words she did not believe it. "A carved Cooperative Connection on a Monster Mage, and an induced aura on a human." Her mouth was hid behind her hand again to quell and hide the pained grimace that gripped her hard and sudden.

Frioke's relieved aura turned back into the same tensed one she had before Cter and Sarbor had entered and showed that Cter was in good health. It reverted to fearing the worst, a worst that was proven to be worse than she could ever have imagined.

"A sprouted human aura..."

While she was busy accepting something as drastic and world-shaking as a human sprouting an aura far into his life, the human in question sat with an unsettled discomfort in his chair gritting his teeth while he gripped at his chest. "Dammit," he chuffed between his put-together teeth. "It keeps building."

Softly, Cter put her hand onto Sarbor's on his chest to ease it down. His eyes had a glint inside of them, the small shine that was his aura. "You mustn't feed it," she advised gently. "It's not yours, like you said, but you can't feed it. If you do it'll become more a part of you, and we'll have a more difficult time removing it."

"Removing it?" Frioke piqued with brow twitching tighter. "How do you mean?"

It took another grit and a sighed exhale before Sarbor managed to let the monster priestess' half-accusing tone wash off of him. "I don't want it," he stated firmly. "It's not me. It's something that has been forced upon me, and I want it removed."

There was much, much more that he wanted to say about it, but out of courtesy to Cter and Frioke he held back what he really wanted to say about the aura inside of him. "I understand that you have an interest in me keeping it, priestess, and that it can possibly help in explaining what happened to Sund and Dr. Sallus." The courtesy took its toll on him not letting his aura be filled his real emotions though, and he ended up with a scowl before he could realized it. "But it goes against everything I've done in life."

A lot had been dumped onto Frioke's desk. Enough so that she found herself standing up from it so that her legs wouldn't be caught and crushed underneath the weight of it should it have collapsed. Her hands folded behind her back, as did her long ears flatten themselves against the curvature of her head. With slow and heavy steps she walked over to one of the many, cramped bookshelves that covered the four walls of her office. Her foot tapped inside her flowing robe as she let her eyes glaze over the backs of the tightly packed books.

Eventually her shoulders raised in a hefty inhale, falling down a few seconds afterwards as her emphatic breath brushed long strokes against the varying widths of the many book bindings.

"I was the one that confirmed the presence of human magic," she spoke in a nostalgic tone with a claw resting as a hook on top of a book about the proper etiquette when it came to inviting different types of monsters to weddings. It was a surprisingly thick book for its subject matter. "Cter can attest to that if needed, doctor." Her eyes were closed.

He looked to Cter wondering why he would be in need of that. "It's true," she answered, also unsure why she was needed to confirm for Frioke.

"A presence that I've seen in its literal crib to its splendid and wide-spread usage today." The claw pivoted the book in and out of its place in the bookshelf. "As I've said before, a human denying, or outright refusing their aura is not a seldom sight for me." Her angling of the wedding book stopped as she opened her eyes.

Judging by her reaction she had gotten the wrong book, and after moving her hand two books to the side she again hooked her claw between the spine and the pages to angle it out enough to be able to grab it with a tug out its tight shelving. The books on its sides slammed together like a bite, shaking the bookshelf hard. "In fact, I'm sure that Professor Leraull had one or two lectures about it at Soul's School, didn't he, Cter?"

Eeehhhh...

"I must have been sick during those lectures," the Monster Mage excused very poorly. Her hand scratching the back of her head was as obvious a sign of lying could be. Seems like she wasn't accustomed enough to her new soul so that she could lie properly again through it. She was able to blush from realizing how badly she had lied though.

Silver lining.

Or something…

With the book tucked underneath her arm Frioke walked back to her desk with small steps that did not have her knees touch the edge of her robe. "In any case, while I would say that I have plenty of experience in at least making the conflicted humans give pause for thought while I try and explain a monster's perspective to them, something tells me that your mind will not be budged the thickness of my ear despite all of my good intentions." Her magical candlelight shone through both of her ears as she passed it by hovering above the side of her desk.

"We've led completely different lives, monster priestess," replied Sarbor while he followed with his eyes the monster priestess sitting down with an attentive expression and her long robe arms spreading out over the book she placed in the middle of her desk. "The humans you have met have not been like me. If you've met as many humans as you imply that you have than that should be familiar that no human is the other like."

"That is true, doctor," Frioke nodded slowly before lifting her arm up in an explanatory motion. Not high up to have the fabric taken off the book's face though. "The humans I've talked to in my career as the Monster Priestess have all had their auras their entire life, while yours has been thrust upon you without your consent but a few months or so ago, should I guess. I cannot, should not, and am not implying that yours and the other humans' situations are the same. What I can do though is to give you a different perspective to things which may or may not help you in understanding yourself better."

With one finger Frioke slid the book over to Sarbor.

"Remember, doctor, when I was born humans did not have magic. When I was young humans did not have auras. Your world might have changed within you, but my world was changed around me." She smiled warmly to the human. "That was why Dr. Sallus had his apprentices, right? Because he knew that it was his different perspective that had him discover his theory of miasma."

Before Sarbor could reach for it, Frioke snuck in a dive of her head to catch his attention again. "I'm only reminding you of him because of what he told me about you, Sarbor." Her words were almost motherly. "I am not asking you to change your mind, only to consider. Even if not I will still do everything in my power to make sure that we can remove the aura inside of you as quickly as possible. I cannot give you any time estimate though, so in the meanwhile..."

The finger was removed from the book to reveal the title inscribed with a magical font. Sarbor took the book in his hands, lifting it up in front of him at half-arm's length. Cter leaned in to read it too.

"Aura changes in a growing monster reaching adulthod: A collected and compacted compendium for the growth of a monster soul."

A narrowed, confused look was sent over the desk by the Fourth Monster Mage who's blinks were out of her control. No matter how many ones she did though she did not get rid of the title burned into her eyes.

"Aura changes in a growing monster reaching adulthood: A collected and compacted compendium for the growth of a monster soul?" she repeated as a question to the monster priestess lacking a bemused smile. If anything it only confused Cter further. It wasn't a joke? The book wasn't a joke? Surely, it must have been. "Surely, Frioke, you're–"

Cter's shoulders were sucked in as she remembered that it wasn't she that had been given the book. She wasn't the one who's forced-upon aura risked amplifying her emotions to the point of lashing out when she didn't want to. Not at that point. Earlier, sure, but not at that point in Frioke's office. Slowly, she craned her head to the side as she turned towards Sarbor so that she wouldn't be within reach when he inevitably…

Inevitably took a genuine interest in the first chapter of the book?

"I can see where you're coming from, monster priestess," the doctor said between his fingers tapping over his lips. "Although it is not compelling, there is at least a slight angle where I can see where you're coming from." He closed the book with a bow to his head. "Thank you. I will read this when I have the chance."

"Please do in the Royal Garden," suggested Frioke with a soft motion towards her office door. "If you want I can appoint someone to come and fetch me on your command should you have any questions or anything you'd like to discuss?"

"That will not be necessary, but perhaps instead we can talk about it over some tea instead, priestess?"

"That we can do, doctor. Thank you for considering."

"Do not make any plans about me keeping this aura though," Sarbor repeated with weight. "I will be considering, that you have my word on, but that is only because I feel that I will be robbing you of vital information regarding what happened. I am willing to help in any way I can."

"And you are strong of heart for doing so, doctor," Frioke replied with a bow to her head as well. "Dr. Sallus did write about your beliefs, firm as Mt. Ebott, yet with a conscious effort to always challenge it, if only to make you more able to explain it."

The magical font of the book's title was scraped against by Sarbor's hand clenching hard into a fist. His inhale was quick and deep, and his eyes shut hard together. "I..."

"You don't have to say anything, doctor. And no, I don't say that because I feel at the aura inside of you. I'm not, and neither is Cter. We're keeping our distance as you want."

Sarbor's nod was weak, "Thank you," yet equally grateful as his others. "And if I may," he managed through his choked throat, "are there any books as how monsters mourn their dead? I've seen enough humans with monster families at Clinic Hill to know the procedure, but the spirituality behind it I have never...considered."

"Until now."

Cter's comment might've been unnecessary to an outside listener, but she meant it with all of her heart and soul. It was painful seeing such a stoic and strong human be reduced to such a state. He was the one that saved her. He was the one that escaped with her.

And he was crying whilst Cter was not.

"Certainly," Frioke answered to Sarbor's request. "Would you like that I fetch it now or do you want it brought to your chamber? Do you want it available to you when you go to the Royal Garden or later?"

"Can I answer that later, if possible?"

"Whenever you want in your own time."

"Thank you." Sarbor breathed out slowly. "Thank you." His clenched hand relaxed back onto the face of the book, spreading his fingers across the magical font. He looked content with his gentle smile underneath his large mustache that bounced in a chuckle that he turned towards Cter. "Weren't we here for your sake?" he asked while drying his eyes with his felt sleeve. "Please forgive me for taking away from you with my...erm...bias."

Why would Cter have been angry about it? "We're in this together, you and I." Any help Sarbor got was help to her as well. "When you begin to shun away and deny help because it's magic is when you have to start apologizing."

That Sarbor understood, which he showed with a blinked nod. "So," he began again with a strengthening inhale, "to repeat what I was supposed to get across before my own issues took over the conversation." The doctor smiled through another coughed chuckle. "I would judge Cter's physical health to be in good condition, monster priestess. You are free to continue with your planning with my approval."

"And how about you?" Frioke sent over to the Cter in question on the next beat. "How are you judging that you're feeling, Cter?"

Not physically, was the clear implication. It had the Monster Mage looking down at her hands sitting neatly on her purple robe's lap. "I'm doing...fine," was her answer followed by a nod as she felt how it settled in her. "I've not been doing fine this past couple of...well I don't know how long, exactly. And frankly, a part of me don't want to know exactly how long it has been."

She tilted her head up to the observing monster priestess sitting with her balled hands on her desk. "Things are moving forwards though. I had a talk with Idyll earlier. A good talk." A very, very good talk. "I see the same view that she does out the window now, and I want to continue seeing it."

Frioke's smile grew up to her ears stood taller than ever. "That is wonderful news to hear, Cter." Her balled hands relaxed with her shoulders. "It warms my soul to see that you've been strong enough to chose this path." She stood up, "If you would allow me?" and walked around her desk with quivering lips tugging hard at her cheeks. Cter stood up too to meet her, and allow the monster priestess to envelop her Fourth Monster Mage.

"You're here again," Frioke sobbed into Cter's shoulder. "I was so worried." So, so worried. Her aura enveloped Cter more than her arms ever could. "I can't lose another." Especially with her arms weakening to the point of only being able to grip vaguely at Cter's robe. "I can't even stand losing one..."

Cter let the monster priestess stain her robe with her tears for as much as she wanted. The worry she had harbored would have collapsed a human ten times over, and she had held it in for Cter's sake. To make sure that there wouldn't be another loss among her Monster Mages. All of it whirled restlessly inside her aura like a storm that she let ravage her, finally.

Yet she was happy.

So very happy that she was able to let out her kept-in emotions in such a naked and direct manner.

It made Cter happy too that Frioke felt comfortable enough to cry so close to her. That she let her aura wash around Cter's too. So intimate in her welling emotions, and not at a distance to not risk anything happening to Cter.

It was good. It was good that Frioke felt comfortable being so much a monster near Cter again. For better.

"Do you want to join us, Sarbor?"

And worse.

"I'm good, thanks."