"What?" Avery demanded. His gaze instantly going to Cass with suspicion flaring behind that smile.

Arie resisted the urge to growl like dog. Instead, she ground out, "That guy you caught outside Sea King."

Her friend stiffened; his smile seemed to freeze on his face. "Squirrelly fella, that snuck in upta no good? King's Own took em if I remember right. Should've killed em if Id'a known he come back to bite our arse."

"Language." She corrected out of reflex getting a genuine smile from him this time. "That's the one, though it's a good thing you didn't kill him. He seems to be a wine merchant who has been poisoning people here. The fact that he seems so knowledgeable about avoiding contamination makes me think he knows more about Ark or at the least."

"Them King's Own likely already spoke to him."

What a nice way to say he's already been tortured, Arie thought in disgust. "That's fine, my magic will likely get better answers anyway."

Avery looked thoughtful as she rambled. While she felt hopeful at the possible new lead, he seemed to being doing his best to temper her expectations. "Those folks are a lot better at interrogation. Just cause your magic is scary to some-."

She had forgotten that she had never really explained how she had drawn out the poison. Or that she could in fact view memories separate from that process. "I don't need to be scary. Besides, you've said so yourself, people can still lie." A small smile crept across her face. "I can view a person's actual memories so long as those memories weren't seen through a broken lens. Anyone he's spoken to, anywhere he's met someone, or traded with them, I can see it all. He could fight it of course, but I am confident that he won't be able to hide anything."

"Alright," he told her, his eyes glancing down at Cass. "Do you want me to take you there now? I'm sure his lordship would be happy to set up a meeting. You could be back here by nightfall at the earliest."

Arie froze at that. Instantly regret twisted in her gut as she looked at Cass who was still a little dizzy from the quick disconnect of Arie's magic. The mercenary was still suffering from her various wounds. So were the dozens of others that filled the beds around her. If she left now, it would be one less person to do healings. Avery had said nightfall, but it would probably be much longer because she would immediately go to hunt down Ark. That man would still be in his cell at the end of her day. These people did not deserve to suffer longer.

Avery nodded, understanding the decision she had come to without her having to say anything. "I can ask Lord Raoul if you may see him after you are done here tonight."

Relief snaked through her. This would allow her to work in peace and do as much as she could now while also getting the information they needed as soon as possible. "Thank you, Avery."

He grinned his mischievous grin and did a mock bow before turning to go. "Anything for you, my sweet."

She bit back the protest that automatically rose to her lips, letting it go unsaid. Her friend seemed happy so why spoil it when he was doing this favor for her. Once he was gone Cass whispered,

"How did you do that? You peeled back the magic he was wearing in a memory."

"It wasn't me." She thought about the whispered lie and the warmth on her cheek. Without thought, she reached up and touched her face. A feather brushed gently across her skin with a faint tingle of magic. Like recognizing like. The griffon feather. "It was this." She tapped the feather and glanced at Kel. "A griffon's feather that was gifted to me."

Cass stared at her in wide-eyed awe. "My lady, I don't know what crazy luck you live by, but the Gods have truly blessed you."

Did they, she wondered to herself. "Just Arie. I am no lady." But despite the bittersweet feelings that tumbled around inside of her, Arie sent up a silent prayer of thanks. A first for her since her mother's passing. She shook her head like a dog shakes itself, to get rid of those thoughts. "Now let's finish getting you patched up."

The last bit of poison was drawn out with relative ease. Cass learned that she could shove the dark thoughts at Arie who would not judge. It was shameful but far less painful. Once that was done Arie could work on her other injuries. Kel had already stitched up the leg wound. Some of the neatest needle work Arie had ever seen so she left that along to look at the gut wound. This wound on the other hand was worrisome. Medicinal herbs and paste had been properly applied to the stitched wound, and it had been wrapped with care, but there was a smell that tickled Arie's nose. As she unwrapped the inn keepers work, she noted the area around the wound was red and hot to the touch, there was also a white ring around the sliced flesh. All these things were implications the wound had gotten infected.

Carefully Arie probed the wound with her Gift. Inside puss had begun to build up, pushing at the skin. Arie cleansed that quickly, taking great not to damage healthy flesh. She also destroyed anything that felt foreign to her Gift. The redness was already starting to go down. So, what caused this, she wondered. The inn keeper's work had been very professional. Not even her mother would have found fault. Then she found the root cause. A nick in the mercenary's bowels, so small most would have missed it. Arie brought her Gift to bare against it, the opening in the squishy organ sealed itself without a trace of ever having been cut. She double checked that more the body's own poison hadn't leaked out into the surrounding wound. By the Goddess's mercy all of it seemed clean, but Arie would keep a very close eye on it. Lastly, she reapplied paste, and wrapped the wound.

This ended up setting the pace for the rest of her day. Thanks to her 'assistants' she was forced to take regular breaks to ensure they could keep up. Kel probably could have kept up just fine, it was only her stomach that loudly protested the schedule. While Lerant and Jess obviously were exhausted even without the use of a Gift. Even with their help though, the number of patients never seemed to decrease. It wasn't until one of the guards ended up in one of the cots that she realized that there was still a general trickle of patients being brought in. She studied his face and was certain he wasn't one of the men who had been guarding the door or their reliefs, so that meant he was part of the patrols. A nice sized lump formed on the side of his head. There were even some wicked looking scratches on his neck, like someone had tried to choke him and had to be ripped off.

"Now, how did you end up here, and what did you face off with that had such wicked claws? Not an immortal I hope." Soldiers were almost always chatty if you gave them half a chance.

The man's face flushed with embarrassment. "It's nothin, really. We don't think she was even infected." He shrugged. "According to my partner, her hubby only had a mild case. But when we were gonna take him here, she got madder than a water snake whose tail got grabbed." Arie hoped that was an expression not experience talking. Water snakes while generally left people to their own business, their bites were no joking matter.

"Quite the fierce reaction. I take it your partner had to pull her off?"

He flushed again and nodded. But then he frowned thoughtful, he must have realized that this was an especially excessive reaction. "You know, she said something odd." Arie's skin crawled, though sight magic was never part of her Gift, experience was often a far better teacher. "She said she wouldn't allow us to 'feed' her husband's soul to 'that necromancer'."

How? How did people know she was alive, much less that she was here? Hadn't they believed they had killed her the day of the fire. By the Gods she would have been dead if Avery hadn't carried her out. So how did people here know, her panicked thoughts spiraled. The mayor could have passed the word on, she reasoned. But then again, he was no longer aware of her movements. She had left camp to go to the capital for help. He would have no way of knowing where she was currently.

"Miss?"

Arie blinked at the guard and tried to force a smile. "I'm sorry, I am a little out of sorts."

He looked at her with concern. "Maybe you should rest yourself."

She swallowed. "I will. After I get you back on your feet."

The guard smiled with no small amount of relief. He was a fairly good patient, allowing her to poke and prod around the lump without much fuss. No concussion as far as she could tell from the few questions he answered. But, better safe than sorry. She poured her Gift into the spot, turning back the injury until there was nothing there. For the scratches she double checked that no poison or infection was present then added simple medicinal paste smeared patches to either side of his neck. She gave him a small bundle that had more patches and a small jar of the paste.

"Apply a new one every night, after you bath." When the man looked like he was going to make a comment about bathing she added sharply. "With the amount of work you do, you should be bathing once a night. It will help keep sickness away as well as keep any wounds clear of infection."

He grumbled good naturedly about the amount of work that would be, but didn't argue when she pointed out that if he was back due to an infection he would be paying for his treatment. Seems the work was less than paying actual coins. Arie chuckled as he left then she went looking for the gentleman the guard had brought in.

The man was relatively young. Boyish features gave him almost a mischievous look that reminded her a lot of Avery. Though this man didn't have that hard edge that being crooked often left a person. His hair was a soft gold that had yet to darken to brown. He had bright yellow eyes that resembled a cat's eye. Arie sat beside him and smiled trying to lay on the charms.

"Hello purtty. Never seen eyes like yours. Were the Goddess so jealous she stole the color?" Oh boy, Arie thought with a wince. This is going to be something. She could also feel something rather cold behind her. At glance she only saw Lerant who was eyeing the man like he was something very slimy. "The gentleman behind you, your husband?"

"I'm not married, but I am interested in what brought you to my care."

He shrugged. "Nothin much, a harmless prank that someone took offense to. The guards thought I was sick in the head so they brought me here fer fixin. Had I known someone so lovely was here, I'd have come myself."

"Oh? What was this harmless prank?"

He giggled like a small child and leaned forward conspiratorially. "Ol' Garth, drunkard, spilled some of his ale on me and my beaut of a wife. So, I thought I'd help sober em up real quick like. I stuck a jewel bug in his mug." He cackled. "You shouda seen the look on his face. Don't think he'll take another sip again."

Arie's face froze. Jewel bugs were common pests around here and many other wet areas. Their carapace was often used by sorcerers and jewelers alike for the beautiful colors. But the bug had to be carefully cleaned because they excreted a toxin when they felt they were in danger. The toxin that was tricky to deal with because it could numbness and sores to form on the skin. If ingested it could easily kill. She doubted that this man was unaware of the danger. Most residents in Port Legann knew to handle the pests carefully. Only travelers had ever came to her and her mother for treatment.

"You know the jewel bug is toxic right?"

His face fell and there was a touch of shame that crossed the boy's face. It was gone in a blink. "He's fine. It was all spat out. Besides it was just a joke."

Just a joke, huh, Arie thought. "Hmm, my adoptive father always said a joke is only a joke if both parties are laughing. Was Ol' Garth laughing?"

He at least had the decency to look guilty. Rubbing the back of his head.

"By chance, did you have anything to drink? You said Ol' Garth spilled his drink on you and your wife. I assume you were at a tavern."

He nodded. "Yea, the wine tasted a little off."

Interesting that could taste the poison, to most people it was tasteless. Perhaps he had a touch of the Gift. "And your wife. She wasn't drinking, was she?"

After shaking his head, he looked at her in surprise. "How'd ya know that?"

She smiled gently. "The guards said you were lightly infected but your wife was clean. Means you were exposed relatively recently, while your wife is still clear."

"Infected with what?"

Arie sighed, "There is a poison that has been spreading. It's been added to wine and can be passed through blood. It seems to make people not very nice. Gets stronger from the selfishness that is innate in people."

He blanched. "When Garth spilled his drink, I was really angry. It wasn't normal. Could I pass it to my wife? What about our child? She's pregnant!" Panic welled up in his face.

"Easy, easy." Arie soothed. "I will get it out of you. You will be safer." He seemed to relax at that. "With your permission I will start. Just be warned it is not pleasant."

"Will it hurt?"

"If you don't fight it, it will be painless. But I will see the things you did and felt while under its influence."

"For Rosy, it would be worth it." Once again Arie began the process of pulling the poison out. She witnessed the incident with the spilled ale at the tavern called the Laughing Thief. Arie felt the anger that had burned away all sense from Ralph. Seeing the bug crawling and just snatching it up and slipping it into the tankard. Garth sputtering in distress. His wife had given him grief for that to. Then she saw the guard and his partner stop him as well as Rosy's attack. Arie did her best not to look at the woman's face. Just pulled the poison as quick as possible. Once that was done, she showed Ralph the specks of black poison before burning them away.

"You are free to go."

"Huh, well, thanks." Ralph got up and left.

From behind her, Arie thought she heard Lerant growl, "Finally."