for sci- witchcraft, it's witchcraft

A hoot from Barnabas alerted Hazel to the presence of another. She stopped grinding just as a voice reached her ears and turned sightless eyes in the stranger's direction. The stranger sounded young, the voice markedly feminine, but Hazel could get nothing else as the breeze wasn't in her favor and the spirits were unhelpfully silent. But an offer of help, eh? There had been no mention of that in the whispers this morning nor in the bones the other night, but she wasn't about to turn away help.

Hazel blinked serenely in the stranger's direction and then tipped her head to the side in thought. "Are you infected?" She could use another test subject. A willing one would be even better as Barnabas' arthritis was prone to flaring up in these cold times and the poor fellow could use a break from wrangling.


"Speech"