Things hadn't even gotten started yet, and Rem was already beginning to think he'd made a mistake. This morning he'd received an anonymous note from Lucius, who he did not exactly consider a friend but also didn't consider much of anything else, and who apparently thought they were simultaneously so close Lucius could comment on Rem's love life but not close enough that Rem would recognize Lucius's handwriting. The note had directed Rem to a shed in the woods about a mile away from the swamp, which he was fairly sure one of the other witches usually used for equipment storage. It was a nice-looking shed, but probably not an ideal date location.As he approached the shed he picked up an uncomfortable scent, like a shaving of iron shearing across his nostrils. Lucius's magic. Specifically, Lucius's magic tuned to something defensive, what the bird himself would call a firewall and what a normal person would call a circle. Summoning or just containment, Rem couldn't tell. Either way, it did not improve his opinion of the situation.
He was still going to go in, of course. It was impossible to make any clear judgments without knowing what was actually going on, and, well, it had been a while since he'd had any romantic prospects. But first he called up a carcass from beneath the forest floor, an unfortunate deer felled by a wolf and long since rotted away to bone, joined its skeleton back together with a gesture and a whisper, and breathed life back into it, plus a little something extra. One of its hind legs was missing, and there were obvious tooth marks on most of the bones, but that was all right. Presentation wasn't really one of his concerns.
Thus armed, he walked up to the shed and opened the door.
(Move to Whisper Forest when done)
