It was plain to see that Janis was anxious and trying to hide it.

Galatea wished she could ease her fear. Unfortunately, that would have required her to have more confidence in the situation than she really had. Or at least a small break from event which seemed to proceed very quickly.

Of course, time might be of the essence, so Galatea didn't complain, just followed Iseis and Janis outside. Jay carried her again, this time on his own. Janis was speaking to him and the few other drones following them, giving last-minute instructions for the front and the handling of the city.

"And let Ada know she has a free hand to deploy our reserves as she likes," she was saying, "but I suggest focusing on our scouting efforts to the south and east. We absolutely cannot afford to be cut off here. Unrest in the city must not distract us. Have the mages help with occasional scrying. And make sure our communications are as secure as possible."

"I'll pass all this on, but I'm coming with you," Jay said.

"You're not," Iseis interrupted. "We must teleport, and we do not have the capacity for extra passengers." She paused, turning to her. "Do we, Galatea?"

"I don't," Galatea admitted.

She had already been traveling for a bit when she returned to New Anberg and was immediately summoned by Regina, who updated her on this situation. From there, it had taken a bit of scrying — a two-way version to allow quick communication so they could coordinate — and then she had met up with Iseis and teleported both of them to this location. Iseis had insisted that she needed to conserve every bit of her mana, which seemed eminently reasonable. Teleporting all three of them would already be a major drain, even if her mana well was full, and Galatea hardly had the time to go and replenish it right now.

"Unfortunately, I can't afford to spend my mana for this, I will likely need every scrap of it," Iseis said now, unsurprisingly. "Thus, we must rely on Galatea for transport."

Jay looked at them for a long moment, visibly gritting his teeth. Then he gave a short nod. "Fine." He started setting Janis down gently.

Galatea made herself a bit more solid and stepped in to stabilize her. Iseis took her other side.

Janis smiled, even though it looked a bit strained. "I trust you to keep doing good work. Don't worry about me. See you later."

Galatea turned her focus to another place. She was familiar with the temple to Leian Regina had built; she'd helped advise her, after all. The semi-permanent base for a teleportation link Iseis had set up also helped, slightly. Picturing it closely and pouring all her mana into it, Galatea mentally grabbed onto the two of them and pulled, twisting space as she stepped into it.

The teleportation was smooth enough and they arrived without issue. At least checking up on Janis showed that she didn't seem any worse. It was a little colder here and the wind was more noticeable, but the sun still sparkled off the water of the lake. Still, better to get inside.

"Let's come in," Iseis said quietly.

Galatea nodded, made sure Janis was secure and followed her into the temple, vaguely wondering what they were going to do.

Galatea had some slim knowledge of soul magic, but Iseis must know more. Or perhaps they'd picked up different pieces of knowledge about the field. Because quite a bit of what Iseis had said was new to her. Not entirely, but there were new aspects and connections she hadn't previously considered.

It still didn't give her any insight on how to remove this curse, but presumably, there was a reason they were in this temple; Iseis would probably call on Leian.

The inside hadn't changed much. It was clean, despite there being no priest to take care of the place. Their steps echoed a little (at least, Iseis' and Janis' more halting ones). Several paraphernalia she vaguely recognized were laying on the altar.

Iseis swept them up quickly, then nudged Janis to the alter like it was a chair. "Sit down."

"Uh …" Janis looked skeptical.

"Oh, it's just some stone. We don't have a chair here, unfortunately. Now sit down before you fall down."

Janis settled down and Galatea stepped back to look around. The temple was rather barren, of course, but the magic she sensed was still interesting. Leian's presence was rather obvious once you knew where to look. There also seemed to be magical defenses in place that she hadn't seen before.

Galatea spent a moment looking at them, searching for what was anchoring them, but they were well-hidden. Then she turned back to the others. Janis had closed her eyes. Iseis was pacing up and down, muttering to herself in a language she barely recognized.

"What are we going to do now?" Galatea asked after a while.

Iseis stopped, turning around. "I'll continue my diagnostics. If you know how to see souls, try and spot if you can see the connection."

Galatea didn't immediately do as Iseis suggested. Instead, she focused on the old elf herself, watching what she did. It was a spell she hadn't seen before. Iseis seemed unpracticed with it, fumbling a little, but she managed to create a complex weave of mana. Studying it closely, Galatea began to copy it, trying to combine it with the knowledge she already had.

Fortunately, seeing someone's soul was a bit easier for her than for another organic person. It still took her long minutes until she was confident she had an actual impression of Janis' soul and wasn't just projecting. It still didn't tell her much. Grudgingly, Galatea had to admit that she just didn't have the knowledge necessary to find however this curse expressed itself in the soul. It seemed like there was a dark shadow hanging over her soul, but that could just be her imagination.

Instead, Galatea focused on what she did know, and that was mana. She studied the way it intersected with Janis' physical body. It was easy to see that Iseis had been right, and the way the two parts were almost disintegrating now only made it more obvious. There was clearly something else at play. The curse was trying to separate the mana and the physical, biological part of Janis' body. It would have been very dangerous and probably fatal to any mage; for a half-elemental, it was a minor miracle they'd managed to keep her alive this long. Or rather the opposite; that the curse was using divine mana was also rather evident.

"It's almost like it was designed for her," she murmured.

Iseis glanced at her. She looked pale, and old. "Possible, but I doubt it. There are some details one could have improved in that case. But it is certainly worse the more mana the target has."

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Janis grimaced. "That doesn't sound reassuring."

"This curse is not some System Ability that was unwisely used," Galatea surmised. "I doubt Leian would ever give out one like this, would she? It must have been given to the user by a god. But how? Where did they get the knowledge?"

"That, my friend," Iseis said quietly, "is a very good question."

Galatea had been around for a while. She might have been isolated, but she'd never been blind. She was pretty sure the gods hadn't had soul magic of this caliber in the beginning. Perhaps Etainas, who was known to be very secretive; but even then, to never use it in a thousand years?

"Wait," Janis said. "They can't have learned it from Leian, right?"

Galatea scoffed. "Never. I think she'd rather curse them." Which probably wouldn't work, they were gods, but still.

"She would never give them such knowledge," Iseis agreed. "And further … I believe this particular curse, in this particular form, as it's been used here, is new. Or at least not something passed down from a proper teacher. It was clearly aimed at its target, just not perfectly. It seems more likely that someone learned some principles of soul magic and came up with it, perhaps."

"Then who else could it have been?" Janis asked. "That guy, Berren?"

"No, Leian would have known," Iseis shook her head.

"We're perhaps getting too far off-topic," Galatea said. "We must focus on curing you, Janis. Iseis, can you do it?"

"I'm not truly a soul mage. I will need to rely mostly on conventional purification."

"But you can?" Janis asked.

"Let me gather my power. Galatea, light the brazier, please."

Galatea sighed and levitated the brazier to stand before the altar. It was empty, and fortunately clean. She Conjured some coals to fill it, then lit them with a spark. Her mana was getting dangerously low.

That wasn't all, though. After lighting the brazier, Iseis, who had produced incense from somewhere, had a few other tasks for Galatea. At least the fire was keeping Janis warm, so Galatea got to it.

She picked some flowers and herbs, returned to find Iseis praying, and went out again to buy food from the closest village, stopping briefly to kill a small group of Lionits and refresh her mana. Then Iseis sent her out again to hunt down a sacrifice. Galatea wanted to grumble about not leaving one alive, but she clearly needed a larger monster. With a bit of regret, she dropped by the village to tell them about the free beast corpses and teleported through the forest to find the strongest monster. By the time she'd finally brought down a large Stone-Basilisk and dragged it back to the temple, Galatea fancied she would have looked rather bedraggled if she had a solid body.

Then, of course, Iseis wanted chalk and gold. "This is enough time to have gotten a drone here," Galatea grumbled, but she departed again to get what was needed, or Conjure it.

Finally, they seemed to have gathered everything required. Iseis had changed clothes — she must've had a stash here in the temple's sacristy — and was now wearing an undyed white robe. She'd put Janis in a simple tunic. She crushed the flowers into a paste, with some water, and drew designs on both her own skin and Janis. Galatea wondered if it was really necessary. Instead of saying anything, she helped Iseis draw a ritual circle around the altar. The other woman was chanting softly, so she didn't interrupt her.

It was obviously meant to focus Iseis' mind and help her enter an almost meditative state. Galatea could even feel her mana slightly settling down. Then Iseis started the ritual.

Galatea quietly withdrew to the edge of the circle, trying to see what was going on. Iseis unceremoniously slit the throat of the monster she'd captured, as if the stony skin was no obstacle, and sprinkled some of its blood in the flames while reinforcing the boundary of the ritual with the rest of it. Then she ignored the corpse and knelt in front of the altar, still praying, and clearly using a spell similar to the one she'd used before.

Some of the preparations must have been for the spell to help one see souls, because it was much easier for Galatea now.

There was clearly a curse attached to Janis' soul, as much as to her mana and her body. It seemed to be spreading. Apparently, it followed her blood — no, perhaps her lymphatic system? — something like that, anyway. Her brain was spared. But now, Iseis gathered divine power of her own, channeling it into herself. She stood up, still chanting, and laid a hand on Janis' heart — Galatea sensed her pushing her gathered mana into Janis.

It was like a clash of light and dark, force and counterforce … except it was two divine magics of different origins. Parts of the curse almost seemed to burn away immediately. The mundane part, perhaps, Galatea noted in the back of her mind. The rest of the curse stubbornly hung on. The divine mana intertwined in a dance, but no, it was a fight — Janis gasped, then screamed, writhing and thrashing on the granite altar. Iseis held her down, keeping one hand firmly splayed on her skin below her neck to stay in constant contact. Galatea sensed the mana in Janis' body waver. The curse's magic still clung tightly to it. Her own mana seemed to slowly settle back into her body, intertwining with it more firmly. And yet, it wasn't enough — Galatea could see that. It was hard to describe, but it was like the mana was both inside her body and outside, like the curse was still pulling it out even as it was being brought back inside. No wonder Janis screamed like that, it had to be torturous.

Iseis cursed. "No. Cleanse! Cleanse!"

Galatea floated closer, helplessly reaching out before she stopped herself. She wasn't sure what to do. Disrupting them would be disastrous. Isn't there anything else? Janis' eyes were wide open now, the blue almost swallowing her pupils and creeping into the whites of her eyes; and bloody lines appeared on her skin as she thrashed and cut herself with suddenly-clawed fingers.

Suddenly, someone else was there. She pushed Janis gently, and Janis collapsed on the altar, lying still, but still breathing heavily.

Iseis looked up. "Lady — the curse, I can't —"

"I know," Leian said gently. She radiated power, but it was a softer feeling than Galatea had usually sensed from her. "You've done well. I'll continue your work." Then she looked down. "You're very brave, Janis. Trust me?"

Somehow, despite what had to be terrible pain and her hair literally making her tunic catch fire, Janis managed a slight nod.

The fire guttered out, and Janis stilled completely. Her eyes stared sightlessly open. Leian raised her hands, and Galatea could sense something going with them.

Her soul was still connected to her body, it was just — being peeled outward? She didn't know that was possible! And Janis' mana seemed to have been almost frozen; now it was coming along.

Leian gestured, and the shadowy darkness that seemed to be clinging to Janis' soul peeled off. Galatea watched, feeling like time was standing still. In bits and pieces, streams of divine mana detached from Janis. Leian caught them in one hand. Then, without forewarning, she shoved the soul back into its body — but her mana was still partly 'outside'. Leian set it to vibrating faintly, and Galatea could vaguely sense it winding into itself. She felt like she only got a glimpse of what was going on, but she still understood it; Leian was effectively restructuring Janis' mana for her, removing and cutting away parts that had started to hurt instead of help. It was like magical surgery.

When she finally let the mana settle over Janis like a net wrapping her body, it was noticeably thinner than before. The mana sank back into her body, and Galatea observed it being rewoven with Janis' physical form, the existing connections strengthened. Leian snapped her fingers and the snippets of divine mana she'd collected vanished.

Once she was finished, Janis still lay there, umoving. She didn't even seem to breathe, although Galatea could sense a faint heartbeat.

"Is it done?" Galatea asked, anxiously. "Is she healed?"

Leian sighed. "Not nearly. It will take time."

"What can we do? And when will she be fully healed?" Iseis asked.

Leian glanced at them, shaking her head. "She needs the right environment for the first part of her convalescence. One as isolated as possible from foreign mana. Luckily, we do have an opportunity here. That teleporting beacon outside will be helpful to make sure she's cared for. Galatea, please let Regina know that she still needs to be as discreet as possible. Send someone nonmagical and entirely human to care for Janis. I will set everything up and check in as well; it shouldn't take more than a week until we can reintegrate her to a normal magical environment."

Then she gathered Janis up, until she was half-carried, half-levitating in front of them. Leian turned, then paused.

"She will not be able to fight for a long time," she said quietly. "You should also make sure she has the support she needs once the immediate recovery is done."

Galatea nodded silently, stepping up beside her old friend. She would not let Janis go through this alone, even if she might not be able to follow her all the way.

That there were complications was fine. Janis was alive and would remain that way. That was what counted.

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