When Arren starts advancing towards her, Emma wraps her tail around one of the pinecones in the area and lobs it in Arren's direction. The throw is forceful but inaccurate, and the pinecone lands nearby harmlessly. Emma then makes a hissing sound at Arren before running northwards.

Bryn hears Emma's response in the same fragmented and distorted manner as before: 'I... return... I'm... again... must... follow...' Nonetheless, there is more decisiveness in her voice now.

Commandant Nattensbarn, who had just pushed Lieutenant Tireur forward so she could also see the interaction, arrives in time only to see Emma turning and running farther north. "Aleshi and her damned tricks!" She exclaims. "That thing sure is fast! But as long as it's not headed to Ersta, I think we can let it be. It's best that it doesn't change its mind and decide we are delicious or dangerous enough to attack us."

While she runs, if Bryn tries to follow her, Emma picks a small branch with her tail and lobs it in Bryn's direction. Again, forcefully but inaccurately, the branch hits one of the nearby trees in front of Bryn's path, producing a faint 'thump' and falls to the ground.

Emma runs to M-17. Bryn may keep pace and reach S-17 or its vicinity, if he wishes (though I'd like you to confirm in your next post). 

Arren arrives at N-8 (unless he stops at N-4); Lieutenant Tireur and the Commandant arrive at N-7 and N-6, respectively.

Arren halts (N8), his gaze shifting from Emma to the pinecone that's landed harmlessly nearby. He blinks in surprise, then eases his stance. If they weren't dealing with a creature capable of ending them all in an instant, the moment might almost be comical.

He turns to his superiors and says dryly, "Well, I guess that's as clear an answer as we're ever going to get." A short pause. "I have to say, I've never been thrown a warning pinecone by someone turned into a killing machine before. There really is a first time for everything."

He waits a moment to see what the Corporal will do, assuming that if he's heard the Commandant, he might halt his pursue as well. (ooc: will edit if this is not the case!)

Then, suspecting the Commandant may have missed part of the exchange with Emma, Arren explains what just happened. "It looked like Emma was trying to answer my earlier questions—one flick or slam with the tail for a yes, and two for a no. She definitely seems more in control than ast night. And I believe she really was trying to communicate and to warn us not to get too close."

The Sergeant glances in the direction Emma fled before speaking again. "Should we wait back at the alcove, Ma'am? When I asked if she thought she'd return to her Human form in time, her reply was uncertain. But that looks like our best bet right now. Especially since chasing her seems off the table."

Once again it takes a moment for 'Tace' to decode what Emma is saying, and he stays where he is as he is doing so. I will return when I am me again. You must not follow me?

Instead of following Emma, he respects her wishes, especially after he hears the Commandant come the conclusion that they should let her go as well. He does keep an eye on her as se moves, but unless her path changes such that she would get to Ersta he simply moves to join the Commandant, Lieutenant and Sergeant.

He nods in agreement that Emma seemed in more control this time, and then chimes in regarding where they should head now. "Emma, the usual Emma, would not return to Ersta. I believe waiting at the alcove is the only way to make contact with her again without hunting her, Ma'am and Sirs", he says respectfully.

He is careful not to suggest a particular course of action, just the facts regarding what Emma might do as he sees it.

(OOC: No, Bryn does not move to S17 in the previous turn)

Movement: To N9 to speak with the others.

Emma continues to run northwards until she's out of sight. 

"I think I've seen enough." Commandant Nattensbarn declares. "We'll go back to Ersta and find a messenger to send word to Tus. You two," she briefly gestures towards Arren and "Tace" so that there's no mistake who she's talking to, "should stay here and wait for her to return. In the unfortunate event that Emma reaches Ersta in her current state, I hope you'll hear the Lieutenant's firearm and get there in time to save whoever you still can. Expect it to take several days before a convoy from Tus arrives, so find a way to make yourself comfortable in here. I will expect a report from one of you each day at sunrise."

Once she's finished, the Commandant turns back towards the alcove to gather her things. ((You can still speak with her before she goes back to Ersta, if you wish.))

Arren, thanks to his long-time comradeship with the Commandant, and Bryn, thanks to his natural acuity, notice that the Commandant isn't as confident and stern as usual, and though she tries to act like it, both see through the act and know she's unsettled from the sight of Emma turning right in front of her. Arren was present in times when she faced danger before - though it was his job to make sure that doesn't happen and so far, he'd been doing it well - and it usually does not shake her like so.

"On the bright side," Lieutenant Tireur suggests in a low voice before following after the Commandant, who had already started walking away, "maybe I can get her to eat and rest more while we're here. It's not often that we stay in one place for this long, except for when in Pyorre."

'Tace' listens to the Commandant with mixed feelings. Emma needs help for sure, but being locked up in Tus? Is that really the way it has to be? Could that make her condition worse, rather than help her gain more control?

Despite his thoughts on the matter, he knows it is not his place to bring it up amongst his superiors. If I wasn't stuck in this charade, what would I do? Offer to accompany Emma on a journey to find Briethe? Risk my life and the lives of everyone we come across? No.

He clears his throat a little, "If I might make a suggestion, Ma'am?"

Assuming she doesn't cut him off, he says, "It is possible the manacles delayed the monsters rage long enough for Emma to exert some control, as it struggled with them. Perhaps we could reach out to the blacksmith in Ersta to see if he can help. A replacement set in case she has broken them, for example, or some way of making them more comfortable for Emma whilst she is herself. Perhaps he could create a shackle point we could attach to the wall in the alcove, and provide a chain so if Emma does change again she can't run off? I confess I don't know how long that would take, though. And if it could be done before the convoy arrives"

He awaits a response, wondering what the Commandant would even say in her missive that could explain the danger the convoy would be in. Surely they would have to provide some sort of cage to transfer Emma in.

After they make it back to the alcove and the Commandant states her orders, Arren doesn't say much at first, beyond acknowledging the given orders. Emma's transformation—new to the Commandant and the Lieutenant, and different from the night before for the Corporal and himself—has left them all more shaken than they care to admit.

In Arren's case, he's glad the Commandant has settled on contacting Tus, as he'd suggested. But he still doesn't feel entirely at ease. What's going to happen to Emma once she's there? Will the personnel be properly informed—and more importantly, willing—to look past the monster and see the woman? Will they now pursue a permanent solution to her condition?

Corporal Peite's voice snaps him out of his thoughts. "That's a great idea, actually," Arren says with a nod. "Not only would it increase everyone's safety, but also her comfort. And the better Emma feels, the less likely she is to turn—or to lose control if she does."

He glances toward the Commandant, watching for her response. "That said, we need to decide what we're going to say in town. We've been able to deflect the townsfolk’s questions so far, but given how they feel about Emma, that won't last. Especially once they see the convoy from Tus."

Arren pauses. "Which brings me to another question—and do forgive me, Ma'am, for adding more to your plate." He hesitates, clearly aware of how rattled she seems, but continues all the same. "What are we going to say in that letter to Tus? Or when they arrive? I only hope whoever ends up in charge can see past the monster and treat her for what she is: a woman forced into a situation she never asked for. Emma has shown signs of progress, and it would be a shame if all that were lost because she ends up in… well, incompetent hands."

Arren considers asking about Breithe Staidear, but with everything they've already asked, it feels like too much. And seeing the Commandant's expression, perhaps what he should ask is a simple "Are you all right?" But something holds him back from doing just that. Not now. Not yet.

When Walnuts chimes in with his usual optimism, Arren can't help but smile slightly and nod. Good old Walnuts. Even after all this, he still finds a bright side.

Having sat in one himself, Bryn knows prisoners in Katto, as in Levicka, are transported by cage wagons. Those are usually constructed of wood, which might not be strong enough to hold Emma should she attempt to escape, but it would not be unthinkable that some are made from metal to contain the more violent prisoners, or those with magical abilities that could potentially burn a wooden wagon. Arren had seen such wagons passing by in the past and knows of them as well.

"Yes, go ahead." The Commandant seems eager to go already, having retrieved the few items she dropped on the ground when Emma turned, but she listens to "Tace's" suggestion. "That's... not a bad idea." She replies once he finishes. "I'll check with the smith after sending for Tus. But... until then, and only if you're feeling confident, you can try wrapping some cloth around the iron. It wouldn't be comfortable, but it should be better than the raw metal. It might require you to unmanacle her, so consider carefully whether it is worth it."

After listening to Arren's questions, the Commandant tries to answer, but she briefly rubs her temples before she does, a sign Arren has learned to recognise, which means, most of the time, that she does not have a good answer. Or that she has a headache, sometimes. "Leave those matters to me." She finally answers, though she sounds already lethargic as if knowing it'll be a pain to manage. "It is my role to take care of these issues. You just have to make sure nobody - including yourselves - gets hurt during the next few days."

Usually, she'd leave things there, but perhaps the mention of incompetent people, which she so detests, drives her to add: "We cannot control who will manage this matter, but I cannot imagine any situation in which Emma leads a happy life from here, unless we are somehow certain that she'll never hurt anybody again. On top of that, once we reach Pyorre, I must report on this issue, and I imagine quite a few people will find great interest in Emma. I believe her accommodations in Tus will be temporary only, though I do not know whether what awaits her afterwards will be better or worse. I do pity the woman, but... there's just not much that I can do for her."

Emma will return several hours later, a little past noon. By then, she had reverted to her normal self. She doesn't seem hurt and, fortunately, is not covered in blood when she's back. Likewise, her hands are still manacled. The tail she grew when transformed had disappeared, and the only sign that anything happened at all is the small tear in her dress, about where the lower back meets the pelvis (about the top of the tailbone). Arren and Bryn notice that she tries to keep her backside away from them, but if at any point she happens to turn, they'll notice that the tear is closer to a slit than a hole in shape, and so not much can be seen through it, to Emma's relief.

"Thank you, for... for not chasing after me. I feared it... I... might respond if you did." She says, a little sheepishly, when she returns.