When the shears had finished cutting, so many shocks of crimson spray across the hospital floor. What was gone could never be reclaimed from those lifeless ribbons. Faceless, masked strangers of women withdrew from Danae without a word, without a single attachment, only a whisper of fabric and a slosh of viscous fluid.<br/><br/>"No riddles at all. I bare myself to you."<br/><br/>No longer were the spilled ribbons made of satin, but latticed pseudopods of red ooze. Each tongue slithered back into a whole, and from a quivering heap likely to topple and spill, the shape of Doctor Heinfroth all in shades of red steadily resolved, as the miracle of life from amorphous egg.<br/><br/>"I will give them to you, the lion's share of those passengers. Many of them have shed their regrets, as you have, and will be very malleable henceforth. There existed but a few too disagreeable to peaceful life on our island of Dominia, and I was forced to consume them. I am sorry, truly, for they are gone."<br/><br/>This time, Doctor Heinfroth did not bother to disguise her nature, did not take the pink hues of a living woman and the opacity of flesh and satin. She was, all of her, one flowing translucent permeable solution, with flourishes of luxurious bustle and spilling corset, with fizzing bubbling chemical reactions beneath the surface of her heavy-lidded eyes and nothing, throughout the whole of her, which ought to contribute to sapience.<br/><br/>"You may feel out of sorts on waking, Captain Vine-Lott, and discover gaps in your memory, but your dedication to duty will see you persevere. You will take command of my ship, the<em>Mercy, </em>to deliver them safely to the mainland. There in Martira Bay the<em>Mercy </em>and her mission are known, and fresh patients will await you for transfer to the island. Their families have remanded them to the expert care of doctors Heinfroth and Rehner, Blanche, and Noire for qualities and curiosities unbecoming of cultured marriageable women."<br/><br/>"I expect you will find these impertinent mademoiselles to your pleasure, and if you do not, you may punish as you see fit. Consider it your prerogative to scour any notion of witchcraft you detect, for you are the expert in that regard. I ask only that you keep such rigors secret from eyes beyond the<em>Mercy, </em>and deliver your charge to me heart beating and cranium intact."<br/><br/>"May I trust you, on waking, to carry out this duty?"