Swamped

"How can I put this... It doesn't look like this was drawn at all."

You're confused, and Dominique doesn't seem to understand any better.

"The shading is the main thing. Artists use shading to emphasize certain things. They make deliberate decisions about what to darken and what not to. But look at the shadows here."

She hands the scroll to Dominique, and you ask to take a look. You see what she means; the shading doesn't seem to have any sense behind it. Looking a bit more closely, the lines don't seem very smooth either.

"The lines bother me more than the shading," Dominique says, before you can comment. "But your overall point is clear. This looks less like a drawing and more as if someone were looking at the cages and somehow directly transcribed what they saw onto paper, with all traces of color removed."

"That's why I suspect magic."

"It's possible. It's also possible they have some sort of automatic drawing device."

"Well, you've got the best chance of anyone here of figuring out the difference," Yvonne says.

"Fair enough. That said, I've got a lot of other work to do, so it may be a while before I have results. Unless you think it's pressing enough to make this a high priority?"

Her tone is almost accusatory.

"At the moment, no. But I may change my mind if I get a better idea of why whoever it was went to all this trouble to get Jeremy in our way. I think we're done now."

You feel like she mostly just wants to stop talking to Dominique.

"Right, then," Dominique says, not sounding much happier. "Corvus, let's go and see about this sphere of yours."

"And getting the helpful lizard some food," you add.

You hope nothing happened to the mudpike you used as a marker.

---

You're now someone else.