Hours later, the compound held Coria and Basilisk in a sleeping pod. They’d been questioned. Coria’s arm and her vials had been taken and tested. It was returned, empty of its contents, but she put it back on.

None of the Sisterhood was allowed into the pod, although one Beanath remained by the door along with two of the Guards.

Coria took the time to rest. She closed her eyes, the better to listen to the discussion among the Sisterhood.

“Are you all right?” Basilisk asked. “They didn’t hurt you?”

“I’m tired, but no, I’m all right.”

“Did you hear anything from any of the guests, or the servers? Could you read their minds at all?”

She shook her head. “Not here,” she mouthed. “Let’s get some sleep.”

Basilisk nodded. He looked in the closet and found a blanket. “You get under the covers, and I’ll sleep on top”

“Don’t be silly. Get in and put the blanket over both of us.”

Lying back to back, Basilisk was soon snoring softly.

Coria was too keyed up to sleep. As she listened to the Sisterhood, she learned that a forensic team from the Guard had analyzed the soup and some of the other dishes. No obvious toxins were found, but some off-world ingredients were used: peanuts, milk, and bee pollen.

None of the cartons of food were labeled with these things, nor did the orders from the provisioners include them.

The ship that brought the supplies had lifted two cycles before with no registered destination. It was the ship that the spacer, Harden Profitt, had served on. As he was already in custody for the murder of Jerzy Shales, he was charged with accessory to attempted murder.

All the guests were questioned, but no one had seen anything out of the ordinary, and some were too incoherent to be of use. Others experienced withdrawal symptoms and offered to say anything to get a bit of kreef.

The servers and the kitchen staff had all tasted the food they prepared, and no one had reactions to it. They did not know where the chef had gone, but he had received the food from the Assistant Provisioner, who had asked for some special dishes for xirself.

Iabbeshank was found in xir office eating with one of his employees. Xe showed the Guard xir files and requisitions, and xe seemed concerned at Madame’s illness and the disappearance of the chef.

The young worker was to be trained by the chef’s mate and had only been on the job for a couple of days. He knew nothing.

Pictures of the Human chef and his Kleckovan mate were broadcast across all comms, but the couple could not be found. No off-world travel arrangements could be found in their names, and no one matching the descriptions in the system could be found in the spaceport, in a transport, or anywhere above L5. They had vanished, and along with them, all evidence of who had tried to kill Madame.

The tiny butterfly drones were also collected and tested, but any information that they might have collected disappeared when their batteries died.

The case went cold, but Madame survived. Her physician kept her on a maintenance dose of kreef to allow her to avoid withdrawal but made her eat locally-produced food that had never caused problems before.

Madame complained.

Coria finally relaxed, letting her mind rest. She’d heard a lot of rumors, conspiracy theories, random thoughts, and incoherent babble in her short time as a plus-one.

She needed sleep to process all of it, under the sharp mind of one of the Sisters.

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