"...." Hal was silent.

"That is alarming." he said.

"I've never heard of anything like that before." he commented.

"Hm." he mumbled, thinking about it.

"This is troubling, indeed." he went on.

"We may need to try and call someone in that specialises in mana identification and such, if she doesn't improve."

"Indeed." Hal agreed.

"Oh, one more thing." he said.

"What kind of elf does she seem to be?" he asked.

"Anya didn't tell me, neither did Jake." he continued.

"I merely ask for filing's sake." he went on.

"After all, if I'm going to report this to the Triad, I DO need all the initial details I can get." he then reasoned.

"That's good enough." Hal responded.

"Being who you are, and your background, you WOULD know more about these things than others." he told her, before pausing.

"Well, I assume, anyway." he said.

"Fae generally have good knowledge about the differing elves, so it would stand to reason that you might." he reasoned.

"Regardless, thank you." he told her.

"I can't begin to think of how much trouble we'd be in if not for your amazing dedication and talents."

"Absolutely." Hal responded, already taking down what she had said.

"I can definitely get these for you." he told her.

"And given the emergency nature of the situation, I'll do my best to get them to you ASAP." he went on.

"I should be able to get at least one of these here by tomorrow." he then said.

"The other might take a day or two longer..." he admitted.

"I'll contact you as soon as there's an update."

Hal was silent, before sighing quietly.

"Right." he said.

With that, he got to work.

The first thing he did was finish up his preliminary report to the Triad, and sent it directly to Sydney's 'official' email. The one she used for Triad purposes. After that, he set to getting what Angela needed.

The next day, Jake walked into the cafeteria, to find Angela just finishing up a meal.

He made his way over, and sat down across from her.

"Hey." he greeted her.

"Any news on the new patient?" he asked.

"....." Jake was silent as he heard that.

"...huh." he muttered.

"Maybe she's traumatised?" he suggested.

"Or something like that? I don't know much about these things." he admitted.

Normally he would have assumed Vanessa had something to do with it, but there being no evidence of anything interfering with that was puzzling him. Vanessa was good, but she wasn't THAT good.

Was she?

"At least she's awake." he said.

"Other than the no-talking thing, how's she recovering?" he asked.

Jake just shook his head.

"Yeah..." he muttered.

"I guess all there is to do now is... wait and see, as frustrating as that is." he lamented with a sigh.

"Anyway, sorry to bug you." he then apologised.

"Was just wondering if there were any updates." he said.

".....least she's alive." he then murmured.

Again, Jake was silent.

He was sure he recognised her. He knew her... didn't he?

She bore a striking resemblance to someone from his past... but if he gave the wrong information, then it could potentially be disastrous.

"I see." he said.

"Her being in the ocean is even more alarming, then." he commented.

"Wood Elves tend to favour freshwater, and generally despise saltwater, when they're even near water." he said further.

"Curious, to say the very least."

"Hm." Jake muttered.

"So you're saying there's a high chance that someone wanted to be rid of her?" he asked.

"Which is to say, they used the ocean as a way to 'get rid of evidence'?" he asked further.

He had to admit, the evidence towards his suspicions was piling up, but he wasn't sure if he should mention it.

Besides, this elf wouldn't talk. Or could she even talk?

The one he'd known DID talk... or at least, he swore he remembered her talking... didn't he?

At this point, he was getting confused, and just shook his head lightly to clear it and stop himself from getting even MORE messed up.

"Hm." Jake mumbled.

"I see." he said.

"Well, from everything you've seen, and your general judge of character, what do you think of her?" he asked.

"Do you think she's a threat?" he asked further.

"And I realise that you might not have seen enough to make an informed decision." he then reasoned.

"But what does your gut say? Your instincts?"