Baba nodded slowly, trying to decide how to explain what it was she'd felt. "I suppose that the best way to put it was that someone . . . died." She paused. "I realize that sounds normal, but this one didn't stay dead. Or didn't get absorbed or devoured, really." One hand drummed fingers on her table as she glanced at the crystal ball that was just a prop. "There was a [i]ghost[/i] on the grounds. We don't get ghosts." There was a brief, cold laugh. "Which means someone was simply murdered on the grounds. Or maybe had some horrible accident without my aid." She waved it aside. "And then the ghost . . . disappeared. Or didn't. That's bothering me most of all. The ghost isn't quite gone. I can feel the presence on the grounds, but no longer quite a ghost. Dead and not dead." Her lips twisted into a frown. "All in all, I thought it best to tell you."

There was a sudden glow under her hood as her eyes lit up. Two of the mirrors woven into her cowl flashed for a moment as a young lover and her companion found out that it was possible to disappear into the forest and never leave it. Ravines were wonderful things. "Regardless, I leave it in your hands, Mortimer. Shadow." She gave the crow-beast an almost familiar smile. He remixed her of companions from long ago.