Emmaline was less convinced that Neil that dying her hair was really necessary. 'Finding a blonde in Reikland' was a common street adage for a reason afterall. She might have ignored the matter all together but the presence of the wyrdstone set her on edge. Even behind the lead sheeting it tickled at her. She wondered what use she might put it to with proper study, what potions might she concoct, maybe even a minor talent like hers could work wonders.

"Shit!" she yelped as the tattoo turned back into the snake. She flicked it away and it rolled a few feet feet. Emmaline snatched up bowl and slapped it down over the snake.

"Got you!" she crowed in victory. There was an irritated hiss and the two dimensional tattoo slid under the lip of the bowl and then plumped back up into its serpentine form. Emmaline was uncomfortably aware that this would not look good if Leizbauhnor burst in. Not that the piled loot on the kitchen table was going to stand them in particularly good stead. She picked up the bowl again and the snake rolled its emerald eyes and stuck its tongue out. Emmaline watched it for a moment. It flickered with whisps of magic, perhaps all the winds, but it didn't feel corrupted. Should it? Would she be able to tell?

"Were you imprisoned in the case?" she asked. It felt insane to be talking to an animate metal snake, but to her surprise the little golem nodded. It cocked its head, and then bowed slightly.

"Is that a thank you?" she asked. The snake nodded again. 

"Well...uhhh... you are welcome," she managed. The snake slithered over to the shelf resting its forehead against a pot. Curiously, Emmaline reached out and took the pot, inside was a fine red powder, rubia by the smell of it. Emmaline cast her eye at the snake.

"You think?" she asked. It nodded.

______

When Neil came back in Emmaline's hair was a lustrous shade of red. It hadn't been necessary to go through the effort and mess of actually dying her hair. Disguise and subterfuge were among the skills Albrecht had thought worth teaching her, and as such she had a spell that could change her hair color so long as she had an appropriate pigment. The rubia powder had yielded a solid red shaded with a darker crimson and highlighted with a soft almost fox orange. Neil's momentary distraction passed and he jumped slightly, pulling a knife from somewhere as he saw the snake. It hissed in alarm and darted back behind Emmaline.

"He is alright," Emmaline told Neil. She wasn't entirely sure why she trusted the thing, but she had a sense that if it meant to do her harm it could easily have done so.

"I take it our friends at the temple have decided not to arrest or evict us?" she asked.