[h2]Gisela[/h2]

It made sense that she would be asked along to find the prisoners. Even if her offensive abilities would be of limited use in a rescue operation (provided that you were looking for it to remain a rescue mission for long), the hundi was primarily a [i]healer[/i], and who would be more likely to need urgent medical aid than that?

Of course, this meant she needed to find somewhere safe to leave the doll. Were it just a magical item, this would hardly be difficult at all, just find a reliable-seeming member of the entourage and come back later. Except... even if she might count as a magical item, she was also a person. Just a very, very small one. That happened to have been bequeathed to them by one of the most powerful mages in existence. Just leaving her with some footman that no doubt had an extremely negative impression of spellcasters as a whole wasn't an option.

But since she was a person, maybe she might have some preference? Or could that fact be impressed upon whoever was assigned this task?

"Can you speak?" the purple-haired mage asked, looking down at the unusual entity in her arms. There was a brief pause, before the doll's small head gave a very reluctant-seeming nod. "But you don't want to?" This time, the response was much more emphatic... she thought. It was a bit hard to tell, given their comparative sizes and the angle.

Of course, if she could speak, then that meant she probably had a name, right...? Another easy question to ask. It seemed like the doll wasn't going to answer for a long moment, before she spoke in a very small voice... "Anisette."

What a cute girl. She'd give her a hug, but she was already doing that.

While Gisela had been asking this, thoughtlessly wandering about the tomb, she couldn't avoid hearing [i]Lirrah[/i] was audibly wondering about the doll. Hm, if there was anyone who was too harmless in the camp to do much damage, it probably [i]was[/i] the merchant, especially with her current attitude. She was also more likely to consider [i]selling[/i] a unique magical item off than breaking it, and a Nem from the deserts was unlikely to share the local preoccupation with witches...

She might also benefit from the doll being, well, a doll.

Making her way through the thinning crowd as people got ready, the mage answered the question with a simple "This doll," hand indicating the one in her arms before absently patting the tiny girl on the head, something that gained a rather smug expression. "Her name is Anisette, could you look after her for a little while...?"

As the resident learned mage, she [i]did[/i] have an interest in coming back for her later. If anybody was going to help work out what exact abilities she could provide, it would have to be Gisela. [i]And[/i] she was cute, and unlikely to find the magical aura around her at all concerning.

Now, where had she left her staff...?

[@Octo][@The Otter]