“I don’t know if that possession occurred while the woman was alive. But her ghost is here. And the painting was done after the children were killed. I don’t understand, though. If she could possess a living body, as she clearly did the painter’s, couldn’t she have commandeered someone Barrani instead? She’d have the advantage of familiarity and brute strength.”

Teela raised a brow at the word brute. “We don’t have ghosts the way you have ghosts. You’ve met the Barrani version of the undead before; the attempt to delink life from True Name produces them. But the source of life, even separated, still exists; if the name cannot be used to control those who attempted to divest themselves of that weakness, it is nonetheless the source of their half-life. If you destroy the body, the name once again returns to the Lake to await rebirth; if you do not, the name maintains an attenuated connection to that body.

“I do not know what might happen to our infants in the absence of those words; the words are ours; they are part of who we are. Their bodies do not wake; they do not decay. They are almost inert. It is possible she could become the animating force behind an infant—but the parents would know. If the child woke without the blessing of the Lady, it might be considered an abomination or a mutation; I am uncertain the body would survive.

“Nor am I certain that stripped of the animation of the True Name, the adults would survive. To test this, to test what Necromantic control might make of such emptied bodies, we would have to have bodies, and we would have to experiment.”

Kaylin’s mouth flew open, but Teela lifted a hand to stem the obvious outrage that was certain to follow.

“I speak merely of the gaining of precise knowledge, and yes, the Emperor would reduce anyone who attempted to draw conclusions in that fashion to ash.

“This is beyond my areas of expertise and study. Serralyn, however, says—with some urgency—she thinks the hair binding, the flower, the painting—they were made entirely to prepare Mrs. Erickson for possession. Azoria clearly had some success in her possession of mortal bodies before, but that possession was obviously less than perfect. If Mrs. Erickson had the potential power Azoria wished to use or claim, she couldn’t afford that mistake.”

“But how did she know what Mrs. Erickson might be capable of?”

“It’s possible,” Teela said, “that she created it. And if you somehow question the power of it, you have only to consider Lord Sanabalis. Had Mrs. Erickson wanted to, she could have been in control of a Dragon. I admit I am surprised—but not displeased—that she survived that unintended disaster.”

Mrs. Erickson had dealt with the ghosts of children for all of her life; she could easily listen in on multiple simultaneous conversations.