"If you want your arm strap back, here, you can have it," Kryschenn said, bunching up the several yards of blue leather that had come unwound in their tug-of-war. "But you're also going to get my help, whether you want it or not." Kryschenn was quite adamant about this; she had a stubborn streak that put Lady Kirriam's to shame. As she swiftly stepped closer, her hand shot out to seize the Mentalist's wrist and pull his hand out from the cover of his cape.
"You can't tell me this is just some simple little boo-boo," she continued, indicating the weird glyph marking Cole's hand. "And I don't think you took a detour to the tattoo parlour on the way to Venger's fortress."
Releasing his wrist, she realized that her challenging tone probably wouldn't get him to open up about the mark, so she backed off and tried a different approach.
"Look, I have to say, some weird mark like that, appearing with no explanation, that's just strange. Even by the Realm's standards, that's really strange. Who knows what it could represent?" She gestured helplessly at the overwhelming number of possibilities she could see. "It might be a curse, or the mark of a demon, or who knows what? But in a place like this, strange things can be deadly- to you and maybe to everyone around you. You can't be keeping something like that secret! Look, you've helped me out several times now, and that means it's my turn to try to help you, okay? So please, will you tell me what it is?"
