[ She's equally impressed and bewildered by the immediate smooth apology, which is again totally outside of her normal experiences with citizens. It hasn't quite sunk in yet just how out of place she is as a Judge. Anderson's happy to put that thought aside and focus on the situation instead. This is what counts as a professional, on-the-job conversation for her, and she's relieved for that piece of normality.

His speculation is not totally out of line with what another Psi-Judge might say, but it's a little more wild in the theorizing than Anderson's comfortable with. She's only heard the barest whispered rumors of demons, and no one uses words like spells. Since he didn't openly criticize her despite her lack of credibility or evidence, she does the same, but her expression takes on a more deeply thoughtful, uncertain cast. ]

If it's really a shared dream, it could just be someone's nightmare. Especially if someone here has a strong mental presence - if they know what they're doing, it's not that hard to override someone else's thoughts. [ She does that all the time. It's just weird that she can't retake control here, can't even get the barest toehold. ]

Whoever's orchestrating it is definitely powerful, dream or not, [ she concludes. ]