The candle in the noblewoman High Priestess's hand illuminated the folded handkerchief Shade took from his pocket. Inside were hair and a photograph. Dorothy had helped create the photograph through Thought Writing based on Shade's memory. Of course, to avoid trouble, the gaunt middle-aged man lying in the bed in the photograph did not look exactly like the Gray-headed Eagle.
As for the hair, it was "artificial hair" cultivated by Priest Augustus. After receiving part of Laplace Howard's Human Transmutation alchemy from Shade, the old priest had made further progress in necromancy and produced it. Shade had even joked that the old priest could grow rich in retirement by selling wigs.
The noblewoman therefore accepted the handkerchief Shade handed her with great care, then gestured for Shade and Tifa to follow her forward.
She led them through the crowd gathered beneath the raised platform, all holding candles, and climbed the steps straight to the Stone Coffin. Only then did Shade notice that the inside of the Stone Coffin contained nothing but a human-shaped depression.
The noblewoman tossed both the hair and photograph from the handkerchief into the Stone Coffin, then beckoned downward. Two black-robed figures with human labels above their heads carried up a wooden barrel. While Tifa covered her nose and mouth with one hand, they poured an entire barrel of human blood into the Stone Coffin.
The photograph and hair were submerged in the thick blood. Together, they lifted the heavy lid of the Stone Coffin and placed it over the coffin. Then, as more black candles arranged throughout the room were lit, the "people" above and below the platform began chanting in an obscure language.
The voices were orderly yet eerie. Even a normal person with a strong mind would likely have trembled in terror upon arriving