Gideon scoffed, fixing his eyes on Cicely's, even though she avoided looking at him. "More information, yes, but not nearly enough. Our knowledge on such matters has always fallen pitifully short and the war did not help. Whenever I send scouts into the forest they come back having seen nothing, only muttering about a sensation of [i]being[/i] watched, which is supremely unhelpful. No, miss Goldburrow, that won't do," he said, speaking rapidly, all pretense of gentleness dropped. 

He stood up from the couch and started pacing up and down the room, his boots thudding on the wooden panels of the floor much like earlier the same day. Still fiddling with his ring, he continued: "I invited you here tonight because I wanted to show to you my commitment to the pursuit of knowledge and the academic. Most others in a position of power in this country, including the King, are so focused on recovering lost territories that they do not even know what it is they are reclaiming. Or, indeed, [i]displacing.[/i]" 

Coming to a halt, Gideon cleared his throat. "I want you to work for me, miss Goldburrow, as a... what was the term? Faerie doctor? I know they're here, in Airedale," he said, his voice dropping lower. "I can feel it in my bones. Anyone -- nay, anything, that trespasses in my earldom answers to me."