While Marod became thoughtful, rubbing his chin and leaning back, Lunise crossed her arms. It was hard to tell what she thought about the proposal.

Finally, Marod raised both hands. "That is beyond my domain of knowledge. I would have to ask my colleagues if that would even be feasible."

"It would not be the easiest thing to hide," Lunise took over. "Daedric reagents are expensive to acquire and highly sought after. If it were something possible to produce behind closed doors, it may be easier, but if you are seeking what I suspect, we would compromise our arrangement by involving too many other people required as experts, and others that would want to vet the costs. The best I can predict to give you is a small, untraceable quantity. Even then, shipping it from the Summerset Isles -- the only place where I could reliably acquire such items -- will cause that quantity to take some time to reach you here. Unless you wish to produce your antidote elsewhere?"

Lunise's expression lit up to the point where she was almost [i]not[/i] angry. "You could have better production by producing it with us, if your alchemists can be discrete enough not to get themselves assassinated. Far be it from me to drag them away from their homes."

"If you were to have the Empire help you, you would have to produce that substance with us as well," Marod said. "Our people will want to make sure that you are making what you describe and not...well, something else..." Marod released the rest of his breath. "I must be forthcoming. Meesei, your clans are potential harbours for black markets. That is an issue that will be worked out during integration, though we cannot be a part of it, even potentially."

Lunise breathed out from her nose, almost in disappointment at Marod's transparency.

[hr]
Fendros took a moment to think about what he wanted to say. He had thought on it before, but never considered Ahnasha's perspective, exactly.

"I see," Fendros responded. "Rhazii being outlived by us is something I have considered. It would be sad, though I suspected that he would make his own way in life, one way or another. He is not always going to be around for us to help him."

Fendros left a solemn pause, glancing away for a moment. He did not introduce the morality of finding another collection of souls to carry out the ritual, instead allowing Ahnasha to concentrate. However, Fendros suspected that Rhazii could have a problem with it. He skipped to the point of the thought. "What if he says no?"