[h2]Tyaethe[/h2]

There was a long moment of total inaction from the paladin before she took a step forwards, grip tightening around her sword. "Why did you not tell [i]us[/i]? What possessed you to wait for a theft and then contact [i]mercenaries?[/i] Mercenaries? Why not come straight to the Iron Roses, or tell the church of this missing piece?"

Sword dropping, the paladin sighed, voice flat as she continued, "Or you could have just come to [i]me[/i]. You should know history, there were things like this to clean up before..."

Even without any of the [i]other[/i] reasons to think that going to this particular paladin would be a good idea for retrieving a missing shard in Veilena's case. What was Tyaethe going to do, turn down a meeting with a duchess over her father's rebellion? Of course not, that was stupid. Maybe the girl was just oblivious? Magical prodigies, honestly...