None of the lieutenants answered immediately. Only Darahil was looking at Meesei directly. Oswall appeared to be brooding and Vera was on the edge of being distraught.

"You are...absolutely sure that the poison was administered during the meeting?" Darahil asked in a deep voice, "If there was no point before or after where Jerrick could have been poisoned, I have no reason to presume Harriet's innocence. However, I will hear her out."

"She's plotting something." Oswall began with his arms crossed, "It's a mistake to let her pack to her packs. She is going to cause a schism immediately between us and them, you'll see."

Darahil wasn't taken by Oswall's recommendation. "What would you suggest that [i]wouldn't[/i] raise the ire of her packs, Oswall? Locking her up? No. We may be followers of Hircine, but we aren't savages. Living in a community as large as this has given us the obligation to hear an accused party's defence."

"What is the point? She is guilty, is she not?"

"Oswall," Vera had wiped her eyes dry and stood up, "I am just as angry and saddened as you that Jerrick was killed. If not more. If it weren't for the clan, I would sooner have Harriet beheaded, but we still need to take care of this clan. I think she is guilty as well, but this is the most stable way to keep the clan together." Vera looked to Meesei, "You have done a good job, champion. I thank you for not letting emotion get involved, as you've demonstrated. I am of the same opinion as Darahil in this."

Oswall conceded with a grunt. "Fine, have it your way."