Ailee knew a thing or two about negotiations. In particular she'd read Raptor Jvae's [i]How To Extract Untold Wealth From Your Colonial Possessions[/i] - the secrets being, naturally, the intrinsic superiority of modern civilized magic over ancient cultural traditions ('we see further than them because we have eaten the brains of Grand Jelt's giants'), the importance of establishing dominance ('placement on the food chain is a matter of attitude!') and when to take a break from negotiations ('home owners tend to be more eager to sell after you have burned their house to the ground'). This seemed very much a chapter three kind of negotiation. 

So she sits down in a perfect meditative posture, so calm and clean that an ordinary observer would assume that this was some manner of trick and there was no way the vice mouse could be so tranquil even for a moment. But Ailee was nothing if not honest when it came to her emotions and the abrupt serenity as she calmed her mind was genuine - it would have to be. One needed to be able to focus if one was to wield such powers as she did without incident. 

She tapped into the currents of magic, the flows between the hive and Wormwood station, and the mystic bonds that tied her to her friends. And assuming nothing happened that disturbed her perfect calm this too would go off without incident.

[Look Closely: [b]6[/b]. Tell me about my friends. How can I help them? How can I hurt them? I find this answer out the hard way.]