[center][h2][color=#b3ccff]Esben Mathiassen[/color][/h2][/center]
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[color=#b3ccff]"You know we're not her pawns, you know you're having problems with her and her ilk, and yet still you threaten me? My, Zacharias, you [i]are[/i] a bold one."[/color] There was almost a hint of approval in Esben's voice. He was unsurprised to find the man practicing his invisibility; short of Zacharias being in a deep sleep, he hadn't expected to come upon him unaware, and the man wasn't as sneaky as he thought even with the spell.

There was simply nowhere else he could have been, and Esben was simply too confident to waste any more time with it.

He pulled out the glowing crystal he had received from Cid, studying it for a moment. [color=#b3ccff]"So, you know we're not her pawns. Clearly, there's little love lost between the two of you. Perhaps you suspect she may have betrayed us, yes?"[/color] He flicked his cloak, letting the two fairies that had been hiding within it fly out. [color=#b3ccff]"Watch the windows, you two,"[/color] he bid, and they floated off to comply. Zacharias's reaction had given him something to think about.

This wasn't just the work of a man who was ready and alert for an infiltration from [i]him[/i] or the other Kirins. Zacharias almost looked [i]panicked.[/i] White-knuckled, openly glaring, but obviously hiding. The guards weren't alert at all, worse than the ones around the Council chambers. [color=#b3ccff]"The arrogance is remarkable, isn't it? They don't even think about us. You, me, we're just targets. Not intelligent, thinking beings that can pick apart what they're planning. Seems like that's the mistake they always make, when they get too satisfied with their plans."[/color]

Isolde's obvious betrayal, the fracturing within the Cathedral, Alambert's strange meetings and the fact that he and Isolde seemed at least [i]tenuously[/i] allied; Zacharias, the one at odds to both, most opposed to the Kirins, most at risk once the other foe seemed reasonably well dealt with. [color=#b3ccff]"I was going to offer you to meet with us, with my guarantee that nothing would happen to you. My protection. But now...were you waiting for your own guards to come in and try to apprehend you, I wonder? We may not have time just to talk things over, if so."[/color] He held the crystal up for the elder man's view.

[color=#b3ccff]"If you won't trust me, you can hear it from Cid himself in the short time we have—talk about something more than your relationship troubles, for a change. I'm sure he'll remind you just why he encouraged you to accept the apprenticeship, though, despite the doubts you had at the time. He still has faith that you'll make the right choices, eventually...though I doubt he expected that your compatriots would force your hand."[/color]