[center][h2][color=#b3ccff]Esben Mathiassen[/color][/h2][/center]
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[color=#b3ccff]"He will at least know who Éliane is, and likely her family,"[/color] came the whispered reply. [color=#b3ccff]"Whether he knows me and [i]mine[/i] I can't say, although his father certainly would. On both ends, I'd rather not risk giving him or his family a vendetta against us."[/color] His eyes darted back and forth between Wulfric and Chèrle, frowning slightly as first Rudolf and then Galahad both joined in. He'd hoped that the Kirins could at least [i]minimize[/i] their involvement in whatever was about to happen, but in the interests of both expedience and propriety...

He sighed. [color=#b3ccff]"He's the son of one of the current ruling families, to simplify it as much as possible. He should know better than to go around picking fights like this, and if this mission is his justification for acting this way, I don't think even his family would be willing to prop him up back home—especially given the progress we've made on it. Letting him make a fool of himself may be the best option."[/color]

At least, the time for diplomacy between the pair standing between their respective forces was long since gone.

[color=#b3ccff]"That puts us in an interesting position. We would, of course, be honour-bound to intervene on behalf of our hosts, given that they've sent someone out to ensure our safety in travel. [i]Two[/i] of us would also be bound to minimize harm to Artoé, though we'd at least have a good argument in our favor for subduing [i]him[/i] assuming he starts whatever happens. I think Rudolf and Galahad have already picked up on that. In that case—we don't make the first move, but you be ready to take him out as quickly as possible. Non-lethally, please, I don't particularly want to have to put all the rest of his retinue to the sword to keep things quiet."[/color]