Thea returned Frans bow with a small nod of her own, watching the door slam shut before her attention switched back to the only other person remaining in the room. “Apprentice, would you be prepared to testify against this individual of yours?”

Liaena, who had been carefully negotiating her way towards the vacated chair now that Marshall had vacated it, convulsively gripped the back of it as she shot Thea an aghast look. “…what?”

“…Let me explain the ‘burden of proof’ to you, apprentice” Thea leaned back in her chair again, steepling her fingers together as she shot Liaena a particularly sour look. “It is required before our law allows us to convict someone of the small matter of ‘being a Death Knight’”

Eyeing the white-faced girl, the priestess’ voice became slightly softer as she continued. “On the other hand, a witness statement involving this man in the attack on Dalaran could at least be taken as justification for the guard to arrest him on suspicion of criminal activities. A full investigation could potentially follow”

Sinking into the chair with a thud, Liaena studied a knot in the wood of Thea’s desk as she refused to meet the woman’s eyes. “I….I [i]can’t[/i]”

“Why not?”

“…………..”

Thea sighed audibly as the silence stretched on too long in the room, before raising her eyebrows towards the ceiling. “Then my options to assist you are limited, apprentice”

Liaena raised her head slightly, to look up at Thea. “You [b]do[/b] believe me, then”

“….the timing of [i]this[/i] with the discoveries in that sewer requires me to be circumspect, to say the least” Thea observed dubiously after a pause where she looked down at the diary in front of her. “Add that to the fact that your tales are usually more credible than this, and yes, unfortunately I do think you believe what you say. And this does sound like the level of trouble you and apprentice Lennox are stupid enough to find yourselves in.”

Having been watching Thea with the sort of hopeful caution that gave away the underlying fear that she would suddenly snap back and order her out of her office, Liaena promptly resumed staring at the floor. “I shouldn’t have got her involved in this”

“No. But then you shouldn’t be involved either, so I suppose that’s blame you can assign to both of us” Thea remarked as she shuffled papers on her desk into a neat pile before pushing them to one side. “If this is indeed the day for full openness between us, how about you tell me what sort of hair-brained scheme you propose to extract her with, apprentice? Just so I know whether I need to confine you to a cell for your own safety.”