[center][h2]Anne Mayer[/h2][h3]Nieve — Embassy[/h3][/center]
"Er... Right. Of course." It took Anne some effort to hide her embarrassment over the whole Remilia commotion, word of which had evidently preceded them here. Her little group hadn't exactly made a great first impression... If she'd had her way from the start, she'd have had them spend at least a day or two in the capital planning and preparing themselves, choosing proper outfits and forming useful connections. As things were, she was pretty much winging it, with only the barest of knowledge to go on.

Then again, maybe this was for the best? She still didn't know when or how the supposed 'danger' to the city might appear—today might be the only chance she had to warn anyone before all hell broke loose. Anne had handled plenty of messy diplomatic situations in the past; she knew this one could be salvaged if she played her cards right.

...And if her companions managed to behave themselves for this next part. A worried, pleading glance was thrown Remilia's way before Anne strode through the doorway into the minister's office.

"Thank you for hearing us out, Mr. Halmir." She took a seat, met his eyes, and tried to project her best 'calm and reasonable' impression. It was the one she normally used when begging for money to fund massive fleets of paramilitary warships, but she saw no reason that it couldn’t work here as well.

"I'll get straight to the point: about two weeks ago the town of Aventon was raided by an organized military force. They were, or appeared to be, Raven Heralds acting on orders from high-ranking superiors." The merchants had mentioned a king, and a country named Eiderheim to the north. If a rival nation truly had ordered a strike across the border, then the government here could hardly afford to ignore it.

Which, with any luck, would make them pay close attention to the next part as well. "Myself and some of our mutual associates were nearby at the time of the attack. We came to Aventon's defense and helped drive off the Heralds, though not before the town suffered heavy losses. The people there are still in urgent need of material aid and protection." She leaned forward a little, injecting a note of additional urgency into her tone. "Not long afterward, the village of Sila was assailed by a swarm of creatures not native to this land. They behaved too mindlessly to be animals—it's possible that someone purposefully summoned or created them." A shot in the dark, but he couldn't call her a liar for speculating. If she was lucky, it would get him thinking along the lines she wanted, seeing the connections without her having to bring up goddesses or dreams.

"Thanks to a stroke of good luck, our party was able to assist the defenders in intercepting the swarm before it could reach the village. We were traveling with a merchant caravan at the time, they should be able to corroborate our story if needed... More importantly, we believe these two incidents were related.” 

Eye contact. Here came what she'd been building towards. 

"...And we've received a tip-off that there may be more to come. An attack, in some form or another, aimed at Nieve itself."

[@Izurich][@Rezod92][@PKMNB0Y]