Gertrude didn't think anyone could approach the annoyance she felt towards Fionn, but here Renar was making the world's most shite-eating expression. Smug bastard. An annoyance, every last one.

Still, she took Fanilly's apology as a balm. Her grin widened as the woman offered contrition, though it was perhaps a little too sincere to fully enjoy. The Captain had bowed her head and everything. Though Fanilly justified herself, saying she didn't want Gertrude to be harmed, it wasn't something Gertrude could honestly pick at. It wasn't a trivial thing. She'd potentially put herself in harm's way in order to help.

Could she actually be [i]nice[/i]?

Gertrude would have reached out to pat her bowed head, but she was certain that Fionn would ruin it as long as he was around. If the others had something, it was best just to sit and wait.

---

It certainly was something, traversing a fey realm. Gertrude had read about them, but she'd never been in one personally. Merely reading about it didn't do the bizarre thing justice. An entire little world constructed to the aesthetics of an individual... she'd like to be able to do something like that. Perhaps a room full of pillows and stuffed toys and books and endless sweets.

But now wasn't the time to think of such things. She had to be on guard. Literally anything could happen here, if the Moonlit Queen willed it. Even three meter tall crow men, one of which apparently served as her majordomo. Given all of the things she'd seen lately... he came as less of a surprise than he otherwise might have.

Then, she lay her eyes on the Moonlit Queen herself. Gertrude had to swallow down her need to immediately pat the girl on the head. She only felt like she could get away with Merilia because the woman was something like her aunt. This one... would probably seriously change her body somehow. Like she'd just done to the Captain's.

Her own situation here was less dire than the others. She wasn't particularly in love with her body as it was anyways, and if things went wrong, at the very least portions of her soul were elsewhere. She could even take Gretchen's body if she needed to. Still... didn't want to risk it.

...Did she actually just enjoy patting short women? When it came to Aleksiya-

Anyways.

Gertrude leaned towards Fionn and whispered into his ear. Aside from Fanilly, he was probably the most qualified to be speaking now, and the Captain was still sputtering. She also figured Fionn for a better gambler. Fanilly seemed too honest to be any good.

"Information is valuable. Think you and your blackguard friends could leverage what she wants to know in some sort of wager?"