[Alphen has to think on those words for a moment, but...she's right. Being taken from home just as they encountered the fifth lord? He doesn't like to think that it's a coincidence.]

I know what you mean. There are plenty of people who would benefit from something like this, after everything we've done.

[Had the Renans found some sort of way to truly banish them from Dahna? And if so, why here, exactly? He frowns, pulling the paper from his pocket again, re-reading the supposed crime.] But it'd certainly make more sense of this, wouldn't it?

[As for the rest, he offers a short, breathy laugh, slightly sheepish.] Believe me, the last thing I want to do is injure myself on purpose.

[He's had enough lectures from her on that to last a lifetime.]