Aleetia stood in the back of the room, leaning on her polearm while Rashad made his speech; not because she wished to look tough and imposing: simply to look at her would show you a cute young woman, with tussled blonde hair and eyes that spoke of intelligence, and though they also showed more than a hint of anger at the content of the speech in front of her, she was not the kind of person that could be imposing even if she wished.  Nor was it to keep an eye on those in front of her: she had long since sized up the four others in the room with her and turned her attention elsewhere.<br/><br/>No, the real reason she stood in the back was that she stood over seven feet tall and simply couldn't fit in the chairs and tables provided. With the blood of giants flowing through her veins, she'd long since gotten used to standing everywhere but the privacy of her own home.<br/><br/>When the projection was shown, the others in the room could hear a series of wooden cracks as her hand tightened to the point of stressing her polearm's staff, though the look on her face didn't change one bit.  It wasn't until the very end that anything about her changed, and that was only from her speaking up as quickly as the speech was finished. "Once we get the book, make Gaylord slip up, and bring him down, how many pieces do you want him in?  Just the one, or can he be in three or four for questioning?"<br/><br/>Aleetia's people had  always been valued for their strength, and, centuries past, had been enslaved for just that reason.  That had long since stopped being the case, but the psychic abilities that had been used to control them had left an impression that not even time could erase: an innate resistance and hatred of mind control.    Some days, she even hated herself on reflex: her own abilities, as they developed, had been especially suited to making psychic connections with her allies, psychically telling them of the weaknesses of their enemies and when to take advantage of it.  Dangerously close to mind control by any measure.<br/><br/>You could almost see the gears turning in her head as she started to manage a series of plans from just the small amount of information she had come up with.  She'd have true questions soon; for now, she just waited for the response to the question that slipped out of her mouth without even a thought.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>