When the tea arrived, the three black monitors had taken varying amounts of tea and wafers, Himmel favoring both evenly while Liam took only one wafer and Orlando took nearly a dozen. Immediately, he had one in his mouth, though he chewed politely. Soon after, the cook came back out again with a ceramic plate that had a large, raw sausage that had just been tied into the skin. He set it down directly in front of Zixx, and said crudely, albeit formally, "Fresh beef liver 'n tongue, ground fine 'n mixed wi' summat black pepper 'n garlic, sah," promptly leaving as soon as he'd delivered it.<br/><br/>Reaching into one of his pockets, Himmel drew from it a small, simple ring, made of silver. Though there were three places for a stone to be set, there was only one, a single pigeon-blood ruby set in it. "This is your means of escape. Orlando will be the one to keep it, and when either the mission is complete or things have gone too sour, he will... use it."<br/><br/>The one eye of Himmel's that was visible looked very, very serious, and it was obvious that the cleric would have it no other way. He leaned back in his chair and took a slightly more relaxed position alongside a sip of tea before continuing, "As for our departure, it will come when we are finished with our tea and everyone is certain that they are as prepared as they need to be."<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>