<div class="floatleft">(https://i.imgur.com/nDFdxvM.png)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Sruti Sveidottir (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2174473)<br/><hr/><br/>“Hmm,” Sruti murmured softly as she looked over the design.  The other craftswoman came over to look over her shoulder as well, Lenore was her name.  Lenore’s question was certainly apt to the situation, but Sruti had no way of knowing without some background information or observing the seal itself in person.  Lenore seemed bright, and Sruti remembered discussing some artistry with her over the previous few days.  She was always happy to talk to people of a like-mind, and to explain in great detail the theories behind her work, though she rarely found people well suited to understand it.<br/><br/>Sruti deduced that the queen was either concerned about the actual upkeep or the fact that the money that was being used for it was being squandered by her cousin.  Perhaps the queen was sincere in her concern about the seal, but Sruti was more of a pragmatic cynic regarding such things.<br/><br/>Sruti rolled up the parchment carefully, but kept it in hand for now as she listened further to the rest of the questions and answers.  She was still relatively sure of what was going on so she had little to ask.  The masked man’s concern about opposition was good to ask, something that Sruti hadn’t really considered, she wasn’t usually of a combative mindset.  The other woman of the group remained silent throughout so it wasn’t easy to tell what her role would be.<br/><br/>Eventually everyone else seemed satisfied with the answers they had received and the servants began the lead the group onward to prepare them for their journey.<br/><br/>“Is the queen always so…eccentric?” she asked one of the servants after they had left the throne room.<br/><br/>When the paths were laid out to them she wondered over the benefits of the routes they could take, and went over the options with her three other compatriots, “Well, the Water Road is the most direct, and apparently the path any official company would take…but if we expect any kind of indirect resistance from our destination perhaps they’ll be attempting to divert us along that road.  Whereas we may be able to go unnoticed along the coast, though slower it may be.  I’m not sure I have a strong opinion one way or the other…”<br/><br/>She traced out the different routes on the map with her finger, eventually shrugging one shoulder slightly as she concluded.  Neither path seemed particularly dangerous to her.