Salnius frowned as Daemus delivered his instructions. Alera Imperia was truly like a loaf of fresh bread filled with vipers. No, that wasn't right. Like a goblet of sweet wine disguising an elephant. Also not good. A horde of rats sewn to the underside of an expensive carpet with something, something. The metaphor would come to him, it always did. Usually in the midst of something more important.<br/><br/>"Legate, can you share your suspicions of which High Lord might be involved? They each have their own scent, and it might help the hunt if we can at least rule some of them out. And do I take it that our mission is only to investigate and bring back evidence of the perfidy, not to disrupt it?" If so, it suited Salnius well. He had no lack of faith in the strength of Aegon's arm, but the rest of their band was often better suited to operations of a subtler sort. Well, if one stretched the definition of 'subtle' to include Althea's sometimes explosive approach to obstacles.<br/><br/>He hoped there would be time to purchase a squirrel at market for disembowelment. Not only would the turnings of the creature's intestines provide valuable insight to their mission, but Salnius also realized he hadn't eaten since breakfast.