"If so, our hosts seem disinclined to state as much." is all he will, with a light shrug, concede, though it likely tells Elidibus far more than just the words anyway; there's a mistrust there (unsurprising), a sense that there's something bigger going on than just what they've been made privy to, and more than a little frustration at that ignorance. The Emissary is not the only one struggling with the adjustment; Amber's absence is like a phantom limb, the inability to ask the Deck for answers a vexing limitation.

The Emissary, however, apparently has something he doesn't; company. Because today wasn't going poorly enough already. One Paragon working in isolation they may have been able to outwit; two unified, and with only him here? It is not comforting. Nor is Elidibus' smile.

"A sound stratagem. Thy arrival was simultaneous?"