Hawk had taken another sip, which he now swallowed hard. The memory of the graffiti with its streak of livid painted blood across the stump of its neck flashed across his mind's eye.

"Oh," he said.

He gave the report back to Numair, who took it mutely. The office seemed suddenly very dark.

"...Wull..." Hawk said finally, looking much more disturbed than Numair did, somehow, "now what?"

"Now what...?" Numair echoed, his eyes on the front page of the report. "Now the Escalan investigators will take over. I don't have any say over them--that'd be the City Administrator, Enetis, a cousin of mine."

Enetis was a severe looking spirit with a disdainful set to their mouth. Hawk frowned at Numair.

"So, what, you're just gonna...wait?"

Numair looked at him. "I'm also drafting a statement," he replied, and added, rhetorically, "What else should I be doing?"

"Hah??" Hawk said blankly. "I dunno, what usually happens when someone threatens the Cynn??"

Numair clasped his hands together over the top edge of the report. "Well," he said slowly, tapping his lips with his index fingers. "Nothing quite like this has ever happened. Not this publicly, not in Aetheri, anyway," he added. "So I suppose I get to decide what the response will be."