Aoi stands atop the pointed roof of the tower in which Louise sleeps, keeping a weather eye out for anyone or anything that might be coming by. His summoner seems to be a nice enough girl, but there is a striking resemblance between her and the older woman who kept giving him so many problems. Like severing varying lengths of his tail. Multiple times. Granted, it's not much more than an inconvenience besides tumbling around like an idiot as the sudden loss of mass unbalances him, but it's enough to let him know that he can't simply ignore her. His eyes flick up as he catches sight of a familiar griffin, and then the man atop it. "Wardes! I didn't expect you to just show up like this."

"I did not expect to come here. However, Sir Blake requested that I locate you." The griffin doesn't seem perturbed by the slanted landing spot, and neither does the viscount. He must have had to do this before more than once.

Aoi cringes in response. "I kinda did just up and vanish smack in the middle of dealing with the Fire Storm, didn't I? It wasn't on purpose though."

"We all know. When I explained what the mirror that swallowed you up was, Sir Blake was beside himself with worry over your safety."

"He doesn't have to. It'd take a lot to actually put me down for good." The dragon places a hand on his chest and practically beams as he says that.

"He still values you as a member of his family, just as the surviving members of the Sachen-Gotha family do." Wardes' expression looks a touch more stern in response.

Aoi cringes a bit harder for a moment. "Okay, okay, I get it. I should have called in first chance I got, but this place is packed with people at any given moment and Louise likes to stay in line of sight of me if possible."

"I cannot complain if you are watching over my fiancee. The girl has immense potential, and these... plebeians cannot discern or appreciate her true value." The Viscount spits out the word, showing an obvious distaste for those who have mocked her. "And yes, alerting us sooner would have been preferable, but seeing where you have ended up I am certain the others will understand."

Then a third person decided to make herself known. "Kind of like how I'm the only one who'd 'understand' why two grown men are acting like a pair of shady co-conspirators on a rooftop in broad moonlight?" She seems to have simply walked straight up the tower wall rather than use a more conventional method. "You two are lucky that it's me out here tonight. I know you're not bothered by injury, Aoi, but we don't need a repeat of the Archambault incident."

"Oh, Matilda. ...What're you even doing here? Aside from being on patrol, I mean. I thought you didn't want to come back here." Aoi spins around to look at the young woman. It's hard to mistake the long green hair or casual attitude.

"It's mostly because Tiffi's worried about Charlotte. ...And I am too, honestly." Matilda crosses her arms and leans forward a bit to stand upright. "We both know that Joseph isn't impotent like King Wales, that one elf isn't all he has, and as much as he might play the role of the fool I doubt he's going to just up and let this one slide."

Wardes simply sighs in an exasperated manner. "At the rate Sir Blake is going, we won't have any ground to go to by the time he's done."

"I don't care. We're all outcasts and in this together." The transmuter responds before looking back to the summon. "Anyway, Blake's managing to hold his own without you. I'm helping him with Maxwell, and it should be ready to deploy within the month."

"That's good to hear. If I'm not there, we need something imposing to help keep their morale down so they won't come after us as often." Aoi rocks back and forth on his heels slightly with his eyes closed. "I don't like hurting or killing people, and Blake doesn't either. Even if he's gotten more cautious."

"You and Sir Blake are two of the biggest bleeding hearts I've ever known. It makes the whole situation almost hilariously ironic." As much as Wardes may hold the two in high regard, the simple fact of the matter is that he feels that both are too soft for their own good, and between the two, only Aoi could afford to be. "I am glad to see that we are on schedule, none the less."

"Sort of. After the whole 'rescue Charlotte' thing, we lost some time having to recuperate and shift focus to Tristian. Gallia still out-mans and out-guns us by too great a margin. Plus, you told us that Romalia is... what, almost directly behind them? Next time we come knocking we'll probably have to deal with both of them." The summon turns to Wales for confirmation.

"I would anticipate it, but do not treat it as a certainty. The Pope is rumored to be acutely aware of what goes on with the Brimiric nations on a large scale. If he figures out what we're really doing, he may only put up a token fight once we need to move on Romalia." Wardes shakes his head, then gives his advice.

"Or he might just turn around and rally the nations against us. Remember, Aoi and Blake are pretty much terrorists at this point." Matilda looks to Wardes as she offers her less optimistic view. "It's possible he'd look to take all their stuff and make examples of them to placate the populace before handing the machinery off to the royal academies to study."

Aoi then twirls his ponytail around his finger in a nervous display. "Yeah... that's always fun. Speaking of which, Louise's mother wouldn't happen to be Karin the Heavy Wind, would it, Viscount?"

Wardes' expression turns grave. "She is. Judging from your body language, you presume that she will be arriving here soon to ensure her daughter's safety."

"Not 'presume', Viscount, I know she's coming. Louise wrote about me to her big sister and got a letter back from her mother late the same day." Aoi continues rocking on his feet.

Matilda simply facepalms. "And now I have another reason to stay here. To keep an eye out for you, you idiot."

"The summoning ritual simply plucks the most well-suited summon from wherever they may be and places it before the mage. There is nothing any of us could have done to predict or prevent this event, Ms. Sachen-Gotha." Wardes comes to the summon's defense readily enough. "All we can do is react in a manner that can turn this to our advantage."

"How? Every time she's come after me it's been with her wand blazing! Metaphorically and literally!" The summon ceases standing altogether and floats in midair so that he doesn't fall.

"Just to add to that, even if she's not out to kill him outright, she's duty-bound to apprehend him. Or what's left of him." The transmuter chimes in immediately afterward. "Plus, you can't jump in to defend him without giving yourself away, Viscount. Your position is only marginally less perilous than his."

"Indeed, I cannot. However, there may be no need. If the Heavy Wind apprehends him, then he will most likely be tried. If the court is willing to listen it may be possible to explain what it is we are doing without placing anyone at great risk. Aoi can defend himself and most likely overpower anyone present in the case where the nobility on hand is simply out for blood." Wardes remains calm while presenting his thoughts.

"It still feels like you're being too generous with these people, Viscount." Matilda sighs after saying that. "It's the same deal. Blake has machines that will benefit all of Halkeginia and has conveniently been painted an enemy. No one here will care about him or his reasoning. They'll tear him apart and steal everything for their own use if they can."

"I am not being overly generous, I am simply suggesting a way to gauge whether or not we should even attempt diplomacy."

Aoi stands back down and leans back in thought. "Depends on what happens, I guess. I hate politics, too much skullduggery for my tastes, but I guess I could try talking to them." He then looks around. "We should probably adjourn this little impromptu meeting. People'll probably get suspicious if we stay here for too long."

"And whose fault is that, Mr. Dramatic?" Matilda pokes Aoi's chest teasingly before walking off. "Good night, Aoi, Viscount."

"Indeed. I should head back. Farewell, Ms. Sachen-Gotha, Great Spirit of Wind." Wardes then hops atop his griffin and flies away.

Aoi lets out a breath he was holding for most of that. "...Okay, now how do I deal with the murderhobo in the meantime?"