"…and I… I'm the only one… the only one that got out." With the story complete, Maria sits down, buries her face in her hands, and cries.
"We found her just a few hundred yards from our home," Lilac adds. "Realising we would have been contacted directly if possible, we figured the Magister and General Gong were left with no choice but to trust a Red Scarf to bring the news to us."
"Maria is an active member of the Red Scarves?" Zao asks, suspiciously.
"That is correct," Lilac confirms.
"Then how do we know this isn't some sort of trick?" Zao continues. "If I send my army to Shang Tu, only to find everything is fine, my people will turn against me, and I'll never get re-elected!"
"Shang Tu is under attack, and you're worried about your re-election?" Carol exclaims; no-one notices Maria has stopped crying.
"Despatching the army is expensive!" Zao explains. "Do you have any idea how unpopular I'd be if I wasted all that money on a fool's errand?"
"Lives are at stake!" Carol replies heatedly.
"Carol, stay calm please," Lilac requests. "And stop growling."
"I'm not growling," Carol rebuts.
"Then who-" Lilac begins; the realisation hits her. "Maria, stop!" she cries, lunging to grab hold of Maria's wrists before she can leap at Zao.
"Why would I lie about my friends being captured and killed?" Maria growls menacingly, pulling against Lilac's grasp.
"Maria, this isn't helping!" Lilac pleads, holding Maria's wrists firmly. "Please, calm down!"
Maria doesn't respond immediately, but she does stop struggling; after a few moments, her growling fades into nothing, though she doesn't lose her hard expression. "My friends are the most valuable things in the world to me, and I will do anything to get them back. Especially my Hanna."
Lilac and Carol exchange confused looks at Maria's last sentence.
"Please sir, she really needs your help to save her friends," Milla interjects, addressing Zao directly with the same cute look she previously demonstrated to Maria. "You'd be a hero!"
"A hero?" Zao thinks out loud.
"I have a plan; play along," Lilac whispers in Maria's ear; she then turns to Zao. "And I hear there are some very valuable gemstones the Magister may be willing to part with in exchange for liberating his city," she informs.
Maria almost argues with Lilac; at the last moment, she checks herself and addresses Zao instead. "I've seen them; they're really big and pretty!" she adds.
"Big valuable gems?" Zao thinks out loud.
Lilac presses home the advantage. "And you'd be saving the Magister himself; you'll be able to use that to help get re-elected."
"Re-elected?" Zao pauses to think for a few moments. "I guess I could send the army to help…"
"That would be wonderful!" Milla chirps.
"There'll be a parade in your honour!" Lilac adds.
Zao grins widely. "A parade? Then what are we wasting time here for? Let's get you your army!"
