This isn't particularly well-written or anything but I just wanted to make sure to get it out for Mason's benefit

Lily had often spoken of the wonders of Alicante. She'd always described the demon towers with pride and talked of a future time when she'd take him and show off the homeland of the Shadowhunters to him. It was all a brag, Blake knew, but at the time, he would have been glad to embrace the city as a testament to his attachment to her.

Alicante had since been soured for him. Mostly, he was disappointed in himself that he'd gotten sloppy enough to put himself in a position where he was being questioned in the capital of Shadowhunters, of all places. Maybe it had been an escapable outcome, but he hated the idea of needing someone like Savannah to cover for him, as if he couldn't stand by his own actions. Perhaps it was some masochistic drive towards self-punishment, feeling guilty about his actions more often than not as of late. What would she have done for him anyway? No matter how she might've spun it, the issue would have dissolved into the fact that while the Court had ordered such actions of him, it had always been personal. If he'd acted on the behalf of the Court in their general conquest against the Shadowhunters, then she might've been able to cover things up, but his personal endeavors had been rooted so deeply into it that such ties couldn't be dissolved. And even if she had managed to sterilize his story, how odd it would have been for her to know so much.

Counting on Shadowhunters for his defense was an ability long-expired and it was uncomfortable - shameful, even - to pass on the responsibility of confrontation to someone else. Those who tried to escape punishment or make excuses in the Unseelie had always earned distrust, both for their tendency to cower behind others for their survival and their inability to withstand the natural consequences of their decisions. What was the worth of those that could not stand by their own choices?

It was even worse that the Shadowhunter who was assigned to escort him and explain to him the process of interrogation was kind to the point of pity. As if any of the things he had committed were unfortunate and unavoidable pitfalls in the life of someone who was not lucky enough to be born a Shadowhunter. But at least she was frugal with questioning him out of nosiness and was sparse with her words when she had finally led him to the room where he had been assigned his interrogation.

The room was not particularly populated, with only a handful of Council members that were headed by a Shadowhunter who rested her hands on a list of questions. He would have mistaken one of the figures tucked into the corner of the room as a faerie, but the rune of Clairvoyance on his hand gave away his loyalties. When he was seated, they wasted little time in wringing him of background information that might make him interesting or dangerous, though it wasn't as if he was unused to their prying. Being anything but a Nephilim was always means for suspicion.

His thoughts had wandered the more the Shadowhunter had delved into his mishaps, her brows furrowed as she asked him all sorts of questions. They were things he could mostly navigate with ease and his gaze lowered to his hands. He'd kept them in his lap, surprised that they'd trusted him enough to allow him to be unrestrained, although part of him wondered if they trusted their own ability enough to put him down swiftly and easily if he tried something against them.

"So it was..?" The Shadowhunter's expectant look drew him from his pondering and he worked to recall what it was that he had just been asked. "Killing them was-"

"A test of loyalty. Spilled Shadowhunter blood in exchange for being let back into the Court," he said, lifting his eyes to the Shadowhunter, defiant in his openness. "I'm sure your kind have enough despotic and cruel assumptions of the Unseelie to imagine what they do when they don't get what they want. I have personal quarrels with Shadowhunters, naturally, but contrary to popular belief, I wouldn't kill one for personal entertainment."

The Shadowhunter exchanged a few quiet words with the Council member beside her before notating a few things on a piece of paper. "So they required you to kill a Shadowhunter. What prompted them to target the Shadowhunter you killed?"

"I chose him." Blake straightened in his seat, his gaze flickering to the other people in the room. "I know which Shadowhunters are more involved in the Towns, politically and otherwise. I thought it best to pick someone who would...not greatly impact the Clave-"

"Someone who would not bring the entirety of the Clave after you," the Shadowhunter corrected, narrowing her eyes. "Is that what you mean?"

"...I would not have wanted the Clave after the Unseelie because of my own crimes," he said, and that sentiment had once been strong and unwavering. "That's all."

"And what about the warlock?"

"Collateral." The answer was simple, but it still earned a disapproving look from the Shadowhunter questioning him. It was the honest answer, though, and he was used to selling himself out to Shadowhunters for their trust. That was what he had done for Lily. For every Institute residency. For every time he'd gotten close to getting into legal trouble with the Nephilim. They could not argue with his word if he laid it out plainly, bearing even his insecurities for them to witness.

"And what about your ties to the Unseelie?" the Shadowhunter continued. "Are you still loyal to them? Would you, perhaps, kill for them again or even commit other acts in their name?"

Blake had split ties with the Unseelie before, but that was when he hadn't used up a second chance. "I have no pleasant ties with them. They've become my enemy, if anything," he said, though his sentiment towards the Court still didn't negate the guilt in his words. "They have no leverage against me, if the Nephilim are concerned about me acting against their Institutes in the name of the Unseelie."

"...Very well. That's all we have on that matter. Currently, at least." The Shadowhunter flipped her page over and Blake couldn't help but survey the Council, feeling a little relieved to be finished with their interrogation, even if it was just for the day. He had managed to evade most of the details he wished to give out, but neither did it feel like he had been too vague and suspicious. It was almost exactly as he'd planned for it to go, and while he had never considered himself lucky with Shadowhunters, he knew he had done all that he could to deflect entire blame.

But the Shadowhunter just made a beckoning signal with her hand, another Council member walking over with a small cardboard box to set down on the table. A few things clattered inside, the noise of objects shifting around in position.

"But onto the next issue, which is regarding a few items we found in your place of residence," the Shadowhunter started, and Blake tensed imperceptibly, unsure of what they had found. She procured photographs of labeled bags of herbs, setting them down on the table. "These are yours, yes? Word is that you're an avid poison maker and seller in the Towns."

"Unfortunately, monetary business is necessary to live in this world," Blake answered, allowing himself a bit of dryness. "What do you expect from us? Accounting careers or nanny positions?"

"If you're willing to give us the names of your clients, we're willing to let those charges slide just this once and let you off with a warning. We've confiscated all of your materials, naturally. Insider information for the Clave is always wanted," the Shadowhunter stated, her eyes steady on him as she kept Blake under scrutiny. She didn't give him a chance to respond before she reached in the box to pull out a small glass case, putting it on top of the photographs.

The recognition was immediate and Blake couldn't hide the bit of unease at the sight of the two small Unseelie scrolls carefully pinned and held within the confines of that glass case. They were mostly only of cultural importance, but he doubted the Shadowhunter was simply there to ask why he might have an interest in Unseelie items. No question came for a long minute as if they were giving him time to soundlessly give them the answer before it was finally formed into words.

"These were from a Spoils exhibit," the Shadowhunter said, asserting her own knowledge on the matter. "How did these end up in your possession when they were slated to be collected by the New York Institute and given to the Clave?"

"I-..." It was the first time he visibly hesitated, not knowing any way to get around their questions. Every other answer had come so smoothly, and yet he couldn't find any deflection away from how he'd come across those trinkets. "It was from a...deal, of sorts."

"With a shopkeeper in the Towns?"

"...No." He had nothing to lose by giving up Savannah's role in everything, and yet he struggled to find the words, feeling cornered for the first time since entering that room. "A Shadowhunter."

The Shadowhunter's eyebrows raised in curiosity. "Name?"

"...Savannah."

"Lustwick?" That time, the voice came from the transcriber with the faerie features off to the side, his pen resting delicately in his hand.

Blake just gave a curt nod, thinking that he saw a bit of pleasure on the transcriber's face at the new information. The Shadowhunter prolonged her silence yet again, the scratching of the transcriber's pen against paper lingering in the air. She said nothing else as she reached into the box for the last item, letting a clear, sealed bag of two smaller items clatter onto the table. Neatly taken care of and glinting against the witchlight of the room, Nephilim-made throwing knives glittered on the table.

"Unusual for a faerie to have these in their possession," the Shadowhunter started, pushing the bag closer to him as if he needed a better look. "Did you take these by force or were they...given to you?"

"I was...allowed them." It was the only answer he could come up with, but the waiting gaze of the Shadowhunter made it clear that she wasn't satisfied with just that. "...They belonged to the...same Shadowhunter. I haven't used them. Contrary to what the Council might think, I have more things to do than kill Shado-"

"That'll be enough for today." She gave a shake of her head, folding her paper of questions into a neat square. "We'll have to deliberate about the information you've given us and you'll be called in again for a follow-up questioning. If you have any current grievances, then I'm sure the Shadowhunter assigned to look after you will be happy to deliberate. Until then, you should know that it's a mercy that we're allowing this interrogation to even happen. Unseelies aren't protected under the Accords-"

"I'm not-"

"But considering your extended status outside of the Court, this is an exception we've made. We hope you'll continue to cooperate with us."

Before he had the chance to make a remark, the woman that had escorted him had already gone over to pull him up by his arm. "By hell, I can walk by myself," he muttered under his breath, pushing himself up from his seat and sidestepping her grasp. It took everything he had to behave even after she set her hand on a blade at her hip and gave him the look of don't make me do this, only relenting when he sighed and moved to walk alongside her out into the hall.

It struck him as ironic that as hard as he tried to not associate with Shadowhunters, he was foolish again and again to fall into their grasp. With how much background information the Shadowhunters had on him, forever in some file they would hold against him as proof, he didn't doubt they thought the same. He couldn't deny that he'd slipped up in more ways than one and they were likely justified in whatever consequence they chose, though it was more like the Council to make him wait. Oftentimes, at the mercy of their judgement, that's all one could do anyway.