"Me," says the bear popping out of Scott's bag.

She blinks.

"He's the Guardian Beast. Of the Seal of the Clow. It's a very serious responsibility, he's kind of a big deal."

"He's been really helpful to us."

"So how do you know Scott's not meant to be the cardcaptor?" she asks Alistair.

"I can't be completely confident, but there's a period of time when the book's whereabouts were unknown. If it was affected then..."

"No one else used the book! I'd know, I was in it!"

"Clow was the greatest sorcerer in history. You're a stuffed animal. I bet any motivated sorcerer could have gotten past you."

"This isn't my true form!"

"Be that as it may, why do you think the book was tampered with?"

"That's what all of the legends say."

"The legends say the book's been tampered with? How do they know?—and, um, what are the odds the legends have it right and the magical beast who was actually there isn't?"

"The legends say that one of Clow Reed's enemies wanted to use the book against him. I don't think we can take the risk."

"We're always taking risks, every decision has some probability of backfiring. Now, supposing some enemy did tamper with the book, somehow, without Kero noticing, and Scott is not meant to be the real cardcaptor—who is? And where's the harm in letting him help even if he's not literally the Chosen One?"

"If he's being set up to destroy the world..."

"You don't act like you think he'll destroy the world. I think this is just the party line." 

She but only internally agrees. "If he's incompetent, he won't destroy the world, and there's a much bigger chance of preventing him from doing so anyway if we keep an eye on him—by working together."

"Just to be clear, I don't want to destroy the world, and it seems kind of hard to do by accident." 

"Alright. We work together." 

Mrs. Argent, who has been hovering near the entrance, now takes a seat and orders. 

Alistairs offers no comment, merely giving a quelling glance to Sadde. 

"Oh shoot I'd forgotten I'd called her," she says in an undertone. "Perhaps we should tell her everything's alright?"

"Is everything alright?"

He sighs. 

"I'll tell her it was a false alarm." 

"That the Maze was a false alarm? Will she buy it?"

"We're kind of obsessed with the cards, but I'm the only one in our family who's actually seen them while they're active, it'll fly. She'll just assume I made a bad judgment call."