He grins.

She eats, then returns to work.

There's an elf woman at the door to the estate, asking to see the Wardens. She seems quite distraught.

Here's a Warden!

"What's wrong?"

"You must help my lady! Arl Howe, he has taken her!"

"Taken... who?"

"Queen Anora."

She takes a deep breath.

"All right," she says, "tell me everything you know and I'll see what I can do."

It transpires that Howe had invited Anora over to his mansion for a meeting, ostensibly to discuss some city policy or other. Instead he locked her in a bedroom. Erlina (that being the elf girl's name) was with the other servants at the time, and so managed to avoid that fate. She remembered that Anora had been talking of coming to see the Wardens staying in the city, to help them with the Landsmeet or something like that, and thought they would be the best chance she had of getting help.

"I'll handle it," says Elissa. "Thank you for bringing this to me."

"You must be careful. Howe, he has many guards."

"Many guards aren't necessarily more secure than fewer," she says thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe nothing. Just a thought. Can you help us get into the building?"

"I- maybe. The front entrance is blocked, Howe will not pay his carpenters, and so they will not finish the job. But there is a servant's entrance in back."

"Promising."

"All the servants are elves. You are not, the guards will notice. But... maybe I could get their armor, and you disguise yourselves?"

She smiles. "Yes, good thinking."

"How many?"

"...I can assemble five people who are human or can pass for it," she says, with a silent apology to Stalas. "Maybe six, depending. How many guard uniforms can you bring without making anyone suspicious?"

"I think... four at most."

She nods. "All right. Four people. How long will it take you to get the uniforms? When and where should we meet you so you can lead us in the servants' entrance?"

"Two hours. The alley behind his estate."

"We'll be there."

"Thank you. I, I will go and prepare."