"Fine, we'll look at the book together. And if you want we can even tell Agnie that we're going to do it together. I will stand behind you and use you as a human shield, but I'll do the hard work." he was jovial enough, for Glenn, at least (Sometimes it was hard to tell these days). "The heavy lifting." And really, conversing with an angry Agnie was nothing but that.
"Three renewals." Burnie nodded. "I can work with that. We'll be slow about even giving him the sword. More than that, I am tempted to get him a little embroiled in Myrken business, not the most pressing sort, mind you, not Catch or Aeryn. What if we were to plant the sword upon Jirai and send him chasing after her, for instance." They could use a replica as well, something like that, or even just make it SEEM that way, but he wanted to hear what Aleksei thought first. "It's not his main priority but it's still something Roland would probably have to follow up with. Have it seem like your current injuries were caused by her. That sort of thing."
Freedom. Well, magical creatures should generally be bound, but at least the scholar's heart was in the right place. There was always room for compromise in such situations, except for, of course, when there wasn't. "Can't we hasten the end of her binding somehow? I'd love to set her free and set them chasing after her, somewhere far away from here, if we could manage it. Nothing can be so cut and dry. What would the cost be?"
See, Aleksei didn't need to have good ideas. Look at all the ones the Governor had. "We really ought to get back to Renea, you know. And then the rest. At least I know what your problems look like now. I can't even prioritize the others relative to yours as of yet."