[ For project leads, there is always paperwork. Some of it is even useful and necessary, in addition to unavoidable, and Ilias does not mind the rhythm of it so much, but the idea it must be done in isolation, with no one and nothing else to occupy one's mind, is occasionally intolerable to him.

Tonight, finding himself not the only one still burning candles on the seventh floor, Ilias has brought his to the Project Jeshavis office, along with a bottle of wine in apology for the intrusion. It isn't much of one, at that; cups filled and niceties exchanged, he's content for the company without creating distraction, but as the work wears on distraction eventually finds him nonetheless. Gaze caught on the worn edge of a report, thumb at the fold of a corner, he asks, ]

May I ask your thoughts— that is, if you have ever given much credence to the Chantry's prescription that mages ought not form relationships at all.