“It’s not tedious.” Valerie said with a slight shrug, a small smile of her own being offered up as she added, “I know it’s routine to be checked up on, I’m used to it. I’ll answer as best I can.” Even if it still left her anxious and irrationally afraid. Well, maybe not entirely irrational, given it was the report she worried over. Whatever Julianna said reflected entirely on her, one way or another the woman held all the cards, and the blonde tried to keep that in mind as she sat there.

No doubt there would be other questions, the Council tended to be thorough, if not at times intrusive. Blaming the woman in front of her would be foolish and ignorant. The rules had been formed hundreds of years ago, the trouble with that was how little they had really changed.