Zelda couldn't keep the slight disbelief off her own face; while Ari had helped negotiate the deal with Brannon in the first place, and while he'd been one of her softer chaperons in the past several months, he had never been Alfred's biggest fan. Of everyone, he had probably the most reasons to be skeptical of Alfred's intentions - especially seeing as he was the only person who knew the actual truth.

"You're really going to help me with this?" Zelda said, quirking an eyebrow at him. She added quickly: "It's not that I don't appreciate it, because I do - I just hadn't expected you to want to."

Was there a catch here? She couldn't see one, but it was still so weird.

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