"I'm trying to get in with the guards through offering training, though that likely will take time." It's fatalistic maybe to think that it'll take more time than he thinks they have. "At the moment I believe the heat for any suspicious actions, regardless of what they are, will come down on Istredd's or my head. Always blame the figureheads."

The amount of things that have changed since the last time him and Mat talked, before the negotiations.

He picks up one of the bows, playing around with the weight of it in his grip. He's always preferred blades.

For as much as Lucifer would protect Kell over Mat, they're in the thick of it now. Whatever happens from their meeting, whatever thread they lose control of, and Istredd takes the brunt. Lucifer's just refused to let him do it alone. Which. Is really just. Really grating.