Of course. Please understand that you have my personal apology for all of this. All I can do at this point is escort you upstairs.

[ Jolene might be the highest ranking apprentice, but she is still an apprentice, and she doesn't get the final call on things like security and the treatment of the guests. Not yet.

Raising a hand, an image suddenly appears in the air, translucent and shimmering. It is the two mages who orchestrated it all, albeit from clearly a different time and place. Thorne has ears everywhere, and these two cause whispers. ]

This is Oliver Abbott and his associate, Elizabeth Francis. The last we'd heard, they were across the sea in Ikorr. We're not sure how they got back into Thorne without triggering our wards.