She smiles. "Well, I'm glad to hear you say that."

Because it's the perfect segue to...

She edges slightly forward in her seat. "We choose Guardians for the skills and knowledge that they can bring to the job. Loyal Guardians always get the job done. And for some of our more sensitive tasks, well, those are only given to our most trusted Guardians. Now who do you think that sounds like?" There's a bit of a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, but she only pauses a moment before answering her question for him. "You'd like to have the chance to do more. So I'm going to raise your security clearance – which comes with a nice pay rise, by the way, but you can take a look at your revised contract later – and then we can get down to business. Okay?"

He needs to say yes, of course, for this to work. Not that she's expecting him to refuse.

Sylvia nods. "Good. Now..."

Straight to business. He'll have a chance very soon to live up to her expectations, as it were. She opens the folder in her lap, taking out an ordinary sheet of paper. This she passes over to Lancelot. Printed on the paper is a simple table containing the following information: names, phone numbers, home addresses, jobs and work addresses, and notes about family members (siblings, parents, children). Most of the information is comprehensive, except for two names at the bottom: Nancy and Kenzi. These have no information other than the first names.

"These are the names of all the members of the Shadow Coven, which is part of Circle Midnight." She gives him a few moments to skim through it, leaning back in her seat. "What do you know about Circle Midnight?"

"They practise dark magic," she says, cutting through his hesitation. "Curses, necromancy, enslaving fae, that sort of thing. All the worst deeds that a witch can perform are achieved through the use of dark magic. Every witch in Daybreak swears never to perform it. We know the damage it can do. The witches on your list have all aligned themselves with Circle Midnight. I believe that many of them are misguided; they don't understand what they're getting themselves into. But it's only a matter of time before they find out."

She crosses her legs, her tone matter-of-fact.

"Abigail Widdowson is their leader." She's the first name on the list. "She is the only one who has openly declared herself. The rest practise in secret, either posing as Daybreak witches or staying away from other covens altogether. We know who most of them are, now, so that we can keep an eye on them, make sure we put a stop to any dangerous magic as early as possible. There are still two names on the list we haven't identified. I'd like you to help."

Ah ha. Sylvia's eyes light up. So they may already have a lead on one of the missing names.

"Now that is an excellent start. And if you can find out whether she knows a Kenzi, we may be getting somewhere. I do want to help them. But we can only do that if we know who they are, and if we understand why they feel that they have to resort to dark magic. Sometimes people are desperate or feel as though they have no other choice. Sometimes they make a deal with a fae that they later regret, and become trapped by it. But if we can bring any of them back over to Daybreak... it's worth a try." Her tone is almost as earnest as his. "I want you to be our advocate. You believe in Daybreak, in our principles, but you're not a witch. So you won't be a rival, or a threat. I think they'll find you quite approachable."

She gives a crooked smile. Sylvia is not unaware of the fact that she's also choosing to send an attractive young man to charm these young women, and Lancelot is virtually impossible to dislike. How can they resist?

Sylvia does her very best not to make a face as he describes Nancy, schooling her emotions to polite concern. A prostitute and blood-seller: well, she's not surprised. Saddened that a witch would find herself in such circumstances, but not surprised that this is the kind of person who would be attracted to Circle Midnight.

"The name Nancy was given as a member of the Shadow Coven," she says. "I should think this girl fits. And if by some coincidence we've found a different Nancy – well, that's a second Midnight coven uncovered, which merits further investigation. But let's hope it's the first. Talk to her. I'm not asking you to do a hard sell. Just... look out for her. Girls trapped in situations like this, you can offer them support and show them the door that will lead them out, but they have to walk through it themselves."

She raises her eyebrows, considering. Faolan... He is already keeping an eye on Hillingdon on her behalf, but right now Hillingdon is not a major concern. And certainly his skill set is better suited to infiltration and spying than Lancelot.

"Good idea. I'll certainly consider it." She smiles. "All right, now is there anything else you need before I send you off to get started?"

Any other questions?

She nods. "Keep it." She gave the list to him so that he could take it with him. "But make sure that you don't lose it or let anyone else get their hands on it. That information is strictly confidential, and could jeopardize the ceasefire we have agreed with Circle Midnight were it to fall into the wrong hands."

Because she promised Abigail Widdowson that the identities of her coven members would remain a secret. Abigail has already proven herself to be reckless and impulsive; it would only take one slip for her to react against a perceived threat and for the entire situation to descend into chaos.

Sylvia won't let that happen. She stands, waiting for Lancelot to do the same.

Another nod, and her smile is warm and genuine. "Keep in touch."

And stay safe. She doesn't say that, but she's thinking it. Lancelot might not imagine that a young woman from an underground coven could be a threat, but Sylvia knows otherwise. If anything, she thinks his lack of guile will protect him. The less he has to hide, the better.