[See Gabranth, this is why that endlessly grim Magisterial aura gets you into trouble.

Still, without that helmet in place it’s easy to see just how quickly he recoils from the suggestion, his own brow knitting.]

—no.

An absence of leniency. Nothing more. [And look at that, he’s flustered now, his lips twisting into a thin line, his stance shifting slightly like an animal unsettled.]

He cannot be permitted to simply abstain from work that would challenge him.