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Because she was Zeff's one and only sister, that was why. Plus, her husband Rick was incredibly helpful in the reconstruction of Warrenhold. But most of all, Hector didn't want to take so many of the family heads with him.

Only the last reason sounded good enough to vocalize, though. "I don't think it would be wise to bring the heads of all the families. We already have Evangelina out in the field."

Joana's frown deepened, but she said nothing further.

Horatio's expression was tough to read. The man looked a bit haggard, but he usually looked that way, of late. He and Dimas had only very recently become the heads of their respective Houses, but Horatio seemed to be having a significantly harder time with the transition than Dimas did.

Many times now, Hector had wondered why that might be. He'd offered to lend the man an ear, if he needed one, but Horatio always politely declined.

Truthfully, Hector was worried about the guy in more ways than just one. Sending him out on a mission right now didn't seem like a good idea, if for no other reason than because he still seemed to be finding his footing.

All the Houses had suffered in one way or another, but House Blackburn was in an especially peculiar situation. The former head, Ismael Blackburn, had been killed by Ivan at Dunehall. Right in front of Hector's eyes, no less. And in the aftermath, his wife, Nere Blackburn, apparently had a mental breakdown. Hence why they had all turned to Horatio and not her.

However, Nere had recently returned to taking a leadership role. Sort of. From what Hector had seen, it was mostly Sentsia, the woman's reaper, who did the talking.

It was all quite odd, and Hector could tell that there was a lot more going on with them than he knew about. He hoped that he would be able to grow closer with them one day and learn more of their history--and of what was troubling them so much, perhaps--but he didn't want to rush things. They were a grieving family, after all.