The brief, quizzical expression on Ellis' face is likely not very surprising. Can it possibly be unexpected that Ellis hadn't factored in any kind of personal risk when he'd considered the idea?

But it resolves into neutrality, a spreading of one hand across the table while the other keeps Thot pinned against one thigh.

"I'm one of them."

A statement meant for Richard to draw assumptions from.

If he were making this case to Vance and Adrasteia, the greater context would be so clear. Ellis was very much one of them. He had the track record for it, after Adamant, after what he'd done in the Western Approach. The odds of finding someone who recognized him in Weisshaupt was very high, and that would be a shield.

And even if it wasn't, what could be done to him?

"It only matters if they've reason to suspect something of me, and they won't. I've never had that kind of reputation."

In which reputation means ambition.