Kura nodded at Max as she said the body would do, then helped the firebrand get the cadaver on the gurney without much of a hint that it bothered her. When Max gave her directions, Kura looked up and nodded at her. "Don't let Sephira hear you say that. She'd be compelled to go arrest somebody there." she said with a slight grin. She knew about the sorta-friendship between Max and Sephira, for all the their main form of communication seemed to be snark and insults, and she was not at all above teasing either of them about it.
She and Max split up after that, and Kura reached down once she was sure she was out of everyone's sight and removed the ring she had gotten from that incident in Emea, returning her normal color palette. Now looking much more like herself, Kura returned to the council building, very much acting like she was in a hurry. "Alicia, I've got Pierce coming with a carriage, let me know as soon as it arrives." she said when she entered the building, rushing past her personal secretary and into her office, where she made a show of trying to find a specific file that she, privately, knew full well the location of. She was, however, deliberately making quite a mess, putting her files back in the wrong place, putting documents back in the wrong file, occasionally letting one slip out from the files and fall to the floor entirely. On the one hand, it helped to make her look frantic and worried, which was very much the impression she was going for. On the other, she also didn't want anyone to be able to easily put together what she was actually after from her office.
Pierce had been in service to Kura since long before she had moved to the international backwater of Scalvoris. Certainly, the place was an odd little island, constantly bordering on the edge of disaster as it was, but it had an infantile political system and seemed to be barely functional at the best of time. Which, he supposed, was why The Owl had made it a priority. Somebody needed to take Scalvoris in hand, clearly, and the local government seemed barely up to the task of deciding what to have for breakfast in the morning.
Despite that, however, Kura's request, and apparent goal, was a strange one, even for the sometimes half-mad Mortalborn that employed him. Faking ones own death just to throw an enemy off their feet seemed, to him, a rather drastic step. But, his employer never did anything without a reason, and today would be no different, so he did as he was told, getting a carriage and perfuming it as best he could to hide the smell of a dead body. It helped that the perfume he was using would burn decently well.
When he arrived at the meeting place that Kura had informed him about, delivered via Phelan and a note from his boss, he smiled at Max's banter. "Oh, always. I do so prefer poison to explosions and fire, though. Much less mess to clean up after the fact and it always pays to be courteous to the cleaning crew. However, I suppose that she must have her theatrics." he said, letting his amusement color his voice as he hopped down from the carriage to help Max load the body in. "You'll want to set these things to go off a little after you and her exit the carriage. And do tell me when you light them, I'd hate to mistime being thrown from the carriage as it bursts into flames. If I'm too late, it'll take forever to get rid of the smell of burnt hair." he said, his voice every bit as proper as if he were discussing the proper preparation of Kura's tea.
If Kura had her timing right, she had "found" the file she was looking for only a few moments before Max and Pierce were to arrive. As luck would have it, she was actually a little early and found herself growing a touch impatient at the wait before Sonia entered the room and paused at the mess for a moment before shaking herself. Kura's bodyguard was a loyal sort, and Kura hated having to lie to her for this to work, but the soldier was a terrible liar. She had left orders that if anything happened to her, she was to be re-assigned to Sephira's command. Sephira would keep her busy while Kura was dealing with this. "Pierce is here, councilor." the soldier said, snapping a salute.
Kura nodded and smiled. "Thank you, Sonia. I want you to take Alicia home, all right?" she said, her tone intent. Sonia paused, aware of her primary duty, but ultimately nodded. Kura smiled and rushed past her, holding the file that contained all the information she had on every strange event that had happened since, and including, the expedition into Ishallr that had ended with the discovery of the Portal Stones. Even the strange maybe-a-dream with the ghost pirates. As she passed her secretary, she paused for a moment. "Alicia, Sonia is goin' to take you home. No arguments." she said, as Alicia started to speak. Then she hurried out of the building and into the carriage, Pierce opening the door for her and closing it behind her. "Pierce will tell us when it's safe to set those off." she said, gesturing at Max's bottles as she slipped the file under her coat and put her ring back on, turning it on her finger once to restore her disguised coloring.