Alice and Jasper exchange a look, Jasper carefully neutral for now, Alice a little surprised at the idea of Natasha talking them down. It's a possibility, of course, and it had worked last time, barely. She hasn't seen Aro coming with nearly so many of the guard this time either. They aren't preparing for a battle. Maybe they think she'll come quietly.

"It's me they're after," she says after a few moments, glancing down with a sigh. Jasper's hand moves up to rest on her ankle, a gentle reassuring squeeze. "They're coming here because of Jasper, but that's just their excuse this time. Aro has wanted to get me to join him for years, ever since he first learned what I can do. The last time they came, it was under another excuse, it was really to try and kill everyone else so he could 'pardon' me and make me join them."

It's still chilling to think just how close they'd come, how close she'd come to losing everything, to losing Jasper, to never have this chance right now. Jasper's thumb moves along her skin and she can feel his influence, like a breath of cool air, soothing away the little hamster-wheel of panic that she hadn't even realized had begun running inside her. She reaches out to cup his cheek in a brief thank-you, then turns her head to look up at Natasha.

"I only saw a few of them. It doesn't look like they're coming to fight. But you'll need to be turned before they get here, they can't know about you."