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[hassaran]

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[katabasis]

[There is a considering beat. Or at least an intervening one taken up by a pull of smoke and the rearrangement of which leg he has thrown farthest out in front of him.]

Not the relationship. The pair of you hold it too quietly. But I'm afraid from that point, the inconsistencies begin. I see only three options. That he is either more dull or more honorable than he lets on, that you are rather less strictly professional than you'd have people believe, or that--

[A pause. It lengthens, as the thought which has only just occurred to him is turned slowly over.]

[hassaran]

[ She gives him a minute before prompting: ]

Or that?

[katabasis]

[What brings a woman with a hand for intelligence work and her southern pirate husband - by his own account, some kind of captain - to Kirkwall so immediately on the heels of the powers in Llomerryn being forced over? When, he knows for a fact, those dead men left behind posts and a dozen hungry crews eager to scrap over them. It is a thought colored by Yseult on the Kirkwall docks and the impression she'd first given as a woman willing to sell Amaranthine rumor, and by the memory of two tables down, blood flows from a ghost's forehead, cascading off his carefully-waxed mustache to splatter down his front. He reels back a step as another blow crushes his nose, and lashes out half-blind with the dirk in his fist.

It's an easy line to draw. It so easy that he doesn't trust the details. That doesn't change the point which is: Or that, Flint thinks, both you and he had some reason to run to Kirkwall more personal than just the lengthening cast of a corrupt magister's shadow.

He rouses, exhaling smoke then clearing it with a dismissive wave of his hand.]

Forgive me. I don’t recall. [He lies.]

[hassaran]

[ Disappointing. And unconvincing. Yseult watches Flint for a longer moment, but she's just a spy, not a psychic. No telling what kind of knots he might be twisting his mind into. ]

And so, of those three--or two--options, which is your money on?

[katabasis]

It doesn't matter. [It does. It always does.] What matters is that you'd prefer no one know the right answer.

[hassaran]

Or are you afraid you'll guess wrong?

[katabasis]

Do you actually want me to press the point?

[hassaran]

You care what I want?

[katabasis]

Shouldn't I?

[hassaran]

Are you worried your opinion will offend me?

[katabasis]

[That prompts a snort and a sidelong look.]

I can get a sword if you'd like to fence.

[hassaran]

Do you think that-- no, alright. I'll leave it at eleven.

It was you who brought up this subject. I want to know what you think.

[katabasis]

What I think is that I regret saying anything at all. Can we return to pitching Byerly Rutyer from the highest window?

[hassaran]

Not yet. You clearly have thoughts about my choice of husband. Let's hear them. This is the best chance you'll get.

[katabasis]

[A short delay, in which he either considers her there or quickly mentally calculates whether the broken window frame could be coaxed far enough open to throw himself from it and decides it'd be too much work to squeeze himself through.]

Why is he here?

[hassaran]

Because I'm here.

[katabasis]

Charming.

[hassaran]

[ Yseult's laugh is annoyed. ]

It's true. Do you not believe that? Do you just not like him? Do you think it's all some sort of elaborate trap I'm laying for you? Disappointed that I'm not what you imagined? What is it that's so stuck in your jaw about this?

[katabasis]

Is that sixteen?

[hassaran]

No, it only counts when they're consecutive.

[katabasis]

Should I find it strange that bringing him up is how to best try your patience?

[That’s two.]

[hassaran]

Is trying my patience your goal?

[katabasis]

That’s easier to believe than that I might just be curious?

[Settling now, hooking the heel of one boot on the toe of the other.]

[hassaran]

[ fine then. she stretches out her legs and crosses them at the ankle. ]

If you're curious, why not just ask me what you want to know?

[katabasis]

Wouldn't it just suggest I had some agenda reliant on the answer?