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[hassaran]

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[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?

[hassaran]

[ Half laughing: ]

Are you under the impression that your current approach appears innocent?

[katabasis]

[He does laugh.]

Apparently not.

[hassaran]

[ She rolls her eyes with the other half of that laugh. ]

If you're curious, just ask. I'll either answer you or I won't. [ A hand waved with a loose shrug. ] I'm not shocked by the notion that people might find it...odd.

[katabasis]

[There's not much left to smoke, but he pauses here with a soft hm to take a pull. In the gentler atmosphere afterwards: a kind of flexion. All right.]

Did you sell him information, or was it him that got you into the work?

[hassaran]

[ Yseult wastes the last lungful on a choked cough of a laugh, a hand clapped immediately over her mouth. She shakes her head. ]

Neither. [ She just manages to get the word out before she's forced to stifle another insistent burst of laughter, shoulders shaking with it. ]

[katabasis]

What? You're saying you never worked together?

[Stop laughing - it's a serious question.]

[(Hardly.)]

[hassaran]

[ She doesn't seem inclined to explain why she is still struggling not to laugh. Another shake of the head. She clears her throat. ]

No. Not before we came here.

[katabasis]

Then you met when you were both young and ridiculous?

[hassaran]

[ She turns a look on him, suddenly very still and serious. ]

I have never been ridiculous.

[katabasis]

[Unwithering:]

Just young then.