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[hassaran]

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[hassaran]

Not a problem. I'll take the shoes and the preserves, and we can share the wine. [ might be more magnanimous if she hadn't already given him what he wanted ]

[cozen]

Now wait a minute, that's— I mean—

[ A show of flustered reluctance. But only a show. ]

—all right.

[ It's not as if he's going to wear the shoes. They aren't his size. And the wine has to go somewhere; they don't keep it in the house, for Byerly's sake, and for that and multiple other reasons Bastien drinks hardly ever himself.

The preserves, though. Farewell sweet preserves. ]

I will bring them to you. Are you in your office?

[hassaran]

All right, the shoes and we split one bottle. [ As if he's been negotiating aggressively. ]

No, Minrathous safehouse. I have to meet a source for a tedious dinner. I'll be back late.

[cozen]

[ As his appreciative snickering over her one-sided concession tapes off— ]

Comme la fumée dans le vent, tu es.

How is the weather there?

[hassaran]

Plus comme de la fumée à la carrefour. Warmer, but just as grey. Very damp. Terrible weather for costuming.

[cozen]

Going naked would make the dinner less tedious.

[hassaran]

But not as much help with the wig and the damp.

He's well-placed in the Venatori quartermaster's operations, I know he has access to a great deal more than I'm getting so far. It's likely time to do something to push him harder.

[cozen]

[ He restrains himself from proposing nakedness for this as well. She's welcome. ]

Did you have something in mind?

[hassaran]

Showing up naked for dinner might be a bit too far. [ One of them had to make the joke. ]

He's a laetan, administrator, leans academic, socially isolated from the magister-class Venatori but ambitious more for attention and approval than status, not someone who's going to want to vet my ancestors. I've been playing the virtuous widow trying to run her husband's merchant business, impressed by his knowledge, grateful for his assistance and friendship in this vulnerable time. Putting him off with respectful mourning. [ He can imagine her rolling a hand, and so on blah blah he gets the idea. ]

Maybe a potential rival advisor?

[cozen]

[ He hums, brief and agreeable. ]

Sounds reasonable. Someone who might outdo him in status or charisma but not in access, so he feels the need to press the advantages he does have.

[hassaran]

[ She makes a similar noise. That's good. ]

Maybe a foreigner, or someone encouraging a particular foreign investment? See if he might be tempted to show off the might of the Imperium to warn me away from...something?

whoops hi

[cozen]

Something.

[ He'll circle back to it. First: ]

An Orlesian foreigner would be too much, [ maybe, given the degree of hostility there, ] but if you think my Marcher accent is good enough these days, I'm sure I could be convincing as someone trying to impress you.

[hassaran]

It's good enough. [ She has no hesitation there. ] But you chose Diplomacy, and Minrathous is always a risk. You don't need to do it yourself if you'd prefer not to.

[cozen]

[ After a beat of consideration—which continues on longer than the beat— ]

Ander could make sense. Doesn't even smell a little bit like disloyalty that way—it could do better to keep his guard down? And Lazar is handsome enough to be a threat to anyone. You could dress him up and make him wear little eyeglasses.

[hassaran]

[ A few weeks from now, she would say that Lazar is surprisingly useful in a crisis, perhaps more trustworthy than she'd given him credit for—at least as long as it's not her valuables she's concerned with. Today, she makes an uncertain noise. ]

Even in little eyeglasses, he'd still have to speak. Maybe it could be arranged so he's only seen and not heard. Can you throw your voice? [ jokes. Unless...? ]

[cozen]

Not well enough for that. I think only seen has some promise, though. Arrange for him to be going as your friend is coming. That gives you more flexibility to invent the details on the fly if you need to adjust to his response.

[hassaran]

Good idea. [ She is nodding as she says it, and as she continues thinking through the notion. ] We arrange a location where he'll see us before he thinks we can see him, down the road, across the cafe. And then give him only the chance to see how tall Lazar is in passing without meeting him. That's good, thank you.

[ A beat, and then with a note of slightly guilty complaint: ] I miss having a handler. Do you ever find that?

[cozen]

No, [ comes out part laugh, promptly smothered for a more serious, ] No. But it's probably been a lot longer since I had one. She died before I was twenty, and that was—everything after that was entirely my own fault.

[hassaran]

[ She laughs at the end, any momentary potential to take offense assuaged. ] Twenty? I would have been lost. My favorite retired when I was 23, that was bad enough. I would have had to quit and go back to the circus rather than do it all on my own.

[cozen]

Was that before or after you were married?

[hassaran]

About half a year before? His replacement nearly got me killed so I took a long holiday, and on my way back I met Darras.

[cozen]

[ A hum. Not too flippant: ]

Seems like a fair trade.

What do you miss about it? Having someone else to decide the approach?

[hassaran]

I can't disagree. [ Not like she died, anyway. ]

[ Approach gets an affirmative noise. ] Or at least giving guidelines. Feedback. Where to focus, when to push harder or give it up and move on. We should have a larger network by now, but I've moved too slowly.

[cozen]

No one else would have done better. Me included. And you are doing a lot—it has to be hard to do so much of the field work yourself and make the decisions. You cannot just sit in a room and move other people around on a game board.

[hassaran]

[ The sound she makes this time isn't entirely convinced, but it's not strenuous disagreement, either. It's more important that he said it than if it's true. ] Thank you.

Flint said I ought to take on an assistant, delegate more. But it's just another sort of giving orders. Unless I can delegate all decision-making to someone and leave myself in peace to just execute missions.