The dance was winding down and Hadama found himself pleasantly surprised that he had managed to avoid stepping on his partner's feet or tripping over his own robes. "A season's worth of Tumsea shells," he answered quietly to the top of Flora's head. And a lucky thing it was that they'd spent that first season gathering so they had that much, at least. "We can gather more this season while negotiations are underway."
Her face tilted up to give him a view of her eyes and the crinkle of her nose that always made her look five years younger and in spite of everything it drew a brief but sincere answering smile from the once-Mer. "Then I leave it in your capable hands," he assured her. "Unless you have a task for me to assist with." He would follow her lead as he had in the dance, but otherwise he would try to stand back and let the current storm of his actions impact Torchline as little as possible.
As the music slowed and they began to move from the dance floor, Flora's comment drew a quiet rumble of sound that might have been a chuckle from the Tidebreaker. "I enjoy challenging our 'less trustworthy' types," he admitted for her ears alone. "It keeps them sharp." Thieves and smugglers were as much a part of Torchline as her palm trees and encantados, after all. But that was no reason for them to be stupid or lazy. If they must have a seedy underworld it should at least be the best underworld that Caido had to offer. "We can set a discrete watch on the caches/ Soldiers out of uniform, perhaps. At least until our thieves learn to leave them alone."
Her face tilted up to give him a view of her eyes and the crinkle of her nose that always made her look five years younger and in spite of everything it drew a brief but sincere answering smile from the once-Mer. "Then I leave it in your capable hands," he assured her. "Unless you have a task for me to assist with." He would follow her lead as he had in the dance, but otherwise he would try to stand back and let the current storm of his actions impact Torchline as little as possible.
As the music slowed and they began to move from the dance floor, Flora's comment drew a quiet rumble of sound that might have been a chuckle from the Tidebreaker. "I enjoy challenging our 'less trustworthy' types," he admitted for her ears alone. "It keeps them sharp." Thieves and smugglers were as much a part of Torchline as her palm trees and encantados, after all. But that was no reason for them to be stupid or lazy. If they must have a seedy underworld it should at least be the best underworld that Caido had to offer. "We can set a discrete watch on the caches/ Soldiers out of uniform, perhaps. At least until our thieves learn to leave them alone."
