Orsa's pun did not make the king smile. There was however a tell-tale deepening of the crow's feet around his eyes, mirth reflected there in a way he'd schooled his mouth to deny. He stood without lifting a finger as he watched the foreigner clearing space for them to dine, contenting himself with the opportunity to hear the man speak when he wasn't on the verge of collapse. Indeed there was a great deal to learn about the eccentric creature, if his mind were merely left to transfer its spill unchecked to his tongue. Rather than rebuke him for daring to sit first, Estevan decided to wait, arms folded, to see if his etiquette failure ever occurred to him. Behind closed doors such as these, he could afford himself the luxury of such games. Had they been in company however, he'd have been forced to make a point of it, if only to ensure no other men decided their King was not worthy of the proper respect.<br/><br/>"It is not a matter I would deem high on my list of priorities," he stated bluntly, though without censure for the man's willingness to speak his mind. "Though I will admit I would take a perverse pleasure in formalising a slur. We shall see. I am not averse to putting considerable funding into a cause I deem profitable, and if the war beasts you produce for me are as effective as you seem to expect, I will be instructing the Cancilleria to send someone out of that stuffy office of theirs to attend us for the establishing of certain contracts." Thus, it appeared the prospect of a permanent position had already occurred to Mendoza. Ambitions might be realised, after all.<br/><br/>Raoul would need time to organise the meal from the kitchen staff, who were no doubt in their usual frenzy of activity (and potentially cursing him under his breath for the lack of notice, a common occurrence) so Mendoza decided to investigate Orsa's quarters, his belongings, without invitation to do so. More than once, under similar circumstances, he'd been amused to have whomever's room he was roaming in leap up alarmed to try and divert him from discovering some embarassment or other.<br/><br/>"Your requests last night in the cells," he began, unapologetically striking out at a tangent, "I find were disappointingly...unimaginative." He glanced up from the book he'd been absently turning to examine, to see whether his guest's first response was indicative of fear, pride or confusion. He was not above deliberately provoking people in order to better learn the facets of their personalities. Manipulation was an important part of any monarch's repertoire. "Perhaps it is merely that you have been limited by your resources in the past. Or is it that you suspect me incapable of providing them?" he thumbed the pages of the book, idle flicks, hands restless. "Whatever the case, I would see what feats you could achieve with more than the parts of mere cattle. By all means, have their horns should you wish," he set the book down carelessly (another test, to see whether Orsa cringed at the treatment) "But you will be brought the remains of Imperial eagles, for the opportunity to strike fear from the skies. You will find delivered to your workshop the bear we took on our hunt this morning, and the carasses of any horses, lynx or boar we can provide."<br/><br/>Onward he roamed, rangy and carelessly dominating the space he moved through, undeterred should Orsa attempt to divert his path from anything he was particularly secretive about. "I hear," he remarked casually, as he stopped to examine the view he had through one window overlooking the courtyard, "that the self-styled 'king' of Castile, whose lands we claim next month, has quite the menagerie of exotic beasts. He even keeps a fully grown lion chained within the throne room to feed traitors to publically. I have no doubt it will be loosed upon us when we take the castle."<br/><br/>Bait. Perhaps now the vitamancer might begin to think as boldly as he should. Mendoza only regretted that he had no opportunity to deliver to him an elephant or a hippo, something that might take months or more to master, but could utterly devastate the enemy lines.