Everything was stillness for several moments after fire aspect's departure, even the small glow from the still-burning embers of the officer's cigar seeming reluctant to diminish in the cooling air around it until Daga finally reached out to smother them one by one under the pad of his thumb. Then he curled the fingers he'd set over the jade obols, folding the coins into his grasp and extending his hand towards the courtesan to deposit them into her possession.<br/><br/>"No. I don't." The pyrrhic victories he'd won in his encounter didn't feel enough worth celebrating to offset the burdensome awareness of the danger he'd placed himself in, and while the insult Tepin Arisu had offered was one of the mildest he'd received over the matter of his house and breeding, the associated defeat he'd suffered in failing to buy himself more time to ply her was an important one. He sighed, sitting back in his chair and turning to regard the young woman seriously for the first time since she'd approached. "But I think I'll have you anyway."