<em>"Ahh, lucrative ventures are always fine, but I believe I would have to invite you to our Household the next time around. I will hope to talk business soon, but for now, I best go after the lad before he does something else in his current mood to sour things."</em><br/><br/>Tehr bowed to the dwarf,<strong> "Then sir, I shall greatly look forwards to an invitation at your earliest convenience and let you see to your friend."</strong><br/><br/>He turned to Rosalyn as the dwarf left and listened to her, concerned about  the way she described him.  It seemed there was a darkness hiding in the nobility of Londinium, one that was touching the highest levels of society.  He felt it now, growing, in the way she described the man, in the report from the queen of the recent death of the noble, and in the way the archmage pursued dire knowledge.  It unsettled him, but he felt that it was not anything he could do about, at least not for now.  But there might come a time when he was faced with the darkness, and he needed to be aware of it so that it did not take him by surprise.<br/><em><br/>"I could walk around here and mingle as you have your talks and hopefully share a dance with you on your return, stand at your side as a friend and an ally in this if it was appropriate."</em><br/><br/><strong>"I should get back to the matrons, but I look forward to that dance when our buisness is concluded.  I shall see to it that Christina remains close by your side.  Certainly you have noticed that she has a bit more fire than I do, and I have no doubt that two strong willed women like yourselves can fend off the lecherous advances of any unwanted suitors while I am out of sight."  </strong><br/><br/>But then she took him by surprise as she leaned in and lowered her voice to a whisper saying,<em> "Though after tonight I might need someone to hold me during the night to fight off the fright of those strange eyes."</em><br/><br/>Tehr drew a deep breath slightly.  Certainly such a comment was not as innocent as it sounded.  She had lived in Hewthorne Hall long enough to know what happened in his bed chambers at night.  He was afraid that his mouth was hanging slightly agape, his eyes bulging as his mind reeled with the implications.  He opened his mouth to say something, and nothing came out.  He was stunned, at a loss for words, something that happened rarely in his life.  He tried a second time to respond, and again all that came out was a soft wordless sound.<br/><br/>With a clack that rattled his teeth he snapped his mouth shut, smiled as graciously as he could, and nodded his head.  Finally he managed to spit out,<strong>"As m'lady wishes, of course."</strong>Then turning and quickly moving away from the beautiful elf maid whose image was burned into the very back of his mind, he figuratively ran from her back to the matrons.  Every footfall, recalling what had just happened as he berated himself for not having a better response.<br/><br/>He returned to the matrons and his sister just as the current dance was reaching it's conclusion.  He leaned in to whisper in Christina's ear,<strong>"Please dear sister, stay close to Lady d'Caelor, she had a bit of a boorish gentleman a few moments ago and I'd like you to stay together while I am gone."</strong><br/><br/>Christina, her eyes sparkling with mirth looked at him, taking in his face, possibly reading something secret there and joked,<strong> "Oh, but she has social interactions with you quite often dear brother, what made this time any different?"</strong><br/><br/>Tehr rolled his eyes at her, and realized that he had set himself up for such an easy quip, but simply nodded, admitting his defeat in that jest and sending his sister on her way.  Turning to the matrons, and feeling short on words at that exact moment he smiled and said,<strong>"My dear ladies, if you would lead on, I think we have business to discuss?"</strong><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">ooc</div><div class="spoiler_body">I know that I rolled well for diplomacy, but I feel like what Rosalyn said would shock and excite Tehr, and so I wrote it like he's so surprised that he loses his 'cool' somewhat and comes across as a bit shy and almost embarassed.  I think when he has a minute to recover, say the walk to wherever the matrons will take him, he'll be back to his old self more or less.  But I wanted to RP it out that he was really a bit flustered.  I hope that came off correctly.</div></div>