<strong>Nadira </strong>(and perhaps Eliza, if she's paying attention)<br/><br/>Lakshmi presses back into you, bringing her hands up to push against Lady Oksana's shoulders as if trying to disengage from the attractive older woman.<br/><br/>"Please, no! I am promised..."<br/><br/>The young woman seems a little upset, turning her gaze aside and searching the rest of the room as if desperate for an escape. Or a rescue? But then her eyes find Eliza.<br/><br/>"The gift was accepted. The transaction must be honored," she says, the words tumbling from her in a rush. "I mustn't!"<br/><br/>From the expression on Oksana's face, she's not sure what the girl is talking about either.<br/><br/><strong>Martin and Eliza</strong><br/><br/>"Yes, well, the Atreides and the Harkonnens...<em>that</em>history is both absolutely implacable and regrettably stubborn. Bad for business, I should think, unless one is interested in a little controlled chaos for the greater good," the man says dryly. "No doubt His Imperial Majesty has his reasons for the situation at present."<br/><br/>That sounds like a boilerplate sort of comment.<br/><br/>But as Eliza arrives he tries on another smile for the sake of the occasion, almost managing it this time.<br/><br/>"No business more important than the pleasure of your beauteous company and precious time," he says to the Heir, and if it were not in the same dry tone as his comment about the Emperor's plans, it might be easier to sell as a compliment.  "