"So tell me about the ... matter we find ourselves both dealing with?" she asks dryly. "If I hear it stated from your point of view, perhaps it will give me a new perspective on our shared task."
"I don't want to seem an arrogant peacock, which is one view that might find support. So indulge my description, of my line of thought, and rush on if you must; I shall keep your pace."
"You reside there", Gristav gestured with his staff at the Goblin, behind them. "...at the welcome and generousity of the management. And you are decent and dutiful, and lovely and learned (bookish was too strong, though beautiful beckoned)." Gristav smiled, but he had not crossed the desert of dryness, so Samaritha did not. Gris forged on. "Also resident, Thuvalia. A false Chelaxi, become real nuisance, and a natural rival, by inclination as well as situation, and do not think I blame you there, nor even think you had much choice."
"In the aftermath of the robbery, her presence becomes tolerated, and I can see little reason why. She's pretty enough to be travelling on her back, but you are not such a type, and the disdain, distrust, and discomfort I would expect in evidence upon you if such were the mode of the household, is absent. What, then? I'll return to that question."
"The day is hot, and you return to the Goblin in a sheen, as though you'd awakened covered in morning dew, a red-head rose, in leaves of green..." Gristav stopped himself. "The day is hot, and you'd been working. And presumably, return now to that, either rushing to, or away, though I have a fervent hopeful preference..."
"But I had wanted to end there.", Gristav stopped himself again. "Let's speak of Saul. Stop me, if I lay a weak brick while I build my case. He's a clever man, decent enough for Larur's alliance, and yours. Equal parts careful and impulsive? And suddenly, finding himself in company of two beautiful Varisi, he declares an incipient holiday! Vardo wagons! Bojasc can glower! Games! Music! The girls can dance!"
"Which explains her untrusted presence, and Larur's cautioning me against any angered action before next Moonday. And speaks to the weight of such for the Caravari Carnival, and the weight of the Carnival to Saul. And following that to your dutiful indebtedness, decency, and your appearance more heated than the day alone accounted for..."
"And my final arguement, in insincere arrogance... No girl refuses to dance with me!" Gristav smiled, but only briefly, for he meant the next in full support of Samaritha's situation. Drawing closer, he lowered his voice and tone. "Unless she can't. And is learning how ahead of next Moonday."
He let a beat pass. "Which, if she were. I would hope to join her at."
