There was a break after desserts in which the guests were free to walk around the estate as the Protector Family would ready the ceremony. It had been quite a topic of conversation over the course of dinner; who would be the one to perform the Litation, now that Sylver had gone missing?

The obvious answer was, that it would, of course, be André, as he was now the youngest Kannenborg member. Should Sylver return in time to perform, he would be required to do so. Mr. Kannenborg did hope that if he were to return in time, he would do so in such a timely manner, that he would also be able to be prepared a little. This would be his first Litation to perform, after all.

Laurits had resigned from most of the conversation, partly because he didn't want to attract any more attention to himself in fear of embarrassment, and partly because he couldn't stop his working mind from thinking. Once the desserts were over and the small break arose, however, he went to casually take a stroll through the garden. Before he could do so, though, the Lady Tribeille approached him.

"Laurits, was it?" She asked. He gave her half a smile.

"I don't mean to be rude, Milady, but I would prefer it to be Os Gantana,"

"Oh! My apologies, Os Gantana" she said with an odd emphasis on 'Os', as if the title seemed to hold no value to her.

"No worries, Milady. Is there something I can help you with?"

"No, not in particular." Laurits gave her a glance of questions, "I was actually going to ask the same to you."

"Pardon me?"

"See, you mentioned that there was a Scene and-"

"That was a mistake on my part, Milady," Laurits interrupted, "I haven't had a day off for quite some time, and maybe it was due." He lied. However, she simply continued

"And I was wondering whether or not you wanted some help with that, is all."

"Help? Milady, I'm not quite sure I follow you. I'm the COS of Meneades; I don't really see what other help you could provide me, except for maybe the local OS?"

"Now I can't help you with that," she said, smiling knowingly to him, yet he knew not what he was supposed to know from the smile, "But I can- or rather, some acquaintances of mine, who are all present today, can help you; they're Fortunetellers, you see!"

Laurits had to struggle to now grimace sourly at her. So she was offering him Fortunes, essentially. Had he really embarrassed himself so much that he was offered Fortunes? This was nothing more than upper-class intrigue on the Lady Tribeille's part; she knew all too well that the OS anywhere did not accept Fortunes.

The Onseer Services (known colloquially as the OS) had been established long ago, and their primary function was to observe; to see. Their secondary function was to act. In practice, they patrolled cities, roads, plains, and beaches; anywhere people might be, and simply made sure that nothing odd or criminal was happening. If anything was happening, they would then take the necessary actions to stop it now, and prevent it in the future. A sort of unspoken tertiary function was civil helpers; they were basically a type of service organ that anyone could ask something of and they would most likely either do it themselves or organize for someone else to do it.

They had a long, trustworthy history and had served the Protectorates especially by upholding the Light. But at some point, others had started, not working directly against them, but working beside them and thus sort of competing for the public's attention. Those others were the Fortunetellers. Where the OS usually dealt with here-and-now sort of stuff, the Fortunetellers "branded" themselves on, well, the future. They would hand out Fortunes to people about whatever they would ask the future of. Should the Fortune come true, it would have to be paid for. Would it not be paid for, then the Fortunetellers' Collectors would make sure that it was paid, in some way or other.

To much of the OS, and Laurits especially, the Fortunetellers were scammers and con-artists. The more Fortunes they could amass, the more profit they would inevitably get, even counting the missed Fortunes aside. This also meant that the Fortunetellers had an incentive to make sure their Fortunes would come true. This is what Laurits was actually frightened about.

So the Lady Tribeille stood before him, offering him Fortunes. Her offensiveness was not even subtle. Laurits did, however, hope that nobody around them heard her "offer". But just in case someone was, he wanted to be as outwardly polite in his decline as possible. The OS and the Fortunetellers had been internal enemies for many, many years, but outwardly were kind of, sort of aiding each other.

"Milady Tribeille, while I'm deeply grateful for your offer, as it would no doubt be much help to me, and provide much enlightenment, I reiterate myself; There was no Scene, I was mistaken. So I have no duties here and am simply enjoying the rest of the evening in the company of my friends from the past." Laurits said. The Lady Tribeille had already stopped listening halfway through his ranting, but had occasionally, politely nodded.

"I see, then would you perhaps instead join me for a walk through the gardens?"

"Actually," a voice said behind her, "I was wondering if I couldn't ask you for your time, Milady?"

"Oh, Mr. Kannenborg! Of course, you may"

Laurits had been saved just in time. He wasn't sure whether Mr. Kannenborg had done so purposefully (if so, there were a lot of questions needing to be asked as to why in Otenia's name he would be so hot-and-cold in regards to Sylver's disappearance), but nevertheless, Laurits counted it as a blessing. And by the looks of it, the Lady Tribeille counted it as a curse.

Now was the chance for Laurits to go back and check the place where Sylver had disappeared from.