Lavender was lounging in a copper bathtub full of steaming hot water, milky and scented from the soap that she had used to wash her body, when she was disturbed by a knock at her bedroom door. "If that's Artimus then come in, anyone else can get lost until I get out of the bath."

En heard the latch on the door click, and tensed slightly. "You can put the knife down now, it's definitely me." Lavender raised her hand with barely a splash, holding the hilt of one of the throwing knives from her boot; the blade was inserted lengthwise into the bar of soap.

Artimus blinked, "I might regret asking this, but what's with the soap?" Lavender snorted, "If anyone has enough balls to actually try to peek at me taking a bath, they deserve to be punished. But, if they've made it this far without tripping my wards, then they must be a friend rather than a foe, so I have to keep it non-lethal."

Artimus thought for a moment, "Aren't you afraid of the soap coming off the blade?" Lavender gave him the most evil looking smile that he'd ever seen on his cousin's face. "That's the point..." With a flick of her wrist, the large bar of soap was sent flying, to crash with some force into the wall, "I usually aim for the groin." Artie winced at the thought, and gave a silent prayer for anyone past or future, who was stupid enough to peek.

"Get your hair wet, and I'll shampoo it for you." Lavender slid down into the water, until her head was submerged, and her knees poked up out of the water. Her hair floated like seaweed for a moment, then she surged upward bringing the water with her, sloshing over the side of the tub, and soaking Artie’s fine boots. "Hey, careful… these boots were expensive!"

"Woops, a bit too enthusiastic, I'll have to clean that up later." Artimus sighed, "Don't forget to clean the mess the soap made on the wall too." Lavender laughed nervously, "Of course I will, I hadn't forgotten..." Artie snorted in disbelief, that was definitely a lie, for someone who excelled in stealth and illusion, En was a terrible liar to people she knew, and the better you knew her, the more obvious it became.

"Never mind," Artimus grabbed the bottle of shampoo, and started working it into Lavender's hair. "Your Mother's family have sent a message urgently requesting that you meet their representative whilst you are here."

En suddenly threw back her head, and laughed harshly, causing her hair to whip around her head like soapy snakes. Lavender spat some soap out of her mouth, or maybe she just spat in disgust, "Are they serious?! They actually think I'm gonna do anything they say... THEY CAN DAMN WELL GET STUFFED!!"

Artimus stared at the knife which was now embedded in the wall, it was exactly in the centre of the mark left by the soap earlier, and thinking how En had said she was aiming for the groin, Artie decided that healthiest thing to do would be to drop the subject. He was silent for a long while, and just massaged the shampoo into Lavender's scalp, until he felt like she had relaxed enough, and wouldn't bite his head off if he spoke.

"Your next client is going to be a long-term contract... you're basically going to be the liaison between the representative of your master's merchant clan, and the Council of Guilds, as they negotiate various official trade agreements." Lavender was silent for a minute as she thought things over. "I wondered if Father would arrange something like this when his name was put forward to be Chairman of the Council."

"Yeah, Master Elgaron has officially lived in the Freedom Isles for over a decade, gaining him his citizenship, and he has also created the only magic school the Isles have ever had. That makes him a powerful sponsor for a new outsider guild, especially one connected to him by blood. There's even talk of him being named the Elder of a new branch of the Eloais clan, after all he is the younger brother of the current clan head."

Lavender paused for thought again, "Master is already busy with the school, and he doesn't have time to run a Merchant Guild as well. Plus Master made a vow of celibacy, after the love of his life was killed just before the Centenary War, so he has no heir as their union was childless, so who are they sending?"

"I'm told that it is the youngest son of the Eloais Clan Chief, your master's nephew, and also his second disciple, Edgar Eloais." En nodded her head thoughtfully, "It makes sense, he has strong ties to Master, and also to our family, as Mother is his senior, and I am his junior disciple."

Artie opened his mouth, but before he had chance to speak Lavender interrupted, "I swear Artimus Jade, if you dare to utter the word 'sandwich' in this conversation, in ANY context, I will punch you!" Artimus wisely changed the topic of conversation, "By the way, why was Master Blakestaff so huffy earlier?"

Lavender didn't answer straight away; instead she ducked back down into the water, to rinse the worst of the soap off. She re-emerged slowly, and waved her hand vaguely towards the other side of the room. "Go over there for a bit, I need to rinse off properly."