Artimus moved, sitting in the chair next to Lavender's desk, the late afternoon sun streaming through the window. Artie was now sat at an angle to the bath tub, and a screen blocked most of his view, but he could still see Lavender's head as she bent over, and poured a bucket of cool water over her hair.

En squeezed the water from her hair, like she was wringing out a rag, and then wrapped her hair up in a towel turban. She grabbed another towel from the pile, and roughly dried her body with it, then dumped it on the floor to mop up some of the spilt bathwater. Getting dressed was a pain, as her clothes clung to damp skin, and Lavender had to wriggle and pull on her suede leggings to get them on.

Once she was decently dressed, Lavender finished wiping the floor with the towel, then went over to the wall. En carefully removed the knife from the wall, and rubbed the soap mark away with the damp towel. Having finished tidying up after her bath, Lavender went to sit on the end of her bed, near to where Artimus sat.

Whilst En started to dry her hair with the towel she had wrapped around it, Artie craned his neck to look at the wall. "I'm guessing that since there is no sign of any damage to the wall that you must have set up something in here."

Lavender looked up at Artimus, "Yeah, I added a glamour to my personal ward here, it means that no matter what I do, the walls look the same as when I moved in here." En threw the wet towels towards the laundry basket near the door, and they both landed neatly inside. "It's easier, since throwing stuff is my go to mode."

Artimus was pretty sure that wasn't the entire explanation; he still remembered the complex wards that had been painted, and even carved into Lavender's bedroom walls when she had been a kid; having a high level of clairvoyance was as much a curse, as it could be a blessing. "So, Master Blakestaff..."

Lavender grimaced, "Damn it, I was hoping you might have forgotten." Artimus snorted with laughter, "Do I look like I was born yesterday, spill the beans, or I might just tickle it out of you." Artie wriggled his fingers suggestively at her, making En almost choke with laughter, "Seriously, you look like a perverted old man when you do that!"

"As for Blakestaff, he was just being plain weird… I mean he invited me to dinner with his youngest son, with the prospect of marriage would you believe!" Artie's eyebrows almost disappeared completely off his face he was that surprised. "I most definitely would not! Are we really talking about the same person here..."

"Blakestaff has been hiring The Sea Witch for four voyages a year, for over two decades, and every single voyage he has demanded sole use of the Officer's Mess. I've seen the contracts, he won't let Captain Tomas use it, and he even used to refuse to eat with your Mother. Even if she was disowned by her family, after the happenings of the Centenary War, most people would still consider her to be of a higher caste. After all she was a pureblood elf of the Western Capital, and a powerful mage who graduated from the finest magic school in the whole of the Empire."

"Yeah well, his attitude changed right in the middle of a conversation, and the only thing that happened, was that he got a letter from his Guild Master... I recognised his mark on the wax seal." Lavender rolled her eyes at Blakestaff’s sheer snobbishness, and then looked hopefully at her cousin.

With long practice, and almost without thinking, Artimus pulled out his wand from the sheath inside his sleeve, and cast a small wind charm on Lavender’s long damp hair to dry it. "The Grand Master of the Beaulea Merchant Guild suggested that Blakestaff have his son marry you?!"

En closed her eyes as the wind charm caused her hair to whip about, "Yep, weird right... I was seriously freaked out by Blakestaff's attitude, and I kind of bailed before getting any more info, but this sort of thing is your cup of tea, so..."

Artimus grinned, and rubbed his hands together, "As the Master of Contracts, information is my bread and butter. I'll send word to all of our branch offices; gather all the gossip and rumour... I believe it's time for me to take an overland tour, to the Eastern Regional Office in Zamar."

Lavender looked horrified, "Are you cracked in the head, that will take you three months at the very least! If you go by sea, it will take three weeks at the most at this time of year, to do the journey from Vanza to Zamar. Besides, who do you think you are, a Grand Spymaster?!"

Artimus grinned and picked up Lavender’s hairbrush, "No, that would be your master's other title surely... I'm just interested in getting new business for the guild, but all the information I get is passed onto him, and I know that he receives Intel from the Eloais Merchant Guild too."

En looked thoughtful as her cousin finished brushing the tangles out of her hair, "Well I can't disagree with that entirely, as Master has his fingers in many pies, but... Shit, have you seen the time Cousin! We're supposed to be meeting Tomo and Lawrence at the Drunken Mermaid Tavern for dinner, and we haven't even set out yet! If we don't get a shift on, they'll get there a’ fore us... Quick grab yer money purse, an' let's be off!"