Desian glanced in the direction of Vitruvion, then back to Stare. “Of course Miss,” she whispered before giving her last couple of goblets away and hurrying out of the room. Stare moodily stalked back over to Vitruvion before returning to his left side.
“It's coming,” she murmured.
“That was not too hard, now was it?” he whispered back, nodding as he pretended to listen to a brother.
She looked away and huffed. “Wine good enough?”
“Actually it's slightly vinegary,” he muttered. “But it will do.”
She stood there for a moment, staring at him until he noticed his sly smile. Hissing under her breath she shoved her hand out and he placed the wine back in it. Twisting around she let her eyes scan over the room, only very briefly brushing those of Pride. She noticed then that the girl was still looking at her, eyebrows raised and looking somewhere between confused and in awe.
“I'll be back,” she muttered to him before she took both goblets and started out of the room.
She returned some minutes later to find the conversation thankfully moved on from her, and Hugin. Now the brothers were discussing the food crisis and solutions to avoiding such a thing in the future. One of them, an orcish man called Dru Blacktooth, was even suggesting not having Hugin replaced but instead turn his rooms into some form of storage facility.
Stare had gone down to Vitruvion's own apartments and grabbed wine from his own supply. On the way up she had met Desian and was now returning with both better wine and food, sacrificing her own (i.e. downing it) to have space in her hands. The time she had taken had been useful in order to get her breath back from her ordeal, outside of the stifling room. Because, really, it had to be admitted …
She had finally done it. Finally she had committed the final and dreadful act of calling the prisoners here 'guests’ in front of their 'hosts’ and them. Her final act in her traitorous journey, the actual words had transferred her truly over to the dark side in this horror. A long time ago Vitruvion had planned to have her take over the administration side of the Hollow, but when Stare had proved her use in business he kept her focus there. For six months now she had been coming and going as a simple punter, briefly appearing at a council meeting to simply be a presence, and also let Vitruvion know she was alive after losing her cuff to the first Church of Sabazios mage she had come across. That was the same time she had learnt first of his half brother who secretly plagued their lives, and hells, brought her brother back to her. So many things, so many journeys and Stare had today signed one of her final farewells. Two, if one countered mortality. The other was to the last part she felt of her that was salvageable - the small impact she had on the Hollow, but now as she walked back she realised that had died now too. The brothers now recognised her as Vitruvion's representative. They would never seen in the same way again.
When she came back she noticed Pride.
The girl was looking at her with a strong intensity, and not with just the confusion and awe from before. There was … something else, like a spark had been ignited and a new passion had arisen. Slowly, without breaking eye contact with her she passed over the goblet, then the plate of bread and olives to Vitruvion. Pride swallowed slightly and then began to raise a hand to indicate something … before a tap came at her shoulder. A look of despair fell over her face as she looked back and saw a series of gestures from Tanish. She blinked a few times, a few conflicting thoughts apparently in her head before she nodded and related his thoughts to the general room.
Stare though … could not shake it. There had been something in Pride for a moment, and indication that perhaps she did not hate her. An idea came into Stare's mind, to look into the aura sight and find what emotion might be flaring, but a quick word sounded into her head.
