[center][h3][color=#b3ccff]Esben Mathiassen[/color][/h3][/center]
[hr]

Esben resisted the urge to give a very pointed look at Éliane after Madis interrupted them to let them know they'd been followed. Following along behind the older man came, perhaps, the shortest Viera he'd ever seen. He was nearly surprised that her limbs weren't bowed and misshapen, given the combination of her overall size and the fact that she clearly [i]wasn't[/i] physically a child. Something her voice made clear moments after as she began to speak.

[color=#b3ccff]"Hmm."[/color]

He held up one hand, cautioning Ciradyl from reaching out to grab the offered scroll. Certainly, it was sealed...but seals could be faked. Names such as those she was dropping were easy enough to come by. That was a tactic that worked fine when dealing with nobility at their own little private gatherings, ingratiating yourself as you dig your way in to their leisure and rob them blind of every secret they would prefer to keep—not so much when trying to buy your way into something actually business focused. It invited immediate suspicion more than it invited trust.

Perhaps she [i]was[/i] entirely guileless. Perhaps she wanted to appear as such, hoping that the Kirins would outsmart themselves knowing that such a simplistic tactic would be insane to use against them.

Perhaps the tactic was in tandem with another painfully-obvious phrase that Osprey's limited resistance had already used to buy into their trust.

[color=#b3ccff]"Storage, you say?"[/color] His tone was conversational, free of the tension that he could feel growing just behind his eyes in the face of [i]whatever[/i] was happening here. [color=#b3ccff]"Did Hien or one of the others send you with something more for us?"[/color]