[i]"Of course,"[/i] Pudaga said as he watched the priestess, Haressi, descend the steps. The few minutes wait went by in relative silence, except for a few words between Pudaga and T'drissi.

When Haressi emerged and ushered them down, Gallus turned to Tzirret and Ma'tanza. "Hoy, Tzirret!" He said. He did not need to raise his voice very much to project the words through the large hall, "We'll be downstairs. Don't go wandering, now."

Tzirret snapped his attention to Gallus and gave a nod while Ma'tanza was speaking.

When the group reached Daranus, the family had to wait for Haressi to translate, but smiled and took seats when prompted. Gallus smiled and gave a nod in greeting, but opted to remain leaned up against the door frame with his arms crossed.

Again, Pudaga was the one to speak. He seemed a bit more comfortable now. [i]"Greetings, priest. My family and myself have not decided what our far future should be, though we cannot travel until my daughter has recovered from her illness, and we do not have much to our names."[/i] Pudaga's tone was as modest as he could manage, given that he was effectively begging, [i]"We are all prepared to work to live, as I told the priestess here. Any amount of help is more than we had expected, but right now we simply need paying work and shelter. This one hopes that we do not prove a burden, especially in language. Has Haressi told you our previous professions?"[/i]

When Ma'tanza mentioned La'khay's talent with painting, Tzirret gave a noted hum, finding it interesting. He remembered La'khay mentioning that she did paintings, but Tzirret did not know just how talented Ma'tanza was making her out to be.

As for the other art mentioned, Ma'tanza may not have known what it was, but Tzirret certainly did. In those arts, he had been a student of sorts himself, under La'khay's tuition. As he stared up at Dibella, he felt his face run hot for a few moments. "Dibellan Arts? Um...that's..." Tzirret didn't take his eyes off the window, but he awkwardly brought his hands up and jerkily clapped his palms together at different angles, failing at innuendo. With a tense frown, he just decided to use words anyway. "La'khay was probably not trying to insult you, but if you were known to be good at the Dibellan Arts...you would have the same...unflattering reputation that she does." Tzirret hazarded a sideways glance at Ma'tanza's face, but his eyes went to the altar in front of him. He added quickly, "Like Tzirret said, Dibella represents [i]all[/i] other kinds of love."