[color=silver]Ardour never fancied himself the persuasive sort, at least when it came to diplomacy alone. While he could weave together words with the best of them, his inability to keep a straight face to go along with them had cost him many a prospective swindle in the past. It was only when one added the fine arts of threats and trade into the mix that people generally begun to heed his words.

This time however, he seemed to have hit the nail on the head with words alone. Esvelle tensed, relaxed-- and then talked. After Aurix's surprisingly acute observations, she talked some more.

Ardour leaned back in his chair to do what he was best at; listening and remembering. And oh, was there ever much to listen [i]to[/i]. As it turned out, the Raznars of the past had been not quite as prim and proper as the woman next to him. Ardour managed to withhold outright laughter so as to not insult her, but a chuckle or two may have slipped past his lips regardless. 

Everything he heard did naught but strengthen the image he had of nobles. Just as rotten as he was, once you stripped away the glow and glory. There was no such thing as honest coin. 

He would make sure to see if his informants could dig up more details, come the end or their current commitment. 

But my, slave trade? Now there was a business prospect with promise. The world was never short on men who sought to dictate the lives of others to their own benefit. Time passed, generations came and went, but greed remained eternal.

He was starting to see what she'd meant by 'temptation'.

Perhaps, if he played his cards right, [i]he [/i]could be the one to set up such a business down in Skullport, after they successfully removed the competition. Ah, no, that was-- [i]retrieved Esvelle's dear brother.[/i] A skilled thief and deceiver, she said? Why, it was almost as if this was getting personal.

"Thank you, my lady, you've been most generous," Ardour offered at the end of her long talk, wondering if the glint in his eye had died down quite yet. If it had not, it would be an awful mismatch to his sympathetic tone. "It must've not been easy to talk of such things. I apologize if we tore open a wound still healing."

He entertained a smile - or something akin to it, anyhow. "Fear not. We shall make sure neither your trust nor money was misplaced."

With the exchange over, the group begun to slowly disperse. There was time to spare before they took the plunge down the dungeon, even with time to prepare accounted for. Ardour loathed to be idle, so he slipped back into the busy crowd with a purpose in mind. He'd heard bits and pieces of quite a few rumours, and now wanted to see if he could gleam any more details.[/color]