Marius' raised eyebrow brought Natasha back from the daze where lay people go when points of high theology are being discussed in her presence. Had she been alone she would simply have signed the bill of sale and been on her way. Perhaps Marius had gone a way to repaying her for sparing him the embarrassment of having his throat cut on the road to nowhere. Her mind replayed the last few seconds of the conversation and her attention sharpened noticeably.

"If he has not piwdir, he has not piwdir, perhaps ze Tzarina's coin vould be velcome vith ze Golden Pot," she suggested. Both Marius and Frederich winced, though in Marius' case it was with sympathy. Both men knew that losing Kislivite business would be a severe and perhaps fatal blow. The Andropolovskya were an important clan, if distant but the effect of gossip and tale spreading would be telling, particularly as other merchants smelled blood and tried to pry away more and more bussiness.

"No! no...Frauline that wont be necessary," he added hastily.

"If you were able to investigate our silo, we would be able to offer you the powder at..." he glanced at Marius and gave a defeated shrug.

"Cost." The word was bitten out as though it were the sourest lemon in existence. Selling something at cost meant all the wastage and transport were eaten up. Marius scoffed openly.

"You couldn't afford that, Sigmar's Hammer, half the merchant houses in the Empire would grow lean selling that much powder at cost. Grow lean if they didn't go bust," he sneered. Frederich was sweating now. He reached into his coat and made a credible effort of swabbing his fatty face.

"Insurance sir, if the powder in question was destroyed by bandits or greenskins, the treasury will make us whole, or at least advance us loans to cover the loss. We can use that money to fulfill our other obligations by buying from other merchants, perhaps even the Gold and Kettle Company?" He asked with a sly wink.

"Insurance sir