“She was much more talkative than I had imagined.” Braydon commented as they were once again in his carriage, moving slowly through the city. The streets were crowded at all times of the day but were slightly easier to move through later on. Nela had been staring out of the carriage catching glimpses of the setting sun as they made their way to one of the mansions that the King had let them stay in for the next week.

“And you were much less talkative than usual. Awed by her amazing beauty?” Nela decided that now was the best time to start teasing him. They could both hear Gerald riding his horse closer to the carriage to listen to what she was going to say. He would love nothing more than to make witty comments to Braydon about this later.

“No, while she was beautiful, it was not to the point that I lost my ability to speak. I just realised that I have next to no clue what to say when making small talk. Especially with noble ladies.” Braydon defended himself, getting a sigh of disappointment from outside the carriage. Though from the smirk on Nela’s face he could tell that he had just made things worse for himself.

“Then am I not a noble lady?” Nela’s smirk had turned into one of her sickeningly sweet smiles. ‘Shit!’ Braydon knew that there was no right answer to this question. The worst part was that he had basically asked for her to say that.

“I did not mean that. I was just saying that when put into a social situation with ladies I don’t know I struggle. I was not trying to say anything bad about you, it never even crossed my mind.” Braydon was sure that he had tried too hard to justify what he had said. And from the snickering of Gerald outside, he only further confirmed that he had done horribly.

“Hmmm” Nela made a light hum, clearly satisfied at how much she had made Braydon squirm. She had been more occupied with Lani earlier and had not found the chance to tease Braydon for his awkwardness. Now she had scratched that itch.

“No alcohol for a week after we return.” Braydon announced loudly for the benefit of Gerald outside. He could never win verbally against Nela, taking out his frustration on Gerald was the next best thing.

“...” The snickering stopped.

“Do you have any other impressions of Lani?” Nela asked, ignoring the fact that Braydon had abused his power over Gerald. She’d have done the same thing. Braydon was just glad that they could finally get on to what he had intended to talk about.

“She appears to be very sure of herself, and her capabilities. As if she is not surrounded on all sides by Duke Burn and Duke Ryder’s allies. It goes without saying that she is daring and has the ability to back it up. Managing to keep control of her land and not marry a noble to do it is no small feet.” Braydon tried to think of what he could say about her, coming up with what he had gathered during their conversation about trade.

*sigh*

“You really didn’t pay much attention to any of the rest of the conversations, did you? We spent several hours talking to her and you managed to remember what happened in the first ten minutes.” Nela was speechless, was his memory really that bad. They had been talking almost non-stop from noon to sun down, with several tea breaks in between. All Braydon could remember was that?

“Errr.” Braydon did not know what to say. He really could not remember much. He knew that she was a nice person that they would get along with. But anything more than that was asking a bit much.

“Do you even remember what tea we drank?”

“It was Lapsang Souchong , wasn’t it?” Braydon responded pretty sure of his answer.

“No, you dolt. It was Darjeeling, they are nothing alike. There are next to no similarities between them, they are literally only similar in that they are both tea. At least pay attention to what you are given to eat and drink. You will wind up dead if you aren't careful.” Nela felt like giving up, she had no clue where to even start with him. They weren't even produced in remotely similar places nor did they have similar names.

“What’s the difference? It’s tea.” He quickly shut up when Nela looked like she wanted to strangle him.

“Never say that again.” Nela gave a death glare as she said it, not stopping until Braydon nodded.

“So what were your thoughts on her?” Braydon suddenly felt like not talking anymore. He had made enough of a fool of himself for one day. Even Gerald had started snickering once more.

“Two weeks.” The snickering stopped again.

“Other than what you just said, she was trying to sound us out. See what our stances were.” Nela tried to prompt Braydon into thinking once more. But his lack of response drew another sigh.

“She wants some kind of alliance. She was trying to see how open to the idea you were.” Nela gave up and just put it plainly. Braydon had somehow managed to get all of the peripheral information without getting a single bit of Lani’s intentions.

“But why me?” Braydon had no clue why she would want to ask him for an alliance. There were many stronger people, not to mention he was not even head of his own faction. If anything, looking to the king would be a better option than him.

“Because you are not too strong nor are you too weak. If she asked the King, the other two would immediately try to eliminate her from the equation. Why would they let the King get a foothold in the south. Meanwhile, while you are part of the King’s faction, you are far from controlling it. You are not enough of a threat to them, but a strong partner for her.” And this is why he wanted her to do the speaking. There was no way that he was going to gather that from her prompts when he could not even remember half of the conversations they had.

“She could be a good option. But what are the chances that the dukes take no actions against us when my iron is just getting shipped through her land instead of theirs?” Braydon tried to pretend like he had been following along the whole time. Nela rolled her eyes, not buying it one bit. Though she had said that she had come to an agreement with the dukes, it did not mean that they would not try to stifle things on his end.

“You will still have to negotiate with Duke Burn if that is what you are asking.” Nela had caught him. Braydon did not want to go through the tedium of negotiating a deal that he did not have to do.