He avoided intrigue. For the few who had known him before his move to Razasan, that had been the most curious part of it all. They expected him to meddle, to muck about, to dive into the Court with full abandon. They expected him to grab for power and prestige, to make a large footprint for the sake of ego and self-importance as much as anything else.
There had been none of that. Whatever its opposite was what he did. His professional position, garnered through skill as much as anything else, frustrated many but it was solely because he refused to use it to politic. Yes, he had to watch out for cutpurses and cutthroats but certainly less so than other people in the city. It meant that he was careful with whom he associated. It meant that his returned nods would be stilted. The perfumed lady would receive vague recognition from him but certainly no succor. The dwarf, who he might have been more inclined towards for friendship at least, received even less (maybe for that very reason).
Perfume. Tobacco. Oil. "You're just hellbent on bringing scents into my life aren't you? Not sense," he clarified because the two words sounded quite similar. "Scents. Smells. I don't even mean yours, which if I'm going to get closer to you, I'll be sure to encounter. I'm apt to lose a hand or tongue if I do, so maybe not quite yet." There. That was a suitable greeting for her. She said her hello. He said his. With those stakes placed down, he was comfortable to engage her words.
"Egris. Two syllables. You can make pet names more easily with two syllables. For my name you'd have to add something and it's easier to subtract than to add, less contrived. Eggie's more efficient than Glennie, for instance." She looked for steel. She held steel. She was, perhaps, steel, or cold iron at least. He was something else entirely and his weapon wasn't steel at all, but words of ink and inflection. Scents and sense aside, here he had held back. Had she expected him to press an advantage (and the fact he had been able to send the last letter had given him just that)? Was that what she would have done? Was this all a test to see? If so, what was the correct response? To attack or not? He chose not. "I'm sure you've flayed men for less."