After nightfall

[Kriss]

Kriss smoothed her dress, slightly tilting her head at his questions. She could see in his blue eyes that he wanted to read her minds a bit more. A bunch of her different behaviors, that were varying from minute to minute, did not facilitated him of this. She was fully aware of that. This was one of these things which she as a woman could find as invaluable in relation with a man. Even such a great and experienced soldier like him is not really able to follow all the minds of woman.

"Not exactly like that." She started, "For example: These drunk guys out there..." here her eyes pointed at the inside of the tavern, "they are also much different than me. Their habits are new and unknown, as you said but I do not find them interesting at all." She explained with a smirk.

Then she frowned, "You asked what I found more significant. The similarities or differences between us? I only argued what I find interesting about you. And yes, so is it that we are much different but on the other hand, there are things we have in common."

[Ziad]

Ziad had the feeling that the topic of their conversation was something rather secondary. This was, at least for him, not so much about what similiarities or differences they had or about their values in life or about how she saw him. Maybe it had been that minutes ago, but now it more felt like some cat and mouse chase, with each of them seeing themselves in the role of the cat, waiting for the prey to make a wrong move. He smirked inwardly at that thought. She was good at this, but two could play this sort of game and he had experience with people who had secrets, especially if those secrets were dirty ones, conflicting with the law. So far this was just a guess, but he was intent on finding out more.

"Quite possibly." he said, reaching for the wine again to refill a little bit of her glass. Let´s see...he thought. She´d not be the first little bird to start singing after a good bit of wine. "Even though I do not share that... strange temper of yours." It was a joking remark but he did not show that too much, only indicated the jest by the very faintest ofs mirks that might or might not get lost.

[Kriss]

Kriss nodded at Ziad when he was filling her glass. It seemed that both of them wanted to control the situation. What was quite unworkable. This game could be very risky for her. But was not the risk an old, good friend of Kriss de Valnor?

An answer to his joke, which at first had crossed minds was replaced by the smirk. She felt that he could have interpreted her response wrongly, so she left this remark without the comment.

[Ziad]

Ziad gave a small, silent laugh at her lack of a verbal response.
"I feel accomplished," he simply said. "No answer is a sort of an answer too, after all."

[Kriss]

Kriss also did smile at him. "Indeed, it is somewhat." All in all, her silent response had a deeper meaning. "Sometimes, words are unnecessary. Silence may be more relevant than a thousand words." She added with more sensible voice.

Then, her slender fingers gently covered the glass standing on the table and she took a little sip of wine.

[Ziad]

"That´s very true," Ziad said, closely watching minute changes in her behaviour. Event hough he might seem very relaxed and at ease, he was very on guard, very alert. His senses told him that there were more behind that woman´s friendly behaviour and the slightly flirty vibe that he could feel clearly now than she let show. She was trying to lure him in, catch him off guard, maybe distract him, but from what?

"So..." he said, seemingly changing the topic. "How long have you been the owner of this place? Quite an unusual way for a young woman to make her money." He knew. Of course he knew. They were keeping records, of course.

[Kriss]

Kriss raised her eyebrows. Sudden change of topic? Could it be that the wine worked on his willingness to conversation or perhaps, he had a hidden undertone. Her usual self-confident glance met his eyes once again.

"This is almost a year." She answered but she knew that it was not anything new for him. "As for the way of making money, it is as good as any, isn't it? I didn't really have much choice. When I came here it was for sale and I needed something to do and some place to live." She summarized. "I like to be the only mistress of my own and in my tavern I am." The archer said and added with smile, "And I'm not that young..."

[Ziad]

"You make it sound like a bad kind of work," Ziad gave back with a small smirk. "Uncommon maybe, for these lands to have a woman take up a business on her own, but you might have noticed after a year that there are some...if not most, that are far worse off than you are." He was wondering what she was thinking. Not about this matter in particular, but she seemed to be quite different from many of Basra´s inhabitants, a different background and all and if he wanted to assess whether she was invovled in any shady business, he found it necessary to find out some more about her. The way she thought. Because that might show him gaps in her logic. Things that were suspicious.

[Kriss]

Deep down inside her head she was trying to analyze his every word, every gesture. Of course, apparently without letting him know about this. But it was not that easy. Her minds were already de-concentrated by the wine. However not that much to not feel his intentions. She knew, she had to be careful with everything she says. But the alcoholic noise in her head was making it more and more difficult.

"But I don't find it as a bad kind of work. I even like it. It's just that I used to a different life." She explained without details."To be honest, I always was the one who takes care about the business stuff. Aniel's father had a great potential but no good ideas how to use it and someone had to." She said with a smirk, humorously somewhat.
"On the North it looks much different than over here. Women are more independent and autonomous. It is them who take up the businesses, decide on their possessions. You know, Vikings have no time for such the trivial matters. They have sailing, attack, raking to do." She joked again.

A bit less confident than before, she took another sip of wine. Hoping that her not quite a strong head for alcohol can stand it.

[Ziad]

He followed her example, but only pretended to drink before he sat the glass back down.
"Those viking women sound like quite a handful," he remarked dubiously, narrowing his eyes slightly in challenge.

[Kriss]

Kriss chuckled at his remark. "You can say so..." She said with a fake smile.
Suddenly, she felt that the alcohol was overpowering her minds more and more. Still fully conscious but she was not even able to respond sensibly to him. She put the glass back at the table.
"...but it is simply normal there. Men sail with the swords and wreak havoc, women must do all the rest."

[Ziad]

Ziad chuckled at that. "Women on the other end don´t even need swords to wreak havoc." he gave back, leaning back comfortably in, "at least not the women I´ve met."

He wasn´t quite sure about it but it seemed as if the alcohol was starting to have an effect on her. Once more he pretended to drink some wine, intent to keep his senses clear himself.

[Kriss]

Kriss smiled at his words. But the expression on her face was not so confident as usual and her glance began to become more and more absentminded.
She could be caught in her own snare.
Ironic.
The plan no longer seemed to be ideal.

The greatest ally of her opponent was the time. The time which had elapsed from the moment when she had drunk for the last time. This long break had caused that her body and mind were not as accustomed to the wine as then when she had regularly attended the parties.
But after all, she could not predict it.

Even if she decide to give up her plan, still the hospitality required to keep company to your guests. For the very first time in her life Kriss de Valnor felt that she is losing the control over the situation from so trivial reason.

The best thing she could do now, was to try not to talk too much and hope that he was not going to care much about her almost empty glass.
So she raised her eyebrows, smiled again and answered, "Really? You must know very.... interesting women, then."

[Ziad]

Even though Ziad´s body language displayed that he was being absolutely relaxed and careless, he very well noticed that the young woman´s gaze had lost its focus, that maybe her words were uttered in a slightly different tone as if she were trying to maintain the control that she knew was slowly slipping from her. He knew the signs, had seen them often before, and she was beginning to show them.

Now he was no person who would take advantage of a woman in such a situation, it was not what a good man did and it would have crossed his lines of proper (even though he had to admit she was rather attractive), but nonetheless, things seeed to be turning his way nicely. He had been careful not to drink too much, a strategy that had seemingly gone unnoticed by her. He took another sip of wine and briefly considered to offer her some more, but decided against it because that might have made his plan to fill her up a little too obvious. He needed her asleep, he thought, so he could have a proper look around the place.

"Well, that´s for me to judge I guess," he chuckled, thinking to himself that he might toss in a witty remark about how she, rather than him, tended to be seen in shady female company, but he didn´t. She would need a bit more wine before she could stomach that without any suspicion raised. "but you get to see quite a lot on the streets for sure."

***

They kept chatting and drinking like this for another while. Ziad didn´t exactly know later for how long, maybe because he was focused on keeping in control of himself. He gave her the impression that he was drinking along with her, taking a sip from his glass and pretending to drink almost whenever she did, but a lot of the wine was fed to the plants behind him whenever she wouldn´t look. Kriss didn´t seem to be following the same strategy by the looks of it.

He didn´t let it show. He knew he could probably stomach more alcohol than her but he needed to keep a clear head. And so he kept pretending to drink, started laughing a bit more and talking a little louder, not too much, but just enough to let her believe he was getting drunk as well.

[Kriss]

For all that time Kriss was holiding her own with him, drinking along, losing control. Initially, taking only tiny sips but the influence of alcohol and relaxed talk completely precipitated her from the balance.
A blissful intoxication, something that she had not felt for a very long time.
She even was not aware that she became his victim. A victim in the trap which she had pledged herself. Definitely, it should have looked different way but now there was nothing she could do. Nothing, because her minds where wrapped by the wine.
Her usual self-confidence and a keen glance were replaced by the large dose of humor and a playful look. Her words were not like hers anymore.

"...and..."she yawned "...where I finished?" The lost archer asked with a sleepy voice.