"Ah . . . trolls you say?" Eyes narrow, and he reaches for his cup, staring at her directly. He is silent at first as he stares over his cup, and takes a sip. And then, he breaks it, "Well, let's just be out with it then, why don't we? I would like to continue our arrangement indefinitely. But in order to do so, I think it is certainly best if we agree to an open sharing of information. Ms. Faerhan and I were quite close, for a very brief period of time. I have recently managed to become quite close to an apparently formerly dear friend of hers--a Ms. Threadsew--information which I'm sure you are privy too, because there's already been rampant gossip about my relationship with Ms. Threadsew, and I wouldn't expect you to miss good gossip." He pauses, taking another sip, and then lowering his cup. "Ms. Faerhan is a woman of power and respect in Bree, and rightly so. She has earned it, and deserves it. But I have concerns about my standing with her, and Ms. Threadsew's. You were seen at one of Ms. Faerhan's notorious bonfires. A rather . . . . unusually zealous one. Do feel free to jump in?" He flashes a toothy smile at her, and then takes another sip.

Scarlet has never backed down from a good stare. She holds it confidentially, lips twitching in the hint of another smirk as it is again broken. "Something the matter, Chief? Just talking up current events, as it were." A pause, and she listens to him talk- apparently not feeling the need to jump in at any time. "A yes, of course I have heard. As I mentioned- your business is my business.. must keep your friends close, as they say..." And so quickly she continues on, that perhaps the rest of that saying could be forgotten, for the moment, "Something amiss with attenting a public bonfire? I had not realised. Although, yes, I have conversed with Ms. Faerhan, on a few occasions. It is in my best interest to know the comings and goings of important people within Bree- especially those who control the Merchant's Guild... So, what is it exactly you wish to know? You still skirt around the issue in my opinion, Chief. You have concerns about your standing, but how do I come into this picture, hm?"

Direct questions now, and his mirth is gone. Other things forgotten. "You know about the trolls. You talk to Ms. Faerhan. This is not casual interest on your part. You were seen at her bonfire. Tell me what business you and Ms. Faerhan have. Perhaps I might assist. However Ms. Faerhan views me, I do not view her as an antagonist. I would prefer to support her in her new position, rather than have her ire. I would not be surprised to find that I had her ire, and it may be that I will ask your assistance in changing that."

"Of course I know about the trolls." She says, as if everyone in Bree knew. "As I said, am I not allowed to attend a public bonfire? Should I not be able to make sure all is continuing as it should be? Regardless, I am keeping a... pleasant face around Ms. Faerhan." The idea of this woman having a pleasant face is a strange one indeed. "As you said yourself, she is a powerful, respected woman. However, our relationship is not built as your and mine is.. I'm sure, however, that if you wished for my assistance, I would be more than happy to do what I could in this endevour.." Business talk. Words sprouted a hundred times for a dozen different people and it all carries the same, vague message.

He is entirely unconvinced, or at least, that is what his frown suggests. "If you'd rather we cease our arrangement, do say so." Daniel awaits her response silently with cool, but emotionless brown eyes.

Scarlet looks taken aback. "Excuse me?" She slides off the table and stalks toward the desk, standing with hands hidden in pockets within the cloak. Presumably. Or reaching for weapons. Either way... "Chief..." She glances toward the ceiling, and shakes her head, looking straight back moments later, "I've been grateful for our arrangement, of course I wish to keep it intact. I just don't know what answer you're fishing for from me.."

He remains still, though he is in contemplation. Eyes narrowing even further as he reads her eyes. "Scarlet." A rare use of her first name. "Tell me about Ms. Faerhan."

Apparently the woman doesn't like this standing-around business. She pulls herself up a chair, and regards the man for a moment, something of what is supposed to be an unconcerned frown drawn across her features. "Hmm... Well now, that would be a task, wouldn't it? Anything in specific you're after?" Something closed about her body-language suggests she doesn't like this sudden assertiveness. She doesn't being pushed around.

Daniel leans forward, resting his good elbow on the desk top, and speaking at her with the same intense gaze. "Tell me who she is to you. Tell me your business with her."

Scarlet returns the stare, but in her own cool, calm and sophisticated fashion. She isn't intimidated. "Who she is to me? An associate, certainly, although not in the traditional sense of the word, I suppose.." The 'traditional sense', of course, being the large men that occasionally accompany her from place to place. "She seems trustworthy enough, so I have mentioned business with her- she could be useful to me and my endevours... she has connections, I may as well use them. You understand it is not often I come across those who I deem trustworthy enough to talk business specifically with?" The lips stretch into a smirk, "What have you been hearing, Chief, that has spurred on all these questions? I feel like I am on trial, here. Is that your intention, hm? You should know I detest trials, especially when I stand accused, and don't know the crime."

A shake of the head, and a sigh. He leans back with a slight flush. "Very well. If you have business with her, then I imagine she holds you in some esteem. This is then what I would request. Let me know her opinion of me, and what plans she may have. She may very well choose to make me an enemy. I saw in her eyes her . . . anger at myself and Ms. Threadsew. If an enemy I am to become, I must know, and the same for Ms. Threadsew. And I will then make efforts to end that hostility, or if that proves impossible, respond to whatever hostility she intends appropriately. I do think she is a good woman, at heart, and would not wish any conflict. I ask that you make this inquiry, and tell me what you can of her. And I will, as always, remain ready to assist you should the occasion arise." A short pause, and return to her eyes, "But tell me, do you have any such information? She told you of the trolls, did she not?" Less imposing this time, and something very different in his expression; softer.

Scarlet is quiet some some time, simply regarding the man as she appears to think. "I am certain that if she does feel anger toward you, then it is for an especially good reason." Here, she again looks long and hard at him, as if to suggest that he knows exactly what this is supposed to mean, "As she doesn't strike me as the type who would make enemies just for the sake of it, or because someone rubbed them the wrong way." A pause, and she shifts her gaze to read the brass name-plaque, as if seeing it for the first time. And in regards to the trolls, she simply says, "She may have done. Tell me, Dan," Now that sounds particularly informal, as though she were speaking with an old friend from way-back-when, "What /is/ your relations with Ms. Threadsew? I think it would benifit me to know all sides of the spectrum before I attempt to discover information from Ms. Faerhan.."

"I hold Ms. Threadsew quite dearly. So much so, that if any harm were ever to come to her, the actor or actors involve would find themselves quite uncomfortable for a very long time." Despite the directness of the communication, there is no malice directed toward his audience specifically; no suspicion. "For that reason, I would ask that you ensure that your . . . companions . . . stay clear of Ms. Threadsew and her son Orsen, for I would be disappointed in the extreme should they not."
He inhales heavily. "As for Ms. Faerhan, there is no good reason for her to have such severe anger for me that she seems to hold. I had a brief courtship, for lack of a better term, with her, that ended unsuccesfully. She is a decent woman, but the two of us are not a good match. She did not see it that way, I do not think, but I did. Nevertheless, I continued to be kind to her, despite multiple public beratements and attacks upon my character by her. I even went so far recently as to search for her in the depths of winter, finding her freezing to death a tthe landing upon the Mill at Combe, where I escorted her back to Combe, and ensured her well being. For all of this, she appears to remain thankless and distant. But that is her choice, and I will not object, so long as we can at least remain distantly civil."

And indeed, nothing upon the features of the woman shift at the first part of this speech. "Of course. They would not act against either, unless they seemed threatening first... which, for a woman and young child, would be particularly difficult. It is best to treat them as wild animals." Yes, she seems quite pleased with this term, and takes a moment to jot it down on mental parchment.
"Ahh. I see." This is at the explanation for the woman's behaviour, "Perhaps she is a woman who loves quite deeply, and when she thinks she has found this, it would be difficult for her to simply let it slip away... especially to a woman who is a good friend of hers..." Scarlet blinks, and shrugs lightly, "I have experienced a similar situation." This woman? In love? "I am generally a good judge of character, she seems a good-natured woman, and one that would love in such a fashion.. It was a kind thing you did for her, regardless of whether she has thanked you for it or not."

Daniel commits a faux pax, among co-conspirators, sensing something in her lapsed confession, even if only a glimpse of it she did reveal. "We are none of us, Ms. Greythorn, so hardened that there is no history behind us. My fiancee of 19 died of illness. That is why I have lived here, so long, a man engaged in work. But you have ears, and I am sure you, at least, have heard of this. We have all suffered loss. Ms. Faerhan has as well. A husband, I hear, she had. Whom she lost. I know her pain better than she may think. But I cannot compel something that is not to be." A deep breath. "And Ms. Threadsew lost hers as well. I could have guessed as much about you, Scarlet." An unobtrusive glance at his table top.

Scarlet shrugs lightly, and any sign of sympathy is well hidden. "Of course, we all have hardships." With careful timing, she corrects him, "And a daughter. A husband and a daughter. But I didn't come here to discuss love and loss with you. I was merely trying to provide some explanation, as I see it, to Ms. Faerhan's behaviour. I shall speak with her when I see her next, and see if I cannot get some information from her, of her opinions toward you, or.. whatever else." She glances at the table, as if expecting to see something there, simply raising one eyebrow, as is her fashion.

"A daughter? She had a daughter as well?" He focuses on grains in the wood, and reaches to stratch at a tea stain on the surface, "And she lost her? I do regret that I could not be who she wanted me to be."

Scaret nods her head, crossing that one leg over the other again, "She did, though it was taken from her, after it was born." She regards the chief for a long moment, "It was not your fault, of course.." This thought trails off... Scarlet is entering unfamilliar territory. /Feeling/ territory.

So the conversation drifts into silence, signaling its end, and the Chief raises his eye to her untouched tea, and then his guest. He starts to speak, but only gets a frog, so he tries again, "Very well, Ms. Greythorn. I hope we are both correct. Now, was there anything you wished to discuss?" His eyes widen in the way that a tired person's do, in an effort to impose self-awakening.

Scarlet pushes herself to her feet, eyeing the tea herself before looking back to the Chief with a tilted head and air of concern. "Everything alright, Chief? You seem a tad out of sorts... Perhaps you should head home and rest." And for the tiniest, briefest of seconds, the woman goes cross-eyed, as if it were some transition between freakish domestic Scarlet, and back into regular cold, self-supposing Scarlet.

A series of low chuckles that build, to almost noisy laughter in the quiet room. "Go home? Ms. Greythorn, I would think you would at least be aware that I'm the strange man of Bree who lives at his own headquarters!" He shakes his head, and offers one residual laugh. "But I hope to change that. I plan to begin the building of a new stone house on the hill. A large one."

Ugh, there it is again- strange laughter. Someone else tried that on her the other day, and it didn't take. Really, sniggering evilly, or simply smirking in a deranged fashion is just as effective, and much less melodramatic.. "A large house on the hill? An interesting endevour. However, talking about houses and sleeping around the place doesn't fit well with me. If you need me for anything, you know how to reach me. Farewell, Chief." And she moves toward the door.

Her reaction only causes closed mouth chuckles, which he tries, but fails to restrain. He stands, and nods politely as she starts to depart. "Do have a good night, Ms. Greythorn. I thank you for your attention." Of course, she's already started out the door, so he dispenses with formalities and returns to his chair.