5 - Back to private filters (and attack of the edits)
[Private to the Marquis, text]
You're native to these parts, right? How do you pronounce 'Laaksonen?'
[Stildyne may not know the difference between France and Finland but he does know quality.. ah... art when he sees it. He's been in the good bookstores.]
[Private to Gaheris Rhade]
(Last day of port, before Cobra-plot, follows this conversation.)
[Stildyne is sitting in a cafe reading an English-language newspaper he scrounged up somewhere. He's reading the continuation of the headline story-- visible as -AHMEN SENET SET TRACKED TO PARIS ]
"The ivory set is believed to be the personal game set of the young king himself. A priceless artifact of the 18th dynasty, it dates to 1333 BC. The black-market trade in Egyptian antiquities..." Etcetera etcetera, stolen, fenced, you'll never guess what young Etienne told me about Bernard Cowl.
[He looks up at the camera and puts down the paper, picking up a red cardboard packet.]
Lesser men might have bought a five euro pack of cards.
[He shakes them accusingly. Yes, he nurtures a quiet love for effect that led him to actually buy a pack of cards to make his point. He's rather proud of it, actually.]
[Post with the permission of Rhade-mun]