Siobhan grumbled. “But now they’ve decided he’s semi-trustworthy, so they’re free to pick fights with each other again.”
“Ahhh, is that why it’s been so peaceful the last few days,” Sylvie smirked.
Markl looked between both women with a confused quirk of the brow. “I’ve been wondering about this for a while. If they really are that bad, why have both of them in the guild?”
“Oh, they’re fine when it’s serious or there’s danger of some sort,” Denney assured him, her fingers absently carding through Pyper’s fur. Both dogs were bracketed on either side of her. “When the guild’s safety is in question, they’re perfectly in sync. It’s just at moments like this, when there’s no enemy for them to focus on, that there’s trouble between them.”
Siobhan, resigned to what needed to happen next, pushed herself to her feet. “Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, I need to knock some heads together.”
“Need a lift?” Fei asked mock-seriously. “I’m not sure if you’re tall enough to reach their heads.”
“Ha ha.” She wrinkled her nose at him when he grinned impishly. “They’re slouching at the moment to avoid hitting the ceiling, so I’ll manage. But you know, a true friend would offer to intervene for me.”
“No, that would make it worse,” Fei disagreed. “If a man goes down, he’ll just get pulled into the fight. But if you go, they’ll break off. They’d never hurt you.”
“I can’t fault your logic,” she agreed ruefully. With a shrug and a wave, she went down the short steps to the deck below and ducked into the tiny room that her giant enforcers were supposedly making plans in.
Tran and Wolf were practically nose to nose, hurtling insults at each other, which looked particularly ridiculous since they were hunched over to avoid the ceiling. When she darkened the doorway, they stopped mid-sentence and looked in her direction for all the world like two boys that had dragged mud all over the floor.
Clearing her throat meaningfully, she asked them with a cold smile, “Boys. Are we fighting?”
“Ah, no, Shi-maee,” Tran assured her quickly.
“Really?”
“Not one bit,” Wolf substantiated this, carefully hiding his iron hand behind his back.
She eyed that subtle movement and wondered just what had he been planning to do…no, she shouldn’t ask. She probably wouldn’t want to know. “That’s good, because if memory serves, you still haven’t worked off the fines for the last fight you two had. And we’d rather not wreck Master Jarnsmor’s ship that he leant us, all things considered. Right?”
They nodded warily.
She beamed at them sunnily. “Excellent. Now, just to avoid any possible conflict, Tran, why don’t you come up with me. When Wolf is done down here, you two can switch places.”
Neither man could argue that they were grown adults and could govern themselves. Not after the spectacular fights they’d had in the past and the buildings that they’d destroyed. Tran meekly followed her upstairs and sat next to her as she regained her former seat on the deck.
Siobhan noticed with interest that in the few minutes she’d been gone, Sylvie had shifted positions. She had turned and was now leaning her back against Markl’s arm, for all the world treating him like a piece of furniture to prop herself up with. Even more interesting was that Markl didn’t seem to mind this one bit. In fact, he had a soft expression in his eyes as he looked at the woman so comfortably reclining against him.
Was something developing there? Siobhan knew that Sylvie liked Markl just because he was a gentleman and she didn’t need to worry about being around him. When had that developed into…that?
Beirly, who sat nearby whittling something, caught her eye and gave a meaningful glance at the two. She nodded thoughtfully, making a mental note to keep an eye on the situation. It’d be interesting to see if her suspicions proved true.
Markl caught Tran’s attention with a wave of the hand and ventured, “I’ve been meaning to ask, when did you join the guild?”
“Hmmm, I came in about six years ago,” Tran responded, rubbing at his chin thoughtfully. “Has it been that long?”
“Closer to seven,” Sylvie corrected.
“Guess it would be.” He shrugged, not really concerned either way. “I was working as a caravan guard, going back and forth across Robarge, when I came to Goldschmidt. It had just hit off-season, and I was looking for winter work, when I saw this beauty getting hassled in the street.” He grinned at Sylvie, smile teasing.