There were no servants at the ranch. Farmhands, sure, when Tallis required them, but they liked to keep costs low and prying eyes few. Ikisina would have to knock loudly and for some time. If that were the case, Tallis would eventually hear it. It was evening. Tallis had donned her white nightgown with her nightdress wrapped over it. Candle in hand, she’d been on her way to say goodnight to Cezar Scorza, as she often did. Perhaps she’d even sleep there.

But Ikisina’s knocking caught her attention. Tallis went to the door, face illuminated by the candle, and swung it open. It took her a moment to recognize Ikisina. Her eyes went from the woman’s face to the collar on her neck then back up again. A grin spread broadly across her features.

“Well, well. Isn’t this a surprise.”

Tallis leaned against the doorframe, smirking with her arms crossed. The girl was an amusing little thing, she’d give her that. Tallis loved a novelty, and so after a moment’s consideration, stepped back and motioned the girl inside. If Ikisina obliged, Tallis would close the door behind her and lock it. She made no effort to keep her voice down; in fact, she rather hoped her voice carried enough for Cezar Scorza to notice it. The Scorza’s home was nice but modest—befitting of their station.

“You don’t strike me as the revenge type,” Tallis started, going over to pour wine for them both and motioning for Ikisina to sit, “What changed?”

Tallis sat, watching Ikisina as if she were a toy that had been brought for her personal amusement. Elliot Moore. The name was not unfamiliar to Tallis; after all, the business circles in Loren were small if you moved in them. She sipped her drink as she considered the woman in front of her.

Tallis was just about to ask another question when she heard footsteps of someone entering the room. She turned her head, already smiling with the assumption of who it was.

“We have a visitor.” The playful lilt to Tallis’s voice was one that Cezar Scorza would certainly recognize. It was a dangerous one.

Cezar had been in his room dozing. He hadn't fully been asleep, feeling restless but it was the knock at the door that woke him fully. He listened to hear if Tallis was awake and moving around and when he heard her footsteps move towards the door he half considered just trying to go back to sleep. However, curiosity got the better of him, especially given the time of night.

He was pulling on a pair of pants when he heard Tallis' voice come more clearly up through their home, catching the word 'revenge' which made him frown. What was going on? He soon had stepped out of his room and heard Ikisina's voice now as her emotional tone made it clear she was upset. Soon entering the room he smiled politely at Tallis' words though he caught the hint in her voice, one only he would recognize. "I see that," he replied, nodding to Ikisina as he walked over to Tallis and leaned down to press a kiss to her temple, ever the appearance of a loving married couple.

Standing behind her chair with his hands on her shoulders he looked to Ikisina. "What did I miss? All I really caught was something about revenge?" he asked.

Tallis reached up and lay her hand at his, gazing all the while at Ikisina with a smirk. The circumstances didn’t call for such mirth, but that had hardly stopped Tallis before.

“Revenge is as human an inclination as there is,” Tallis tilted her head, leaning her cheek against Cezar’s hand, “It is only that some are afraid of getting their hands dirty.” She took a sip of her wine, staring, toying with the woman in front of her.

Cezar kept his opinions to himself but oh did he have them. He looked at this emotional woman with the collar around her throat. They had never known that feeling, having never been open about their gifts when gifteds were collared as a general practice. According to the woman, she was wrongfully put into the collar and he was inclined to believe her. Or at least to believe that she believed that was true. Even so, she was also right in the risk of being stuck in the collar if she acted on her thirst for revenge.

His only reply was a mere hum of understanding and a squeeze of Tallis' shoulder under her hand.

Ikisina would find no change in Tallis’s demeanor. The smirk endured, not an ounce of sympathy softening her features. She listened in a way that could almost be described as patient if it weren’t for the restless, rhythmic drumming of her fingers against her glass.

“Your efforts were for nothing,” Tallis said, flatly passing her judgment. “You played their game on their terms, and now seem surprised that you lost. But what’s done is done. All that matters now is what comes next.” Tallis sipped her wine, still trying to decide what to do with the woman before her. There was some sort of equation she was trying to work out, but what stood at the other side of it was yet unclear.

“You say that this Elliot Moore is a liar? That you didn’t do whatever it is you’re accused of?”

The tiniest hint of a smile twitched up Cezar's lip for the briefest second at Tallis' reply. Of course the woman's efforts were for nothing. They knew what the gifteds were up against and the game wasn't created to be fair. Still, Cezar's mind was already made up on what they would, or wouldn't, be doing for Ikisina but he let the women speak. Perhaps something could be said to change his mind, but this stranger was not worth the risk that a game of revenge could invite.