The local stories are pretty good too.

She doesn't want to look like she's following Rost, so she waits a few minutes before heading into the gardens after him.

He's muttering under his breath and furiously scribbling into a book, in a little nook. He doesn't notice her immediately.

"Would I be interrupting?"

The book snaps shut and the smile comes back in an instant. "Not at all! You wanted a break from the crowd too, hm?"

"Mhm. Parties are lovely, but they can be so draining."

"I think every one of them feels the same way, deep down."

"I'd say there's enough people in this world that there's a little variety to each party.

Not much point writing about in your diary if they weren't."

"True, or I'd attend fewer of them. It's a ledger, not a diary, strictly speaking. Information is a much lighter good than boots, after all."

"I get it, I get it. Surprised there was anything useful at this party, unless trains are a shocking revelation."

Are trains a shocking revelation?

"It's all in the details. Who owns what, who might marry who. The new line was touted as having technical innovations and from what I can tell that is, surprisingly, true, and I got a tidbit of that as well."

"Makes sense. And the nice thing about those little details is people don't try to hide them."

"People are surprisingly eager to share damning personal revelations to a friendly face, sometimes. It's some kind of primal urge, to connect with our fellow man? A bit bizarre, at any rate."

"I find it's more-- they don't realise exactly how damaging what they're saying is, they don't realise how someone could put it together.

And people always like the sound of their own voice, especially if there are attentive ears."

"I'd like to think I'm beyond such stupidity, but I'm probably not. I told you something of what I just found out, after all. Self-deception is also a quintessential human skill, no?"

"Aww, and I thought you wouldn't notice! Though it's not like you can't work out things about me I'd rather you didn't. I'd say we're reasonably even."

"Well, I'm quite sure you're hiding something. But I don't care for magical enemies, so I'm not trying to pry further than that."

"Ehh, I'm not that magical, but I appreciate it."

"Quite. So, any particular reason to come seek me out?"

"Honestly? Curiousity. People who are doing their best to be the life of the party don't tend to sneak off."

He just shrugs. "Perhaps it adds to my mysterious charm. Perhaps the act is... Tiring."

"Perhaps you want to write your notes before you forget."

Not that acts being tiring isn't Relatable.

"Yes, there's that, I was never very good at mnemonic tricks on the fly. I don't suppose you have any interesting gossip for me?"

"Well, I'm new enough round here that I'm not sure what counts as interesting gossip.

Well, someone is taking the weirdest route to sabotage the Westward Boat Company."

"Oh, really? There's some sort of shenanigans with loans and UDF funding going on with them. One of their competitors was complaining. I didn't get the details. Sounds like some funny business indeed. It also sounds like you had a little bit of an adventure, to learn something like that."

"Someone tried to get people to sneak in and give them information-- that they didn't want. And they have a tendency to shoot the messenger. Metaphorically. Still very shouty about it though."