Ah well. At this point it's near standard dinner time, so back home to get properly dressed and then... to the meeting location! She didn't expect to get any research at all, having no particular result from these few hours leaves her no worse off.

The letter conveyed the meeting location. It's a nice restaurant called the Winter Oak in the Cliffside ward of the Heights. The staff at the front entrance were expecting her. They point her to the table where Aline is waiting. It's in a private side area. The decoration is very pretty.

Aline knows her as a friendly face with an ear for useful gossip, who will conceal exactly what you ask her to but might leak anything you don't. Always a little quiet — active discussion could go long, and she was usually busy — but definitely willing to listen, and with a bit of a talent for unique solutions to silly problems. It's a different perspective on her from the guard's, but one she had practice displaying.

She walks to the table and sits. A tired smile, as if she's been slightly run over by recent events. "It's been a busy week for all of us, I'm sure. How have you been?" Yesterday was hectic enough that she didn't get actual updates from individuals, with everyone more focused on the political maneuvering. This is an opening to turn the conversation somewhere else. 

"As well as I can be, given recent events." Aline talks about her personal life for a little while. It's mostly within the range of expectation, but Tencednil can tell she's more uneasy than usual.

Tencednil relays some of the more amusingly dubious rumors she's heard on her patrols, building on Aline's comments. Nothing really useful, just the minor things which keep a reputation going.

"—and down across the river, they're saying they saw imps running off with cats and eating them! They've certainly never seen an imp trying to eat something. The cats might be going missing, though, the sewers, and the city as a whole, has been a little restless?" A quirk of her voice at the end there, a shift of her attention, and she's clearly leaving an opening for Aline to follow up — with anything she knows that might be causing unrest, for example.

Aline had a reason to ask Tencednil to dinner, no need to treat her as a hostile source. Leaving a clear opening to segue into whatever she's thinking might be fine. If not, well, Tencednil is competent and Aline isn't trying that hard to conceal whatever it is.

Aline pauses for a moment. "I do not like the current political situation Cheliax has caused. It's ill news regardless of what becomes of it."

Nod. "Whatever the results, it adds unrest and divides us at a time we can ill afford to be divided. I've heard no inroads made on why we had two monarchs vanish so near each other, and a leader with no defense against whatever it is... I wouldn't expect the Abadarans to sell them insurance."

That phrasing was carefully not taking a stance on the divide, and she will play along. Position herself as looking for things anyone wants to see solved, so Alicia can talk to her without possibly leaking information to an enemy. She may be uncertain but she's too well trained to pass along anything she knows would be bad for her House. If Tencednil doesn't sound like an opponent, she should be much more open.

She chuckles. "Indeed. I... was not at the summit, obviously, but I suspect this isn't going to go how Cheliax would like. Not naturally, at least." 

A quiet nod. Alright, she'll play along. If Aline wants to present whatever she has this way, Tencednil has no reason to break the narrative.

Commiserating sigh. "But not everything is natural."

"They've started putting the pressure on us. I've heard of... incentives... going around."

Inevitable, but it's good to know who that's actually happening to. She... might be able to do something, too. It might involve independent investigation, of all things, but it's still an angle. It would take a while with this little, though. 

Sympathetic grin. "It had to be someone. This was never going to be easy, however it went." Push harder? Yes, Aline wouldn't be here if this was all she was willing to mention. "Business interests suddenly drying up?" The most generically obvious option, doesn't give away whether she knows anything already. Which she doesn't, but there's no reason to reveal that.

She nods. "We've received threats about future trade at our section of the docks. There's also been rumblings from some of the merchants. Their net of influence is wider than we expected."

Trade is the bedrock of most noble houses. If the Chelish are threatening it... that could get bad. 

Grimace. "All legal in the best of Asmodean fashion, of course. And if you lose all your southward trade, well, nothing good comes of that. That is a neat trap they have you in." She sounds faintly admiring. "Still, there's not no trade to the north. So far nothing more?"

"There's been nothing else yet, as far as I know. One of my acquaintances with another house told me a similar story earlier today."

"Not just you? Even worse, then, no chance just the north trade will fund everyone." Tencednil will let the topic drift away for a while at that point. They do have food to eat, and Aline doesn't sound like she knows enough for pressing here to help.

Aline doesn't have more to say on this topic. She eats her food and the conversation drifts to less important matters. Even these days, it's not all bad. Gossip is fun.

Gossip is fun. Tencednil will poke in the general direction a few times, but learns nothing from her attempts. She doesn't really expect to, and makes sure her nudges are easy to gracefully deflect.

And eventually, they need to get to sleep. In her case... actually she also need to get to sleep. Outrunning and murdering fungi is somewhat exhausting.