Ari/Aspel - 2:30 AM
Ari didn't confirm the comment - it certainly was so, but she didn't intend to break that particular habit. She enjoyed late night walks as well as Aspel's company - why not continue combining the two if she could? All she said was, "I am quite content to be walking on my own two feet tonight, at least. And to my own great surprise, I hardly feel the lack of wine put so much as a dent in my evening." Not that she didn't appreciate being helped home when she could barely walk a straight line, but there was something to be said for being clear-headed on an evening like this one.
"Now there's a thought," she said, laughing at the idea of invading the bastion of scholarly repression. "Perhaps I'll ask Merri to help arrange it." She thought of his stammering and ridiculous line of questioning earlier in the night, had to laugh again. "I'll have them put up some fireworks for me. Surely this isn't so much to ask?" she teased. At Aspel's evasion of her questioning - which, to be honest, she had rather expected - she nudged other woman with her hip, gave her an amused shake of the head, noting the mischief in her expression. "That would depend, wouldn't it, on the sort of reward you wanted," she said after a moment. "I suspect I could come up with a thing or two you might enjoy." If she let a little invitation creep into the words, it was only expected. "Though perhaps," she added with an arch look, "I will simply make you sit through hours of me puzzling out scales on this," she gestured with the hand carrying the instrument case, "until you cannot bear it any longer and have no choice but to tell me everything I want to know." She grinned and added, "I will puzzle out sooner or later which method of extracting pesky secrets such as birthdays works best."