"So, Haesseth, what would you have us do?"

"That's a loaded question if I've ever heard one, Sand," Haesseth answered with a small moan. "Urgh, so not good." She lifted her hands to her head and knocked on her skull as if trying to dislodge something inside her mind.

"What's the matter?" Nevalle asked.

"My brain is a cess pit," Haesseth explained, "Sand asked what I would have you two do and all I can think of right now is sex and all its wondrous possibilities because we're all shirtless and touchy-feely and you both look good enough to eat." And had she just admitted that right now? Nevalle's eyes widened and Sand burst out laughing at her comment. It was an all-out belly laugh, from Mr. Sarcastic-Yet-Decorous Lawyerly Type himself. "Hey, it's not funny!" Haesseth protested with a frown.

"On the contrary, dear girl, it is hilarious," Sand wiped his eyes, "absolutely hilarious. Ahahahaha! "

"Oh, you think so, do you?" Sand didn't like her tone of voice all of a sudden, or the determined, evil glint in her eyes. "And why is that?"

"Um…" He wasn't laughing any more. In fact he looked a little apprehensive. "Did I say hilarious? What I really meant was…"

"Take your trews off, Sand; that's an order, soldier," she commanded with a dismissive sort of wave. "And make it seductive while you're at it. Nevalle's strip show earlier left a lot to be desired." Haesseth felt Nevalle swallow and shift uncomfortably behind her. She reached a hand down to pat him on the thigh, hoping he realised she was trying to be reassuring and apologetic for her comment all at once and not just trying to cop a feel like the pervert he probably thought she was.

Sand couldn't believe what the Knight Captain had just ordered him to do. He'd personally been hoping for an order to kill Qara, something he wouldn't have to try to resist much at all. He'd had to go laugh at her, didn't he, and now he had to strip in front of her. If it had just been Haesseth it wouldn't have been so bad, but Nevalle of all people? He could feel the mortification creep along his cheeks.

No! He wasn't going to do it. He wasn't going to give the knight something to goad him with later. Their relationship was prickly enough as it was. This was something that didn't need to be added to the mix, absolutely not.

A moment after he'd resolved not to follow Haesseth's order, he began to feel nauseated and a little feverish and he groaned. The urge to do what she had asked of him was intense. Nevalle had been right about fulfilling orders. The more direct and explicit the order was, the more urgent the need to complete it post-haste. Sand stood up and stepped away from Haesseth and Nevalle, a panicked feeling settling in the pit of his stomach. Oh, Mystra, he felt clammy and dizzy now. Not good. He had to do something about it.

He had to fix it.

His hand dropped to the lacings at his waist and hovered there for a moment as he processed what she'd ordered again. She wanted it seductive, did she? He'd complete her order. He'd ignore Nevalle and concentrate on her, make her want to knock her dirty little mind right out of her head. A slow smile spread across his face at the thought and he felt the feeling of sickness ease. He breathed a deep sigh of relief. It was time to turn the tables. He slipped his fingers beneath the waistband of his trews and fished out the knotted leather lacings. It was show time.

Sand raised an eyebrow at the Knight Captain to let her know he would follow her orders. His challenging stare brought a blush to her cheeks as she realised he was going to go through with what she'd asked him.

Haesseth watched his slender fingers pull the knots undone with an unhealthy fascination. She felt a guilty thrill rush through her as she imagined what those nimble hands were capable of. She'd watched him make precision potions and intricate magical items with those hands. They were very talented hands and a little whimpering moan escaped her at the thought.

Sand's smile got wider as he heard her moan. His nefarious scheme (to beat her at her own game while under orders) was working. Now the knots were undone, he fanned his fingers out, thumbs together, and ran his hands down his body, threading his fingers through the lacings in an erotic game of cat's-cradle. His movements were excruciatingly slow and enticing--very deliberately so. He spread his hands apart, and the lacings followed in their wake, affording a glimpse of shadowed promise in the firelight.

"Shhh…" Haesseth calmed Nevalle, who had started to squirm uncomfortably behind her, never once taking her eyes of Sand as she did so. Sand untangled his fingers from the now loosened lacings and slid his hands to rest on his hips. He slid his hands under the waistband again and began to rotate his hips in a slow and suggestive dance, the trews sliding down his skin with every twist and turn he made until the leather skimmed the top of his thighs. He grinned triumphantly as the Knight Captain gulped--enjoying that she was speechless for once, though he knew it wouldn't last for long.

"Well, hellooo, Staff of the Magi," she finally quipped, looking up at him with a wide grin on her face. Her words induced a coughing fit in Nevalle who had been trying to look anywhere in the room but at Sand. She thought the knight had swallowed his tongue, for a moment, he was choking so much.

The whole absurdity of the situation hit Sand hard and he started laughing, even as he finished shrugging out of his trews, kicking them aside with gleeful abandon. Following orders had never felt so good before.

"Here, you poor baby," Haesseth was soothing Nevalle, "let's get you up off the floor, come on." She rolled on to her knees and stood up in one fluid motion, leaning over to offer him a hand up. "Sit down and I'll rub your back for you," she told him, leading him towards her bed and directing him to sit on the edge of it before she climbed up behind him and began to rub circles on his back with one hand.

"My dear girl, for someone with your diplomatic prowess, you're about a subtle as a bag of hammers," Sand teased as he crossed the room to sit down on the other side of her, now completely at ease with his nudity.

"Oh, I'll show you my silver tongue, wizard, just you wait. But it's Nevalle's turn to try and disobey orders, so behave." Sand saluted her and she laughed for a second before asking, "Now, Sir Nevalle, what's a fitting order to give a knight of your stature?"