He turned and locked the door. "Your patron wouldn't go by the name Master Watch, would he now?"
Tennora smiled and flipped her braid over her shoulder. "Certainly not. Anyway there's not a thing illicit about knowing how to break a ward. This is purely research."
Sovann clucked his tongue. "Canny as an archdevil, you." She fell into step beside him. "How'd your last… research turn out then?"
"Well," she said. "Well as can be expected, anyway."
He nodded sagely. "It's a rough business."
"Your lessons certainly made the difference a few times," she said. "And the carvestars."
"Glad to be of service," he said with a florid bow. She caught his hand as it darted near her coin purse again and held it out with a disappointed expression.
He shrugged and smiled crookedly. "Just trying to recoup my losses," he said. "You can't blame a jack for trying."
"Can't I?" Tennora said. "You want to recoup your losses, come find me at this address." She held out a slip of paper and tucked it into the pocket of his jerkin. "I'll make sure you're paid handsomely." She let her hand linger on his chest a moment and stood close enough that the heat of their bodies banished the winter chill.
He raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Oh, I'll wager you will."
She shrugged and gave a smile of her own, then started down the cross street. Half a block away, she thought better of it. "Sovann?" she called.
He turned as she tossed his coin purse back to him.
"Now we're even," she said and, leaving him with his mouth agape, returned home in a much better mood.