"Why do you say that, Caoimhe? Things are different now, you need to understand what regular interaction with Magi of the Order is like. I am not cross with you, I should have had this talk with you before. Magi of the Order can do things with these connections. Spy on you or us, attack us. They also amplify the power of magic considerably. You need to understand the risks you expose yourself and us to when you consort with magi and magae who aren't from Insula Canaria, whether they are allies or enemies or their intentions are unknown."
Caoimhe pulls a lace kerchief from her bodice and pressed it to her face, inhaling deeply. "She wouldn't do that," she insists.
"I have had lovers tell me things they wouldn't do to me turn around do things far worse than you can imagine. My master, Aeliophanes, my boy's father. Lovers lie. They may not intend to lie now, but something changes as love lingers between people. Some people become less caring and more demanding. I think, before you give any more of your heart to this Godiva you need to find out a bit about her. I haven't spoken to Paolo[1], yet, but he has a fair bit of knowledge of magi of the order. Asking around here first, might not be too bad an idea."
Awareness check ((I know about this, but I didn't want to know about it. Trying to compartmentalize knowledge here, so I need the SG to adjudicate whether I'm observant enough about the kerchief))
"One place where we differ-- I exercise some degree of discrimination about whom I choose as lovers," Caoimhe replies in that degree of self-righteousness only lesbians ever fully manage 
Halie snorts, but recovers quickly and keeps a straight face.
((No fair, tag team, but not in a fun way! 
And I have no idea how self-righteous lesbians can be.))
"I have no love left, except for the love of friends. What happens in there, that's not love." she indicates her cabin door. "When one of my crew places the shawl around my shoulders, I know it's not love, it's a ritual we go through. I have a hunger I cannot sate. I gave up on love for me a long time ago. Why do you think as soon as I came here, I put my son with the nurse in his cottage? I can't stand for him to see me do the things I crave." Talia lowers her voice to a whisper, "Those who share my bed are not necessarily my friends. Don't push away a friend. I don't want to see you get hurt. We magi aren't always so different, some can live normal lives, and some create an aura of normalcy around themselves that is a thin veneer. Godiva may be genuine. Or she may not. You were awfully quick to jump into her arms, so this love you speak of is little more than physical attraction at this point."
"It started off, I just wanted to misdirect her attention away from my blunder. But.. Gods, she really is a beautiful woman. And I thought, I could seduce her, get information, leverage-- maybe get us the upper hand... But... Gods, she really is just astonishingly beautiful."
"Sounds like my master, and then he crushed my heart. Or Aeliophanes, he did the same. Caoimhe, dear, I have no idea about her. I just want you to be careful, ok? If our covenants are to be allies and friendly, it isn't a problem. If she has ulterior motives for you, she'll use you up and some of my sodales will have little desire to forgive you." ((Does Talia recall her being all that beautiful, like stop the world and melt with you beautiful?))
((My interpretation of Venus' Blessing is that non-sexually conpatible folks can tell they're really attractive, it just does nothing for em. YMMV.))
((Well, with Talia not being incredibly discriminating.... So, I should imagine Venus Blessing as Sela Ward. Got it.))
"Some people are more enchanting than others. But never forget she is a Maga of the Order of Hermes. Just as I am able to command a ship and satisfy my carnal hungers, you do not know what powers she possesses. Our Gifts are all different, and we all use them for different purposes. What you need to know is what her motivation is, what she wants. Jerbiton are funny. And she may want exactly what she said she does. But Jerbiton normally like to be in cities areas of culture, they rarely try and bring culture to an area, they want to experience it."
The frilly kercief comes out again and Caoimhe clutches it. "She's not like that! I am an excellet judge of character. I fell in with you, after all."
Halie loses it and laughs aloud, earning a glare from Caoimhe 
"There is that, you could've found yourself a worse magus or maga to be with. There are a few of my House who have great respect for what mundanes accomplish. Sometimes there are magi of the Order who do not offend people by their mere presence. House Jerbiton prizes this, they call it the Gentle Gift, among all other things, it allows them to interact with mundanes easily. For me, it's quite different. You'll always be a bit repulsed or annoyed by me, something with me will always be off. But with Godiva, did you notice that?"
Dunno, I feel like I'm missing something here, too. My first thought was "Do I want to know where that kerchief has been?" But it sounds like something more? Thinking on it, all I'm coming up with is something akin to a Favor, but...? shrug
Caoimhe ganked a memento from Godiva's things before she slinked out in the dead of night. (She might be smitten, but old habits die hard.)
I remember now. The little nap I just took helped.
God I feel so old sometimes. 
On the plus side, hey, you have an AC to Godiva now!
Do you want to play who's older?
So, does Talia know this or not?
I'd say, based on "Caoimhe pulls a lace kerchief from her bodice and pressed it to her face, inhaling deeply. "She wouldn't do that," she insists.", that it's a reasonable assumption.
Also, in case I forgot to mention this, Drystan has offered to Rego part of the pier to allow the Whoa Buoy inside the Aegis.
((Like I said, I needed an honest arbiter.))
"Caoimhe where did you get that kerchief from?" Talia asks but thinking she knows the answer.
((So the question becomes, does Talia create two ships. Whoa Buoy stays inside the pier. The Atta Buoy goes from one end of the Loch to the other and the Go Get 'em Buoy to do the piracy? What kind of crewing situation do we have from the covenfolk? the Whoa Buoy doesn't need to be crewed, per se.))
"Oh, this old thing?" Caoimhe says nonchalantly. "I picked it up in St. Jean de Luz about five years back. I just used it to drop some of her perfume on it, it smells divine."
((Someone else will have to roll Guile for me.))