Meanwhile, out in the Courtyard...
Fati has gathered Sharae and Rebecca for an impromptu pow-wow of their new visitors.
"Okay, I know Master Lannister told us to make sure the new guests felt welcomed and invited when he mentioned they would be showing up," Fati started, "But I truly hope he has a change of heart and kicks most of them out. I don't know if I can put up with this many new people who are supposed to be 'in charge.' They don't know a thing about us!" The old guard calmed his ire for a moment and waffled a bit, adding "Although I will admit it's nice to see some professionals around again. I would be extremely interested in testing out their guards' prowess against each other to get a feel for their strengths and weaknesses. I fear me and my girls wouldn't hold a candle to them together, although I could still make that big one work a sweat."
"Oh, I know!" Sharae groused. "And did you see? One of the earlier ones even brought his own priest with him! And the white-haired one - is he in league with Shaitan? He looks like he's made an evil pact. He gives me the chills... sometimes I think literally. Much less the six or seven short ones, most of which are currently oohing and ahhing over Noland's forge right now. Oh Fati, whatever will we do?"
"I don't know," Fati grumbled. "But we need to do something. I know you've been assigning maids to help them unpack and at least get all of them situated for the night. Anything suspicious I can bring to Jamie's attention to convince him to give someone the boot?"
"Not yet. But we're looking and paying attention," Rebecca reported. "They've brought a lot of books and writing equipment. A lot like what always cluttered the Lannisters' rooms, although these seem to be written in code, what little we could glance of them. The real question should be, do we do our best at a cool welcome until they choose to leave on their own, or keep an eye on them and their shifty eyes and ears?"
"Now, that's not a bad idea," Fati nodded. "If you put Daniella in charge of their maids..."
"But she doesn't understand any Latin," Sharae stated, confused. Suddenly her face brightened, "Ohh..."
"That's right," added Rebecca. "And if they have the expectation that their maids don't understand them, and then I slip in... I could make sure they're not planning anything nasty to us." She suddenly frowned. "But not Daniella. She's not smart enough to pull this off. She's liable to crawl into bed with that one cute one and let loose all of our plans. She does speak some English, you know..."
"All right then," Fati nodded. "So maybe not the old maid switch. But we're agreed. We keep a close eye on them and what they do for now, and hope we can catch them before it's too late. And we stay as polite as 7 year olds in trouble so Master Lannister has nothing to complain about us. So here's what we're going to do..."
And a "polite", watchful conspiracy is born...
Back inside the Council Bath Chambers...