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Teja and Urquhart are playing chess again, slowly and grimly, but with much less tension than the last time.

Urquhart's nose is still somewhat swollen and discoloured.

Teja would not pass judgement on that; he is far too dignified to smirk at the man's suffering.

Instead, he takes a knight with his bishop, calmly.

[[OOC: Please say in your tag which of them you want, or you might get both. Thanks!]]

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"No, we don't," Teja says. "But it is his move, and he is stopping the game by not making it."

Dinah smirks and leans back in her chair, waiting to see oif Urquhart will make the move she would.

He finishes the dumpling first.

Then, he does.

Dinah smiles as she takes a bite of her own. Urquhart apparently has the same tactical approach as she does - reckless.

"Told you they were great."

Teja castles.

Then, sips his tea.

Dinah raises a single eyebrow at that kind of defensive mood, then sits back in her chair to get a long view of the board again.

In the next few moves, Urquhart makes a fierce dash for the heart of Teja's defences, suddenly knowing exactly where to strike; but then, Teja closes the trap he has been building, and massacres Urquhart's forces, even including his queen.

After striking her down, he orders more tea.

Dinah, who had seen what was happening two moves into the strike, covers her mouth thoughtfully with one hand.

It's salvagable, now, she thinks, but every move matters.

During the next moves, Urquhart starts sidling around Teja's position with his remaining pawns. He loses one, but manages to entrap a knight as well.

Dinah watches Urq's moves, but she also watches Teja's reaction. A trap like that required a lot of setting up, and she's curious to see if he planned beyond it.

At first, Teja simply keeps slaughtering Urquahrt's chessmen; but then, one of the Scot's pawns breaks through, turns into a queen, and starts wreaking havoc from behind.

Dinah grins at Urq and winks. She approves of his tactics.

It works; Teja fights back, but in the end, Urquhart mentions to checkmate him in a wild move with his new queen and one last, trusty pawn.

Teja topples his king, conceding the game.

Dinnah whistles, slowly and impressed. "That was a great game," she tells Teja.

"I lost," Teja informs her.

"I know the rules of chess," Dinah informs him with a smile. "I was impressed by the strategy anyway."

"Thank you," Teja says. "Complicated strategies for losing are my speciality."

She laughs - at him, but not unkindly. "So you underestimated your opponent. It happens."

He underestimated Urquhart. She's still more proud of her Scot.

"He's right," Urquhart says. "Read his history. That set up a very, very complicated strategy to pick the right battlefield to lose his last battle on exactly his terms. Unfortunately, I'm not Narses, so the ploy is lost on me."

"For the sake of your lovers, you should be glad that you are not Narses!" Teja says, almost laughing.

Dinah does laugh. "Why's that?"

Oooh, a history lesson!

They both laugh. Yes, Teja can laugh!

"He was a eunuch!" they declare, almost in unison.

"And ancient," Teja adds.

Dinah laughs at them chorusing like that. "And this was common knowledge, in his time?"

"It was!" Teja says. "In Byzantium, it was common to have court eunuchs. They were very Eastern about that. And of course everybody knew he was over seventy. He led his army from behind, planning and ordering, with maps and sandboxes, unlike us, who went first into battle. We saw Belisarius; but we never once saw Narses."

"Do you think that gave him an advantage?" Dinah asks. "Leading from behind where he could see the big picture?"

"It did," Teja says. "He was the one to finally conquer us, where the great hero Belisarius had failed! But it was not our way; and while it may have worked not to risk his life in battle, it did not make us respect him."

Pause.

"Which probably interested him less than a fly in wine. I never saw him, as I said; he saw my corpse being borne by on a bier."