“But don’t get rid of the food you have now. You’ll want to have the good food for your regular customers as well!”

Joe waved as he left, surprised to see the two cores already gone from the bar top before he turned to Kilniara and pointed the way up to the room. Her look at him seemed to be half giddy excitement and half nervous concern. Joe smiled to comfort her and soon the two found themselves back in their room and Joe fiddled with the furniture to set it up for a private meal, dropping the washbasin to the floor and moving the side table between his bed and the bunk bed that Garnedell and Zilnek used. The space between the two beds was a bit cramped, but actually worked in their favor, allowing them to sit comfortably close enough to the table, not required to lean forward to eat, although getting out was a bit annoying so Joe settled Kilniara into her seat while he waited for the meal to arrive, sitting next to the table.

Kilniara actually seemed a bit nervous, her fingers twiddling and Joe smiled before he broke in on her thoughts.

“You OK? I told you, I’m… I take things slow. I don’t really want to push things.”

Kilniara smiled wanly and Joe’s concerned spiked quite a bit more.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m just,” Kilniara fidgeted some more, worry obvious, “… I don’t know, but I’m just nervous.”

Joe smiled and laughed, “We’re literally just eating supper together. Nothing more. I told you, so many times. I’m not really wanting to go quickly.”

Kilniara smiled weakly before taking a deep breath and blowing out slightly with eye’s closed, then looking up with a brighter stronger smile, “Sorry. I shouldn’t be nervous, but… I guess…”

Kilniara trailed off as Joe stood and walked to the inn room door and pulled the door open. OSHA violation! He pushed the door all the way around until the room was easily visible from the hallway before returning to sit down across from her on his bed.

“Better?”

“Ah… no. I think it’s actually worse! People can see us.”

“Oh! So … I’m not making you nervous? Just the situation?”

“Uh.. no! No! You are not making me nervous. You are a kind and good master. No, it is not you. I’m … I am not a clansmen. I do not know proper etiquette in a meal, Master. It’s just… I don’t know…”

Realization hit Joe and he guffawed, a single loud exhalation of laughter before waving off her concerns, “Kilniara. You’ve eaten with me before, downstairs. Do the same now. No more. That is all… except maybe talk with me a little bit, tell some stupid jokes… lose to my superior wits, of course, and, let’s see, make sur...” Kilniara quickly cut him off, and Joe looked at her, smiling in relief to see her calm returned.

“Lose? In wits with you? Battling wits with you is like battling wits with a slime.”

Joe’s eyes rose at that, shock throwing him off his game a bit even as his smile slowly grew both in brightness and spite, “Oh! Oh!! Them’s fightin’ words! Are you certain you wish to declare war with a master?”

“A master? A master of …” Kilniara trailed off when a serving girl scuttled into the room with a tray with two dinner servings and settled them on the table, the two falling silent to allow her to work before she bowed awkwardly while stepping backwards from the room.

Joe smiled and nodded back, “Thank you. Your service was wonderful.”

The bright smile on her face revealed her relief and she quickly fled from the room, promising she would be available if he called for her, and he heard her settle in the hallway down from his door. Is she sitting on the floor? The innkeeper might be rude, but he at least thinks on his feet.

Joe turned back to his meal and Kilniara to find her smiling brilliantly at him, and he returned his own smile before the two quickly dove into a dinner and conversation. The meal passed quickly but took quite a while, the two enjoying each other immensely as the intimacy and freedom to talk grew, the two becoming more knowledgeable of each other’s pasts and preferences.

The meal had long since passed with the two now nursing a drink or two, the table already cleared by their personal waitress, by the time Joe was informed that the Matriarch and Kukurnal had returned, both at the same time. Joe thanked the waitress for the information and asked for her to let the other two know he would be down soon and turned back to Kilniara once more.

“Sorry about that. If it was only Kukurnal, maybe I would just … take the night off, but… I don’t want to offend the Matriarch. Politics, am I right?” Joe sighed with a bit of frustration.

Kilniara giggled slightly at Joe’s statement before shaking her head, “No! No. This was… a really wonderful evening. Thank you. But you need to see them.”

“Yeah. It would be rude to ditch them especially on the first day after. Hmm… well, do you want to just stay up here? Or… do you want to join us below. It’s going to be really boring talk abou…”

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“May I come, please?”

“You sure? It’s… you guys never talk when we talk, so it must be boring but…”

“Please.”

Joe smiled and nodded, “Cool. Let’s head down, then!”

When Joe and Kilniara made it down the stairs, Joe panned his eyes once again across the room and found the two at the table waiting for him. They came together, huh? Wonder what that means? And…ooh! Smart! Joe praised the innkeeper in his mind, for although the innkeeper had no time to prepare any form of private room, he’d taken alcove with a single table and had it separated by some space away from the rest of the room, crowding the tables a bit more together in the middle of the room to give the corner alcove table a sense of privacy. Rude, but pretty strong ingenuity!

Joe led the way and soon was seated at the table, all three greeting one another, Joe’s and Kukurnal’s greeting relaxed while the Matriarch still stiff.

“I do not know if it is propriety keeping you reserved, Matriarch, which is fine if it is, but you can be very informal with me, if you wish. I am very relaxed.”

The Matriarch smiled at Joe’s statement, nodding slightly, but still kept a formal tone, although the reserved tinge did drop a couple notches.

“So. What would you like to speak about today?”

Kukurnal said nothing as he looked to the Matriarch, bowing to her choice, and she nodded graciously as she returned to Joe, “May we continue our discussion of… econo… money matters?”

“Ah, uh… sure. The word my people use is economics, but yeah. What do you want to know?”

And soon the three were deep into the topic of nation and city wide economics, trying to understand the flow of wealth with Joe’s limited freshman level courses and random conversations from his past. Kilniara, as always, remained silent, but listened attentively throughout it all and the three meandered through wealth, expenditures, keeping wealth moving, and even a rabbit trail into safety and military defense before landing once again on how to generate wealth as a nation state.

The conversation went long, and the common room actually emptied out with the four the last to be at the table before Joe called the discussion short, begging for rest and sleep and the other two quickly agreed to end the conversation and continue it at another time. During the several hour discussion, the Matriarch found herself much more relaxed and open, soon laughing with the humor that Kukurnal and Joe threw out, although she remained aloof from offering any humor herself.

The meeting ended much more cordially and on friendly terms and soon Joe found himself back up in the room for the evening, still alone with Kilniara as Garnedell and Zilnek had not returned. The atmosphere turned a bit awkward, but Joe pushed on through by asking Kilniara to wash first, giving himself some time to calm.

When Kilniara called him in after her own bath, he felt relieved and just a bit disappointed to find her dressed normally and sitting on her brother’s bed. She didn’t sneak into my bed naked! That… would have been cool… and really hard to say no to!

Joe smiled brightly, “I… let’s talk again after I finish mine? We can chat in here after.”

Kilniara smile glowed at that and seemed to actually bounce out of the room and Joe found himself a bit rushed in his evening ablutions. Huh.. nervous, too, am I… and suddenly Yoda, too, am I! Joe snorted to himself for his thoughts and finished up his bath quickly before fidgeting with the idea of taking off his shirt or not to get comfortable, but then decided it against it, remember a few times where she’d been a bit uncomfortable at his shirtless attire. Just sit on the bed then and chat?

Joe took some time, though, to at least get comfortable with his clothing, which was difficult as the clothing he’d arrived with was poorly fitted non-elastic clothing that bound in ways he found incredibly uncomfortable. Is that… cool… good enou… stop delaying! Joe sighed at his thoughts and just collapsed on his bed, relaxing, before calling to Kilniara that she was done.

Kilniara came in shortly after and shuffled a bit, uncertain where to rest before Joe gestured to her brother’s bed, “You can sit there while we chat. It’s fine.”

Kilnaiara seemed a bit resistant, not moving to the bed while remaining standing with a bit of embarrassment, “Could I… be with you?”

Joe’s eyebrows rose at that before he nodded and started to sit up, planning to scoot over to the side and allow her to sit beside him but she stepped forward quickly before halting shyly.

“You can… stay. I… May I rest beside you?”

Joe’s eyebrows went stratospheric at that and he cleared his throat uncomfortably, “Uh, I…” Joe took a moment to clear his throat once again to continue speaking but she aggressively came forward and pressed her hands on his chest, pushing him down before she slid a leg over his waist and wedged herself between the him and the wall.

“Uh, OK!” Joe replied a bit disconcertingly and silence fell in the room for a bit while they lay next to each other. She took a bit to wiggle into his arm, resting her head on his shoulder and chest, but kept her head down in obvious embarrassment. Joe found himself uncertain where to rest his arm as it would lay low on her side, quiet low on top of her hips or resting directly behind her rear and there was little room between the wall and her body. Why is she so aggressive? This… What’s she doing?

“Uh, Kilniara? I’m… not really comfortable with this. I don’t … I’m … look, I just want you to be yourself and not to push this or yourself. Let’s… let it happen naturally. This is a bit too fast for me.”

Kilniara shrunk in on herself and began pushing away from him quickly but Joe clapped down on her waist to keep her there, “Hey! Hey! I’m not rejecting you. I just want you to be your normal self. This seems a bit… rushed. Let’s… just wait.”

Joe pressed her back down but extricated his hand and slid away to the side of the bed, until there was a foot or so of space between them. The bed was much too narrow to offer more space, but it did allow him to turn sideways and prop his head up with a hand under his head while his elbow pressed into the mattress and placed him in a half reclined position.

“Hey… hey… look at me. Just… relax and… hey,” Joe cajoled Kilniara for some time until she finally looked up and noticed his posture. He kept up some platitudes to reduce her stress and soon she breathed a deep sigh and joined him, her body also on her side with head propped up with hand on head and elbow in the pillow. She smiled weakly before dropping her gaze again and Joe once again comforted her.

“Hey! I don’t understand Acokzau mores, but… this is a bit fast by human standards. I think I’m just… surprised. I don’t want to take advantage of you nor do I want to … I just don’t understand and am trying the best to from a very … limited view point.”

She looked up slowly with his conversation before nodding with a sigh, “I’m… I do not know the appropriate ways. I have only heard the words of some of my friends, so…”

“Well, in that case, let me ask you. Are you comfortable with this?”

Kilniara blushed a bit before shrugging a bit but seemed a bit uncertain, “I… don’t know. I feel comfortable with you?”

“But maybe this is a bit… fast?”

Kilniara smiled before giggling slightly with a nod, “Yeah, maybe.”

“Well, that’s easy then. Let’s just relax and talk with one another.”