* * *

Kilniara felt her stomach flutter, fear spiking through her as she almost spoke out on his comment about how boys were young and dumb but then quickly calmed herself, remembering his wish that he be treated more as an equal and she nervously pressed onward, “Even you? You are a boy!”

Joe’s eyebrows rose quickly up his forehead before he smiled brightly and laughed loudly, “I guess, yes… Me, too! Although I hope I’ve matured slightly more than those two.”

Kilniara felt a rush of relief wash through her quickly overwhelmed by giddiness which found her giggling like a little girl, Struggling with her embarrassment over such giggling, she tried to restrain herself but her relief at not overly offending her master seemed to wash through her relentlessly, stealing her ability to restrain herself and she soon found her master smiling brighter with her, and the two chuckled a bit. Worry over her overlong laughter came to mind, but before she could apologize, he interrupted her thoughts.

“So. What were you going to do tonight? I can leave the room open if you want to stay, or lock it if you want to head out as well. I’m just going to go for a walk and see the city, eat some snacks. Just… random ‘see a location as an outsider visiting for the purposes of exploring and experiencing a location’ stuff.”

Kilniara blinked, finding her mind desperately trying to parse her master’s latest statement, struggling to understand it.

“Hey, you OK?”

“Ah.. um… yes.”

“Cool. Want me to leave the room open or are you going to head out as well?”

“I think… um,” Kilniara trailed off in shy embarrassment.

“Yes?”

Kilniara felt her shy worry press in on her but she glanced at his face and noticed his impatience and quickly retreated, “Ah… nothing.”

“You sure?” Joe asked, genuine concern seeming to shine through his stance.

“I…” she once again found herself conflicted, not wishing to annoy Master, but simultaneously hoping to join him. Her thoughts were once again interrupted by him.

“Hey! Just tell me. It’s ok!”

A red tint flushed across her cheeks by this point and she nodded but replied very quietly, “May… could I … may I join … you?”

Joe stood up to his full height, a smile blooming on his face before he nodded, “Sure. It’s fine. Why are you too concerned with asking? I’ll say no if you can’t. You’ve asked to come with me a lot of times before, anyway. Why do you feel you cannot ask now?”

“The others were meaningless chores in passing. This is… a free day.”

Joe chuckled and shook his head, “I would love to spend some time with you, even on free days; especially on free days! And make sure the other two know that as well. If I really need alone time, I’ll let you know explicitly. OK?”

Kilniara felt joy warm her heart before quickly flushing away as she realized that he offered such intimacy to all three, her smile curdling a bit but stamped and unchanging on her face as she bounced and nodded with happiness.

“OK!”

Joe nodded in her response before leading her out and locking their room door, “Let’s head to some snacks or dessert!”

Her joy returned at this and she followed out after him happily.

Once on the street, Joe turned the trip over to her, “Right! You know this place better than me. Show me all the best places for snacks and to hang out!”

“Right! Then… the first place we need to go to is the Sugared Hair.”

“The Sugared Rabbit? Huh… that seems…”

“The Sugared Rabbit? Why… I didn’t say that. I said the Sugared Hair.”

“You… oh! Ha! OK… that was an interesting translation quirk. Heh! OK. In my language, hair or hare can mean two different things. The hair on your body, or head, or a small bouncy animal: a rabbit.”

“Truly?”

“Yeah… they both sound like the word ‘hair.’”

“That seems strange.”

“Really? You have no words that sound the same but mean different things?”

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Kilniara took a moment to think before finding several examples, “Huh… yeah, I guess we do. I just never really noticed, I guess?”

Joe smiled and shrugged, “It is part of some of our learning.”

“You are educated to see these … similar but different words?”

“Not really, no, but in order to learn how to ‘create words with visible symbols in specific order,’ we have to know about them, so, yeah…”

* * *

“Not really, no, but in order to learn how to spell, we have to know about them, so, yeah…”

Kilniara seemed to take a moment to ponder that, her thoughts lost for a while as she guided on auto pilot and passed by a confectionary store identified by a wig that seemed to be frosted with snow. Sugar! Hah… literally the Sugared Hair… maybe frosted would be better? But…

“Is that it, Kilniara?”

Kilniara seemed to jerk into awareness, glancing at him before looking where he was pointing, “Oh! Yes! That’s it!”

She bounced towards it quickly, leading the way and greeting the various workers in the store warmly before quickly ordering several different sets of sweets, checking with Joe if she should order double. He agreed with several, although didn’t feel comfortable eating too many, his health and diet an important part of his training. Although, I haven’t eaten pretty much anything bad in almost a year… so… heh.

Joe didn’t let his sugar free year seduce him into splurging and instead only took a few of what Kilniara was fussing over the most and found himself enjoying the sweets immensely. Kilniara seemed to be a little bit more than acquaintances with the several of the workers and conversed with them excitedly, introducing him and generally engaging in small talk before the two headed out and enjoyed the last of their snacks in the glow of the late afternoon. The conversation died at that point as she spent most of her time prolonging her enjoyment and Joe soon found himself and watched her with some amusement.

She didn’t really notice him waiting for him until almost ten minutes later, simply offering short responses to his own comments but then ate quickly when she finally noticed his empty hands.

“Oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t know you had finished!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Joe chuckled. “We have plenty of time. Enjoy your snack.”

Kilniara shook her head quickly and snapped the last bite into her mouth quickly, “No! Let’s continue,” she replied with snack muffled embarrassment.

Joe laughed even more at that before shrugging, “Sure. I was just going to walk around. Do you have any good or amazing place in the city we should see?”

Kilniara considered for a moment before reply, “You’ve seen the Merchant and Temple Square. How about the Great Square?”

“OK, sure. Is it far?”

“Not too far. Maybe a short walk, but it’s a bit busy now so… maybe twenty minutes or so?”

Joe nodded, “That sounds good. Lead the way?”

Kilniara nodded, but offered no reply but to turn and start walking down the road, taking a few steps before shyly slipping a hand into his. He glanced down then looked at her with a smile before squeezing her hand in acknowledgement, which brought her eyes to his, and the two found themselves lost for a few moments until she blushed fiercely and glanced away.

Joe chuckled at that, smiling a bit, “I like you looking at me. Your eyes are very beautiful.”

Kilniara blushed even more, dropping her head downwards, but her smile grew even greater and Joe left her alone to recover her composure for a bit. His thoughts mellowed significantly, and he found himself at peace, walking the streets leisurely with her, the silence stretching but never uncomfortable.

After a few moments, he glanced down and found her once again comfortably basking in his presence once again, but seemed to firmly keep her gaze away from him. They continued their walk a few more moments before Joe spoke once again.

“It’s quite nice to walk with you.”

Kilniara dropped her head again but brought back up to him with a bright smile before nodding, “Mm!”

Joe remained silent once again for another four or five minutes before sighing subtly so as not to upset her and brought up a subject that was a bit concerning to him, “So… I do not wish to hurt you or bother you, but I want to make sure things are OK and appropriate between us.”

Kilniara tensed at this, schooling her face as she looked up to him, “Have I failed you somehow?”

Joe quickly shook his head, smiling, “No. Not in anyway. I only fear that I have failed you.”

She quickly shook her head, “No! Not at all.”

“Hmm… you may think that, but I want to be certain. May I speak with you on our relationship?”

She quickly nodded but said nothing and Joe continued.

“Well. Amongst my people, having a relationship with someone who is under your authority in some way can be… not … it’s inappropriate, to some degree. Amongst my masters, it is considered incredibly inappropriate. I do not know what… well, considering what we talked about before, it doesn’t seem to be an issue, but I still want to talk about it.”

“So… I cannot… with you?” Kilniara seemed very subdued, head down and concerned.

“I do not know. That is why I am speaking with you. Amongst most of my people, it is, to a greater or lesser degree.”

“It does not concern us, nor is it a problem for my people.”

“Well, even if it isn’t culturally inappropriate, I am still concerned because there is a important reason to be worried about it.”

“What reason?”

“Well, there is the power imbalance.”

“What is… power imbalance?”

“It’s when two people do not share equal power. For example, since I am your teacher, I can order you around or command you to do things. I could even force you to do things if I threaten you to use my power to … control you or our relationship.”

“Our relationship?”

“Yes. Our relationship.”

“But… isn’t that what a teacher does?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Well. A teacher trains his or her students and those who listen or do well are trained further. Those who do not are released.”

“Ah… well… yeah… but a teacher could … use the threat of releasing the student to force the student to do things for the teacher in their personal relationship, if they have one.”

“Couldn’t the teacher do that anyway even if they don’t have a personal relationship?”

Joe opened his mouth, floundering for a response a bit before responding, “I guess… yeah? But in a personal relationship, the relationship won’t be equal because the weaker one might feel pressured or some form of pressure because of the power the stronger one has.”

“OK. I can see this. And?”

“Well, the weaker one will never feel completely comfortable in the relationship because the power differences will always weigh on their mind.”

“Unless they trust the other.”

“Uh… yeah… but … I guess the point is that it shouldn’t ever be a point in the first place. A couple should come into a relationship equal in the first place.”

“What?” Kilniara seemed to be a bit disconcerted by this, her question a bit forceful in her surprise, although Joe didn’t seem to catch her slightly louder exclamation.

“Well. If both people are equal, then they will never have to worry about that. That’s why I’m concerned about our relationship. I have a power you do not.”

“But… you will always have a power I do not. You are much… stronger than I.”