Suddenly, the point seemed to become… known. He knew things about it that were… not readily apparent. It was still infinitesimally small to him, seeming to literally be its namesake, a zero dimensional object; a single point. Despite its appearance, he was acutely aware that it had a shell of some kind, permeable to mana. Internally, it was a vacuum, at least to mana. It had no physical aspect at all, but was some form of metaphysical object existing on another … something. Plane? Dimension? But then, how can I see it? As his thoughts wandered, he brought up his other points and focused on them in the same way, seeing them… well… feeling them in … some way… The only thing I can still see is there … just… pointiness, I guess. A single point floating there. Somehow, he knew them and could sense minute differences.

For example, the one that he’d stuffed full of mana was not doing well as its shell seemed to bulge out in a way that didn’t seem too healthy. He noticed this and expelled a little mana from the point to relax it a bit, but still left it a bit uncomfortably bloated.

With this done, he had an idea and began playing with another point. He noticed that he could enact some kind of something on the inner construct of the point and on the shell, all of which used mana to do it. He was able to pour mana into the shell, and it did something… several somethings, in fact, but he wasn’t certain exactly what. His strange sense only told him that he’d made four or five subtle changes to the shell. The inner section was even stranger, coming across to his sense as a void, but still somehow able to be impacted by him. He was able to make a few changes to the inner void. Regardless, he wasn’t sure what he was looking at by that point.

In any case, he made these changes only to the experimental points, leaving a control point alone. By this time, his mana had returned and he grinned brightly as he returned to the idea he’d had to put on the back burner.

Form five revolving spheres around my body spaced vertically evenly.

Joe pictured the idea carefully, making sure his idea was carefully described. A cloud of mana wafted from him before forming into five spheres which began rotating around his body perfectly. Joe began laughing quietly in excitement, not wishing to wake up the others, but unable to remain silent, his joy at discovery welling up within.

Right! Right… haha! OK. Gotta disperse the initial stuff… umm… spheres, go…ooh.. no… recover as much mana as possible!

Joe watched intently as some of the mana actually drifted back to him, reentering his body aimed directly at his heart. A lot of it was lost, seeming to drift away or collide with the other mana as it was pushed around, but he watched his MP on his status recover by about ten MP in a few seconds, much faster than his natural recovery rate. OK! Cool… that worked a bit… gonna need to… what… have it line up maybe? A lot of it seemed to get lost in being pushed around. Joe’s mind turned to follow this rabbit trail before shaking his head, dismissing it.

Better idea! So, five revolving sphe… no… five revolving rotating circular planes spaced vertically evenly around my body which automatically place themselves on a plane between my body and the nearest fastest moving objects or people to my person.

Five planes appeared as Joe expected, perpendicular to the floor but parallel to his body, revolving around his body and rotating to always keep its greatest face outward… or inward, I guess… a plane has two sides… heh. Now… how do I test… An idea came to Joe and he grabbed a coin from his pouch tossed it directly into the air over his head, carefully making sure it would fall on him.

But, even as the coin flew from him, one of the planes zipped down in between his body and the coin flying away from him, moving slowly to always remain between his body and the coin, even as it went away from him and then began dropping back down onto him. He watched intently as the coin began to fall, tilting slightly so it would hit his shoulder. He watched with glee as the plane kept itself perfectly centered on the line of attack the coin was making towards his body, the coin dropping directly through the center of the plane. It still hit him, but Joe found it exciting to see progress.

Ha! Haha! This… is going to be awesome!!

He played with his planes for another couple minutes until they dissipated. Huh… going to have to figure out if I can make it last longer?

Still, Joe found the experience exhilarating and was only able to do one more experiment before his mana ran out. When it did, he turned back to his points and began playing with the shell of his second mana point some more. He spent another twenty or thirty minutes alternating between doing these two things until a girlish giggle brought him to awareness. He looked up to see Kilniara giggling at how the two boys were sleeping on the bed.

“They look cozy,” Joe remarked while glancing at the two boys. How did they even sleep on the same bed… they have bunk beds!

Kilniara’s giggles increased and she nodded her head, “Yeah. I’ll have to keep that for later. I’ll be able to get quite a bit out of my brother with this.”

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Joe chuckled, laughing at the sibling antics but said nothing, simply staring up at her. Kilniara turned back and stared at him, her breathing quickening slightly before finally closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She shook her head and looked at him.

“You are dangerous.”

“Me? I don’t sneak into your room in the middle of the night!”

She grew self-conscious at this and Joe immediately grimaced inwardly. OK… not the right thing to say. He immediately interjected.

“I didn’t say I minded. Just… It’s easier to resist if the other isn’t in the room.”

She relaxed at this, then smiled with a triumphant grin, “I am hard to resist?”

Joe barked out a soft laugh, “Very much so.”

She looked at him a bit, then began to slither across the floor towards him, her spine moving in a way that no human could possibly match. Joe found his eyes going wide even as his breath quickened before he finally grit his teeth and calmed himself with a deep breath. Kilniara seemed to react at almost the same time, even before he did so and came to a stuttering halt, calming herself as well with her own deep hissing sigh. They both glanced at each other with that then burst out in mutual laughter, acknowledging one another’s struggles and mutual interest but enjoying the comedy of the simultaneous expression. The laughter released the tension and this time, Kilniara resumed her walk across the room in a more normal movement, although Joe could still notice stuttering hints where her passion fought with her self-control.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

They both smiled at each other when she arrived at his bed and he shifted to sit up on the bed, his back against the wall. He patted the bed beside him and she squirrelled into the bed beside him before slipping up under the blanket with alacrity and cuddling into his side.

“Cold,” she said as she shivered into his side. As soon as she pressed into him, she sighed in bliss.

“Warm!”

Joe chuckled, “You … really have a problem bei… with remaining warm?” Don’t say cold blooded!

Kilniara didn’t notice his slip up and nodded quickly, “Yes… very much so.”

Joe frowned at that, “I’m sorry. Did I make a mistake? Base… I, at least, don’t need much else to remain warm at night. Without body heat… yeah… you would get colder and colder at night. Is there something I need to do for you and your brother?”

Kilniara smiled up at him then giggled as she nodded her head over at her brother, “My brother’s fine. Why do you think he’s wrapped so tightly around Garnedell?”

Joe guffawed at that but then looked at the scene with a new understanding. Huh… right… warm source… a cold blooded person is going to glom right on to that. He looked down at Kilniara and while she didn’t really shiver, she remained pressed up against him in obvious need of heat. He quickly pulled up his closest arm and wrapped it around her, pulling her tight into his side and she sighed even more, wiggling deeper into his side.

“So, then… how about you?”

Kilniara looked up at him then smiled, “I’ll take care of myself.”

He raised an eyebrow at that, “You got it?”

She nodded, “Yup!”

He stared at her before nodding, “Good!”

She looked back, her smile growing, “Yes.”

They fell silent at that, Joe growing complacent in the companionship and Kilniara slowly warming up. After a bit, Joe found himself growing ever more curious and he finally turned to Kilnara.

“Could… if you don’t mind, could I ask?”

“About how I will stay warm?”

“Yes.”

“Are you worried I will find another hot base to cuddle at night?”

Joe felt his heart spike at that and his face struggled to remain neutral, “Uh… is that what your family did?”

Kilniara saw his look and immediately grew concerned and frowned, “I… I’m sorry. I was joking. I had no intention to offend.”

Joe’s relieve was immediate even as he snorted, “Sorry. I should have taken it as a joke, but I really do not know this plane or its ways. Many things… seem odd.”

Kilniara’s own worry faded at that and she smiled, “It’s fine. I am simply joking. You seem to enjoy joking.”

Joe’s own smile returned and she looked down at her, “Yes, I do. But, you know,” Joe waved over at her brother, still wrapped pretty tightly around Garnedell.

Kilniara looked over and immediately began giggling and slapped him on the arm while shaking her head, “Some… few Acokzau are lucky enough to have something like this. It was common for a time to take on base slaves to warm the beds of the family members. That… did not go well for some. And there are other and better ways for most.”

“Like what?”

“The easiest is to have a deep stone in the house. The wealthy will link the deep stone to the walls and floor of the house if it is made of stone.”

“Ahh… and they heat the stone?”

Kilniara glanced up at him before smiling, “Yes. Often, the bedroom backs against the kitchen and the deep stone shares the wall or is the back wall of the oven for the family. Members can then sleep where they are most comfortable, nearer or further from the heat.”

“Ah… that makes sense.”

Kilniara nodded and fell silent. Joe pondered a bit before continuing.

“Then, you will get a home with a deep stone?”

Kilniara stared up at him in thought before she shook her head, “I will get a room at an inn with a deep stone.”

“Oh… there are inn’s wit… never mind. That would make sense… inns to cater to the needs of every race, I guess. Then… huh.”

Kilniara nodded at that, “Yeah. Most inns have deep stone.”

Joe frowned, “Then, this inn does as well?”

Kilniara nodded, “Yes.”

Joe’s frown grew, “Then why didn’t you ask for one?”

Kilniara’s embarrassment shot up and she looked away, shy. Joe noticed and sighed in reply, shaking his head.

“Too embarrassed or worried to ask me?”

She nodded and looked back up at him. He snorted and shook his head.

“When are you guys going to learn just to ask me?”

Kilniara nodded in relief and then sighed, “Now I wished I would have asked earlier.”

Joe snorted in mocking laughter and shook his head, “I don’t know why you guys don’t. It’s a bit frustrating, to be honest.”