Her cheeks flushed even redder, excitement and fear both wrestling on her face. Joe noticed and chuckled.
“In every way… every way you could think of… but only in the way you want, desire, accept… I won’t force you…”
Her red face flushed even more as she giggled at his words, giddy excitement rushing through her before she lay back on his chest, much relieved by his words but still overwhelmed, vibrating on his chest as her mind flashed through meaning and fantasies.
It took quite a bit of time for the two to calm, Kilniara laying on his chest not helping Joe much in the least, but Kilniara found the position incredibly comfortable and she calmed quickly if not quite so much her giddiness. Joe gripped his emotion under iron control, breathing deeply a few times before pulling his own passion back into its lair and found his own rest and enjoyment in holding a beautiful woman upon his chest.
After several minutes, Kilniara looked up again, eyes gazing at him, “So. Me.”
Joe smiled, bringing his gaze from the ceiling down to his chest to look at her, “Definitely you, if things continue. If we are … good for one another. You may learn something of me that would make for a terribly poor husband.”
Kilniara cocked her head, amusement on display, “I’m not sure I will.”
Joe laughed, “People always put their best face forward at the beginning. Learning who they truly are takes time.”
Kilniara took a moment to consider that carefully before nodding in agreement, “Huh… I never thought of that before, but it makes sense.”
Joe smiled and said nothing. Kilniara brought her eyes back down to stare into his, but was a little unfocused as she seemed to consider.
“You wish to know me more first.”
“Of course.”
She thought on this for a bit before nodding firmly, “I will not hide things from you.”
Joe smiled, “You better not or our relationship is doomed. Husbands and wives cannot hide things from each other. Hiding dooms any relationship to failure, especially one so intimate as marriage. I will never hide anything from you. Well… except maybe surprises and gifts until I’m ready to give them to you. Surprises are always best if they are surprises.”
Kilniara thought on Joe’s statement before nodding in agreement, “I can see that.”
Joe smiled, but did not respond and the two fell into silence for a bit more until they had calmed and Joe shifted a bit to get comfortable. Kilniara move to slip off of him and Joe shook his head.
“Stay. I enjoy you there, unless you are uncomfortable and want to move.”
Kilniara blushed a bit as she smiled and shook her head, “No… it’s… nice.”
Joe chuckled, “Good. Just rest… or practice mana emission… either’s fine. I’ll do some mana emission and practice with some of my points as well.”
Kilniara paused a moment, obviously in a bit of thought before nodding and accepting, “OK. I’ll work on my own emission.”
Joe nodded and wrapped his arms around her once again, sliding them up and down her back a few times before diving back into his training. While they enjoyed one another’s presence, both found their focus turned to their practice and magic, distancing themselves from the pleasure their bodies returned. They lost themselves to their work, developing their magic over the remaining time until the boys awoke again. The stirring of the other two tore them from their practice but the moment they returned, they quickly felt again the close presence of their bodies pressing into one another and their quick jerk apart had them soon facing one another, their faces close and breathe washing across faces. They found themselves caught in the moment and their thoughts twined together, breathing deepening as they stared into one another’s eyes. Their stare held for a few moments before their heads slipped closer together until their lips brushed against one another and they soon were lost in their kiss but when the other two boys roused once again, they broke apart quickly, startled once again.
They stared at one another once again before Kilniara giggled a bit and retreated from him, lifting up before stealing one more kiss and fleeing from the room with light soft laughter. Joe sighed, watching her leave before returning to his practice one more until the two boys woke. After, another several moments, the boys finally woke up and Joe rose with them, bathing and preparing for the day. The boys nattered on, but then silence seemed to come to the room rather quickly and Joe turned to find Zilnek staring rather solemnly, watching Garnedell. Joe glanced to Garnedell but was pulled back to Zilnek by some movement when he saw Zilnek bow politely with one palm pressed firmly to his chest with the elbow sticking straight out from the body, parallel to the floor. The other arm was held directly up, and held there even awkwardly through the bow as Zilnek fought to bow as deeply as he could while still keeping his arm pointing straight up. He pushed it as far as he could go before rising quickly and turning to leave the room quietly, nodding to Joe as he passed.
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Joe turned his gaze back to Garnedell as he bowed on his knees with his head down, his hands cupped before him. Mana stormed at the center of his cupped hands before it shot upwards through the roof into the distant sky, far beyond Joe’s senses. Garnedell remained there, and did it again, almost identically. Garnedell didn’t move, and did so a third time, then a fourth. Joe watched on until Garnedell seemed to stop after his fourth, simply bowing for a time before staring upward. Garnedell then stood and faced Joe, staring at him. Joe sighed and nodded, then remembered what Zilnek had done, and quickly emulated it, palm to chest, elbow out, and the other arm pointed directly upward even as he pushed to bow as deeply as he could.
When he came back up, Garnedell was smiling at him softly, a minute welling of tears coming to his eyes that refused to escape to his cheeks. He seemed happy, and clasped his hands together before bowing slightly.
“Thank you, Joe… for honoring me and mine.”
Joe smiled softly, “I will… always be willing to.”
Garnedell grinned, “Shall we head down?”
Joe nodded, then paused, looking at Garnedell cautiously, “May I… ask some questions?”
Garnedell’s grin this time was sardonic and he rolled his eyes, “You always ask questions.”
Joe grinned in response, but then sobered, “But I want to be considerate of this.”
Garnedell nodded, “It is fine. I understand. It is wise for you to know.”
Joe nodded, “Then, I thought you said the evening?”
Garnedell’s smile fell and he nodded, “Morning or evening. Traditionally it is evening, but morning is seen as more pious. I… want to truly honor my parents and family.”
“Ah… then… two pulses for each?”
“Pulses?”
“The mana beams you sent into the sky…”
“Ah… no. One each.”
Joe blinked, staring at Garnedell. He found himself frozen but Garnedell seemed recalcitrant. He didn’t want to push, but neither ignore, so sought a compromise.
“Do you want to talk about it? Yes or no… I’m perfectly fine… even later is fine. Maybe right now… is too hard.”
Garnedell’s relief was obvious, as was the return to his good humor, “I… thank you. Maybe later, when… maybe later.”
Joe grinned, nodding, “Wanna meet this afternoon? After the dungeon?”
Garnedell looked up at him with a bit of alarm, “I… meant… maybe days… months? Years? I … later.”
Joe grimaced, “No… I… I’m sorry. I meant to have a meeting time with you… you know… help with you and teach you like I’m supposed to.”
Garnedell’s grin returned, tinged with relief, “Oh! OK!... I like that.”
Joe nodded, “Then… on to practice?”
Garnedell’s grimace was very real, although he hammed it up a bit and Joe laughed in response and the two left the room with a grin and laughter. All met in the common room on the first floor before they went out to the inn courtyard and practiced. Joe did well enough, but the other three quickly collapsed into exhaustion as they pushed beyond their stats and emptied them until they were relying on only their personal physical abilities without the system support. The healer had joined them by the end of their practice, and healed them quickly enough before leaving once again. Joe began wondering if he’d been a bit ripped off.
With the morning exercise done and breakfast soon after, they found themselves arriving at the beginner’s dungeon. They came upon the wall gate entrance to the enclosure surrounding the dungeon when Kilniara immediately called out while bowing quickly with some consternation in her movement..
“Lady Gwenvair. It is wonderful to see you!”
Garnedell and Zilnek both stopped and quickly bowed as well, turning towards her and Joe looked over to see Gwenvair standing in the entrance with the dungeon guards. Gwenvair seemed a bit flustered, and came forward quickly as she waved at the three bowing and tried to return them upright.
“Please. Rise. I’m not here in an official way. I only wished to meet and possibly speak with… Joe?”
Joe looked at her and cocked his head as he nodded with a shrug, “You needed me?”
Gwenvair smiled slightly but flushed a bit before nodding slightly, “Not need so much as a request.”
Zilnek, Garnedell, and Kilniara were still bowing and Joe turned away from Gwenvair to speak to the three quickly.
“Alright. Alright! She said to stand up so stand up and relax. You’re making a pretty big scene here and lots of people are watching.”
The three looked up at that, glancing at Joe before all turned to look at Gwenvair as well. The three seemed to struggle, uncertain before slowly standing and when Gwenvair did nothing, the stood with a bit more certainty, but still lost as to how to interact and respond. Joe sighed at seeing their uncertainty and he turned to look at Gwenvair.
“It is a bit… exposed here,” she said simply.
Joe crunched his eyebrows in a confusion a bit before he understood her meaning and he nodded, waving them all in towards the dungeon, “We can speak more privately inside, if you wish? Or shall we go somewhere else?”
“We can enter the dungeon. I have no desire to keep you from your training.”
Joe nodded and turned to lead, waving the others ahead of him as he went. But when he went to the end of the line to wait for their turn to enter, the line before them seemed to melt, the people in line moving out of the way and soon an empty path to the entrance lay before them, the dungeon guard waiting patiently for them. Joe frowned.
“We can wait in line. There is no need for special treatment. Allow the others who were here first to move on through as normal.”
Despite Joe’s statement, no one responded, the empty path to the entrance still wide and waiting with the guard still looking expectantly. Several of the guards did look at Gwenvair, seeming to seek her guidance when Joe spoke, but Gwenvair said nothing, seeming to be willing to wait on Joe’s decisions. Joe attempted to insist a few more times but when everyone refused to move, he grimaced and ended up leading everyone inside. No point! We’ll just hold everything up even longer!