Mistress Oldami watched as Jack pushed the wide copper bowl away from himself with one hand, holding the small bun of bread stuffed with vegetable, meat, and paste in the other hand as he devoured it.
The savagery in the way he ate something he held in his hands fascinated Oldami. She had watched how, with the exception of his display at the restaurant, he tried so hard to be courteous and well mannered. When he ate with his hands, however, the savagery that had allowed his people to throw down even gods was apparent to her.
She found herself smiling despite the faint tingle of fear at the base of her spine.
She had heard, talking with the other Phaelan who had stopped by, that Matron Weeli treated her Xue'nghozi as if he was a fairly dim child, encouraging him to behave with treats and that Mistress Stella used magic to guide and punish the young Xue'nghozi witch.
Jack needed none of that. Just gentle words and perhaps a demonstration. He seemed almost eager to please, eager to learn about Phaelani life and customs.
Jack licked his fingers clean, the strange exotic taste of the filled bread bun a treat. When Mistress Oldami handed him a cloth, he cleaned his fingers, wiped the juice from his chest, then wiped off his mouth and chin, smiling with closed lips at the small woman when he was done and handing back the cloth.
"You eat as if you've been starved all your life," Oldami laughed.
Jack shook his head, still smiling.
"You need a lot of food, little one," Oldami said, taking the bowl and putting it on the rack.
Jack found the rack, and the other enchanted objects in Mistress Oldami's trailer, to be fascinating. He'd tried to parse how the runes interacted with one another, viewing it as a kind of circuitry that the energy used to perform functions.
He'd been able to identify two dozen different runes that were often repeated on enchanted objects, noticing that it appeared that not only which runes were attached to it, but its rotation according to the other runes, mattered in the function.
It was tantalizing, almost teasing, like he was supposed to understand them but having trouble grasping the instincts that tried to tell him.
Oldami noted the way he stared at the cleaning rack, a faint glow in the back of his eyes.
"Do you want me to turn it on, little one?" Oldami asked.
Jack nodded and watched Oldami reach for the rack with one finger, making a display of turning it on. He bet with himself which rune she was going to touch and was pleased when he won the bet. The twelve identical runes connected to the activation rune all lit up, energy streaming from them and into the activation rune, and from there following the carefully done inlay to other runes before settling down into softly glowing patterns.
"Can you see the arcane workings?" Oldami asked gently, standing beside the rack. When Jack nodded she turned away, chewing on her lip. That was usually something that only highly skilled practicioners of the arts could do after years or decades of studies and practice.
Perhaps he uses it to identify the weak points in opponents mystical defenses? Perhaps that's why it's so well developed in a young man his age and obvious pampering, Oldami mused to herself, getting down a sealed pitcher of juice and two glasses, one large enough for the human. She poured a generous dollop of alcohol in Jack's, to help ease the burn, then poured the juice, still ruminating over the fact that Jack seemed fascinated by enchanted items. She sealed back up the pitcher, putting it away, then turned around holding the two glasses.
Jack pulled his attention away from the runes and the patterns when Oldami turned with the juice.
Oldami sat down, setting the two glasses of juice on the table, and stared at the young man, raising an eyebrow when he suddenly flushed and looked up from her breasts. The Xue'nghozi blushed deeper, looking down, and Oldami laughed. When Jack looked up she made sure to make it obvious she was staring at his crotch, which made the young human blush even deeper at Oldami's leering smile.
Oldami laughed. "Well, if that is what you are thinking with, my old lady charms certainly have your undivided attention," she laughed. Jack blushed even deeper, making Oldami smile. "Something, perhaps, to take your mind off an old woman, you lecherous young thing," She laughed.
Jack flushed, looking away when Oldami stood up. He kept thinking back to the night before, the gentle movements and quiet whispers coming to the forefront of his thoughts every time he saw her naked body.
I wish that she'd wear clothing, or at least allow me to wear clothing, he thought. She said I'd get used to her nudity, but I don't see how that would be possible.
Oldami turned from the cabinet, holding an inlaid wooden box in her hands. "You know what would possibly take your mind from wicked thoughts, lecherous little Xue'nghozi?"
Jack blushed deeper and shook his head.
"A board game. Do you have board games in your homeland, Jak?" Oldami set the box down. When she saw Jak nod she smiled and opened the box. Inside there were rows of intricate little figures. Trees, log stacks, little men with axes, chunks of rock, stacks of metal bars, little men with picks.
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"The game is complicated, with sets of rules of various complexity, designed to sharpen young Phaelani minds and trading wits," Oldami said, taking the pieces out. "Consortium is the game, and many adults play it for entertainment and to relax. As you can imagine, in between trade posts and markets we can have much spare time."
Jack understood that, and nodded. He watched her set up the board, placing the pieces carefully, explaining each of the tokens and the rules regarding them. Trees could be harvested for lumber which would be moved to mills. Processed or unprocessed wood could be sold at the market-points, but milled wood sold faster even though you wouldn't make as much money. There were token for grain, for ore, for animal products, beyond wood. A top complexity game even distinguished between the different types of products.
According to Oldami, a full complexity game could take days to play.
"We can, of course, start with the most basic game," Oldami smiled, sipping at her juice.
Jack shook his head. It was no more complex than any other eXplore, eXpand, eXploite, eXterminate game on a computer. Sure, it was played on a board, but Jack was pretty sure you could sell a variant of it back home pretty easily.
When Oldami realized he wanted to play the full game, she shook her head. Jack seemed to almost hunger for knowledge and the challenge of the game made the fire in the back of his eyes glow.
"Very well. I will help you by explaining rules, but only once, unless you make a mistake," Oldami said. She smiled. "Would you like to play a full-board game, or just the tiny child's game?"
Jack made an all encompassing motion with his hand and Oldami smiled. "Full game it is. Give me a few moments."
Jack watched as the small woman took down over a half dozen other wooden boxes, opening them and removing the game pieces. Apparently expanding past the main board involved dice and the engraved wooden piece that reminded Jack of a cribbage board. Nobody would know what was beyond the edge of the board until a scout piece crossed the board.
"You are eager," Oldami smiled. "I should warn you, I am an excellent player."
Jack just smiled, fully aware he would probably lose quickly, but willing to give it a try anyway.
He started with only two scouts, two guard units, and a single cargo wagon, the same as she did, both of them on their own boards. The piece of cloth the would determine how the boards were laid out was folded, and according to Oldami they could only unfold it one fold at a time according to certain rules.
Oldami noticed that Jack rarely needed reminded of a rule. Less than a child would need, almost as if she was playing with someone more used to an alternate rule set. He was careful to make sure his resource points and caravans were guarded, invested in upgrades at points, and seemed to wait until he was using two-thirds of the resources before sending out scouts to open up another board. Usually beginning players were rash, or overly conservative, but Jack seemed to understand the concept of balance in ways most new players, and some old, never grasped.
Jack found himself enjoying the game. It was complex, less for the amount of rules and more for how they all interacted together. He found it fun to try new combinations, since it broke Mistress Oldami's concentration because she would then have to explain how the combination worked. He was surprised to find out that the settlement markers were real cities names, and wondered if the trails and the distances were comparable to the roads that the Phaelan caravans traveled.
A movement caught his eyes during his "planning phase", where the time he had to figure out what he wanted to do with his limited moves was measured with a small hourglass. Oldami was staring at the board, one hand rubbing her chest, the other holding a small jar on unguent that she was spreading on her skin. He stared at the action, unable to take his attention away as the older woman worked the lotion into her breasts, never taking her eyes from the board.
"Time," Oldami said.
Jack jerked slightly, realizing he'd wasted his time staring at her instead of planning his own moves. He reddened and made several moves he'd planned on making, but couldn't remember if they were within the strategy he'd been planning.
Oldami did her moves quickly, the engraved ticks on the side of the little sand-glass giving her several extra moves. When Jack went to start planning she went back to rubbing the lotion into her breasts again.
It was several turns, during which Oldami managed to claimjump him twice on valuable resources and once on a resource refining spot, before he realized she was doing it on purpose. Every time he was supposed to be planning, she rubbed the thick glittering gel into her breasts or inner thighs, her expression innocent.
Jack straightened up with outrage, pointing one finger at Oldami.
"Cheater!" He said, laughing.
Mistress Oldami began laughing with him, setting aside the little jar.
"You're accusing me of cheating, aren't you, young one?" Oldami laughed. Jack nodded and she laughed harder. "Ah, there is nothing in the rules against what I was doing. I am not permitted to speak or touch you, the board, or the pieces, but it is not my fault if you are so easily distracted by an old woman using cream to make her skin lustrous. All is far in trade and war, little one," she laughed.
Jack blushed, still laughing. She was right. Distractions were part of any game, any sport. A good player learned to block them out and ignore them, that was part of what made someone good at something.
Jack just nodded, smiling, and went back to moving his pieces. A plan had formed in his mind while they both laughed, and he knew that timing would matter. He waited, eagerly counting down the turns in his mind, until they had each done a half dozen turns.
Jack reached forward idly, dipping his fingers into the gel, and spread it on the opposite hand under the table. He was paying attention to Mistress Oldami's turn as closely as he was his own, picking up little tricks, and knew that soon she'd need to concentrate to keep what was going on in the game in her head. Making a new caravan was complex enough, but she was being risky and making two, hoping to unfold the world-map cloth twice in a row to give her bonuses on those sections.
Mistress Oldami stared at her pieces, looking at how Jak's pieces were staged, then looking at her own. She'd have to send one of her new caravans to the Blue Ridge Iron Mine first, the other to the Giggling Brook sawmill, then she could, on her next turn...
Movement caught her eye and she looked up from the board.
Jack had turned slightly in the chair, his legs to the side, leaning against the wide of the rattan papasan chair. He had one hand wrapped around his erection, slowly stroking it, while he stared at the board, nibbling on a piece of fruit he'd taken from the dish on the table as he stared thoughtfully at the board.
She stared at the sight. The way his muscles moved, the slight flush on his skin, the way his manhood gleamed from the unguent he was using as lubrication, and the dreamy way he was staring at the board.
Oldami couldn't take her eyes off it, feeling lust surge up as she stared.
Jack put the piece of fruit in his mouth and tapped the table, pulling her attention away from what he was doing and to the time piece.
Oldami stared for a long moment at him, blushing, then burst out laughing.
"All is fair in trade and war," she laughed. She gave him a smile, looking at him through her eyelashes. "You learn quickly, young Jak."
His blush made her laugh harder.