The third night I spent with Rachel took an interesting turn when I decided to actively take an interest in her, rather than simply wait for her to address me.

"You okay?" I asked.

I was, for the time being, wearing the same clothes every day at all times, and keeping them clean with some magic I'd learned from Allie, which also worked well for keeping my body clean. Rachel, meanwhile, had actual bedclothes she wore to sleep. Well, bedclothes plural was maybe a poor word for it. She was, currently, wearing only a loose tunic that came down to her knees.

She was also looking somewhat troubled.

"Hrm? Oh, I, ah..." Rachel trailed off, turning her eyes away.

It was late, past sundown, and as such, Rachel had turned on her lamp- an enchanted bit of metal that, when activated, produced a bright flame inside a mostly-clear glass bulb. It sat on the bedside table, where I hadn't really registered it at first because of course there was a lamp on the bedside table.

"...Could you promise that, whatever we discuss here, it will not make its way to the ears of any other?" Rachel asked.

"Of course," I said, nodding. "No gossiping about this to the maid or the cook or the spinster. I can do that."

"Thank you," Rachel said. "It's... I've told you, before, that I am in my lord's favor? That I am expected to prove myself somehow, and then marry her daughter and take her place when she passes?"

"You said marry into her family, but I suppose marrying the lord's daughter constitutes that," I said, nodding. "What's wrong? Did you lose her esteem? Stage fright about whatever labor will force you to prove yourself?"

"Her daughter, Eris, is an Alpha," Rachel said. "And while... while I have no qualms about the notion of marrying another Alpha, that is not the conventional position. More, Eris is only a Red Wind, whereas I am a Black Wind. Children typically inherit their father's secondary affinity, and as such, she would be expected to see a healer and become a Beta, or even an Omega, so that she would bear my children."

"And Eris isn't happy about this," I said, quietly.

"She is not," Rachel said. "Being as she yet remains an Alpha, she commands respect and some measure of loyalty from the other knights, as well as being quite martially capable herself. It is my fear that, at some point, one of her knights may challenge me in a way I cannot safely deny, and that I may lose, badly, to someone who has been trained from the cradle in the ways of the sword."

"...Ah," I said. "That is... Mmn." Several responses bubbled through my mind- bring up her exceptionally high Learning that should counter the advantages of studying as a child, ask who I needed to kill, offer to build a revolver and act as her proxy in the duel so that nobody could hurt my knight- and I dismissed all of them as unhelpful, save for bringing a vital piece of information to my attention:

Rachel was my knight. At least, I thought of her that way. Apparently, sleeping beside someone and seeing them all the time was a good way to grow attached to them.

"...I'm here for you," I said instead. "Whatever you need. A helping hand, a shoulder to cry on. You have my sword."

"Thank you," Rachel said. "That... means a lot, to me. Few others have offered this much to me."

"Would you like a hug?" I suggested, turning over onto my side to face her.

"...That would be nice, yes," Rachel admitted, carefully shifting into my arms.

I held onto her tightly, using a bit of Wind's physical enhancement to stop the arm beneath her from starting to go numb. She was warm, and rather firm; not completely devoid of softness, but not pillowy, either. From a strictly physical perspective, this was a six or seven out of ten. Not my ideal cuddle that I fantasized about at night, but there were two things that made this moment the best thing to happen to me since I got here:

One, the cuddles you actually have are axiomatically better than the cuddles you can only imagine. Two, the point wasn't that I was cuddling with some miscellaneous curvy lesbian, but rather, that I was cuddling with Rachel, my knight who I've grown attached to.

Somehow. It occurs to me that, after our magic lesson yesterday, we hadn't actually spent that much time together.

"These past few days must've been hard on you, too," I said. "Playing host to a guest from another world with a strange culture, after flubbing an important spell in what was presumably a public way... and I didn't make it very easy on you either, with my gallivanting around spending all my time with random working-class people instead of you."

"A... bit, yes," Rachel said. "I do not mean to accuse you of anything, but..."

"Don't worry, sweet knight," I said. "I understand, and you don't need to spare my feelings. No need to put on a show for me, or pretend to be someone you aren't. You don't need to pretend you aren't an alpha who prefers other Alphas such as myself."

Rachel's breath hitched.

"I imagine that might've been contributing to the stress," I added casually. "Sharing a bed with another Alpha, trying to pretend that it was perfectly normal, and that you wouldn't make it weird..." I sighed wistfully. "But... my darling knight... have you considered that I might want you to make it weird? That I might want to be wanted?"

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"I... it would be improper for me to..." Rachel trailed off.

"To initiate?" I suggested. "That is reasonable. But, let's say I'm the one initiating, like I am now?"

Rachel swallowed, audibly.

"...Then it would be rude to deny a guest such a simple request," Rachel said.

"A simple request such as a kiss?" I asked.

"I can honor that," Rachel said, her voice rising in pitch and lowering in volume, as though her throat was tightening up, like she was entering anaphylactic shock, possibly because she was allergic to her own rampant homosexuality. "When. Whenever you're ready."

I kissed her, gently. She was inexperienced, and a bit awkward, but the feeling of her melting in my mouth was gratifying all the same.

"I should reiterate," I continued, "that I am from, fundamentally, a different branch of humanity, and that while, yes, I am aware that this world has alphas and betas and omegas, I still can't help but think of everyone I come across as a woman, because, well, that's the framework I grew up in. And so while I can grasp the basic concept of what sexual orientation looks like here, emotionally my dumb lesbian heart and cock can't tell why everyone is so uptight about what sort of girl is and isn't acceptable to have boners about."

"...Lesbian?" Rachel asked. Apparently that wasn't a word they had here, which was not exactly surprising.

"Where I'm from, it meant a woman- or possibly non-binary person- attracted to other women, again including some non-binary people, but not to men," I said. "...Of course, then there was the bisexual lesbian discourse, which I have no interest in relitigating, especially since you have no idea what I'm talking about. Whatever. Point is, in this world, 'woman who likes other women' describes pretty much every adult who experiences sexual desire. So, you know. Not exactly surprised that you don't have a word for it."

"I see..." Rachel said, clearly not fully picking up what I was putting down, but still wanting me to like her so that we'd keep doing this 'kissing' thing she's been so eager to try.

"Look, the point is," I said. "I think you're attractive and would like to kiss you, and also I am largely unbound by this world's standards of sexual orientation. There may be specific cultural things you want out of a relationship with another Alpha that I will prove incapable of providing. Knowing this, how do you want to proceed?"

"I think," Rachel said, "that as fun as it is to watch you talk yourself in circles for hours, that I would rather you kept kissing me instead."

"Look, the talking isn't optional," I said. "What if I was the sort of person who can't kiss a girl without wanting to tell everyone I know about it, and you lived in a society that would frown on a knightly alpha kissing another alpha?"

"...Point," Rachel said.

"Also also, what if I'm from a society where kissing simply means you're particularly good friends with someone, but you're from a society where kissing is a marriage proposal?" I continued. "If one of us doesn't think we're in any sort of committed or exclusive relationship, we could end up sucking someone else's face and upsetting the other, and regardless of which of us is which, I don't think either of us would like that."

"I do agree that relationship norms are quite different where you are from," Rachel said.

"But also," I continued, barreling forward. "We need to consider the fact that, socially, we're both gay weirdos who already engage in non-traditional relationships, and so we need to consider carefully not just what's normal, but also what we, personally, are comfortable with. Perhaps we're both from primarily-monogamous societies, but also one or both of us would like the option to kiss other people as well."

"Lucy," Rachel said.

"Rachel," I said.

"I get it. Please stop listing off potential stumbling blocks and just tell me what you want," Rachel said.

"...Well that's no fun, now is it?" I asked. "Fine. I want to be your lover, but I also want us to have the option of adding additional lovers to our relationship, should we meet someone that we both particularly like- or that one of us really likes and that the other can easily tolerate. And I also kinda want to know if you exclusively like other alphas, or if you are also down to clown with any particularly charming betas and/or omegas we meet."

"I see," Rachel said, nodding carefully. "Well, as it stands, the desire for multiple lovers is best attested to amongst the clergy, but they are not considered 'normal' for us. But... well, all the same, the notion of having a lover who, in turn, has other lovers is one I am not completely averse to."

"So you're telling me that going to a temple is a great way to meet a bunch of polyamorous babes?" I asked.

"There are languages spoken less than ten days' walk from Nukem in which the word for temple is also the word for brothel," Rachel said, nodding. "Now... as for my own preferences in lovers... hrm." Rachel tapped her chin carefully. "I have no interest in Omegas, to tell the truth. Betas... can provide the physical sensations I crave, but emotionally, it simply wouldn't feel the same without it being another alpha. Maybe a beta exemplar..."

"Beta exemplar?" I asked.

"Like the maid, Allie," Rachel explained. "They're almost like a fourth gender; like betas, they possess both sets of genitalia, but rather than sitting in the middle of every sliding scale, they have the curves of omegas, as well as the knots of alphas. They're rare, and often desired as an exotic sort of lover. Whether Allie is naturally an exemplar or simply took on the form of one is uncertain; it's a delicate and personal subject, so tread lightly if you intend to ask her yourself."

"Fair enough," I said. "It would be kinda gross and predatory to fuck the maid, so the story of her dick is none of my business. Anyway! What about what you want? Clearly, you want an alpha to hold you and treat you as an alpha treats a lover, but what beyond that?"

"Closeness in the emotional, not just the carnal, would be nice," Rachel said. "Given how this conversation started, however, I feel that we've already gotten there. And... while I can accept you taking multiple lovers, I would feel much better knowing that ours is a long-term relationship, and that we will not go our separate ways the moment we grow mildly bored of each other."

"Didn't I already tell you?" I said. "You have my sword, Rachel."

"And you, mine," Rachel said.

We kissed again, longer, and more deliberate.

"Sleep well," I said quietly, turning off the lamp.

"In your arms, I'd struggle to do anything else," she said.

"Gay."

"Perhaps."

"Goodnight."