“Ah. I see,” Kire said lamely. She was silent for a while then blew out a breath. “I don’t know which I’d prefer, to be honest. This is only my second time ever to have a real go at it.” She grimaced at how she worded that, then cleared her throat. “Isn’t that funny? A hundred year old Empress and Paladin, and it’s bedding someone that’s making me this nervous?” A nervous giggle threatened to bubble up and burst out of her, which she tried to stamp down. “Just—it wasn’t—I wasn’t [i]bad[/i], was I? I mean, not that there’s anything wrong if you didn’t like it, and if you’d rather we forget about the whole thing I could do that. Not that I think it’s terrible, myself, quite the opposite,” she said, her voice just going slightly higher by the end of it. Her ears burning, she settled her gaze on a tree up ahead, staring intently at it as she waited for his answer.