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The Goddess must have been suffering just as much from the stifling awkwardness in the sauna as Jorah was, because it could only have been by Her grace that the sauna started filling up before Kayden could even get a word out in response. First came Auberon, apparently blessed with a Crest power that notified him when his fellow House Leaders started waxing inappropriate, then Derec with a question so strange and innocent it was downright cute, and finally, a whole host of rowdy young strangers, bringing with them a pleasant background of voices and emotions to fill the small yet emotionally cavernous space. No longer obligated to focus on making conversation with the guy who nearly killed his friend or on the other boy’s nagging self-consciousness, Jorah was able to properly relax, his antsy Crest and puzzling mind finally calming down to match his body. 

[color=FFAB66]“What else is there to talk about?”[/color] he finally asked, raising an incredulous eyebrow at Derec. Was it just a thing that redheads were prudes, or were Derec and Clarissa separated at birth or something? Unless Faerghian peasant Derec was about to break out into a thrilling tale of exotic, faraway lands, Jorah could think of nothing more engaging to substitute. [color=FFAB66]“Besides, it’s an earnest question; unfortunately, my travels never took me as far as Adrestia, and most of their trade comes over by land. I’ve never really had the chance to sample their ‘finer goods’, if you catch my drift.”[/color] He shot a mischievous grin in Derec’s direction, although he couldn’t help but laugh. [color=FFAB66]“Unless you count Brigid as part of Adrestia, I guess – in that case, I’m quite the connoisseur!”[/color] 

Jorah chuckled openly to himself at the thought, picturing the ocean of differences between the wild and free Brigidese she-sailors he used to chase all over the docks and shrill, stiff, supple-as-a-nettle [i]Veronica[/i], before Derec reminded him of Auberon’s proposal. [color=FFAB66]“I don’t know; how badly do you want Saint Cethleann sizing up your nethers?”[/color] he shrugged, not too keen on the idea himself. He shook his head. [color=FFAB66]“Better to do it the Almyran way; I hear they put mosaics of dancing girls on the walls of their bath houses, in various states of undress. Then again, those ‘dancing girls’ turn into female warriors half the time when Rai tells the story, and he couldn’t have been much older than twelve when he left the country – for all I know, the Almyran bastard was probably lying to me all along.”[/color] 

Jorah’s wide grin fell a little flat; that was the point where Rai would usually butt in to defend his unimpeachable honour on the topic of honesty and nudity, but of course, such a retort never came. It was certainly a shame that Duke Gloucester pulled him out of the Academy, especially so suddenly. It was probably for the best, considering all the “fun” he missed at Luin, but Jorah still mourned the loss of his friend to the gilded cages of Gloucester. It was a wonder Duke Riegan didn’t pull him out, too, but Jorah wouldn’t lament [i]that[/i] decision; Rai or no Rai, Luin or no Luin, he didn’t need to be clapped back in irons back in Derdriu again too. Even if it seemed like his father was less concerned about the fate of his only son and heir than Duke Gloucester was for a foreign orphan he’d adopted. 

Jorah clued back into the conversation as the topic went back to women of flesh rather than ceramic, and once more, despite his lingering distaste for Kayden, he couldn’t help but offer his two cents. 

[color=FFAB66]“First off, no thanks; I’d take a romantic evening with one of the mares in the stables over a night with that viper,”[/color] he joked, referencing Veronica. [color=FFAB66]“If I were you, I’d worry more about her coming for [i]you[/i] than whatever poor unfortunate you set your eyes on. Secondly, it’s not like you can take any of the girls here home to Enbarr anyway. Even if they weren’t all wrapped up in diplomatic strings of their own, how well is the Empire going to take to a homewrecker for a queen?”[/color] 

It wasn’t usually Jorah’s way to worry about such trivial matters as duty and propriety – and honestly, the civil war that would start if the Adrestian Crown Prince blew off his fiancée for some chick from the Officers’ Academy would probably be pretty fun to watch from a distance – but for Kayden to act like taking a lover at Garreg Mach for a year and then dumping her, marrying Veronica and going off to rule Adrestia was anything [i]but[/i] using a girl and then tossing her aside was ludicrous, even by Jorah’s standards. 

[color=FFAB66]“That’s why you find a girl just as bogged down with obligations as you are for your fling,”[/color] he continued, concluding his reasoning out loud. [color=FFAB66]“No broken hearts, no political nightmare, no pitchforks and torches; just some innocent, unattached fun before you go chain yourself down forever. Then who’s to say [i]she’s[/i] not just using [i]you[/i], hm?”[/color] Jorah crossed his arms triumphantly, though the laugh bubbling out of his chest betrayed him. [color=FFAB66]“At least, that’s what I used to tell the Gloucester girls before Rai and Clarissa came to kick my teeth in.”[/color]

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