"Of course. I don't think that'll be a problem. Oh, I bet you'll enjoy the Moon Festival - there's ice sculpture contests."

And he starts talking about ice sculpture art, interspersed with war tactics and illusion mage trivia, with Sahgar. They get books from Bar (pausing to let Sahgar fascinatedly interrogate her a bit), and migrate to one of the booths.

At some point Nik has caught up on the reading and his glass of blood and looked at some of the new books he wanted to get, and waits a moment for Dareni to seem interrupt-able, and says, "I'm very busy outside of Milliways, but the time effect is marvelously convenient, isn't it?"

"Isn't it! Been working on a new invention?"

"Been shopping to cover up some of the gaps in my library, mostly. But my point more was - I'm too busy to think about, you know, the fairer sex most of the time when there's always stuff to be done. Milliways doesn't have that time pressure. And Bar will rent us a room, if you're interested."

"Oh! Yes. That sounds good. When, now?"

"Unless you want to finish your chapter or something, yes."

"I can finish it later."

He gets a room key from Bar and leads Dareni upstairs.

A long time later, and no time at all, they leave Milliways.