He does something halfway between a laugh and a giggle. "I liked the bridge keeper's inconsistent questions a lot, too."

"You kind of have to wonder what would happen if someone actually got a question wrong. Would the keeper even know? All the people who got thrown into the chasm displayed ignorance, not inaccuracy."

"The world will never know for sure. But my guess is lightning."

"Alas. Although--the creators are still alive in this world, we could write a letter and ask if we really wanted to, or maybe someone already has and we could find that."

"Hm. I almost feel like the fact that nobody got anything wrong is part of the joke, though. Their stuff can be layered like that if you think about it long enough."

"I see your point...unless you count the time that one knight stumbled over his own favorite color, I suppose."

He shrugs. "When you dissect a joke, it dies. A lot like a frog, really."

"...And we're back to Biology," she laughs.

Hah! "I swear it was an accident." Sip, sip.

"Oh, I believe you. But what is the world coming to when not even comedy is safe?"

"At least we still have conspiracy theorists, politicians, and talk show hosts. The piercing light of science will never reach them."

"Yikes. I think I'll take my chances with comedy."

"Trust me, those kinds of people are still around in the spacefuture. Unfortunately." Sip. His coffee's nearly gone now.

"I'm not surprised. Those kinds of people were around in Ancient Rome, and the spacefuture's less than two centuries away."

"I guess we'll just have to keep ignoring them, then."

"Well, that should be safe for the conspiracy theorists and the talk show hosts, but the world would be a much better place than it is if one could simply ignore unscientific politicians."

"Fairies don't have much centralized government, I guess I was too flippant."

"Ah. Well, governments do do a lot that's helpful--I suppose your telekinesis obviates the need for a lot of the things that the early proto-governments were for, as far as I remember them from history class."

"But this is political science. I have uncovered its ruse!" He downs the last of his coffee, laughing.

Daphne slurps down the last few mouthfuls of hers. "Science! It's everywhere! Shall we never escape its sinuous grasp?"

"There is only one solution. We must stop thinking, with kissing."

"Well then." And she cups a hand to his cheek as she presses her lips to his.

...

She's good at this.

Mmm! This is good. Excellent, even.

He's not nearly so good, but at least it's pretty clearly not his first kiss.

She hadn't particularly been expecting it to be. Either way's fine with her, really.

Yummy kisses. After the third one he remembers that he can breathe through his nose, and thus prolong them.