"Still. I hadn't really thought of it that way. There's songs about home, about loving home and the place you're from... but I don't know any songs about loving the place that home could be. Like you said."

"You could suggest the bard write some for you."

She snorts. "That hack can't write to save his life. His voice is good, but he only sings other people's songs. Whenever he tries to sing something he wrote I lose customers."

"Really? I would've thought it was part of the job description. Honeyed words to seduce women with..."

She shakes her head and snorts again, but then turns thoughtful. "Arthor doesn't speak from the heart. He's just words, with nothing behind them. Loves the sound of his own voice, not a single thought between his ears."

"But sometimes that's all you need, isn't it? Empty words and a warm body to spend the night with, nothing serious, nothing that'll survive the morning."

"I have to deal with him every day, but I suppose the world has its share of girls who will fall for a talentless bard for a night."

"So you would fall for a man who would only stay a few nights, then?"

She looks at Ruby more intently, reevaluating some things. "Fall for? No. But a warm body could keep me company on a cold night."

"A cold night like tonight, perhaps?"

(Erandur decides it's time to retire for the night. It does not seem like his presence would be wanted.)

Elda doesn't seem to notice. "Not like tonight. I am working for all of tonight." She's still looking at him with a certain longing in her eyes.

"A bed is not the only place someone could warm you."

"...are you saying—what could you mean?"

"I mean," he says, getting to his feet (and wobbling a little, whoops perhaps that was a bit too much mead) and casually walking around the bar and up to her, "that there's no reason you should need to leave work, if all you want is some company." He is in fact getting pretty hard, from this conversation. "I wouldn't wish to get in the way of your livelihood."

She notices the way Ruby's body is reacting and decides to keep her eyes resolutely on his face. She's flushed, though, and starting to breathe heavily. "I'm not some, I'm not one of those girls you can just toss coin at and she'll—"

"You're not," he agrees easily. "And you can say no. I'm not going to press." He places his right index finger under her chin. "I'm just a warm body. If you want me to be."

She—doesn't respond. Just breathes, and blinks, and doesn't step back.

"Please tell me if you want me to stop." And he leans down to kiss her, wrapping his other arm around her waist to press her body close to his.

Her breath hitches when she feels his arm around her, and she seems ready to—do something, push him away—but she doesn't, and he doesn't really press, and she soon melts into his kiss.

He lets his right hand trail down her neck and collarbone towards her breast, but he pauses there and pulls away to wait for permission.

Why did he stop—oh. Oh. He's...

"You're very sweet," she says in a low voice. "I'll tell you to stop if I want you to stop," and she finds herself actually meaning it. She's been with men before, obviously, but they're usually not so... careful? Slow? There's a part of her that's feeling a little bit offended that he's not just taking her but another, much larger part of her is marvelling at the idea of having only and exactly the things she wants, of... getting to decide.

Oh this is heartbreaking. Well, Ruby wants to give her a good time, so he will.

He pulls her breast free of her dress—she's very buxom, and the dress wasn't so tight as to make this terribly hard, especially after he pulls one or two knots behind it loose to give it some more freedom—and starts fondling it while he resumes kissing her. He plays with her nipple with his fingers, pressing it with his thumb and pinching it a bit, paying attention to the tension in her body as he does to see if he's getting close to some limit.

A guard that had been in the main hall notices and comes over, looking ready to intervene.

But Elda waves him away frantically. She does not want to stop right now, and in fact she'll gently lead Ruby around so that her back is to the bar and grab his left hand to start pulling her dress skirt up.