This is a bad idea, but the fun kind of bad idea. "I was trying to maintain my reputation of self control," a reputation he definitely has, do not question him, "but with someone as pretty and fun to watch as you, I might get tempted."

"...aren't men always tempted?"

"I think you might think that because you are especially tempting."

Wow okay it turns out that being an object of lust feels way better than she'd expected it to. There's a warm glowy feeling of being special and wanted. She suddenly understands all of her confessor's warnings about how women deliberately want to elicit lust in men, a thing which previously she had only done because it was basically impossible to exist and move through the world without eliciting lust in men. She's squirming in her seat. 

...She's going to take her headscarf off. And... run her hand through her hair?  

Well, if there's recently revealed hair available--

Ruffle ruffle ruffle.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sin is the best life decision actually. 

"You are adorable." 

Wiggles. 

"That is flattery," Mariam opines, "which is also a sin."

"Well, it's a good thing I'm a pagan then, so I can say that I think you look radiant as much as I like." 

She grins. "You... have a nice smile?" she tries.

"I'm glad you think so. You do too. It goes all crinkly at the corners, and makes me want to squish your cheeks." 

She wiggles harder (and also squirrels away her newfound knowledge of what might be involved in The Marital Act). 

"I should probably go get that room like you suggested." 

He goes and organises that. 

She is going to lick sauces off plates while he does that. 

He returns, having rented a room.

He hold out his hand. "Ready to do some more sins?" 

"Yes!"

He takes her hand and leads her upstairs. 

The room contains an assortment of chairs and an absurdly large bed. There is a balcony, but the doors have been left only open a crack, to let in a cool breeze. 

Mariam flops onto the bed.

...

Bed is soft. Bed is so soft. Mariam is going to roll back and forth rubbing her face on the bed, which is soft. And bounce a bit experimentally.

She is dangerously adorable. 

He sits down on the edge of the bed to give her plenty of space to roll. "Don't tell me beds are a sin too." 

Here are some facts about Mariam:

1. Mariam is not typically allowed more than six and a half hours of sleep a night, with a two-hour break for prayer in the middle.
2. Mariam has had five hours of sleep a night for the past three weeks, while she was living on bread and water. 
3. Mariam sleeps on the floor and certainly has never had a bed as comfortable as the beds in the nice part of Chang'an's pleasure quarter.
4. Mariam has just had a very large meal.

In short. Mariam immediately falls asleep.

...okay, so in hindsight, this was very predictable. 

He snuggles up next to her and holds her. She's too bony for that to be comfortable, but it just makes him want to do it more because now he's worried she's cold. 

Mariam is too unconscious to notice this.

If left undisturbed she's going to sleep for about sixteen hours. 

Which is kind of a problem, because after he sleeps eight hours, he realises that he has a job he needs to do, which is not conducive to staying in bed with a determinedly unconscious person. 

He sneaks out of the bed as best he can, and the realises halfway through write a note that she's probably not even literate so that won't help. He pays for three nights (...how long can someone sleep?) and leaves the proprietor with instructions to tell her if she wakes up that he's at the three judicial offices and she can go there, but also is going to come back. 

And so Mariam wakes up alone.

...Wait, she was unconscious for the marital act?! That's no fair! She wanted to get to experience it and not just have a baby!

Mariam should go home now. She's had some sleep and some food, so she won't faint embarrassingly. No one is holding her captive, even in the broadest definition of "holding her captive", because no one is here. She could disappear, confess, endure her penance, and return to her normal life (possibly with a baby).

She pokes her head out the door to see if someone will make her decision for her.  

Jing Yi spends the entire day making sure no one starts an organised kidnapping ring or blows Chang'an up or some such waiting for Mariam to show up, which she doesn't. 

It is technically possible that she is still at the inn? Also possible she could have left, which is totally her perogative but he would at least like a chance to say goodbye. But still-- he did say he would be back, she could still be at the inn, so he races back to the inn--

--and ends up running up the stairs just as she pokes her head out the door.

"Ah, you're still here!"