"No, thank you"

Teysa bit her lip. The room seemed very warm all of a sudden. Why not? What was their rush? She imagined kissing Aliara among those cushions, luxuriating in their softness, breathing deeply of the smoke...

A pain in her wrist made her jump. She looked over. Aliara had her in an iron grip, her nails digging into Teysa's wrist. She glowered over at the paladin, then turned to the Eel. "Milady," Aliara said, "you do us a great honor, but I fear we must be going. We have to plan for tomorrow." Abruptly, Teysa's desire washed away, to be replaced with shame. She looked down, her cheeks growing red.

The Eel shrugged and plucked a discarded fig from the floor. "Thuit yourthelf. If you change your mind, you know where to find me." She turned away from them and took a bite. Teysa got the feeling that their meeting was over.

As the two women left the warehouse, Teysa could feel anger radiating off of Aliara like steam. The half-elf was nearly trembling. Teysa kept silent until they got a block away, then stopped, taking her partner's hand. "Li? What's this, now?"

Aliara whipped around and Teysa was shocked to see that her cheeks were red. She stared at the ground, unwilling to meet Teysa's gaze. The paladin tried again. "Li? Come on, what's going on? Don't tell me you're-"

"It's embarrassing!" cried Aliara. She barked out a harsh laugh. "I'm... ok I was... kind of..." she trailed off.

Teysa smiled. "Kind of what? Come on, what are you talking about?"

"Jealous, ok? I was kind of jealous, that's all! Quz, calm down, you don't have to ask me a million questions!"

Teysa tried to hold back her giggle, but it spilled out nonetheless. "Jealous? Of her? You can't be serious!"

Aliara looked up, and Teysa saw that she was fighting back a smile. "No! Obviously! I just... she really had her eye on you, you know? And she wasn't exactly being subtle..." She mimed the crime lord's lisp. "'Oh, Teytha, pleathe, you're tho beautiful!' I just... didn't want you to fall for it, that's all."

Teysa planted a kiss on Aliara's forehead. "Don't worry, Li. There's plenty of Teytha to go around. But... you know, you're the one that I want." Aliara smiled up at her, then stood on tiptoes to kiss the top of Teysa's head. "I know, Tey." She offered her hand, and hand in hand, they went back to the Stone Egg.