Have dinner with Kheden.

You return to the inn and order some dinner for yourself and Kheden. The matron nods and doesn't bother to inform you of the price, as your bill is covered by the Town Council. The main tavern room is about half full, now that it's approaching dinner time. You an Kheden take a seat after asking the innkeeper to start a bath.

A young affectionate couple enters. The wife is pregnant and the husband is overly doting. You notice Kheden watching them for longer than he usually looks at random strangers. “Do you think we'll ever find a place we can be like that?” you risk asking.

Kheden grunts softly. “Pregnant?” He's not a man of many words, and talk of family or other deep topics is uncommon.

You exhale a silent laugh through your nose. “No... I meant settling down. A home and a job that doesn't involve ****, mayhem, and monsters? We can't do this till we're greybeards. Or, if we do, we certainly wouldn't have been good at it, if we're still poor and hoping for better, someday. Say we make our fortune... what would we do?”

Kheden takes a long moment before answering. “You know I don't think much about things I can't have. I never had a home, but I think that would be nice.” After another moment, he adds, “with you.”

You'd always defaulted to assuming Kheden was in your future, and it's reassuring that he's on the same page. You just hope it's not out of habit or lack of other options. For either of you. You continue, it's as good a time as any. “I grew up assuming I'd have a family. That was what everyone was supposed to do. I guess a fortune would open up some other possibilities to bother thinking about, eh?”

Kheden shrugs. “When the time comes. If the time comes. Until then, we've got mediocre bandits and what's otherwise probably a boring jaunt up to a rotting old house, in the morning. We'll earn enough to buy a lovely cottage here so this town will never be short of gossip.” He snorts in the way that you know he's amused. “Would that satisfy you?”

“No. Neither this dinner nor the stimulating conversation has sated a particular hunger I've been carrying for a few days.” Your eyes almost literally twinkle with the **** of your lewd suggestion.

“How queer...” Kheden parrots the innkeeper. “That tub looked almost big enough for two,” he replies as his eyebrows go up flirtatiously.

On cue, you both guzzle the last of your dinner's ale and head gingerly to the stairs up to the guest rooms. You just about jog past the matron as she's descending, and she calls out “There's just the one tub, then. Oi'll draw a second when y'friend's ready.”