Kaldalis got back to Cotanaku with just enough time to stop by his newly-upgraded quarters. A lot of the upgrades were still underway, but the plumbing and bathroom were done, and so he took the opportunity to get a quick shower. Even in a world where he was being unnaturally cleansed, it felt pleasantly refreshing. More than that, it felt like he was putting his mentality in order. When he redressed and left, he felt like he had actually prepared himself. He was going on a real date, and not just a platonic dinner that he was reading too far into.

As he crossed town towards the district where the sailors’ quarters were - and their separate cafeteria - he saw that it hadn’t received the same upgrades as the food court on the adventurers’ side. He made a mental note to ask Garyung to do something about this later. The professions that were populated by NPCs couldn’t be treated as second-class citizens. For now, though, it suited his purposes. While it looked like a cheap and shoddy place to get every meal of the day, Kaldalis - and Dylan before him - had always preferred to go to hole-in-the-wall dive establishments on dates.

It was still basically a tent with scattered tables. As the sun was setting, the interior was very dimly-lit, most of the light coming from the occupied tables where there were candles lit. Given that this world gave everyone some amount of darkvision, the lit tables were few and far-between. It would only be for ambiance.

In the back corner, where the shadows were deepest, there was a table lit by a small flickering candle. It was such a small candle battling such deep shadows, that all that light could illuminate was the immediate table surface, and the person seated there from about the nose down, showing nothing so much as her lips and throat. As Kaldalis made his way towards it, those lips upturned into a bright smile of recognition. That pleased grin made his heart skip a beat.

It was such a small thing, but it felt good. It was nice that someone was happy to see him.

“Been waiting long?” Kaldalis asked as he took his seat opposite Heluna.

“Not long enough to be pissed at you,” Heluna said, her smile turning into a smirk. “But a near enough thing that you might be dragging your ass back to your quarters alone tonight if you don’t fuckin’ play your cards exactly right.”

Kaldalis feigned disappointment with an obviously fake sigh. He was here for the pleasure of her company more than the promise of what might come later. The charade didn’t last long. As soon as he rested a hand on the table, hers snaked out of the darkness to rest atop it, the contact warm and welcoming. It brought a genuine smile to his face immediately.

“Is food on the way?” Kaldalis asked.

“Yeah,” Heluna said, raising her other hand in a beckoning gesture at someone across the room. “I had that asshole keep it warm by the kitchens because I didn’t know if you got fuckin’ kidnapped again or somethin’.”

Kaldalis didn’t need to ask who ‘that asshole’ was. After a few moments a familiar Vathon emerged from the darkness, carrying a number of plates and cups that far exceeded his number of hands.

“Bastijn,” Kaldalis said, giving the man a friendly nod.

“Don’t get fuckin’ used to this,” he grumbled as he carefully transferred the bounty balanced on his hands and arms to the table. “I don’t lose bets like this often.”

Despite his aggravation, Heluna’s drinking buddy moved with the professional precision of an expert waiter. Two short glasses containing spirits, two tall glasses of water, a smaller plate with a towel across it containing a short stack of frybread, and two dinner plates. All made their way from the delicate balance across Bastijn’s arms to the table without a drop or fragment of anything hitting the table.

“That’s a shame,” Kaldalis said, “you’re really good at this.”

Bastijn gave an aggravated huff, storming off as soon as he was done dropping everything off.

“I know you’ve seen us be assholes to him,” Heluna said, “but you shouldn’t antagonize him, hun.”

“I wasn’t,” Kaldalis complained, “that was a genuine compliment, I swear!”

Heluna shook her head with a chuckle. Kaldalis didn’t necessarily think it was funny, but figured that he didn’t know enough about Bastijn and his past to judge what was an antagonism and what wasn’t.

The dinner itself was interesting. It was something like a spicy stir-fry, but improvised from what vegetables were locally available. Largely it was grains that were somewhere between barely and corn, with diced root vegetables that were the consistency of carrot and the flavor of onion. The protein present looked like chicken but tasted like prawns. It was drowned in a spicy red sauce, with a slice of citrusy orange fruit on the side.

Kaldalis followed Heluna’s lead, squeezing the citrus slice over the dish before grabbing a piece of flatbread and topping it with scoops of the mixture before folding and eating it that way. The whole assemblage was something like a fajita.

“I’ve been fuckin’ meaning to ask you somethin’,” Heluna said between bites. “But you gotta promise not to be mad at me for askin’.”

“Of course,” Kaldalis said, arching an eyebrow at her, his own loaded-up frybread stopping halfway to his mouth. “I’m an open book.”

“Reno and Ess,” Heluna said, as if that was an entire question. When he didn’t immediately respond, she continued: “what’s the fuckin’ deal between you and them?”

Kaldalis took a big bite of his dinner. He’d expected something about his adventurer career, and feared that it was time to have a frank discussion about the truth behind this world and his own. Now that the question was out there, he found himself shocked that there was a topic he wanted to approach even less.

“Alright,” Kaldalis said after his mouthful of food had run out its usefulness to stall for time. “But you have to promise not to be mad at me for answering.”

“Of course,” Heluna said with a smirk. “You’re an open fuckin’ book, right?”

“So, Ess and I have… Kind of…” Kaldalis tried to figure out how to word it in a way that wouldn’t earn reprisal. “Before I got here, we were dancing around… Well…”

“So you two fucked,” Heluna said bluntly.

Kaldalis sputtered for a moment. “No, no, we did not,” he managed once he could form actual words again. “But, I will admit, things were… Going in that direction. Long term. We were both interested. And not just that, but interested in forming a real relationship before… You know. But the timing was never right.”

“And Reno?” Heluna asked. She’d stopped eating to listen, but to Kaldalis’s surprise, she looked more curious than upset.

“Oh god no,” Kaldalis said with a laugh. “I think of her like a sister. And I’m ninety-nine percent sure that that’s mutual.”

“So what’s with all the fuckin’ tension, then?” Heluna asked.

“I wish I knew,” Kaldalis grumbled. “Near as I can figure, they both came here - uh, to the island - because they thought they were going to be with me. Reno thought I was her vanguard, and once she arrived I would drop whatever and be her personal muscle. Ess… I’m pretty sure she thought this was her chance for us to get together. And I think she’s taking it poorly that I’m…” He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “That I’m with someone who isn’t of our type.”

He hated that turn of phrase. But it was the only way he knew to convey the difference between people from Earth and the people from this universe without defining the word “Isekai” somewhere in the middle of the explanation.

Heluna nodded, listening intently. Kaldalis realized that if she didn’t cut in, he was going to keep rambling. She didn’t cut in, so he found himself rambling.

“And now it’s just so uncomfortable,” Kaldalis went on. Tentatively, he reached across the table to put a hand on Heluna’s. “It’s like Ess thinks she’s entitled to my time. Like I’m doing her wrong by having other shit going on day-to-day.” He shook his head. “Even if I wasn’t with you, that’s a huge red flag. But on top of that, she seems to think that what we have is just a passing thing. And I’m… I hope that this is more serious than that. I like what we have, and it’s… It’s insulting for her to act like you cut in front of her in line and that I should kick you off the ride for her to have a go.”

Heluna let out a snort of a laugh at that. She turned her hand over beneath his, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. He wasn’t sure if she was conveying that she was serious about this relationship as well, or that she wasn’t upset at getting the whole story. Either way, he was grateful that her hand was holding his instead of slapping him across the face.

“And Reno thinks I owe her, too,” Kaldalis grumbled. “Technically, I do. I might not be here if not for her, and I’m grateful to her for that. But there’s… There’s so much going on. I can’t exactly just throw everything I’ve built into other hands and devote all my time to paying her back.” He gestured around himself, encompassing the town. “All of this is at risk literally every second of every day. What gives her the right to expect me to risk destruction and death to act like her bodyguard for a few hours?”

Heluna nodded again. Despite everything that had grown between them, this was what had made him fall for her in the first place. She listened. She let him talk. And despite even this subject matter, there wasn’t any judgment in her eyes. Even more than that, he appreciated the opportunity to just let this all out. As before, it was incredibly cathartic to just get all his thoughts in order by putting them into words.

“And I get it. I don’t blame them,” Kaldalis continued. “If I’d known Ess was coming, I probably would have… Well. I don’t know. I did know Reno was coming and I still did everything I did that got me where I couldn’t be there for her. I got myself in the center of a lot of bullshit, and now I’ve left her behind.” He shook his head. “I feel like I’m in the wrong there, because she was counting on me, but it’s not like I could have done anything different.”

“What were you supposed to fuckin’ do?” Heluna asked, finally grabbing another piece of frybread to pile food on to resume eating. “Just let Onirioago get her Geas Venom shit in everyone? Let the Infernal Fuckin’ Horde obliterate the town? Towns, even, with fuckin’ Panbu under your care.” She looked down at her plate in a rare moment of discomfort for her. “Get abused by a monster and just hold it inside without tellin’ anyone?”

“Right!” Kadalis said. “I don’t know that I could have survived if I didn’t do everything exactly how I did. And, for better or for worse, I’m happy with where things are. But I feel bad about how much I’ve left them both behind. They’re my friends, and even if I’m not exactly what they wanted me to be, I think I owe it to them to be their friend in return, at least.”

“Seems to me you are,” Heluna observed. “If you weren’t, you sure as fuck wouldn’t be worried about it.”

“I know,” Kaldalis said, “but I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Excuse me if I’m talkin’ out of my ass here,” Heluna said with a smirk. “But have you considered talking to them?”

“How?” Kaldalis snapped. He stopped and took a moment to compose himself before continuing. He wasn’t mad at Heluna. He shouldn’t be yelling at her. “As far as things have gone, it’s just getting more and more awkward to talk to them. I’m afraid of starting a conversation with Ess because I don’t want to break her heart. I’m afraid of starting a conversation with Reno because I don’t want her biting my head off for getting sucked into the center of everything at every turn.”

“It sounds like your ass is on a whole different page from them,” Heluna said.

“No kidding,” Kaldalis grumbled. “It feels like they’re trapped in high school drama bullshit, and I’m about ready for my mid-life crisis.”

“If you want things to stop getting shittier with every passing day,” Heluna said firmly, “you gotta fix that before anything will fuckin’ change. They’re your friends, dumbass. They don’t know how they’re making you feel. You have to just fuckin’ talk to them. If they’re true friends, they’ll want to fuckin’ fix it, too. And if they aren’t, then fuck ‘em.” She paused, furrowing her brow before shooting a glare at Kaldalis. “Not literally, though.”

Kaldalis laughed. “You better smile when you say that,” he shot back, reaching for another piece of frybread to get back to eating. “The last thing I need is for you to start getting possessive and weird, too.”

Heluna laughed, putting down her fork and reaching across the table to put her hand on his.

“I can promise not to be possessive, hun,” Heluna said with a smirk, “but I make no such fuckin’ effort to not be weird.”