Thothwick surveyed the Quest board quickly.
"I'm in. Mr. Harkenshire is in too, so I'm not totally alone with unacquainted people. I haven't met him formerly, nor her, and- I'm the leader? My, my, my. And- blast!"
Thothwick walked up to the Saloon, to where Hoptet was waiting for him.
"Hoptet. I- I'm in a Quest. I signed up for it, several days ago, and I'm in. It's leaving, and soon."
Hoptet wore an expression a mix between confusion, and fustration. "You leave?"
"You'll do perfectly fine on your own for a while. Your Humanish is really improving!"
Wanting to debate in his own, familiar tongue, Hoptet switched back to the Metasimian dialect. [That isn't what I'm concerned about right now. Why didn't you at least tell me? We could have signed up to Quests together, as opposed to you sneaking and plotting like some thief in the night.]
[Even if we had, it wouldn't be a clear cut that we'd both be together. You could be carted off to the furthest reaches of Olegaia, far from any Metasimian translator, lost in a world of languages you wouldn't be able to fathom.]
[Then why not wait, till I can speak Humanish as good as any Human? At least it would've let us be strangers in strange lands at the same time. That way we wouldn't have one of us off experiencing the world, whilst the other sips booze day after day in here! Why didn't you wait?]
[bluto. There are hundreds like him out there, in need of the help of Heroes. I can't sit by when I could be helping to make the world a better place. This may very well be what your life as the boyfriend of a Hero might be. You have to decide whether you can take it.]
[i'm not sure that I can. I thought you'd put the life of a Hero behind you, now that you had me instead, but it clearly can't replace the sense of adventure! I've lost count of the times we nearly died in Salmanda: The Wyvern, the Witch, those sodding carnivorous plants, the list goes on, bearing in mind I joint you group half way through your Quest! How am I supposed to just go through every day your gone, not knowing if you will ever make it back?]
Thothwick merely stared back into the face of his lover, unable to come up with an acceptable answer. [i can't. The boat leaves tomorrow. I'm going to be spending the night in an inn. I'm not sure how long I'll be gone, but the travelling alone could take the best part of a fortnight. Perhaps longer. It's all depending on where in Dastan I end up. I could be away for several months. It'll give you a bit of breathing space, time enough to think on whether or not you think this is the life for you. But I'll be praying to Orang Pendek each and every night that you'll still be here when I return.]
Thothwick walked around the table, and hugged a solemn Hoptet, who neither rejected nor participated in the embrace.
[i love you, Hoptet. Remember that.]