Again, the village leader did not seem to mind in the least. He was very easy- going, and soon invited to them upstairs to his spare bedrooms. It seemed that in Summerlay, the leaders of the realm were used to having guests and looking after to them in their homes. James stayed behind to speak to the man, and soon thereafter the maids were busy walking up and down the hallways. Just as Cerys and the others started think they would have to go to bed dressed they were, their doors were being knocked on and they were invited to the bathroom to wash themselves free of the dirt from the day’s riding. Peter told his sister to go first, and for once she did not ask what he was being so generous. He was relieved that she did not pry.

Peter still intended on hiding the wounds he had sustained because of the bullies from his sister, and thought that letting her bathe first would be the best way to avoid her seeing the bruises. He was too tired argue with his boyfriend about being more forthcoming. They waited until in their room until the maid came by to tell them that the girls were finished, and then hurried down the hall to what was all that would be left of the warm water. It turned out that the servants been instructed to fetch more water and heat up a second batch for these guests. Again, they were thankful for the courtesy and did not mention that it had not necessary for anyone to go to such trouble.

“How far do you think it is the next village?” Bayani asked as he finished running the bar of soap across his arms.

“I guess we have no way of knowing,” Peter replied, leaning back against the wall of the tub. It felt nice to have warm water to soak in, even if this was a strange and unfamiliar place for him. He was not used to be anywhere so rustic and old-fashioned, but this was his only opportunity to experience life as I was in the books, movies, and games city enjoyed so much, he had no complaints.

“We could ask James to help us with the map,” Bayani suggested.

Peter gave him a tired look and sighed. “Maybe.”

“Come on, Peter!” Bayani said in his most complaining tone.

“What?” Peter asked, too tired to give a response any longer than that.

“You never care about the geography in your games. You just keep on going from one mission to the next and never bother to take in all the work that it took to create that landscape for you.”

Peter shrugged. “I thought we agreed that we weren’t going to judge, I am just as good of a gamer as the next person.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Bayani agreed. “It doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as you enjoy it. The strange this is, your sister will draw her own maps of the world that she’s playing in… especially when she gets lost.”

“I know,” Peter said with a smirk. “The nerd.”

“You are related to that nerd!”

“Don’t remind me,” he groaned, pretending to dislike the idea. “So why are you asking about the map? Is there something you’re worried about?”

“Not so much,” Bayani replied. “I’m just curious.”

“How about you be curious about the map in the morning,” Peter said, taking his boyfriend’s hand, “and for right now, be curious about how comfortable it will be in that bed, lying next to me?”