when it's cold, it comes slow

"What's the opposite of hot and bothered?"

"Cold and calm, I suppose."

Patroka spares her companion a sidelong contemptuous glance, pausing the incessant rhythmic drum (pinkie to thumb, pause, to pinkie to thumb, pause, repeat) of her fingers on the tabletop. "Not what I meant."

"Better than cold and bothered, yeah?"

Ashei's no pushover, even if she is bookish. Well, her friend's bookish. She's just quiet. But not soft...

She doesn't need a bodyguard; Patroka'd just been overeager to offer, so she'd accepted.

Sometimes she feels more like kissing than fighting, though.

Patroka drums some more.

"Sure. Sure it is."