The carpet remark sailed right over her head, as any good and loyal flying carpet should, but Aeon still smiled back.

"I'm not sure. I've flirted with a few of the ladies - Lauri-Ell is beautiful but she's not ... let's just say I'm pretty sure the kind of fun I have in mind is the lowest thing on her list of priorities. Lark's a pretty thing, but the city was hard on her. I don't want to scare her."

Which left ... a hole in her chest at the thought of her final and strongest option, and she heaved a sigh. "Your friend, the one you're going slow with. What was it like for you in the city?"

The alcohol was slowly but surely doing its work, and her reservations about sharing feelings and emotions were dissolving as surely as the last ice chips floating at the top of her glass.