"So this Narol likes you but he didn't consider you old enough until you got those tattoos, yes?"
Surana nodded. They were seated with their backs against Shartan's headboard and each with a wineglass.
"But you don't know if you like him so much…"
"Yes."
"Drink more. Drink faster." Shartan leaned over to fetch the wine-bottle again. "You think too much. This is a terrible thing for you. And for me."
He tipped up her glass against her mouth and she gulped quickly to keep from having it spill, a sin for such a fine wine. He spoke again while refilling her cup. "So you came to me to ask about what to do about this boy? Why is this a question?"
Surana sighed and took another long drink while Shartan watched her with narrowed eyes. "The bastard shem," she said, rolling her eyes up to the ceiling. "The archdemon shem. He is not so terrible to look at either. He is… interesting. For a shem."
"So bed one, then bed the other." Shartan settled back further against his bed with a self-satisfied sigh. "Do you have any more difficult problems? Apparently I am very good at this."
"I cannot just," Surana spluttered, "bed a Dalish! They do not do this! We would not, I mean, yes, I am a Dalish. But they would never be so casual!"
"What? Why would you even want to live with them?"
"Someone had to think of our future. You weren't going to! Things will not always be so easy for us. I did this for both of us, Shartan, you idiot."
"Mmm." Shartan took a long, slow sip, thoughtful, but this ended when he looked at her sidelong. He gave a quick laugh. "You're still a virgin! No, now I understand the trouble. You're stuck up with those Dalish and you're twenty-one years old and saying things such as, 'he likes me' and 'but perhaps I do not like him' and—" It ended there with Surana shoving him out of the bed. Shartan crowed in laughter, stumbling to his feet and balancing his cup.
"It is so easy for you to say!" Surana said hotly, her skin gone dusky with a blush. "I could get with child, and then where would I be?"
Shartan's chortles slowly died down. He made a gesture of peace and gingerly sat again, his wine-cup well out of her reach. "So you get with child." Surana frowned severely at him but he lifted his arm to tuck it around her shoulders. "You must know that if such a thing were to happen Padre and I would take care of you." He smiled as her frown eased a little. "So have a baby. I certainly won't ever get any. Have five and give three of them to me! But not straight away if you can help it. I'm too young to be a papà."
Surana lifted her chin and leaned her head back against Shartan's arm. She took another drink and held out her cup to be filled up again. "Still, I cannot believe you would tell me to bed the shem. His dreams, they are… bad, you say?"
"I have learned how to walk away from them in the Fade if I need to," said Shartan, leaning away just a little to set the bottle back on his bedside table. "I do not see such things anymore. And.." he lifted his shoulder, shifting Surana's head. "His other dreams, they are not so terrible."