"Ooo. This is nice." Opal beamed. "It has a nice view and the furniture is better than what I'm used to. It's quite spacious don't you find?" she asked batting her eyes. I stood dumbfounded for a moment, Opal did not seem to clue in to the lack of a second bed. She seemed more caught up in the rooms layout, furnishings, configuration and colour.

But then again it was easy to get distracted, the room was noticeably prettier than any I had been in previously. The round table was covered with a lace trimmed tablecloth, and a large vase with flowers was set in the middle. The carved and decorative chairs were cushioned and sported tasteful colors and intricate patterns. The bed had a quilted comforter and sported two pillows for extra comfort. All in all, a little gem of a place, lost in the middle of a floor that few ever visit now.

Opal went over to the bed and squeezed one of the pillows. I saw her look down, close her eyes and swallow hard. "After a hard day like that, it would be wrong to not let you sleep properly. Since there's only one bed, we ... um ... we could ... share it?" Opal squeaked, her voice cracking at the end of the sentence. "But only if you want to." she added reluctantly as she twisted her hands together.

"You can have the bed, I'll just sleep on the floor, you've earned it for being my guide all day. It would be rude of me to impose." I offered. Opal's screwed up her face in disgust and disappointment. "Hey don't worry, the floor's not that bad. It's not like I'll be sore the next day or anything the system sees to that. I'll just take one of the pillows and I'll be fine." I decided.

Opal turned away "Um ... ah ... ok." She said. I think she was relieved but I really couldn't tell. I put away my armor and grabbed a pillow and one of the covers off the bed. Turns out the bed had three! It would have been nice to sleep in that bed, it really looked comfortable, but the floor would have to do. I laid down with the cover over me and the pillow under my head.

"Good night Opal, and thank you for the day." I said. "Good night Wolf" Opal huffed. I felt a certain sadness in her voice. I hoped I hadn't said anything out of place or rude. She'd been real nice with me all day. I felt a little guilty that Karla didn't come adventuring with us. "If Karla gets to know Opal more I think they could become friends." I imagined. With that thought in mind I quickly drifted to sleep.

Waking up on a floor is always disconcerting. Even knowing that I wouldn't feel it soon after I got up, it was not an Ideal place to sleep. If you slept anywhere but in a bed, in this game, you'd be stiff after waking up. I was no exception and I tried to relieve the soreness by turning on my back as I woke up. I was suddenly aware that something was beside me that hadn't been there the night before.

"Good morning." Opal hummed. She was lying on her side on the floor beside me under the cover I had put down the night before. I sat up suddenly and moved away. "I, oh, ah, um, what, no ..." I babbled trying to gather my thoughts. I stared at Opal in shock, "Did you fall out of bed?" I asked. This was a ridiculous question, in fact it was impossible to fall out of bed. Asleep you couldn't move, the system prevented you. But being the morning I wasn't thinking clearly.

"No. Of course not." She said as she sat up. She looked away from me and bit her bottom lip. She seemed to be thinking. I tried to come up with a reason, some were quite inappropriate and I tried to dismiss them. No matter what I did I couldn't put two and two together. I looked at her to try and get an answer. I felt really nervous but I didn't quite know why.

Opal took a deep breath, "I was cold last night ... well I felt cold anyway. I thought it would be warmer next to you. I was going to ask you to ... never mind. I decided I would just lean up against you on the floor. I didn't really want to wake you and I fell asleep before I even had the chance to ask if it was okay. I hope you don't mind." Opal said. Her voice was low and her words seemed chosen. I wasn't sure why but I felt she was trying to hide something, not enough for me to confront her with it though.

"Ok then. I suggest we head back to town right after breakfast. Since you paid for the room, it'll be my treat." I said with a smile. Opal accepted the offer. I managed to send a note to Karla, just before we left, that we'd be back around noon. We finished breakfast quickly and managed to be on the road twenty minutes later.

We made our way down the road, handling the creatures that insisted on getting in our way. Opal seemed more interested in talking than taking on mobs, which was fine with me as we would get back to town faster. Most of our conversation evolved around the game itself and the equipment we had managed to gather. Typical of gamers we described our equipment as if we had invented it. Opal was particularly proud of her spear which was a monster drop that according to her gave her a two level advantage.

We didn't see the morning go by and as the forest made way to vineyards the town came into view. "Well that was fun. I've got to remember to pace myself if I'm going to hunt out here. There's still a big chunk of this floor to explore. You've been a great help Opal, this is definitely not a solo floor. You probably want to sell the stuff you picked up so don't want to keep you too long." I said.

"I wouldn't mind going again some time, just you and me. I think we could really explore this place and get to know each other better." Opal proposed looking straight into my eyes. She glanced momentarily towards the town, then looked back at me. She looked worried and determined at the same time. I took a step back but she quickly closed the gap between us and grabbed me by the collar.

And planted her lips on mine.