This whole interaction was delightfully quaint. Usually he was surrounded by five other people, all of them occupying a space every bit as small as this. His fellows reminded him a bit of a pack of dogs, wandering from place to place, working together, infighting, sleeping all crammed together with very little regard to privacy. Here, though her house was small, it was just the two of them. There were no voices clawing over each other to be heard. If she didn’t speak, and he didn’t speak, there was silence.

He was mulling this over, tongue against the dip in the spoon as it hung out of his mouth while she poured water into the two cups she’d set down. His green eyes followed the water jug and then the crystalline stream swirling into his cup and then hers. Nodding a thanks to her, he put the spoon back in the bowl and enclosed the cup in his fingers, lifting it to his lips to take a draft. She was a quiet sort of person, he decided, watching her as she focused on her stew. It was just as well. He didn’t have all that much to say. However, he wasn’t equal to eating in complete silence, it seemed, and asked her about the paintings.

“Yes, I sell some of them at the market. A variety of people buy them, not just the rich. My paintings aren't worth that much. Only on a few occasions had a lord or lady cared to buy one.”

He nodded to that, not having much to follow that answer up with. A painter he was not, nor a great admirer of art. Khanh liked things he could take much better than things he’d need to leave on walls. If it wasn’t something he could sell or easily keep, he generally didn’t pay much attention to it.

“You said you travelled in a group. Where are the others?” she asked in a moment where he had his mouth completely full. It gave him time to think. Thoughtfully chewing the bread and stew, his gaze drifted over her head. What had he called them before? Merchants? Travelers? He couldn’t remember, so he decided to be a bit vague.

“I am not sure. We don’t hold each other down. Likely some are at home or some are about here and there.” In order to quickly change the subject, he gestured at her. “Have you considered a self portrait? You’re very beautiful.”

He didn’t miss the way her eyes widened at his suggestion of a self portrait but he thought it an interesting reaction. Did she not like her face? Somehow, when she did manage to answer about not having any mirrors due to the expense of them, he didn’t think that was the whole truth. There were ponds of clear water that were nearly as good as mirrors, if she wanted to bother. However, he didn’t push the subject, mainly because what did it truly matter to him, anyway, whether she did or did not make one? It’d been something to say and a question besides. He had his answer and he was content enough with it.

Did he imagine it or was she smaller than she had been a moment ago? Oh. He noted the roundness of her shoulders and the way she curved over her bowl like she was trying to take what shelter she could from a rainstorm. Instead of copying her, he sat back in his chair, his long legs extending beneath the table, and interlocked his fingers behind his head. He watched her finish her food, his own bread being chewed slowly and thoughtfully in his own mouth.

Unless he was much mistaken, she didn’t appear to want to speak anymore. She wouldn’t look at him for the rest of the meal and if he’d been the sort of person to feel terribly guilty, he might have. As he was not, and as he knew he hadn’t done anything wrong, her behavior was simply a curiosity to him. He watched her gather her dishes together once she was finished and finally, finally, there was a furtive glance his way.

“I have some fresh grapes that I just bought this morning. Would you like some?”

Khanh grinned. He’d never turn down fresh fruit.

“I’d love some,” he said and spread his long arms out to either side of him, catching the windowsill on one side and a sort of table thing on the other so that it seemed his huge frame was taking up nearly all the space in her house. At least, he felt that way. This house really was very small and he never felt so large as when he was indoors. Sleeping out under the sky tended to make one feel tiny and forget one’s own size.

His vivid green eyes followed Adelpha wherever she moved in the house. Because this wasn’t where he lived, he didn’t take his dishes to where she would have preferred them. He left them in front of him on the table to be gathered up at her leisure, and made himself quite as comfortable as one could be in this chair.