Both Yuze and Kai Low were hard-pressed to think of a more awkward time in their lives than the half hour they spent waiting for dinner to be served in Yuze's office.
Normally, Kai Low enjoyed making people uncomfortable. Especially the stuck-up people of the stone cities, but Lord Rong was giving as good as he got. He was sitting quietly, watching Kai Low back, almost tepid, waiting him out.
The outrage at having his own tactic turned back on him kept him from giving in, even as the kitchen maids entered and set a ridiculous amount of food on a low table on the other side of the office.
Yuze spoke to thank the maids and moved to the other table without speaking to Kai Low. Not that it stopped him from following and sprawling just as carelessly in front of him again and watching every move the spy made as he dished out food.
It smelled amazing, but it was just…wasteful. The sheer amount of it for just the two of them. Food was plentiful during some seasons in the prairie, but what kind depended heavily on the season and whether or not the year had been good. None of the tribes would waste food like this. Not when it could be stored for the leaner times.
These people…they had no thought of rationing or simplicity or even common sense.
He couldn't help it as he watched Yuze pile more food on a plate and set it in front of him. "This is just wasteful." It practically burst out of him, and he scowled immediately. He hadn't wanted to be the one to break the silence.
Yuze's expression barely flickered. By himself, he rarely ate this much, but the kitchen must have gone all out because of Kai Low and the fact that he was technically a visiting dignitary.
Was this the first time he'd seen it? Where had he been eating since he'd arrived if the kitchen wasn't preparing food for him?
"It's because you're here. Visiting nobility." Yuze kept his expression blank in the face of Kai Low's shock. "The kitchen hasn't been feeding you?"
"There are plenty of other places to eat that aren't surrounded by stone." Kai Low snapped.
Ah, he'd been going to the restaurants and taverns that dotted the estate. Yuze had been to most of them at least once, but protecting his identity meant going out in disguise more often than not, and it was a pain to do so just for a meal. There were even a few restaurants that had tables outside, which he supposed made sense. Kai Low had spent his entire life free under the sky above the borderlands.
And he'd made his hatred for the stone cities clear from pretty much the day Yuze had met him.
Wait, Yuze's eyes narrowed. Was he sleeping in the rooms Chenzhou had given him? Was some poor maid going to get the fright of her life stumbling on him sleeping in one of the gardens or training fields?
"How are your rooms?"
Kai Low looked up from frowning at the food. "Fine, I suppose."
Yuze raised an eyebrow, silently urging him to continue. Where was the bright-eyed charmer who hadn't shut up the entire weeklong ride across the borderland?
Kai Low's face made some complicated expression that Yuze couldn't completely decipher, before he finally looked up with a look Yuze almost recognized. "Never wanted for anything, have you?"
It was on the tip of Yuze's tongue to explain in detail how wrong he was, but there was only one person he'd ever spoken about that part of his life to, and it hadn't even been Fox. Chenzhou was the only one who knew about that time.
The mocking light in Kai Low's eyes was enough to stop him from saying it, though.
A sharp reminder that the man sitting across from him could still be an enemy even if he wore the guise of a friend.
"You're not exactly a poor horseman surviving day to day." Yuze countered. "If I understand the tribal structure correctly, you're from one of the highest-ranked families in the largest tribe in the borderland. That makes you nobility."
Kai Low scowled. "We have no such thing."
"Oh?" Yuze smirked. "So your family doesn't collect tithes. Others don't follow you when you make decisions? Your sister married Beng Shai, who was accepted as the leader of almost every tribe in the borderland, which is nearly unheard of in history. Scoff at us all you want, but you're more like us than you admit."
Kai Low's scowl turned fierce.
"Why did you agree to this investigation?"
Kai Low's scowl turned to confusion. "What?"
"The investigation. Chenzhou asked you, you didn't have to agree. Unless I misunderstood your role here." Yuze poured them both wine, hoping to loosen Kai Low's tongue a bit.
~ tbc