"You are welcome." He was almost painfully apathetic about the whole ordeal, a complete opposite to what she had briefly assumed. He simply turned from the kiss and went right back to eating. He was opposed to failure, but not really in this sense. He had picked up on the fact that she was looking for an answer from the kiss, and not actual any sort of physical or mental pleasure. From what he could tell, she was paying him a single Miza to silently help her out with whatever internal struggle she was dealing with. Funnily enough, if the red-head had been so inclined to actually demand that he put everything he had into it, he may very well have declined. He had a feeling it would take a little extra persuasion to push her body to where it would need to go, and he didn't really want to do that to the Svefra. He was generally opposed to using his magic for sly manipulation anyways. He had no desire to make enemies, and using magic to mess with someone's mind was certainly a quick way to go about that. He silently chewed on a few strips of dried beef before noticing the boat had turned back towards Syliras. He felt a moment of disappointment, but also just a bit of relief. He was still unsettled out here on the Suvan, so having something a bit more solid to stand on would do his heart good.
"So I am assuming you haven't actually told him how you feel yet?" The question came from left field, like many of them did. There was actually a tone of mild irritation for a moment, though. What would the harlot have to be irritated about? "That would make all of this so much more simple, you know. It is common sense to talk it out with the object of your affection in order to unravel how you feel about him. It doesn't have to be this complex little scheme that I am almost absolutely positive it is." He turned to her, raising an eyebrow, blue eyes staring steadily at her back as she slowly steered the ship back where it needed to go. There was still the lessons that she wanted him to give her, but he was fairly sure she didn't even need them. If she was going to try and seduce who he thought she might try to seduce, then he doubted she really needed that much finesse. Not that her target was easy or anything like that, Matthew had just seen the look in his eyes. He did what he could to read people, at least when it came to this particular subject. A dull elder could probably read his face when it came to the fire-head, though.
He was more or less irritated by how complex that emotions were making it. Perhaps there was more to the story, but in the back of his mind, even that didn't matter. If you stripped the emotion away from every situation and looked at from a purely logical standpoint, then in the end, it would usually become much more simple.
Matthew himself had taken steps to completely abolish himself of what she was struggling with now. He hadn't really shared it with anyone, but that was part of the reason for this whole entire charade. The need for love and companionship was almost the single most influential driving force to the mortal kind. Lust was a major component as well. After years upon years of selling both love and lust to any woman who would pay the right coin, he was eventually becoming numb to such feelings. He was devaluing the thing that so many held so important. Endless whores would solve probably one of the biggest pieces of his Problem. He doubted the fire-head would ever find such a solution to be desirable. She was noticeably passionate in her day-to-day life, so such an idea would be a complete contradiction to who she was. Her passion seemed to be part of her. More so than others with the same condition. Perhaps that was why she was making her problem so complex. She just couldn't help it.
