The crowd under the lanterns was boisterous and happy; people humanoid and otherwise clustered around little tables, eating and drinking, while servers with trays wound between them. Hawk and Teige sat at one table, eating something like large hand-held dumplings and a basket of julienned fries, and drinking deeply from large mugs.

"A sleepover, eh?" Teige inquired. "Just the two of them?"

"Sure, why not?" Hawk said, with his mouth full.

"Sure, why not," Teige echoed. "Maybe I expected you to be a bit over-protective."

"Nah, I trust Liya," Hawk replied, and took another bite of whatever was in the basket. "An' Yoshi seems like a good kid."

Teige pointed at him. "She is a good kid. I'd vouch for her on the stand."

"Right, so if they want to spend the night together, that's fine," Hawk said, and shrugged. He paused a moment as Teige took a generous bite out of his dumpling, and then said, a little more doubtfully, "...Right?"

"Sure, sure. What's to worry about, I suppose." Teige placed his half-eaten dumpling down on the plate and took up his mug. He added ruefully, "Aah, you know what it is? It's the way I was raised. There ent any trust there."