"I would say that the line is drawn where service and hospitality are negatively affected by your choice to obey the letter of the law as opposed to the spirit of it." Mahao'li folds his arms gently, tilting his head thoughtfully to the side. "In all your examples, Ruunte Qana'to, the cause of the issue is not on Cehn'to, but on the bhenah for failing to care for him adequately. Is it right and hospitable of him to shift that failure of care onto guests?" Mahao'li turns and casts his gaze over Cehn'to once more, tracing the faded but unmistakable lines of shonjate war paint with his eyes. He turns back to Qana'to, shrugging his shoulders slightly as he adjusts his stance before continuing.

"To use your example of food; to do many things on an empty stomach is difficult, especially services of the kind a Shonjate is know for. If someone were to arrive with an urgent petition for Cehn'to, say for protection on the road to Limsa Lominsa to catch the last ship before dusk, would it be right for him to deny them because the communal supper had yet to be prepared? If to do so would mean the guest had to depart without protection, because Cehn'to could not feed himself to be ready to provide that service, than I would say that Cehn'to had failed in his duties as a keeper." 

"Fine, then," Qana'to says, nodding approvingly and turning to head into the back area of the shrine. "You say we should judge by the impact on guests, and I agree. So, then, he can wait on you for the rest of the evening, and when I return from offering the evening's votive prayers with Rhaefi'a and Naoh'li, I will judge whether he was still able to perform service and hospitality befitting the bholbhenah based on how well you've been taken of. How's that sound?" He disappears around a corner before either of them get a chance to respond. In the distance, the nekhucte standing watch over the candle display giggles while studiously pretending to be looking elsewhere.

"Uh-oh," Cehn'to mutters under his breath. "That tone says he's fully intending to make me regret that little bargain in a moment." He looks back to the man to his right. "Well, I appreciate the support, satihr, so what do you say we get you fed and washed off before I spend the rest of my days beating rugs and chopping firewood until my arms fall off?"

Mahao'li chuckles softly, bumping the other keeper's shoulder and smiling at him reassuringly. "We'll just have to make sure he can't fault your hospitality so he can't make you regret it - which given I'm on your side, shouldn't be too hard." He flicks his ears quickly, widening his smile. "And of course I support you - I'm the reason you had to break the rules to be somewhat presentable in here, I won't let you take the fall for that alone."

He laughs. "You're sweet, stranger. Come on, are you hungry? We can find you snack if you want. There's probably some leftover eel if you want, downstairs."

A threatening hum pierces the quiet, and the nekhucte glares. "Okay, on second thought, Hrevna'a is supposed to be starting dinner soon and I shouldn't spoil your appetite," he says hurriedly. "Let's, uh, go wash first instead."

Mahao'li turns and grins playfully at the Nekhucte. "Well, I haven't actually eaten since I got here, not counting Rhaefi'a, so some eel in theory would be wonderful, and a good way to show Bholbenah hospitality..." He trails off, meaningully holding the pause a moment before continuing. "That said though, I did offer to Ruunte Qana'to to prepare dinner as a thank you for his services today, so I should do that before Hrevna'a gets too carried away." He glances down at his groin, where his cock, while having softened since his discussion with Qana'to, was still standing semi hard. "I guess you'll have to wait." He turns back to Cehn'to, smiling and beckoning him. "Why don't you show me where the kitchen is and help me with prep, and then we can wash up while the stew cooks?"  

"Well, surely you can cook tomorrow night just as well, right?" Cehn'to protests. "I'm pretty sure I'll never do anything but move logs if I don't keep you entertained and Qana'to catches a guest working." He suddenly bolts upright and stares after where the ruunte disappeared. "That wasn't his plan, was it? Is that why he was so willing to play along?"

Mahao'li raises an eyebrow at you, smiling and shaking his head. "I doubt it - I made the offer while we were still in Limsa Lominsa; long before we got back here. I'm sure you're safe."

"I wouldn't be so certain. He and the head hravnjate here like to play games. Though—not usually anything so malicious as... ohhh," he laughs suddenly. "Of course, I'm being selfish. The goal isn't to trick me into violating a promise. It's to prevent you from trying to repay us for what should be service freely given." His ears flick and he regards Mahao'li with renewed curiosity. "You must have made it explicit that you were trying to repay him for his help. He's both too polite to refuse you outright and too obstinate to just let you do it. He takes very seriously the idea that we should not seek benefit from the help we render to our visitors." He rolls his eyes. "And it doubles as telling me off for taking liberties with the shrine's rules, so he gets two apples off one graft."

Mahao’li purses his lips as he contemplates Cehn’to’s words. "I did explicitly say as much, yes; that I could make stew in return for his assistance." He smiles and shrugs at Cehn'to, elaborating. "In our village, that was the way of it - you gave thank you for assistance with assistance in kind. 'Everyone shares the burden of caring for each other.' To not do so was to put yourself above others; to be served as a Nuhn or King." Mahao'li shakes his head slightly and smiles at the other keeper. "Of course, if Ruunte Qana'to is insistent on playing this game, I will play along. There are other ways I can repay his favour in kind."

"Oh, have your evil plans, do you? Well, I'm sure his only consideration is keeping it from being promised, so whatever clever ways you have to offer thanks will be appreciated. It just cannot sound like a bargain. Veom'ra is strict about that on the grounds," he explains with a smile. "There is a loophole here, though, if you are bent on cooking. Hrevna'a is cooking for us, but somebody has to cook for him in turn. Usually he'd just eat uncooked greens and a salted haunch or similar on the days he's assigned to cook. Something he didn't need to cook, technically. But you could make him a meal and it wouldn't be directly benefiting Qana'to, so he couldn't complain." He shrugs. "Just saying."

"That works for me." Mahao'li replies, gesturing for Cehn'to to lead him towards the kitchen. "I'd need to thank Hrevna'a for the food anyways, after all." He follows Cehn'to to the kitchen, noddind and introducing himself to the miqo'te they find there.

"Funny," Qana'to says sternly from his spot by the fireplace. "I don't recall many kinds of caring for a guest involving leading them into the kitchens. Hravnjate Cehn'to, is there a reason you're starting with a tour of the back rooms?"

"Uh, well, yes, I was—hello again, ruunte," Cehn'to says with a quaver of reluctance. "I was just showing him... he asked about... well."

"It is at my request, Ruunte Qana'to" Mahao'li offers, taking a step closer to the fireplace. "I did say I would cook the meal tonight while we were in Limsa, did I not? As a thank you for your services. Of course, Cehn'to informs me you would refuse that offer, but he helpfully acknowledged that Hrevna'a would need to be fed himself." He casts a look quickly back over his shoulder at Cehn'to, flicking his ears playfully. "Of course, as a fellow fruit clan, he could not deny my earnest request to assist - it would be inhospitable in the extreme."

"Right. He asked. I was just being hospitable and answering his request."

"I see." He grimaces and pulls himself away from the fireplace he was stoking. "You are just a little too clever for my tricks, it seems, Mahao'li. I'll have to be more adroit in my subterfuge from here on out." Suddenly he grins from ear to ear and gestures to the fire. "Well, make yourself at home, I suppose. Do you want the fire? I figured I'd get it going while I was already sweaty, but you are welcome to it—since you're insisting."

Cehn'to sighs with relief and sags against the doorpost.

"Well, I had also offered to clean you up after our romp on the road, but you disappeared before I could - so you will just need to wait until after dinner to be tended to - or at least until I get the stew on to simmer." Mahao'li teases as he steps around the ruunte, flicking his still semi-hard cock playfully as he moved towards the fire. "If you would like to assist us, Ruunte Qana'to, that can happen much faster." 

"'Us?' Making my delinquent hravnjate help you with your stew as well?" Qana'to points to a stewpot. "I suppose he can fill this with water for a start." As Cehn'to groans and heaves the pot away, Qana'to walks up behind the Miqo'te near the fire, hugging his around the waist. "How can I help, now?"

"Well of course I am - did you not tell him he needed to wait on me for the rest of the evening, to ensure he was proving a shining example of bholbenah jaliqo?" Mahao'li purrs softly and leans back into the hug, resting his head back against the other man's shoulder. "I'm just ensuring he's doing as you wish of him, Ruunte Qana'to. As for how you can help, can you get me some things? You know this kitchen far better than I could ever hope to." Mahao'li lists off a short set of common ingredients he hoped that the bhenah had on hand. "enough to make a full pot - while of course, this is primarily going to be for Hrevna'a, as you insist, I intend to make enough for everyone to sample." 

"Fine, if you insist," he says, chuckling at Mahao'li's accented pronunciation of "jahliko" and pulling away from him to scrounge up ingredients. He and Hrevna'a dance around each other as the latter works to prepare the fileted fish, appearing to be in quite a hurry and barely interacting with the others.

"Forgive him if he seems brusque right now," Qana'to says quietly, returning from his collection. "He's irritated that I arrived with the fish late and is trying to make sure food is served soon. He'll be more talkative once dinner is dealt with."

While Qana'to sets about gathering the ingredients from the kitchen, mahao'li darts back outside, to the cubby where he had left his bags, grabbing them and returning to the kitchen. "It would have been back faster had someone not insisted on trying to mount me on the road." Mahao'li says, with a pointed look at Qana'to, before taking the ingredients from him, and adding them to the pot that Cehn'to had brought back to them. From his own bags. he begins to pull more unique additions, adding a series of bright powders and mushrooms. Once he was satisfied he ad added most of what he needed, he turned back to Qana'to. "Only thing left to add is the remains of the fish, and then we can set it to simmer"

"Not that much faster, come on." He looks ready to hiss. "Do you need to tend it while it cooks down, or can we go clean up before we have to eat?"

"No, it will be fine to simmer on it's own. I'll just get that fish in there and we'll be all set."  Mahao'li smiles checking with Hrevna'a that he was done with the fish, before taking the remains and adding them to the stew. He gives the mixture a stir, before putting a lid on the pot, and turning back to Qana'to. "Okay, all done. We can go get you cleaned up now, Ruunte Qana'to."