"First round's on you, sure," Anaximander said with a smile, thinking of other times and other places where Khayyal had insisted on buying him dinner as a show of appreciation. Would that tenuous friendship endure and strengthen, now that stakes were so much higher, or would it break?<br/><br/>He kept smiling as Khayyal included the unknown woman in the invitation, though the expression ceased to reach his eyes. Something about her spelled "trouble" to Anaximander, and he didn't need to borrow any of that.