“I must say, your progress is good,” Jens said, during one of our gatherings, “In just a week, you learned a lot.”

“Thanks. Your timkik tongue has also improved considerably.”

“Really?”

“Yes. It needs more work, but it’s gradually improving.”

Mun-Hee hugged me tight, almost rubbing her face into mine: “Snirba is so smart! Understands easily! And teaches too! One more moon and she will be a good lady.”

“It will take more than lessons,” Eric pointed out, “Being a lady isn’t just etiquette, but confidence too. That will be much harder. That will take years.”

“Still, she can go with us.”

“You two geted very close,” Ira said.

“What? Jealous?” Mun-Hee grinned at him as she started stroking my hair gently, “We also sleep together, and I also taked her measurements. Jealous?”

“I am. But, more important, I worry you are taking advantage from her.”

“No, I am not! Do you hate this, Snirba?” She asked as she continued stroking my hair.

“No, I don’t.”

“But do you know Mun-Hee is gay?”

“Ira!” She shrieked at him. Although, I had no idea what that meant.

“Do you …”

“Do not!”

Since Mun-Hee cut Ira off before he could clarify, I had to ask him myself.

“Excuse me, but I don’t understand what that word means.”

“We teached you that before,” Ira said, “but you probably forgeted it. I am not blaming you. There is no polite word for it in your tongue.”

Mun-Hee detached herself from me, staring at Ira with murderous intent: “Do not be that evil, Ira!”

“Why? Why are you scared?”

“You know what timkiks think! What they are forced to think!”

“And still, you cling to her. That is not fair. You are taking advantage.”

“No! She is just cute and cuddly. You want to pet her too, right!”

“But I control myself. Who knows what you do to her when you are alone in your room.”

“Nothing!”

“Listen, I am bad, but not evil. You know what my job is. It is gooder this way. Trust me.”

“Trust you! Are you joking me?”

“Still, she needs to know. It is not fair not to tell her. It is not fair to force her to stay with someone she do not like.”

“I have no complaints about Mun-Hee. She’s very good to me.”

“But do you know she is a female faggot?”

“Ira!”

That one, I didn’t expect. Yes, she was getting increasingly more intimate with me, but I never saw it as strange. During the last week, we did get much closer to each other. She developed a habit of touching me and clinging to me from time to time, but it never felt like anything sexual. Yes, it’s strange for friends to hug, pet, and cuddle with each other, but they are demons. So, I thought all of that was perfectly normal for them. Besides, she never touched any of my soft spots. She did preen my tail a few times, but I thought it was just a strange curiosity to her since she doesn’t have one.

This revelation made me finally realize that no other human acted that way towards me. Not even the males, who you’d expect to be far more interested. You’d certainly expect them to at least cop a feel from a pretty, lowly slave. Were they scared of Mun-Hee? Did she somehow mark me as her own, so the others wouldn’t dare touch me?

Looking at her face, it was obvious that Ira was telling the truth. She looked frightened, ready to run out of the room in a heartbeat. She opened her mouth, as if she was trying to say something but couldn’t.

The other demons got gloomy all of a sudden, with Ira being the only one to have a solemn expression on his face. Eric ran his hand down his face, as if he was trying to wipe something off of it.

Jens finally decided to end the awkward silence. He smiled widely while hugging Ira around the shoulders with his left hand.

“That is not a big deal. All humans are close with their friends. Look at me and Ira! We are close like this! I even pet him,” he started ruffling Ira’s short hair vigorously, “and we are not gay.”

“We are not faggots,” Ira translated as he hugged Jens the same way, “and yet we are close like this. Jens is right. Humans are close. But you are not a human. Maybe you not like it. Maybe you are disgusted but are scared to say it. So I want you to know.”

“I … I see. Thanks, I appreciate it. But I don’t mind. Sure, my people aren’t familiar with such … behavior, but I see no harm in it. Mun-Hee was always gentle with me, and she never did anything sexual. She never did anything that made me want to push her away.”

I looked her in the eyes for greater effect: “And, as long as she doesn’t go any further, I’m ok with it.”

She eyed me cautiously, still uncertain of what to say. But there was a hint of relief on her face.

“Are you your self a faggot?” Ira asked me out of the blue.

“No! No, I’m not!”

“It is not a crime here,” Jens said, “No one will judge you if you are. After all, we all like Mun-Hee.”

All the male demons nodded in unison, as if they agreed on it beforehand. Even Ira nodded his head.

“Yes, I do not agree with her on a lot of things,” Ira said, “but her liking females have nothing to do with it. So, do not be scared to admit if you are.”

“Thanks, but I’m not!”

“No need to get angry,” Jens said in a low voice, “Ira just tells how it is. Here, gay people have same rights as others. It is wrong to target them.”

“And you better remember that,” the loud voice and his unusually stern face made what Eric said sound like a threat.

“Are … are some of you also … how do you say it?”

“Gay? No, just Mun-Hee. But if we were, that would not be a problem.”

“No, it would not,” Jens agreed with Eric.

“Maybe Jens is but, arghhh!” In a moment, Jens went from hugging Ira to choking him with big, muscular biceps. And he did it with a smile on his face.

“Not give her wrong ideas.”

“Arghhh … you are not showing you … like any females …”

“Because I am not desperate like you.”

“It is ok, Mun-Hee, you can relax,” Eric said, “No harm is done. And it is good Ira said it. We do not want Snirba to think we are hiding something from her.”

Mun-Hee still said nothing, but it didn’t look like she was about to run away either.

At that point, I realized I had an excellent chance to both put Mun-Hee in my debt and get closer to Jens.

“It’s ok, Mun-Hee. I realize you humans touch each other a lot. Looking at Jens and Ira, it’s obvious that human friends are very close with each other.”

“Is it not?” Jens smiled from ear to ear as he choked Ira even tighter.

“But I’m curious … is this the case only with the people of the same gender? Or is it ok for friends to be this close even when their genders are different?”

The demons exchanged confused glances among each other. As if they didn’t have an answer ready for that.

“That … that is more … complicated …” even Eric struggled to explain, scratching the back of his head idly, “It is not always clear where the line between friends and something more is.”

“It depends on people,” Mun-Hee finally joined the conversation, “Some people are good with it, and some think any touch of opposite gender is sexual. So, it depends on what you are good with and the male. But, if you are friends, you will easily understand each other and know what is good and what is not good to do. What makes someone uncomfortable.”

“This choking makes me uncomfortable!” Ira said in a level voice, making me realize it was some lame demonic joke, and he wasn’t serious.

“So … why didn’t you try to get close to me as Mun-Hee does?” I asked, looking at the males.

That caused an immediate reaction, making them open their mouth and raise their brows.

“We … do not know what you are comfortable with,” Eric answered first, “We know it is wrong to be that close with someone of the opposite gender in your society, so we do not want to make you feel uncomfortable.”

“I appreciate your consideration. Does that mean that you’d be close with me as much as you are with each other if I’d tell you I’m ok with it?”

The males exchanged glances between themselves once again.

“That is a …” Eric continued, “… that is a personal thing. Some would, some would not. Depends on how good you know each other.”

“And how good some of us are at understanding other people,” Ira added, “Take Jens as example. He would not know you are good with it even if you are to tell him. He is terrible with people.”

“He is very better than you,” Mun-Hee jabbed, “He have far more friends than you ever will.”

“There’s another thing I’m confused about. Mun-Hee, please correct me if I’m wrong, but you and Ira are friends, right? As I understand, all of you are friends here.”

Mun-Hee was about to take a sip of the black, bubbling poison, but my question made her stop midway.

“Unluckily, yes.”

“That’s what I don’t understand! Why would you say, unluckily? And, if you are friends, why are you constantly at each other’s throats? Please, forgive me if I’m going too far, but why are the two of you so often together if you don’t enjoy each other’s company?”

Before answering, she exchanged a glance of mutual understanding with Ira, the kind of which is reserved only for life-long friends.

“Ira is not evil. He is only too stupid and arrogant. Thinks others owe him something.”

“Huh!” Ira yelled ironically at that.

“He is annoying but not a bad person. So I do not hate him being close. Also, he may learn something from me, get smarter.

“There is nothing to learn from miss useless degree.”

“Shut up, insel.”

“That’s what I’m talking about! He called you useless, and I’m certain you’ve also insulted him somehow, even if I don’t know what the word means. Why would you be friends with someone who insults you?”

“It is a game,” Eric answered instead of them.

“A game?”

“They see each other as competition. So, they are always trying to outsmart the other. And, in doing so, they saw the other’s smarts. They are rivals who turned friends after realizing the other has qualities. But the rivalry is still there. So, they are rival-friends. People who enjoy each other’s company but will put the other down every chance they get just to show that their way of thinking is better.”

While that made no sense at all, I was certain everything would get even more complicated had I asked him to elaborate further. So I left it at that.