With tenderness and grace, she welcomes the old poet, recounting the tale of how you and she first meet, how you fall in love.

The shy, trembling feelings beneath the pomegranate blossoms... the harmony of a marriage well-matched, full of contentment and affection. Hassan is enraptured.

And later, the old poet writes:

"The other lovers who walk this world are wretched,

for the eyes of the goddess of love pass them by.

But Lady Maggie—

she gathers all love into her arms."

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Tag (Wife) = 1

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Charisma) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Adjust Tag (lock_175) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Counter (7000723): Add 1

Action:

• Enable Event: Poet and Beauty

Naila clearly misunderstands what you mean by "a talk." She tries to... devour the old poet.

Whether she succeeds or not, you never truly know. All you have are the lines Hassan pens afterward:

"Her desire is deep as a dried-up well.

A passing boy,

unable to resist, tosses in a stone—

yet never hears it strike the bottom."

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Nayla

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Physique) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Adjust Tag (lock_175) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Counter (7000723): Add 1

Action:

• Enable Event: Poet and Beauty

Adila tells the old poet she has no faith in love at all. To her, it is nothing but an excuse for the weak, an invention to trick themselves. Once you call it "love," every reckless folly gains the sheen of romance, and wasted time seems suddenly precious.

After their talk, Hassan writes:

"A warrior need not believe in love.

Yet lovers must still trust in steel."

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Adila

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Combat) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Adjust Tag (lock_175) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Counter (7000723): Add 1

Action:

• Enable Event: Poet and Beauty

Lumera offers her own answer to the question of love. To her, love is a force that shatters reason, tearing through the web of logic and hurling one headlong into chaos.

Hassan is startled by how bleakly the young woman speaks, but Lumera insists it is only honesty. Then she turns the question back to him: And you, old poet, how do you see love?

In reply, Hassan sets down this verse:

"What is love?

It is a burning hand cradling a heart,

offered to another,

as if that other had nothing at all."

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Lumera

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Wisdom) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Adjust Tag (lock_175) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Counter (7000723): Add 1

Action:

• Enable Event: Poet and Beauty

Fatuna does not speak much of love, yet she shares her own story with Hassan. Whatever they discuss, you never hear. What survives are the words Hassan writes the next day:

"Love is remaking yourself into the shape another longs for.

Love is a blade.

Love is pain.

Love is what you wish your child to possess, and what you dread they might truly inherit.

Love is the beginning.

Love is the end."

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Fatuna

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Sociability) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Adjust Tag (lock_175) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Counter (7000723): Add 1

Action:

• Enable Event: Poet and Beauty

Mahir scoffs at the very idea of love. Instead, she asks Hassan if he wishes to see her latest invention—a massive iron hammer that can smash ten pairs of lovers in a single blow.

Hassan bursts into laughter, though Mahir is not joking in the slightest. Later, he writes these lines:

"Love conquers all,

like the hammer in her hands.

Love shapes all,

like the hammer in her hands."

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Mahir

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Wisdom) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Adjust Tag (lock_175) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Counter (7000723): Add 1

Action:

• Enable Event: Poet and Beauty

Jenna lounges lazily. She is, after all, an expert. Her finest clients either aim to become so beautiful that they stir a cold heart, or to charm someone they desire.

Hassan asks, "But isn't there a simpler reason? Don't some people just buy jewelry to please themselves?"

Jenna laughs. "Of course, many do. But those aren't my best clients—they haggle. Their minds are still clear; they haven't yet been swept away by love!"

Hassan enjoys their conversation immensely, and later pens this verse:

"To squander for another's love,

is only so,

because they have not yet learned to love themselves."

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Jenna

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Wisdom) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Adjust Tag (lock_175) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Counter (7000723): Add 1

Action:

• Enable Event: Poet and Beauty

Malkina is skeptical of love. She has seen people dismiss one another entirely, but after a touch of her handiwork, the dismissed suddenly becomes charming, even kissable.

Her words inspire Hassan to write:

"The loved believe they are loved,

while the lover knows

they only love the shadow called Love."

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Malkina

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Charisma) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Adjust Tag (lock_175) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Counter (7000723): Add 1

Action:

• Enable Event: Poet and Beauty

Arzuna glides through her lines of flattery—noblewomen's usual odes to love, the "light of life," the "hero in dreams"... yet Hassan finds little satisfaction. Their conversation is awkward, strained, and ends on a slightly sour note.

Later, Hassan writes:

"If love exists,

it does not belong in silken boxes,

handed out fairly,

room by room,

to every decorated chamber."

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Arzuna

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Charisma) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Adjust Tag (lock_175) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Counter (7000723): Add 1

Action:

• Enable Event: Poet and Beauty

Inal, of course, believes in love. She has countless stories to share! She clutches Hassan and talks endlessly, laughing and crying all at once. The old poet listens patiently, offering gentle encouragement. The two of them spend the entire afternoon in conversation.

Afterwards, Hassan pens:

"A lover's heart is like a spring,

never drying,

yet so full it cannot hold another drop."

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Inal

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Sociability) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Adjust Tag (lock_175) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Counter (7000723): Add 1

Action:

• Enable Event: Poet and Beauty

Raed sneers: women's misfortune begins the moment they believe in love. Yet she admits she has seen things worthy of the name "love"—though she vows never to let it seize her. "Better it stays in storybooks," she says.

Hassan enjoys the discussion greatly, and later writes:

"Love, like a god,

can be believed in,

yet need not descend."

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Raed

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Combat) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Adjust Tag (lock_175) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Counter (7000723): Add 1

Action:

• Enable Event: Poet and Beauty

Badriyyah has an entire theory of love. She tells Hassan that love is a narcotic, a spell, a fleeting escape from mortal life. To die in love's intoxication—that would be bliss.

From their conversation, Hassan writes:

"If life is truly this harsh,

then you,

and all who read these lines,

living mortals,

are nothing short of saintly in your endurance."

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Badriyyah

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Magic) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Adjust Tag (lock_175) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Counter (7000723): Add 1

Action:

• Enable Event: Poet and Beauty

[xiaochou.name] gives Hassan no chance to ask a single question. Instead, she pursues him relentlessly, volleying one query after another about love: What does first love feel like? Does a lover's embrace make the body quake? Can someone in love still touch another?

The old poet is driven to his limits. With no other recourse, he pens a little verse in reply:

"Even with [player.name]'s silver tongue,

and the Sultan's command,

no words can teach a beauty

what love truly is."

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = The Ancient Mirror

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Sociability) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Adjust Tag (lock_175) of Slot #2: Add 1
• Counter (7000723): Add 1

Action:

• Enable Event: Poet and Beauty

Perhaps this is not the "beauty" that can spark Hassan's passion...

Conditions:

• Slot #2 = 1

Action:

• Enable Event: Poet and Beauty