She pulled up her account, touched the picture up quickly and typed:
Exploring new places is one of my favorite things. Stay tuned for more information on your next favorite vacation spot.
“There,” she said. “That’s bound to create speculation. Excitement.”
He looked down at the picture with great skepticism. “That?”
“Yes.”
“I do not understand people.”
“Maybe they don’t understand you,” she said.
He looked completely unamused by that.
“Sorry. Joke. I thought you were getting to where you understood those sometimes.”
The look he gave her was inscrutable.
“Show me the rest of this place,” she said. “I’m curious.”
He looked at her as if she had grown a second head. “You realize that I’m slightly conspicuous?”
“Usually I am too,” she said. “I guess... I just figure you ignore it.”
“You’re not conspicuous here.”
“No,” she said. “But that won’t last long, will it? I mean, if I’m going to be the Queen...”
“You’re not going to be inconspicuous as long as you’re walking around with me. That’s a pretty decent indicator that you might be important.”
“Wow. No points for humility.”
“Do you have false humility about the degree to which you’re recognized? Or what your status means? You’ve been throwing all sorts of statistics at me about your wealth and importance ever since we first met.”
“All right,” she said. “Fair enough.”
They walked on in silence for a moment. She paid attention to the way her feet connected to the cobblestones. It was therapeutic in a way. There was something so quaint about this. It was more village than city, but it contained a lot more places of interest than she would normally think you would find in a village.
“What is the chief export here?”
“There isn’t any. We are quite self-contained. What we make tends to stay here, tends to fuel the citizens.”
“That’s very unusual.”
“Yes. It also feels precarious.”
“So... If we were to manufacture my products here, I would be your chief export.”
“In point of fact, yes.”
“Though, if your other products became desirable because of tourism...”
“Yes. I understand it would mean a great deal of cash injection for the country. Though, thanks to my brother’s personal fortune, the coffers of the country have been boosted as it is.”
“Yes, I did some research on him. He’s quite a successful businessman.”
“You would like him. Other than the fact that he’s a bit of a tyrant.”