“If you drip any of that on my head I will hurt you,” Leon growled at the She-wolf familiar that was currently riding on his shoulders, one leg wrapped around each side of his head. He could feel her tail swinging back and forth with a standard pace, indicating her happiness with the current situation. She was munching happily on a chewette, a small pie of minced meat that was contained in a self-supporting crust.
The small pie was a standard street food in the city, something the vendors could cook hot and easy, the commoners relied heavily on street food seeing as many single adults lived in the city and had no access to kitchen, the number of cooks roaming the streets with carts that carried a small oven was quite high in this city. It made since thought that it was a thriving economy here, without access to cooking facilities, street food would have been the only hot food available to the commoners, significantly increasing its appeal.
“It's fine!” Fluffy laughed, leaning down over Leon’s head so she was blocking his field of view, “Besides, you need to try this.” she laughed and she pushed the half-eaten pie against his lips. With a smile he opened up his mouth and took a bite of it, the meat was rich, cooked down to the softest possible texture before it turned into absolute mush. He could also taste the vinegar they put in the pie, a nice offset to the sweet saltiness of the minced beef. “Good right?” Fluffy asked with a laugh, Leon nodded and with a single hand on her shoulder pushed her back to an upright position so he could see where he was going.
“It is really good,” Lira said, looking at the food in amazement, pieces of it clinging to her cheek on the right side, “Who would have thought commoner food would be so good? First the crepes then this,” Krya leaned over and licked the crumb off of her cheek with a small smile, causing Lira to blush a deep red.
“Never ate much common food huh?” Tilly asked she had only eaten a small portion of her pie, she seemed to be savoring it.
“No, I was never really allowed out,” Lira said with a shrug, “Bastard child that I am I was a disgrace to the family so they kept me on the Ducal castle grounds so the only ones that saw there shame were the castle staff,” she shrugged.
“Human societal structure has always confused me,” Gwenice said, she was eating a small berry pie, seeing as she didn't eat meat, apparently it was a dryad thing. “In dryad society, there is only one ruler, and that is the mother of the grove, and it doesn't matter where her children came from, and who their father or their second mother was from, everyone is treated the same, be they from a king or a peasant.”
“Societal structure is an artificial creation,” Leon nodded, “While there is a hierarchy in animal populations it is not something so rigid as human society.” he looked over at Gwenice, and noticed she was becoming more relaxed around the rest of them, perhaps outings like this were good for her. “Perhaps Dryad society is like that due to the fact that most of your kind will never leave the grove that they were born in,” he said.
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“That reminds me,” Krya looked over at Gwenice, “How is it that you can go so far from your tree?” she asked.
“I uh-” Gwenice hung her head, cheeks blushing a deep green, “I have not planted my tree,” she said with a small embarrassed smile.
“What exactly is required for a dryad to plant a tree?” Aaron asked he had slipped his shoulder over Tilly’s arm and pulled her close as they walked through the crowded street.
“A seed,” Gwenice said softly, so much so that it hardly reached anyone's ears.
“Well I figured as much, so why haven't you planted a tree yet?” Aaron pressed, “I though Dryad magical talent exploded when you planted a tree.”
“I uh, well,” she shuffled around, no longer looking up at the street but instead at the top of her hoofs. “Dryads cannot self-fertilize.” she choked out, and it all clicked, even Aaron blushed at that, and for his apparent insensitivity, he received a well-placed cuff to the back of the head.
They walked along for several minutes in silence until Lira spoke up breaking the mortifying lack of conversation. “There it is,” she called out, pointing to a large white-washed shop that displayed a dress an awl and a spindle on it’s painted surface. They made their way through the crowd, which was parting for them like waves around a rock, the rock being Leon of course.
A small bell rung as Leon opened the door, he held it open as everyone entered, even forcing Fluffy to get off his shoulders before he stepped in. There were only two other customers there, and they were busy looking at bolts of cloth and fabric, there dresses indicating that they were servants of a wealthy house, perhaps even the same wealth household.
“Greetings!” a small plump woman in her forties rushed over to them, the swirling tails of her skirt dancing blue around her ankles and the corset she wore much to tightly squeezed out her breasts, pushing them together and displaying so much flesh it was a wonder that one could not see her nipples. All of her exposed skin was covered in a fine white powder, an attempt to hide the aging flesh as young and white. She bowed low, showing them all an ample view of her cleavage, a move that had probably been ingrained into her being from when it was more effective when she was younger and prettier. “I am Madam Rin, the owner, and seamstress of this fine establishment, what can I do for you my noble lords and ladies this fine day?” she glanced at the robes they wore, obviously recognizing them as the uniforms that they were. Several worker women that must have been employed by the shop peaked out at her words to take in the nobles that had entered the store, even the other customers turned to look at them.
“Greetings Madam Rin.” Krya bowed to her, lowering her head ever so slightly as was customary for a noble to a commoner. “We have come here for wedding dresses and a groom’s outfit,” she said, Madam first looked at Aaron who was standing closest to her at the moment and smiled at him.
“Not me,” he said, he still had his arm wrapped around Tilly, “At least not yet, there are still a few months before she turns the proper age.” he smiled as Tilly blushed a deep red. The seamstress’s eyes wandered over to the man who towered over everyone else in the room and swallowed in an attempt to wet her throat.
“We will be needing one groom’s outfit and four dresses,” Lira added in, which started a murmuring around the shop as her scandalous words were spread from one servant woman to the next. Gwenice smiled and shook her head at the strict norms of the human’s society, in Dryad culture the number one rule of love was to love as you will, she started to shake her head, before what Lira had just said struck her causing her to freeze.
“Wait, four?”