"Different subject then. What's with these houses? Compared to the rest of the city they're far less sophisticated."

"Ssomeone hassn't sstudied their hisstory." the man huffed.

"I admit I haven't. Care to share?"

"Ssuppose theress no harm in that."

The man stayed quiet for a few moments while making a few strokes on the canvas.

"Long ago when the mountainss were sstill less inhabited. Dwarvess were a ssmall minority of what lived in the mountainss. Traveling and living in packss, hunting wildlife and living in makesshift tentss. "

"The firsst recorded dwarven clanss were very ssplit across what we now call the dwarven kingdom, not hosstile towardss each other in particular but each were very content with ssticking to themsselvess but at an unrecorded point in hisstory they got together and united the clanss. With the people brought together they needed a place to house their larger numberss and to call their own."

He paused to paint a few strokes and then smothered the brush with more ink.

"I can't remember the specificss of their decision, but they eventually decided they would carve out this very mountain to protect them from the elementss  and to be closer to mother earth."

"What we call the ssouth entrance was the sstarting point of their dream. Working day and night they mined and sshaped a passage that eventually led to the what we call the west entrance, leaving them eassy access outside and plenty of space."

"With the mountainss being what they are, cold and windy. The protection of that cave wassn't good enough for them which made them build sshelter inside of their cave, the people were forced to live in ssmall groups due to the limited new sshelter. At thiss point the identity of the clanss sstarted fading completely ass they worked to improve their shelterss together."

"Their houssess were at first jusst ssimple cavess insside of that cave which only held the bare necessitiess ssuch ass room for sleeping and sstorage sspace for food ass well ass a cover for the entrance of their cave housse, but when the need for more sshelter grew they had to sshape the houssess sso that they could differentiate them from each other. It wass probably the sstarting point of dwarven architecture."

Aleyn while listening earnestly tried remembering how the houses around this area looked. They were quite crude and sloppy but held some dwarven cultural spirit to them. The explanation didn't feel out of place.

"The dwarven city wass jusst a few cavess which then were shaped in to houssess and the dwarvess were content with that, but when the population of that cave town grew too much they had to expand further in to the mountain to accommodate for the future generationss."

He thought for a moment before continuing with his painting and the explanation.

"At that point a lot of time had passed and the dwarvess had made some exchangess with the other racess and gained new wayss to improve their standardss of living. Once they expanded they build more practical houssing made of wood and rock. The firsst houssess were sslowly abandoned and ussed for other thingss than living and Dvalfgar sstarted to sslowly sshape in to what it iss today."

"Thesse houssess are a memento of dwarven sstruggle to build their home Dvalfgar. Thesse dayss they're ussed ass cheap houssing for people who do not need much or jusst can't afford better. Quite a few of thesse original houses have been taken down ass they were risky to live in and in their place they have built newer oness, but until they do become hazardouss they will be ussed and remembered."

He then turned towards Aleyn.

"Though from the ssoundss of it, it iss sstarting to become ssomething you only read in hisstory bookss rather than common knowledge like it once wass a few yearss ago.

She looked him in the eyes, as futile as that might be.

"History isn't usually the most interesting subject but that's actually quite interesting. Why would you live in a house like this then? You have enough money to pay a cleaner 14gold so I'm sure you can afford a better house.

The dragonkin gave another small smile.

"Having money doessn't necessarily mean I want to live in a luxuriouss housse now doess it? I prefer a more ssimple lifesstyle.."

After saying that he put his brush down and didn't give Aleyn a chance to comment.

"What do you think then?"

"Oh you're done?" Aleyn perked up from her sitting posture.

She took a better look at the painting which she had been ignoring ever since the man started his history lesson.

Monochrome painting with different strengths of black ink. The room which they were sitting in was depicted in extreme detail,  as expected from someone who boasts about his far greater perception than normal eyes can have. The paintings point of view seemed to start from his side of the room and covered the pathway to second floor and the other side of the room. The rug was rolled half way over in the painting and a person was brushing from under it.

"Oh, I'm flattered." Aleyn said.

The person of course Aleyn. A dwarf girl with very lightly coloured medium length hair dressed in casual cloth as she brushed the dust and dirt from below the rug.

"I like it. You did a nice job."

The man nodded.

"What do you do with your paintings though? There's none in the house that I know of." Aleyn asked.

Turning his head slightly the man answered.

"The traveling merchantss are eager buyerss. They pay a generouss ssum and then ssell the painting in another city for far more."

Aleyn frowned slightly.

"Doesn't that mean you're letting them cash in on your work?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm not interested in riches, their payment iss far more than enough to get uss by and if someone is willing to buy my paintingss for a large ssum then they're in handss that can appreciate them."

Very simple mindset. Something Aleyn didn't really agree with, if it was her painting she would go to further lengths to gain an appropriate sum, but really it wasn't her place to argue.

"Well as long as you're happy I guess. I should probably be leaving now then, could I have my payment?.

The man dug in to his pocket and pulled out a sack jingling with money and stuck his other hand in the bag. The hand emerged from the bag stuffed with gold coins.

"Here."

Aleyn put both of her hands in front of the old man and he dropped the whole fist of coins in her hands. Aleyn eagerly started counting them, one, two three.... ten, eleven, twelve...?

"Twelve coins?" She repeated out loud

"You almosst broke my urn." the man replied.

Two gold reduction for something like that was quite unheard of but then again paying 14 gold coins for cleaning a house was as well.

"Sigh, fine I'll accept that. Could you sign the paper work as well?"

Aleyn handed the request paper towards the man. Him giving proof that she had actually finished the request was the only way to let it be recorded as a successful request after all.

The man took the piece of paper and swiftly wrote down something with his brush before handing it back to her. Aleyn wanting to confirm what he had written took a look at the bottom of the paper.

"Brevurth."

It was quite a bit different to what Terry had written as it seemed to be just a signature. Still it was probably the best proof she could ask for.

"Be off then."  

The man now presumably Brevurth urged her to leave. She said her thanks and good byes and left for the Adventurers Hall.

"14 gold coins to clean one of those old houses? That has to be the best deal I've seen in a while and everyone has been ignoring it. You're so lucky."

The receptionist was doing the paper work and transferring the details in to Aleyns badge while chatting. After she was done with adding the cleaning jobs details in she had a longer look at the content in Aleyns badge.

She eyed Aleyn up and down before shrugging and handing the badge back.

"All done."

"Thank you."

Aleyn was leaving as the receptionist yelled.

"Come back soon~."

Aleyn just waved to her as a response.

It still being quite early in the day, Aleyn floated around the city trying to find something useful to buy from the merchant tents before returning to her room.

Once she returned she placed the one thing she did buy in her backpack, which was a fire crystal.

The crystal was small and she could easily fit it in the palm of her hand. It looked like it had seen better days, but the quality wasn't why she bought it. The merchants selling point for it was how it made starting campfires a nonissue. She had been allowed to test the crystals power since it was quite old and it still seemed to be alive and kicking as it lit the floor tile quite well even with its outside appearance being so worn. A very handy tool for a few coins.

Lying on the bed she thought of what to do with herself for the next few days. There were still at least two days before she was allowed back into the workshop and her daily schedule was quite empty other than for her morning exercise routine to be.

"Oh yeah!" She sat up as she remembered something.

Digging in to the back she found something to pass her time with.

"Understanding Elements: Earth."

She had a whole book about one element, though she was slightly reluctant to read it.

In no fantasy setting had she gotten a good impression from earth magic. Fire, water and even wind were all quite powerful and in most cases were dominant over earth. Water carved rocks and could not be contained by the earth,  wind created  typhoons which shredded hills and tore the earth apart while earth could only hold on.

Fire on the other hand was quite weak as a counter to earth, earth smothers flames while fire can only scorch the ground leaving burn marks.

""Amongst the elements Earth might be the easiest to grasp understanding of, but it also has far more to it than the other elements.""

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

Nancy had thought of earth very highly during the purchase. It wouldn't hurt reading about it at least would it? No knowledge is wasted and knowledge is power after all.

Setting her pillow as a chairs back she sat on the bed with her back against it and opened the book.

Aleyn now outside was walking around with a little bit of frustration in the air. The book had been way too technical and only a small portion of it made sense to her but not enough for it to help her learn anything. She had been warned that learning through theory would be very hard but it had been way more than she had thought. In the end she had just put the book down since it had not given her anything new to work with.

Drifting from her inn towards the south entrance she started to notice people moving to the same direction

"Oh right. Broken Horn."

It had become quite late in the evening and Broken horn had stopped being a restaurant for sometime. People had obviously seen the advert and wanted to take advantage of the discounted drinks.

"So it has come to this huh..." She despaired when she realized she had nothing better to do than go drinking.

Yet it was an experience and experiencing things was part of the human life. Aleyn herself had never really been a keen drinker yet not opposed to an occasional drink. Shaking her head she started heading towards Broken Horn.

Usually when she dined at Broken Horn she had taken the outside table because she wanted to view the city while eating, but the inside of Broken Horn was quite something as well.

Spacious, at least twenty separate tables were laid inside of Broken Horn in front of a wooden stage where a band was playing some tavern tunes. Near the entrance the bar itself was quite lively, people were ordering beer and chatting up the bartenders be they men or women. The spirit was quite jolly to say the least.

At first Aleyn had trouble approaching the bar since it was so crowded but by a stroke of luck a group left some seats after a few moments of her trying to find room. She took her seat on a stool and a bartender approached her.

The bartender was a jolly human girl of the age 17-19, she was slightly taller than the other bartender girls but not by a huge amount.

"Hi sunshine, what will it be?"

"Sunshine?" She muttered in a low voice.

"Huh?" The bartender asked as she thought she heard something.

"Uh nothing nothing. It's my first time having alcohol so maybe... Do you have anything that should be enjoyed rather than drunk in bulk like beer?"

The bartender had a mix of shock and confusion on her face.

"A dwarf of your age who has never drank beer? And doesn't want beer? Are you really a dwarf?"

Her inner self rolled her eyes. Typical.

"As far as I know I am. Is there a problem?" She couldn't really give any other answer.

"Not at all no. It's just odd." The bartender scratched her head.

"Something that should be enjoyed... Well its gonna have to be a fancy liquor drink or something and that's gonna be a lot more expensive than beer." She answered while still scratching her head.

"Money isn't an issue. I don't mind liquor either."

"Today's a day to remember!" She yelled and moved to the back room of the bar.

In a few moments she returned with three bottles and placed them on the table.

"It's rare for anyone to order anything other than beer here so we only have these three bottles but their quality should be very good. Lucky for you I know exactly what to make as well."

She placed a large glass on the bar table and opened up two of the bottles, she poured the first bottles liquor up until it reached one fourth of the glass, she then took the second bottle and did exactly the same and filled it up to half.

After doing so she did not open the third bottle but reached for a bucket of ice behind her and poured an ice cube worth of ice in the concoction, a reaction immediately followed. The drink started bubbling as if it was carbonating, it was quite a strange sight  and slightly frightening as the ice quickly melted away and the bubbling stopped.

"If I didn't do that you would probably get a huge tummy ache after a few sips I can tell you that much, those two are quite potent."

She then opened up the third bottle and poured a larger portion of the last bottle. The glass was now quite filled.

"And that's Moonlight blue. Heavenly taste and enough bite to it to get you drunk if drunk too quickly."

"That'll be 15gold." She claimed happily.

Aleyn raised her eyebrows, 15 gold for a drink was quite something.

"Aww don't tell me you don't have the money after boasting." the bartender frowned.

"Oh I do. I can still be surprised though." Aleyn stated and handed the money over.

"Enjoy your drink ~."

"I'll try." Aleyn replied and smiled.

She picked up the drink with both of her hands and took a little sip and the taste was extraordinary as expected.

A hint of sweet strawberry with a tint of bitter grapefruit and a and after taste that provoked her sweet tooth. It was definitely a drink to enjoy slowly but why was it called moonlight blue when the drink itself had a more red/orange tint to it? Well who cares, it was probably the drink creators name or something.

Having an occasional sip she turned around to have a look at what was going on behind her. People were singing to the bands tune, some yelling more than singing, some just talking with each other, some were having drinking competitions and some were definitely flirting up the waiters.

While scanning the room her eyes met with a fellow blacksmith from Camedyrs workshop. He raised his tankard and nodded her way. She then noticed the whole table was filled with blacksmiths she worked with. Aleyn picked up her glass and walked over to them while dodging the other people going about their evening.

"Hey boys."

"Ayy!!! Aleyn!!" The workers cheered in their jolly tipsiness.

She sat down amongst the workers and chatted along while sipping her expensive drink.

As the night grew darker the people grew tipsier and louder in their merry ways. The jolly evening came to a sudden stop as the pianist stroke a loud note a few times, demanding attention.

"And now for something a little special." The pianist yelled.

What followed was a a slower tune from all of the instruments which filled the quiet air. It continued for a little while and then a person walked on to the stage in front of the band.

A figure dressed in a white gown which covered her from neck to wrists to her calves, it was so white it was almost blinding for the drunken audience. She wore no shoes but had some form of cloth socks on her delicate looking feet. The person under the gown herself was what anyone would call a short elf girl.

Her blond hair was tied up which showed her face clearly. Even from the distance you could see her bright blue eyes which brightened her sculpted golden coloured face. She wore a slight blush on her cheeks as she moved forward on the stage meekly.

She was very slim just like elves tended to be, but what was quite odd was her chest. Compared to her body her chest area was abnormally large for an elf. She definitely caught the eyes of most men around the tavern with her body.

The band changed their tune slightly which seemed to be a cue for her. She opened her mouth and started singing along the music.

The audience was awestruck and so was Aleyn. Hearing her beautiful voice was so soothing it was mind blowing, her soft tune captivated everyone and most people started swaying softly to her singing or shedding some drunken tears.

No a single person dared to start singing along or they might taint the feeling they had but as the song went on and on, people started humming along her singing which complimented her performance. After she shed some of her awkward movement she started moving across the stage from left to right with a little dancing in between taking great care to perform to everyone around her.

She sang a collection of songs. None which Aleyn herself knew of but she imagined to be quite popular or inspired by folklore as most people seemed to know the songs since they hummed along.

As the night reached its peak, so did her performance and after her last song she thanked everyone with teary eyes. She was beautiful to begin with but with a tear flowing down her cheek she was absolutely mesmerizing, The bars silence was broken as everyone exploded in to applause for the great beauty and her voice as she descended from the stage.

As she got down from the stage a few more tipsy gentlemen tried approaching her, but were repelled by a tall fellow waiting for her at the end of the stairs.

"Oh it's that guy." Aleyn thought while sipping her drink and watching the scene unfold.

Tall, scaly facial features, red hair and a narrow eyes. She had met this man yesterday at merchant area. He separated the drunk gentlemen from the girl with a tip of his sword, urging them to leave her be.

"But of course. A beauty like her has a boyfriend already." One of the workers sitting with Aleyn said.

"Could be her bodyguard." She refuted.

The worker almost choked on his tankard.

"You blind or something? Look at her cling on him behind his back! That ain't no bodyguard."

With that said, she was indeed clinging closely to the man, they were very close to be fine with such intimacy.

The drunk men lost their interest and stumbled back to their seats and the girl no longer clung to his back.

At this point the bar started getting back to its usual rowdiness. Aleyn had a look around and was slightly amused how the air changed so quickly and as she turned back to look at what the singer girl was doing she had already disappeared.

Her bodyguard or boyfriend, who ever he might be stayed behind and seemed to be looking after the bars safety as he walked around.