Hope and Amadeo continue to the market, where new items are acquired for the mages. As they're walking about the stalls, Hope stops, picking up a small case and opening it. "Wow, look at this, Amadeo! Woodcarving tools!"

Amadeo looks over her shoulder. "Hm? What's got you interested in those?"

"Matthias Grimm, the boatman we rode with. He had a set of these and was carving with them. His carvings looked really good, so I figured maybe I might try them myself. They're only one sovereign, is that ok?"

"That's perfectly fine. We've gotten all the big stuff already anyway. Just need an amulet and then the swimsuits, and we're golden, so to speak." He tosses a coin to the merchant, a scaled creature similar to Kiriel but with features more akin to a lizard than a dragon, who claps his hands around it with a toothy grin. "Thank you kindly, dear ssssir. Enjoy your purchasssse!"

Hope grins wide, stuffing the case into her bag. "Alright, where to now?"

"There's a jeweler I saw earlier. We'll swing back around to her, then finish up and head out of the city." Amadeo puts the list in his pocket and they move on, coming to a young dwarven woman. "Allo, lovelies. Nice day, innit?"

"It very much is. I'm looking for an amulet. Two of them, to be precise. This one-" Amadeo picks up one with a silver chain, the pendant being a circle of gold set with a topaz. "-and this one." He holds up another from the collection displayed, this one just a simple leather strap upon which sits a silver star with a square ruby.

Hope coos. "Ooooh, those are pretty. Is one of them for me?"

Amadeo shakes his head. "Nope. This topaz one is for Anna, but this other one is for my mom."

"Awww, that's sweet of ye, lad. They live local?" The merchant asks, taking the two pendants and packaging them in a pair of organza bags.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Not really. One of them is traveling with us, and my mother has lived in Misery for as long as I've known her."

"Misery, eh? Tha's quite a ways from here. Yer such a sweet boy to send this to yer mum." The merchant smiles brightly, exposing a slight gap in her front teeth.

"I told her I'd send her a souvenir from everywhere I go. Besides, her name's Ruby, so I think she'll like this one." Amadeo fishes through his coin purse. "How much are they?"

"Just twenty sovereigns, love. Me own children can barely be bothered to send me cards for the holidays, so please take the other fer free. I'm sure yer mum is gonna love it."

"Nonsense, that's not fair to you." Amadeo protests, and the merchant shakes her head.

"I won't be takin no fer an answer, lad. If it helps, think of it as a buy one get one special offer, one of those Lover's Day sort of things but with less candies."

Hope cracks a snicker at Amadeo as he sighs. "Very well, if you insist. I know better than to make a dwarf mad. Vir da mordo, encarda."

The merchant's grin only widens. "Vir da mordo to you too, young man."

As they walk off with their new

purchases, Hope nudges him. "What was that? Vir da mordo?"

"Dwarvish. Literally translated, it means 'stone find you', but it's used as a greeting and parting."

"And encarda?

"Friend. You pick up alot of languages when your peers are multi-lingual."

"Jeeze, how many do you know then?"

"I've learned Elvish, Dwarvish, Tiran, even Draconian."

"How do you keep it all straight in your head?"

"First lesson, never use more than two languages in the same sentence. Syntax gets lost for some languages that use nouns and adjectives in reverse order of what you hold to be the standard. For example, I might say 'green eyes', but you would say 'eir gon' in Tiran. If you switch languages mid-sentence, the meaning gets all muddled to anyone who doesn't speak both languages."

"That was quite the lesson." Hope eyes him curiously. "I've never heard a human speak Tiran, though."

"It hurts my throat. It's full of harsh hisses and such, almost like the guttural sounds of Orcish. I'm just not used to it since I rarely have occasion to use it."

Hope chuckles, releasing a short set of hisses herself. "Ha. Bata mali, ah?"

Amadeo rolls his eyes. "Right, come along, you show off. We still have to stuff you into a suit other than armor."

"Right, right. Maybe I'll get a cute one for Anna too."