The blushing blonde hides her face with her hair again and leads us through town to the blacksmith's. It's on the far side of town where it stands within its own thick, stone walls. Presumably there to reduce noise, and prevent any fires from spreading the rest of the mostly wooden buildings in town.
"Hello again, dearie." The rather lovely looking older woman greets Amelia. "How can I help you and this strapping young lad today."
Amelia starts blushing again, so I step forward. "I need a good knife and a cooking pot. Oh, and I was wondering if you could take this junk off my hands." I materialize the weapons I took from the two bandits and place them before the woman that I'm somewhat surprised is married to a smith.
"Don't handle bows, but I can tell you these are little better than firewood. I take it you pulled these off those bandits?" I nod and curse freakin' small-town gossip in my head. "The knives aren't worth much more than scrap either, I'll take a wreath off your purchase. Say fifteen silver for this beauty and a mid-size cook pot." She sets out a knife, and it looks like a good one. But, what do I know about knives?
"Oh, you can do better than that." Amelia interjects in full-on merchant mode. "I know you've been trying to get rid of that fancy thing for as long as I've been passing through here."
"This is high-quality steel here." Zita unsheathes the dagger and rolls it through her fingers like a master. "I can't just give it away, and I know you don't want to see your man walking around with some rusty piece of junk on his belt."
"I'm not debating its quality." Amelia ignores the 'your man' comment. "But, we both know nobody else around here can afford it, and the travelers that can already have a good knife. Otherwise, you would have sold it by now. Thirteen silver and you throw in that tripod for the cook pot, a fork, and a spoon."
"You're bleeding me dry here Amy-girl, I can do fourteen with the tripod." She adds the utensils and a folding metal stand with a hook for the pot next to it and the knife.
"Thirteen-seventy-five and not a copper more." Amelia counters.
"Deal." They've both got big grins on their faces, so I have no idea who won that round.
"Maybe I should just let you hold onto this." I tease Amelia after handing over one big and four small silver to Zita.
"You'd do well to." The smith's wife says while handing over my change. "She's a born merchant, this one."
"Mhm. You said you don't handle bows, but I see you've got some staves here." I'd glanced over them, but they just didn't feel right.
"Those are my work, I handle all the wood around here." She says, and I just know she meant that to be a double entendre. "Those are fine, but I guess as a nature mage you want to make your own."
"Yeah, those look nice, but they just don't speak to me." I answer. "And, I may be a nature mage, but I don't know much more about a good staff than that it should be long and straight."
"Two excellent qualities in any staff." She says with a slightly wicked smile and a hint of a laugh to her voice. "Go on, give this one a twirl, get a feel for the weight and balance. Most people prefer one that's just slightly taller than they are, though length isn't quite as important as girth." She says with an actual laugh this time.
'Damn, I don't know if I feel sorry for the smith, or wish I was him.' I think while trying not to blush, before clearing my throat. "Ahem. Is there any secret to the wood itself?"
"Not a secret." She replies. "You just want to look for a long straight grain. The best place to find that is the heartwood near the center of the tree. The oaks around here are great, but they may be heavier than some care for. Though, I doubt that'll be a problem for a strapping young man like you."
Returning the quarterstaff to its place in the rack, I thank the smith's wife for the knife and the instructions. Then, before I start taking her teasing too seriously, I make a hasty exit as she looks on with an amused twinkle in her eyes.
"That woman is dangerous." I say once we're free.
"The right kind of dangerous, though." Apricot purrs.
"Oh, man." Amelia breathes out. "I used to think her teasing was just that, but now I'm wondering about all the times she complimented me. Uhm, so where next?"
"Heheh." The pixie laughs and lands on her head. "Is Zita's bed an acceptable answer?"
"I don't know, I haven't seen what Dolf looks like yet." I raise a single eyebrow suggestively.
"Snerk." Amelia snorts out a laugh. "You two must be followers of Temmie."
"The goddess of bawdy jokes? You know it."
"Mhm, I'd heard of her before, but I don't much follow the gods."
"Oh?" Apricot perks up. "I saw a temple a ways back, we should go say hi."
"Sure, why not?" I shrug and follow the pixie. "After that, I'd like to check out the bowyer, and maybe see if there's any place that sells guitar strings around here. The speaker is fun, but I'm out of practice as it is."
"Hmm, there's no instrument makers around here, but Tully in the general store might have something." Amelia says. "Anything else you need?"
"Food, and any useful seeds I can find." I answer. "Maybe some extra clothes, or at least premade cloth. I can grow and process my own flax, but why bother if I don't have to."
"I was wondering about your clothes, they don't look like they're woven." She fingers my shirt sleeve. "Or, if it is, it's too fine for me to tell."
"Not woven." I admit as we enter one of the few stone buildings in town. "I just fused the fibers to their neighbors, I only know the basic linen weave anyways."
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"Hmm, I know a bit just from having to sell the stuff, but you should ask old Lacey the weaver about it."
"Come on." Apricot flies back over and tries to tug me along by my collar. "Hey, Temmie-chan, this is Sorrel. Sorrel, this is Temmie. Say hi." She introduces me to one statue in a row of others along the back wall, all carved in different styles.
"Uh, hi Temmie." I wave at the statue, which while not a naked blue hologram, does kinda remind me of Cortana from the Halo games, mostly in the hair and eyes.
*Ding* It's like a gentle bell goes off in my head that also conveys a greeting, somehow.
"Uh..." I look over to Apricot. "Does she always ding?"
"Oh, you know never know what you're going to get from Temmie." She says and lands on the statue, and I swear it looks like she's having a conversation with the goddess without moving her lips.
"Hmm?" 'Can you hear me?' A *Ding* in the affirmative. 'Oh, cool. Well, I never got his name, but I've been calling him Voice Guy. Anyways, he said to say hello. A confused *Ding* responds. 'Nng. Go on GodTube and look up the sky-diving birth vid.'
A pause then *Ding**Ding**Ding**Ding**Ding**Ding* A series of laugh like bells ring out.
'Yes, haha. Come on, he said you were cool.'
*Ding* A more apologetic tone this time.
'It's alright, I guess. It's just a bit raw still, ya know?' *Ding**Ding* '"That's what she said?" Really? Oh man, you really are the goddess of bawdy jokes. Alright, it looks like the others are done, I'll chat with you later.' *Ding*
"Oh, she must like you." Apricot says when I turn away. "I could hear her laughing even though she wasn't talking directly to me."
"She seems alright." I smile at the orange-haired woman.
"You ready to go?" Amelia asks. "The weaver and general store are right next to each other on the next block over, but Julius the bowyer is over by the south gate."
"Let's try the weaver first; I think trying to weave with magic might be good practice, or at least a good way to kill time. I know I want to travel around a bit, so a hobby I can do in my spare time and make some coin from might be useful."
"Good point, but don't forget your music box." Amelia says as we cut through an alley. "I can't think of any inn that wouldn't pay you to stay there, so long as you played music for them. I know of a few places in Riverton that would pay you quite well." She drops a pretty big hint that she wouldn't mind me following her to the city.
"Ooh, yes." Apricot dances around with a grin on her face. "Let's go to Riverton."
"Mhm, I wouldn't mind seeing the city." I say while looking straight at Amelia, letting her know that that's not all I wouldn't mind seeing.
She hides behind her hair again, but not before I can see a happy smile cross her lips. "I'm not going to be able to replace my horse here, so maybe you could travel with Roddy and me?"
"I think I would like that very much." I answer and get a double thumbs-up from Apricot.
"Lacey, are you in?" Amelia pushes into a store that's filled nearly to the rafters with bolts of fabric and piles of clothing.
"That you Amelia? I'll be right out." A grandmotherly voice comes from the back of the store. "Oh, Amy-girl. I'm so glad that you're alright, I was so frightened when I heard you were attacked by bandits."
"That's all thanks to Sorrel here." She pulls me forward to meet the old weaver and doesn't let go of my hand afterward. "He's looking for some clothes or fabric, and maybe some tips on weaving. Oh, and are you still punishing your grand-daughters by making them pick seeds out of that big bale of cotton?"
"You have cotton?" I perk up, not expecting to find anything but linen or wool. "I'd definitely like to buy some of those seeds."
"Heheh. That big bale has gotten quite a bit smaller, but it's mostly just gathering dust now." Lacey moves a few bolts out of the way to reveal a small bundle of cotton. "Little Lisa threatened to run away if I made her pick out any more seeds. So, you can have it all if you want."
"I do, thank you. I'd like a good bedroll, and a few outfits too. Whatever you have on hand will do, I can use my magic to adjust the size to fit."
"I'd heard you were a nature mage." She starts bustling around the shop, holding up pants and shirts to check their size against me. "They're not exactly common, even here in the Deepwoods. I suppose that's why you want to learn to weave?"
"Yes, ma'am. Ooh, that green one looks nice." She adds it to the pile for me. "I only know the basic over-under weave, and a bit of knitting my mother forced me to learn after I destroyed one too many socks."
"Well, if you know the basic warp and weft, then the other standard patterns are fairly easy." She explains and starts pulling out samples. "Twill has two over, two under, but the rows are staggered to create a diagonal pattern. Satin is four or five, or more, over and one under. The staggering is more spread out than twill too. Basketweave is just like plain weave, but you use two threads as one."
"Well, that's a lot simpler than I feared." I laugh and rub the swatches between my thumb and forefinger. "Could I get a small bolt of each as reference, in linen please." I add since my skills run more towards the plant side of nature.
"Sure, but if you re-invent starweave, or become the next big name in fashion you've got to tell everyone that Old Lacey trained you." She smiles and sets the last shirt I picked out on the counter. "Let's see, a tenth bale of cotton, three outfits, one blanket, and four bolts of fabric in colors nobody else wants." She laughs while tallying up my bill. "Anything else, dear?"
"Half a dozen socks." I add.
"Alrighty, all together I can let you have everything for a silver. Since you're Amy's friend." Amelia startles and drops my hand when the weaver stresses the word friend. "Though, I'm not sure how you're going to fit everything in that little backpack of yours."
"Oh, that won't be a problem." I hand over the silver and put everything but half the cotton away in storage. The half I kept out goes into my bag so I can play with it while we shop.
"Thanks, Lacey." Amelia waves goodbye to the grinning old woman. "Let's uh... go see what Tully has to offer." She starts walking next door, but I grab her hand and pull her back
"No need to be embarrassed, I like holding hands with you." I smile down at the shy little thing.
"Nnh." She whimpers and blushes beet-red, but doesn't let go. Well, not until Apricot ruins the mood.
"And, I'm sure he'd love to do more than just hold hands." Her lascivious grin just makes me roll my eyes and let go of Amelia who dashes off into the general store.
"I appreciate you trying to help, but that's not helping." I tell Apricot plainly. "You've been pushing me towards Amelia, but are you really okay with me pursuing her? She may not be into the whole sharing thing, and I'm not one to cheat."
"Wait!" Amelia comes back out from where she was apparently listening at the door. "You and her are... I mean, how?"
"Yes, we are. He can shapeshift 'everything'. And ugh, I forgot you lunkers can't tell when people have been together." Apricot just sorta drifts there listlessly.
"So, you're like Zita and Dolf?" The blonde tries to make sense of our relationship.
"I don't know what we are yet." I say honestly. "We just met yesterday, she wanted sex, I offered. We seem to get along, but it's just casual so far." I lift my hand to gently catch the pixie in my palm and raise some tendrils from my hand to hug her. "I was going to tell you before we went beyond the flirting stage, but now's as good a time as any, if not the best location." I look around at the mostly empty street, thankful that nobody seems to be paying attention.
"I uh... I think I need some time to think about this." She then walks off in the direction of the inn.
"Shit, I'm sorry Sorrel." Apricot sniffles.
"Hey, none of that now." I tap her softly on the head. "I like her, but I'm not looking to settle down, and it's not the end of the world if she's not okay with that. Now, come on, let's see if this Tully person has anything good."
"Sniff. Are you sure? I can just fuck off into the woods again, and let you hook up with someone your own size."
"Aww, sweetie." I shift part of my arm into mini-me just so I can give her a hug. "And, waste all the effort I put into this before I even get to use it properly."
"It's not a drowning fish anymore." She giggles and hugs 'me' back. "I know I'm a good fuck, but I still think you're crazy not to ditch me and go after her. I'm not stupid enough to say no, though. Pixies just aren't meant to be alone." She disengages to fly up and kiss the real me on the nose.
"Alright, let's finish shopping."
***