John had spoken, only moments ago. He had put together words during practice before, but he actually spoke. He said something, to a person. And they understood him and responded. Mind you, they responded by saying telepathy was ok, but that was besides the point. He had spoken to somebody. With his voice! It was exciting.

The excitement was diluted as he looked around at his still damaged store. He had picked up the bookshelves and placed books where they were supposed to go in a hurry for his customer, but he didn't fix anything. Bookshelves were still scratched or bent, the books themselves had some tears. The anger he felt had subsided, more of a disappointment now. At having to deal with this mess that shouldn't have come about at all.

But, this was his store. And he couldn't sit about moping all day, so he waved his hand and pulled all of the furniture towards him, books included. Everything vanished as it got close to him, leaving him with an empty building, barring the desk, chair and bookshelf he kept next to him. It was far enough away thanks to the added distance his spacial manipulation added to not get caught in the mayhem.

Walking around the store, he pulled out newer bookshelves, placing them down where the old ones were. He bought extras as he didn't know how many he would need, but if these were destroyed as well he would need to go buy more. Hopefully they would survive longer, though.

The lights he bought seemed to survive just fine, having been placed outside of the domino bookshelves rather than in between, and he put them back where they were. He waved his hand, putting all of the same books back where they were before.

John decided he would take the time to walk around and examine each book himself, replacing it if it was too damaged. Maybe he would see if there was a way to repair books, they were just paper, it shouldn't be too outlandish, he thought.

It was a time consuming process, he found. Pulling off each book, one by one, flipping through the pages to check for rips or missing pages and then either putting it back or replacing it. It could have been done with a wave of his hand but more and more, he found solace in these small things.

His catharsis was interrupted, the older lady he met at the furniture store walking into his building through the empty door frame.

"Hello, you ordered some windows recently, we've got them all made up if you're ready for installation today?" The woman asked.

John nodded his head, looking at the empty space that his windows would soon fill with a sense of excitement and intrigue. He had seen the bits and pieces that would make up the larger windows as a whole, but struggled to picture the finished product in his mind.

"Alrighty, I'll go let them know and we can get started right away." The woman said, walking back towards the door. "By the way, will you be needing a new door? We could do that as well if you're alright with one of our prefabs." The woman asked.

John was planning to head down and buy a new door today anyway, so this worked out quite well for him. He nodded his head at the lady.

"I'll be right back with some samples then. Just going to go get them started on the windows first to get that done." The woman said, leaving his building.

She came back not long after, with a few more people wearing matching outfits. Uniforms, John thought. Belts filled with tools, sturdy clothes with ample pockets covering their body and leather gloves on their hands. They set up a few tables and started working on what John thought would be the frame of his window.

"Right, while they're doing that, I've got some doors for you to look at. If you would like custom engravings or enchantments, we can also provide those at an additional cost but it will take a minimum of two days for either of them, and for more complicated designs could be upwards of a week or two." The woman said, pulling out some doors and resting them up against the wall near John's doorway.

The doors were all made of wood, of varying colours. Some had intricate designs of flowers, animals and monsters. Others were plain wood, the stain highlighting the natural textures of the wood. Some had windows, and one was even made of an almost transparent wood.

John liked his book, though. He spent time making it and was proud of it, so he didn't want the door behind to draw too much attention. He wanted it to look good and clean, providing a nice backdrop for the runes he would draw on top of it.

The transparent one was nice, but his black writing would have trouble being seen on top of it because of the darkness behind it. For a similar reason, all of the dark coloured doors were unusable. All of the doors with beautiful, attention grabbing designs on them were also removed.

That left John with only three doors to pick from. One white door, the painting obliterating any texture the door would've had, leaving behind a smooth white surface. A solid black knocker set just above the center. His writing would stand out, a strong contrast to the near pure white backdrop of the door. But it was plain, boring. He kept it as an option but it wasn't ideal. He wanted some kind of texture, something of interest but just not too much.

The second door was similarly plain, but without the thick white paint. The texture of the wood created small shadows that drew your attention just the slightest bit, some large knots in the wood providing interest, and all coated with a light white stain. This door didn't seem to come with a knocker, nor was it as white as the previous door, more of a dull off white. But it was beautiful, and it was light enough that his writing would pop on it. It was a strong contender.

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And the final door was another one with thicker paint coating it, covering the texture of the wood. But this time it had some markings on it, bringing back some life to the door. A vine crept around the edge of the door, a couple small flowers seeming to bloom from it. Just above the center of the door was a small knocker hanging below a rabbit's head carved in a darker wood. It was almost too much, for John. But the center of the door was kept clear of designs so he kept it anyway.

John decided to cut the first door, he didn't like it nearly as much as the other two. But the other two were close. One was simple, beautiful wood. And the other was a gorgeous work of art. In the end, John decided to go with the third option. It would provide greater contrast for his writing, and he felt like that was the most important part.

The woman put the rest of the doors away, vanishing into whichever storage ability she had, "That will be thirty gold, and I will have them install this as soon as they are done with your windows." She told John.

John summoned the gold, paying the lady for the door and watched her take the door outside to one of the women working on his windows.

They had got a surprising amount done while John was choosing his door, one of the holes filled in already. It looked plain against his current cobblestone building, the gray slate blending in with the stone surrounding it. The glass looked beautiful, clear enough to see through with enough imperfections to not just walk through it.

It pleased John, seeing the holes in his wall finally filled in with something nicer. He would need to redo the material of his building soon, he thought. It just didn't look proper with the stone on stone frame. But it was certainly better than empty holes.

He watched as the group finished building his remaining window. The stone being carved on the spot, people measuring everything over and over as others cut things to size. When the frame was finished, they assembled it in his window without the glass.

One of the people who had been sitting down got up and grabbed a large chunk of glass, manipulating it to float through the air towards the window, flattening and filling in the space perfectly. When it was done, the man sat back down out of breath.

Interesting, John thought. They used a glass mage to fill in the glass and yet the stonework was done by hand. Was there just no stone mage around to deal with it today, or was there another reason that part was done by hand, he wondered. He supposed he could just ask, but it was never pleasant asking questions. People reacted poorly when he showed interest in them usually.

With the windows done, most of the group started to pack up their tables and tools, heading down the street towards the furniture store they must have come from. The few that remained headed to his door frame, pulling out some of the wood that was mounted to the cobblestone building.

They cleaned all the debris up, leaving an empty hole where his door used to be. Then they brought out the door frame of his new door, mounting it into the doorway. Strange that doors were all the same size, but windows were made to order, he realized.

And at last, they put John's new door into the new frame. They spent a few minutes opening and closing the door over and over, as they adjusted some of the screws attaching it to the frame, and then they were done. All but one packed up their stuff and left.

The one remaining approached John, a human man. Rough, brown hair covered in dust and brown eyes.

"Hey, so we're all done here. If anything happens just come let us know and we'll fix it for you. We might need to charge you depending on what happens though but something like the magic holding your window in dissolving after we leave would be free for instance. It should stabilize by tomorrow though.

"While I'm here though, I was thinking about getting a book. Do you have anything on knitting? I'm gonna be a dad soon and I've been wanting to make her some cozy clothes to keep her warm when she's here."

John nodded his head, and with a wave of his hand filled the bookshelf next to him with various books on knitting.

He watched the man browse through the books with a vigour he'd never seen before. It seemed he was in a rush, John thought. He came to John's desk with an entry level knitting instruction book, teaching the barest of basics.

"Alright, I've gotta get back to work real quick, but you take stories right?" The man asked, John nodding in response.

"Okay, so I met my wife at the adventurer's guild actually. She's a pretty high level actually. But I was building some tables for the guild since some adventurer destroyed them or something, happens all the time. One of our best customers, believe it or not. And she came up to me while I was building, just sitting there watching me for a while.

"Beautiful, I tell you. I was so nervous and kept hitting my thumb when I was hammering in nails. Every time she'd giggle a little. And then she spoke to me, said she'd never actually seen how the tables get replaced. Never thought about it, even though she saw people get thrown through them all the time.

"I told her that most people just ignore us usually, go about their business or find a job to do, make a party or something. And we just kinda fall to the background. She laughed and agreed, saying I did seem pretty small over here.

"She asked if she could help out and I showed her what to do, and she almost destroyed another table trying to hammer in a nail way harder than anybody has any reason to. I told her to keep to the adventuring and let the pros handle the hard parts.

"And then, for whatever reason, I asked her out to dinner. And she said yes! One thing leads to another, and now she's pregnant with our soon to be daughter. Sometimes I feel like I hold her back from her dreams, honestly. She hasn't gone out on job in a long time now, and with our daughter I don't think she will any time soon either. But that's how I met my wife, is that good enough?" The man said, beaming with happiness as he talked about his wife.

John nodded his head and watched as the man grabbed the book and ran out the door, barreling down the street. He wondered how romance would work between people like that. If the woman was high enough level, she would live longer than him. Far longer. Perhaps the woman wasn't high enough level yet to extend her lifespan much. Maybe that's why she hasn't taken jobs, not wanting to live a life without her family. The thought bothered John. Or perhaps both were quite low level and the woman just found something more meaningful than adventuring. A shame he had no way of telling. Maybe he would help them out if they ever met again.