Silver and Pearl get out of the carriage that took them out of the palace into the noble shopping district. The streets seem oddly quiet to Pearl since this is the day of a ball. That might be the reason why it is empty now that they think about it. People are getting ready for it and must already have everything they would need. They do wonder why they are shopping here when Silver has everything that they would need at the house. The dresses and jewelry might be outdated but that isn’t something that would really bother them.

“Come, let’s go in. We might be in here for a while.” Silver takes their hand, gives it a squeeze and they both head into the building.

The building is moderately sized and has a bunch of fabric on display with dress designs spread out on a bunch of tables. The walls had a vibrant yellow hue painted on them. The floor had a rug under where they stand that is a deep purple shade. It looks close to an indigo color.

“Hello, how may I help you today?” The voice of a petite lady walks out with a quilt in her hands. “Oh, Duke von Stein? You’re back again? Is that the person that you were telling me about that I made the dress for?”

“Yes, they are.” His eyes lit up for the first time around the seamstress. She never thought that she would ever see that kind of look in his eyes again. He hasn’t looked this happy since his mother was around. “I have a request and I am sorry for throwing this on you so suddenly. The king has invited us to attend the ball in celebration of the Goddess and the only things that I have that they could wear to it are very outdated. Do you think that you could make a dress out for them?”

Her expression seemed to shift to being very expressionless. “This won’t just take me a few hours to complete. Ball gowns take a long time to make. This will take me all day. I am also technically off today. I’ll have to charge you extra if you are okay with that.”

“I expected it to take a long time. I’ll be willing to pay the extra for them. How much will it be?”

“One holly platinum.”

Silver opens up his pouch and noticed that he is only holding regular gold coins around as his highest currency. Makes sense, he would be asking to be robbed if he carried those coins around. The currency system goes up by increments of ten. It goes bronze, silver, gold, platinum, holly gold, and holly platinum. No one just carries around one whole holly platinum around. Hell, people usually don’t even carry platinum. “I’ll be back. I need to go to the bank. I only have about 10 gold coins on me at the moment. Pearl, stay with her so she knows that I’ll be back.”

Pearl gives a smile not really comprehending how much that is. They never handled money before so they don’t really have any concept of how much that really is. The highest that they have ever heard of was gold. Their foster parents told them that was going to be the highest amount that they were most likely ever going to deal with. “Okay, I’ll wait here. Come back soon.” There was a lift to their voice as if they were singing a song.

The stress in Silver’s shoulders relaxes as he hears their carefree voice. He wonders why they are so calm with the price of that but he doesn’t pay much mind to it. “Right, I’ll be back in about ten to fifteen.” He puts his hand up to wave and heads out of the door.

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As he walks over to the bank that has his vault he observes his surroundings. Everything seems peaceful, it is like everyone around him doesn’t have a care in the world. The people around the streets seem to be talking about the ball that is going to happen tonight and how the Duke is going to attend it. They wonder who he is going to bring or if he is going alone. They also are talking about how he was summoned and they saw someone with him as he entered the palace that didn’t look familiar to the nobles around. The person was dressed in some outdated clothes so they all figure that they just don’t have any sense of fashion.

Hearing the people gossip about him doesn’t bother him at all, in fact, he is used to it. It is the gossip about Pearl that he doesn’t like. They are the most innocent person that he has ever met. The people here don’t know that the reason why they were wearing that dress is because they didn’t have anything presentable to show up in front of the king with. “People really can be cruel. They usually just care about appearance. It is a very shallow mindset to have if you ask me.”

Once he arrives at his bank the person waiting at the desk looks up and sees him. “Duke von Stein, we haven’t seen you in quite some time. Would you like me to take you to your family's vault?”

“Yes, I would. Please make sure that no one follows us.”

“Of course”

They head off through a hall with a lot of vaults that store people’s families' possessions and money so they don’t have to carry it all around. Once they make it to his vault the teller fumbles around with his keys to unlock the door. “How much do you plan on taking out so I can notate it in the records.”

“One Holy Platinum.”

The teller drops his keys. “Are you sure that you want to carry around that much? If someone finds out that you are carrying that much, you could get mugged. Are you sure that you want to do that?”

Silver sighs. “Yes, that is why I told you to make sure no one follows us. I need to just grab the coin and leave. Oh, I’m also planning on taking my mother’s bow and quiver that she put in here before she passed.”

The teller picks up his keys and unlocks the vault door. It opens up on its own and reveals all the coins and items that Silver had inherited from his family. His mother’s bow was up towards the front and he sees a box right next to it. It is embedded with gewles that seem to shine brightly. They look as if gems are sapphires. He opens the box and sees a note in it. It is inscribed to him by his mother. Without hesitation, he opens it up.

Silver, I hope that this doesn’t find you in times of hardship. I know that my passing must have been hard on you but I knew that it was going to happen. I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me for not telling you or your father. My last request to him will be to store this note someplace safe where you will someday find it. My hope is that you have found someone that is worth protecting and I want to pass on the name of the original goddess that has been passed down through my family for generations so one day you may pass it on to your kids and they can pass it onto theirs. Her name was Malaiel. It is said that she will be born again when we all need her the most. It is also said that it will be through one of her descendants as she had always wished to live peacefully amongst us in the mortal world. Remember, no matter how far apart we may be or how much time has passed since we last spoke, I will always love you. I have left my wedding ring in this box that I put the note in. Please, give it to your future partner. I would love for whomever it may be to have it.

He picks up the ring and watches the stone turn from a vibrant white to red. He thinks that the ring must depict who your primary God is that blessed you. He wonders who Pearl’s is. Placing them both, the ring and note, back in the box he heads over and collects ten holy gold coins. He puts those in the box too as he stores them in his bag. He picks up the bow and quiver and heads out of the vault.

“Thank you for your time sir.” Silver bows and heads off to leave the bank.

On his way back he picks up some food for the three of them. Pearl hasn’t eaten anything all day so they must be hungry. He hopes that they are doing well.