Looking into his now much diminished coin pouch, Ambrose couldn't help but get a sinking feeling in his guts.

  Maybe I got a bit carried away?

  He had only meant to go get one set of new clothes, a good linen shirt, hard wearing jerkin and britches, maybe a good pair of gloves, and he had got that… but he had also gotten a bit more.

  When the manager of the shop had seen the amount of coin he had available to spend, she insisted that he look at some of the garments 'more fitting for someone of his means.' This had firstly involved much more expensive, though he did have to admit nicer, options for what he had said he had needed. Ambrose had tried to argue that the cheaper ones he had been shown when he first entered would be fine but the manager had insisted that by just spending that bit more on the higher quality cloths, they would last all the longer.

  He opened his new leather satchel and looked at the clothes he had bought. He still had his old satchel hanging from his shoulder, its cracked leather flaking of slightly as he moved it. It had served him well for the last seven years and he almost felt like he had abandoned an old friend by replacing it.

  He closed it and moved it back over his shoulder. As he did, it shifted the soft cotton shirt he was now wearing, annoyingly. It, as well as the crimson pantaloons, and black jacket with gold buttons that he was currently adorned in felt like a costume, a costume of a person that he was not, a person he had fooled the manager into thinking he was with the coin he had. He felt like a fool.

  Why did I spend all that? I couldn't have only dreamed of half that much coin a couple of moon turns ago and now I am spending it on cloths.

  He felt stupid, he felt selfish, he felt... good. Beyond how bad he felt about what he had spent, he was filled with a new sense of confidence that felt so good and he made his way down the street he couldn't help but smile.

  This confidence was only bolstered by the change he noticed in those he was passing. Where before people would do all they could to avoid looking at him, to pretend he wasn't there, like a problem they wanted to ignore. Now, people looked at him, some just a glance, but some lingered, even smiled at him. By the time the sun was setting and he had made his way back to Tip Top Tanners, he felt almost drunk he was so happy.

  He entered through the shops main door and made his way into the private section behind the counter.

  "Hello?" He called out.

  "One tick." Arlon called back.

  She came through a door that he assumed led to her bedroom. When she saw him, her eyebrows raised and she cocked he head to the side.

  "Wow, when I said you scrubbed up nice before, I didn't know the half of it." Her face shifted to show a slight confusion. "I didn't think you had enough gold to get and outfit like that?"

  "I went to see Reabeck and let's just say business is good." He said with a big grin. "She gave me what she called a finder's fee for connecting her and Gro."

  "Ahh." Arlon said nodding. "The other lady dwarf in your life. Well, I'm glad it's going well for you. Did you get your tooth fixed?"

  Ambrose nodded. "Went to a proper healer and everything, I feel better than I have in years."

  "That’s great, sounds like you had a big day, you have any other adventures?"

  He stuttered slightly at her question. His worries about Tyrus had been bubbling in his stomach since he had tried to visit him. He considered saying something about it to Arlon, but he found he couldn't bring himself too. Whether he was so worried he was blocking it out somewhat, he was just so deep in his shopping high, or a mix of both he wasn’t sure. He decided that when he presented himself to the council tomorrow, he would ask about if something had happened to the alms house, and if they knew nothing, report Tyrus missing.

  "I ran into a boy I had seen before at the alms house, I gave him a gold and told him to give it to the butcher to give him some food."

  "Well, aren’t you just a gift from The One." She said, with mild sarcasm. "What's he look like? I will see if I have some spare cloths I can give if I run into him there."

  Ambrose's face dropped slightly. "He only has one arm.”

  Arlon's face mimicked his. "Oh, poor lad. What’s his name?"

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  A soft smile returned to his face. "Sky."

  Ambrose changed out of his new outfit and dressed into his old cloths. While his host prepared dinner for them both, he made himself useful by skinning the one of the two deer that they brought back that Arlon had not gotten to yet.

  As she made her way in holding two bowls of soup, she caught his wiping his hand clean once he had finished. "You didn't have to do that." She said with a side smile.

  "You’re keeping and feeding me, it’s the least I can do." He gestured to the skin now salted and drying on the table. "Plus, I have a great teacher, so you know I am doing quality work."

  She put the bowls down on a table and giggled. "Well come get your payment then."

  Ambrose sat and went to move the bowl closer to himself, but flinched as he felt how hot it was.

  "Oh sorry, I should have said that it was hot."

  He blew on to his fingers to cool them when he suddenly realised something. "How did you manage to carry them in?"

  As she was spooning some soup into her mouth Arlon raised one of her hands, showing him the flat of it. "Got that heat resistant Dwarf skin from dad as well as my lack of magic."

  The soup was hearty and warming, and as he ate it, he realised that with all that had happened today, he hadn't eaten since breakfast. He looked up to complement Arlon's cooking and found her staring at him.

  There was silence for a moment as he staired back. "Is there something on my face?"

  "You’re quite a handsome man Ambrose."

  "…Thank you?" Ambrose was currently hunched over due to Arlon's half dwarf sized furniture. He had also gotten himself somewhat sweaty skinning the dear and was sure he probably had some blood on his face, so her comment felt strangely timed.

  She stood and walked over to him. He straightened as she did, unsure of what was about to happen. She stooped next to him and took a section of his hair in her hand. "But you really need a haircut."

  As they continued eating Arlon managed to slowly breakdown his protestations against her cutting his hair, to the point that as they were finishing up, they were deciding how short he was going to have it.

  "And you have cut hair before?" Ambrose asked.

  "I cut my own and I used to cut my dad's." She said as she got some shears from a draw. "Why, are use only using salons now you are a lord?"

  Ambrose had been cutting his own hair since he left the orphanage, though he had only done it once. He had to keep his hair short when he was there, so growing it longer was one of the few luxuries he felt he gained from leaving.

  She gestured for him to sit and then went into what he thought was her bedroom. After a few moments she returned with a polished silver mirror. She handed it to him and he examined it. "This must have cost a fair bit of coin?"

  She looked at it in his hands and smiled. "When mum and dad left, mum bought me it. She said 'though it was good I was tough as my pa, I should still remember I was a lady.'”

  Ambrose couldn't see looking at her how she could possibly forget. While she was a bit shorter and stockier than most of the women he had met, her features and figure were far from unpleasant. A fact that he didn’t think he had noticed until now.

  She guided his hand so he was holding up the mirror in front of him so he could see his reflection. Walking behind him, she lifted a section of his hair and started cutting.

  "So, where are your parents now?"

  "They are currently back in Nortok, with mum being a healer they have opened a clinic there to help heal the black lung."

  "What's that?" He had heard of a number of different illnesses, but never one called 'the black lung.'

  "It’s a condition the deep miners get, causes you to cough up dark bile until you suffocate on it, nasty stuff." She did a few more snips. "Are you ok with this length?”

  Ambrose looked in the mirror. It was very strange to see any of his hair not past his shoulders, but he had to admit, it did look better. He nodded and she continued.

  "Dwarfish medicine can only keep it at under control, and if you so much as catch a cold once you have it, it could be your end. Mum being healer can actually cure it, so her and dad are trying to set up a proper clinic there."

  "They sound like really good people."

  Arlon stopped cutting and smiled at him in the mirror. "They are."

  She continued cutting, eventually only making small snips as she evened out her work. As her hand slowly brushed his neck as she moved the shears, he felt his heart rate jump.

  "Ok, think I'm done, what do you think?"

  He raised the mirror which he had absentmindedly rested on his lap and looked at himself. His black hair was now just long enough to rest on his shoulders. She had also trimmed the front of his hair so that it more neatly encircled his face. Since he had been actually washing his hair regularly, the slight curl in his hair had returned, and now it was shorter, it had become more pronounced.

  He lowered the mirror and saw that Arlon had moved in front of him, she leant forward getting so close that he could feel the warmth of her face on his.

  "It looks good." She said, looking at his hair. She then looked down and locked eyes with him.

  They staired at each other for a moment. Ambrose could feel his heart beating in his ears. Just as he thought Arlon made the most minuet movement closer to him, they both jumped as someone knocked on the door.

  Arlon quickly made her way over and opened it. After talking to the visitor, she closed it and walked back to him.

  "Salt delivery." She said with an awkward laugh.

  "Oh." He responded with his own, just as awkward laugh.

  The silence that followed felt so heavy, Ambrose found it difficult to keep his head up to look at his host.

  "I think I am going to call it a night." Arlon said, quickly.

  Ambrose nodded quickly in agreement. "Yeah, I am exhausted, long day an all, see you in the morning."

  She smiled and quickly walked to her bedroom, though Ambrose could have sworn that she hesitated for just a second before closing the door.

  Once she did, he sat in the chair he had just had his hair cut in and let out a long sigh. That was… What was it? He thought. He shook off the confusion, deciding it was probably better to not think too much into it. He had a big day tomorrow, he had never visited the city council building and he had no idea how they would react to his story, or his report about Trelen's enslavement. He stood and moved to go to bed himself, when he realised, Arlon hadn't told him where he could sleep.