as I arrived I thought I saw you leaving, carrying your shoes
"Listen, this is the last of my money and I really need that fabric."
The Gilded Market bustled around him in a haze of incense smoke, hammered metal, and sun-warmed stone. He kept his hands braced on the counter not out of threat, but to steady himself, even as his jaw feathered. The weeks had been long with moving, planning, dreaming in half-finished sketches with Aithne over candlelight, and the coins he laid down gleamed like a final exhale. He was trying to get her what she wanted, what he already told her she couldn't have.
He almost flinched admitting it, but he could already picture how she would light up at the sight of real fabric in their half-built home. He could imagine curtains stirring in a breeze instead of rough canvas walls. He wanted—more than he would ever say aloud—to make something that felt like belonging to her. Like home, and warmth, and safety that she never had before.
The guildmaster stood there, looking between the boy and the coins. Soren sighed. "If you can give me anything durable and fireproof," he added through nearly clenched teeth, "I’ll make it work." For once, this wasn’t vanity. This was a promise he was trying to keep.
The Gilded Market bustled around him in a haze of incense smoke, hammered metal, and sun-warmed stone. He kept his hands braced on the counter not out of threat, but to steady himself, even as his jaw feathered. The weeks had been long with moving, planning, dreaming in half-finished sketches with Aithne over candlelight, and the coins he laid down gleamed like a final exhale. He was trying to get her what she wanted, what he already told her she couldn't have.
He almost flinched admitting it, but he could already picture how she would light up at the sight of real fabric in their half-built home. He could imagine curtains stirring in a breeze instead of rough canvas walls. He wanted—more than he would ever say aloud—to make something that felt like belonging to her. Like home, and warmth, and safety that she never had before.
The guildmaster stood there, looking between the boy and the coins. Soren sighed. "If you can give me anything durable and fireproof," he added through nearly clenched teeth, "I’ll make it work." For once, this wasn’t vanity. This was a promise he was trying to keep.
Soren
decided that once again I was just dreaming of bumping into you
