On a particular morning in a small market not too far from Leon’s courtyard, Arian and Ember could be seen strolling side by side through the streets.

The past few weeks had been filled with training, meditation, repeat. Leon gave them very few opportunities to go out and broaden their horizons. The days bled into each other, one session ending and the next beginning before either of them had fully recovered from the last.

So today felt different. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

He had seemed to be in a good mood, opting to send them out to gather resources and see the city for a while. Neither of them asked why. They just left before he changed his mind.

The market was busy at this hour. Stalls packed close together, the smell of cooked food and fresh cloth mixing in the air, people moving in every direction with somewhere to be. Arian walked at an easy pace. Ember walked slightly faster, her eyes already scanning ahead.

"There!!"

Ember raised her hand and pointed.

A massive storefront sat ahead of them, thick metal bars framing the entrance, beautiful silk dresses and bolts of fine material laid across display tables outside. The colors caught the morning light well. Even from a distance it was clear this wasn’t a cheap shop.

Arian looked.

In a week or so the city lord would be holding a grand banquet, a formal gathering meant to bring together the myriad of powers in the city of dogs and foster something resembling cooperation. Prominent families. Influential figures. Young talents being paraded in front of each other under the cover of socializing.

Neither of them particularly wanted to impress any man or young talent.

But showing up to an event like that without the most splendid clothes would be a travesty. That much they agreed on without needing to discuss it.

So naturally, Leon had allowed them to take gold from their stash for exactly this purpose.

They walked in.

"Good day, young misses. What can we do for you today?"

An attendant stepped forward immediately, a tape measure draped around her neck, smile already in place. She looked at the two of them with the particular kind of attention a shopkeeper gives someone they are trying to evaluate quickly.

Her smile stayed where it was.

But behind it, something else was running.

’Ugh. Why did we have to open a branch in this place. So many broke people.’

Arian and Ember had good clothes. Anyone could see that. But years of fighting left marks that didn’t wash out easily. Minute cuts, faint stains worked into the fabric over time, the kind of damage that wasn’t visible to a normal eye but was there if you knew what to look for. The attendant’s eyes had found it in about three seconds.

Her smile didn’t change. Her opinion did.

"I’ve heard of your Ceda silk dress from our maid," Arian said, her voice cool, her eyes drifting through the shop at a relaxed pace. "We’re new to the city. We’d like to see something of high quality like that."

The attendant’s smile thinned.

"Ceda silk?" She let the pause sit for a moment. "Madam, I’m afraid that might be too expensive for you." Her eyes moved between them once. "Sorry to sound rude, but I hope you two aren’t here to cause trouble."

Her tone had gone from warm to guarded without quite crossing into open hostility. Just enough of an edge to make the meaning clear.

Ceda silk was the Great Silk Gallery’s most prized material. As a branch, simply acquiring it required a formal request sent up the chain. A mage of at least level three had to escort it here personally. It was not something they pulled out for walk-ins who looked like they might have a budget.

Ember’s expression shifted.

"Trouble? You don’t know what troubl–"

Arian’s hand moved fast, landing over Ember’s mouth before she could finish the sentence.

Arian smiled at the attendant.

"Let’s just take a look around."

Ember made a sound behind her hand. Arian ignored it.

They were led inside.

The exterior of the shop was simple enough. But stepping through the entrance was a different thing entirely. Hundreds of silk dresses filled the space, arranged on stands and hung from frames in configurations that branched off in every direction, resembling a labyrinth of color and fabric. The lighting was deliberate, beautiful suspended fixtures casting warm tones across everything. Geometric shapes woven into the architecture interlocked with each other in patterns that were almost too precise to be accidental.

Ember had gone quiet. Her eyes were moving.

Arian looked at everything with her hands loosely at her sides.

"This section," the attendant said, gesturing at the nearest row of dresses with a slight smirk, "has pieces that run a few thousand gold. You might not be able to afford it outright, but after a loan or two it’s definitely worth it."

The smirk stayed on her face a beat longer than it needed to.

"They are beautiful," Arian said.

She meant it. She looked at them the way someone looks at something genuinely worth looking at.

Then her eyes drifted back to the attendant’s face. To the smug angle of it. To the particular way the woman was standing, like she had already decided how this visit was going to end.

She looked down on them. Because of a few scratches on their clothes. Nothing else. No other reason.

People like that were the most disgusting kind.

"But not exactly what we’re looking for," Arian added, her voice unchanged, her gaze staying on the attendant with something that looked almost innocent. "Maybe something of a higher grade."

The attendant’s expression shifted.

"You country bumpkins are always so demanding." She turned and started walking further into the shop, grumbling under her breath. "If you can’t afford it, just say so. Why can’t people be straightforward."

Arian watched her go.

Ember appeared at her shoulder.

"Why did you stop me," she said quietly. Not a question.

"Because she’s not worth the scene." Arian started walking after the attendant. "Not yet."​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​