Timeless

24

"Ma'am, this is far too much." Indeed a gift like that would be costly indeed to buy in the market.

"These are nothing. But they'll follow your directions explicitly. If you need more light they'll brighten, if you need less they'll dim. They'll dance about for your enjoyment or stay in place as you need." Ari waves away the expense of the gift.

"But..." Alexis tries to say when Jeshua buts in.

"When you don't need them you could put them in this." Jeshua presents her with the wooden box he'd finished carving late the night before. The workmanship was just as beautiful as the embroidery Alexis does.

"Jeshua, if you ever decide to go into carving I'm sure the guild would find a place fore you." Grey says nodding his approval at both the gift and the timing of the gift.

Jeshua beams at the compliment.

"Ari you are wrong. You have money you know. Remember Anna gave you an estate." Grey whispers in Ari's ear he doesn't want to embarrass her or give Alexis an excuse to return the gift.

"Perhaps, but I don't know how to access the money, nor do I know how much is appropriate to give her." Ari whispers back.

Grey chuckles and hands her a small sack of money. "What's mine is now yours love. The going rate for a higher servant is about two silvers every two months."

Ari thanks him but frowns at how low the wage is. She finds two silvers and two more and gives the rest of the money back to Grey. "Here, your wages for this month and next. And a gift for when you get married. Or if you decide to start your own shop, whichever comes first." Ari says as she hands the money to Alexis.

She hides her smile as she sees Jeshua's reaction to the idea of Alexis getting married. He only slightly relaxes when she says something about a shop.

Alexis is stunned at such gifts she's received this day. She keeps one silver for any needs she might have in the market and puts the rest in the box even as she orders the lights to go in there as well.

While she is doing that Ari turns her attention back to Grey, "Does that mean that my property is yours as well?" She thinks it does since she married Grey.

Grey shrugs. "It's up to you. I don't automatically get rights to your property just as you don't mine. I choose to give you those rights. It's up to you to choose whether or not to give me rights to yours." Grey doesn't care one way or the other. Living here in the castle he hasn't done much spending and has quite a bit of money saved up from over the years. He doesn't need or even really want her money as well. But he does enjoy watching her be happy, so he's more than happy to share his wealth with her.

Ari is excited this will be her first time out of the castle since she came here. And the first time for a market as well. The first thing she notices is the assault on her nose from the smell of the animals and unwashed bodies. It's almost as bad as the dungeon had been. The animals weren't so bad, but the unwashed bodies was harder to deal with.

But soon she got lost in the delight of the new experiences and she went happily from stall to stall. Although she never bought anything she did enjoy looking. Grey watches her closely and if she likes something and looks reluctant to leave it he waits for her to be distracted by something else and buys it for her.

All the while Jeshua keeps a sharp eye out. Thieves abounded in the market and an unwary person could find trouble. Jeshua was in full armor and openly carrying his sword. Most thieves shy away from such openly armed people. But Grey had decided against his sword and is only wearing his pin sticker, his courtier sword. Thieves often mistake the poniard for a weak weapon, but in Grey's hands it's as deadly as his sword. But he's not wearing armor and that worries Jeshua.