Adriana felt the glimpses from her family throughout the evening, but she has become a rather proficient performer in this new walk in life. This made her able to hide her emotions and thoughts to some degree, masking them from others for the most part. But now, they travelled in a group led by Ambrosia, the adopted daughter of the Garnetleaf Elders, to the bazaar.
"And here we have the armor smiths." Ambrosia announces as she stops before a shop. "Azolla Emberstar is talented at protective wear, he has studied from different territories and has his family's teachings passed down through generations. Azolla, I've brought some guests!" She calls as they enter the building.
A man comes from a room in the back of the store, the main room holds several displays of various kinds of armors. Adriana squishes the image she held of any armor maker as she sees the wiry man with thick glasses. His gangly form did have muscles, but them being lean and sinewy rather than bulging. "Hey Ambrosia, I see you've brought some new friends. What can I do for you?"
Adriana blinks at the impossibly deep voice that rumbles from this man, followed by a jovial laugh that quakes the walls. "Umm, I was hoping to get some armor that is easy and comfortable to move in as well as is able to be worn under a dress without any issues." She gets out after she pulls herself together.
Azolla scratches his chin, tilting his head in contemplation. "That is quite the order, do you mind if I take some measurements with Ambrosia's help?"
"No, I don't mind at all!" Adriana excitedly says, taking a step forward before pausing as she notices her sisters and mother following.
""I too would like to get a set made." Illiana says, the others nodding their heads enthusiastically.
"One, two, three, four, five dress armors…" Azolla counts them out with slightly widened eyes, scratching the back of his head as he mutters to himself before addressing them again. "How long are you planning to stay for again?"
"We would like to depart rather soon, we planned for a couple of day's time." Evelynn replies.
"I think I can get them done if you're able to stay a few days longer. This isn't something I would normally do, so I would like to have a discussion with each of you individually to decide on materials and design. That being said, I'll need to bring in a few hands to help with this, and that's if we don't need to make any other armors than this." Azolla states, eying them slightly flustered.
"A few days?!" Evelynn sputters out, her brow creasing as her lips purse.
"That sounds doable, as long as we can get everything made well and as quick as possible." Rolan cuts in before Evelynn starts to argue, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze as he wraps his arm around her shoulders.
"Shall we get the measurements done then?" Ambrosia asks, gaining nods from the group.
"Please take your time, we'll browse the wares while you ladies get your orders in." Rolan agrees, already looking at some chain armor glistening on a stand.
"Ok, we'll be back soon." Evelynn relents as they follow them to the only other door in the large room. They enter a hallway with small curtained off rooms, dressing rooms they imagine. One at a time, Ambrosia takes one inside and does the measurements requested by Azolla, him having his back to the curtained off area and the two shouting back and forth as he jots down the numbers on a pad. After that, they were taken to a sitting area at the end of the hall, two doors leading to a storage room and the backyard. The last door took you to an office, then stairs lead up. Azolla took the ladies into his office one at a time to discuss what exactly they wanted, Ambrosia served them tea as they awaited their turn.
"And what design do you have in mind?" Azolla asks Adriana friendly enough after they take their seats in his office, the leather chairs being comfortably stuffed.
"I was thinking of possibly having two styles, if I can?" She goes on to explain the concepts to him, one being like a pair of leggings and a tank top, the other being a dress that you can use fasteners on sides to adjust the fit to your needs at the time.
"How much are you willing to spend for these items? This is the low end, this is the mid range, and this is the high end." Azolla writes out numbers for each area. "The higher the price, the better the materials used, though honestly mid-range would be decent in offering protection and flexibility. The low end, you'll have to sacrifice one or the other." He explains to her.
"Are the prices only for the sets, or will it include anything like free repairs or a couple of upkeep kits?" Adriana questions as she stares at the numbers. It was somewhat scary to realize that her family were rather well off given their humble homes. She herself held a rather hefty amount of cash, and her random performances easily drew in more.
"Any armor bought from me has a fifty percent reduction to repair and upgrade costs, and they do come with an upkeep kit each by default." Azolla smiles at her, not in a condescending way but one that appreciated the questions being asked.
"What of magical protections?" Adriana asks next, already feeling like she'll be spending on the priciest option since they needed the protection as far as it could go. A large investment now meant a strong one into the future.
Azolla blinks at her, then tilts his head as he studies her. "We of course can do magical engraved protections into the armor, but in terms of all around magical protection, that's going to jump the price up to something more like this." He scribbles down new prices and shows her them.
Adriana bites her lip as she contemplates her options. Honestly, the price still wasn't much of a bother, but something else has occurred to her. "Has anyone else requested magical enhancements?"
"No, we spoke mostly about everything else. Perhaps it slipped their minds." Azolla replies.
"In that case, can I ask for all the armor bought by my family today get the enhancements secretly, I'll pay in full for all of them. If they request to upgrade it for enhancements, tell them you aren't able to do that at the moment please." Adriana asks him, seeing a stunned reaction from the man. "Also, is there any way for us ladies to have an inconspicuous protection for our heads?"
"I… I think we have a few options. Madam, I cannot offer you a price estimate regarding all of the armor enhancements at this time as I haven't spoken with the gentlemen in your group yet." Azolla rushes to say, appearing excited and scared at the same time.
"Azolla, the enhancements should be around the same as mine, right? So I'll pay for them regardless. Thank you for your council, but now can we discuss our options for head protection? I find mine rather nice and would like to keep it." Adriana replies, trying to lighten things a bit with a joke. Azolla seemed to relax a bit, bouncing ideas back and forth again before the two settle on a metal torq and a metal circlet, both with dainty gems that could easily match anything. He'd add in special runes to ensure whatever harm came at them would be slowed and damage lessened for a fraction of time. It would also allow her to move a bit quicker, as well as cancel most magic that affects the mind and senses.
"Madam Adriana, I shall ask Ambrosia to bring you to Celosia's accessory shop tomorrow. There, you and your party may purchase what you'd like enchanted and bring them to me, I'll enchant them with thirty percent off for such a large order." Azolla tells her, he rather she picked out her own items rather than him attempting to do so in her stead.
"Thank you for the troubles Azolla, I'll let the family know that the time estimate may be a day longer. I apologize for us all that we have such a large request for you, and some unusual ones at that." Adriana tells him as he starts to usher her out.
"No need for apologies, it's not often that we have such a chance to create something new and different. You ladies certainly know how to bring in fresh ideas!" Azolla replies as they join the rest. "Are you sirs ready to go over your options?"
Adriana wanders around the store, half listening to the others as they chatter on. She smirks to herself as she hears Azolla state he needs to alter the armor a bit to fit them better, so it would take a couple of days to get them finished. This of course was more so a cover for the enhancements, but he did a convincing job. "Hey, we're going to a shop tomorrow to get some accessories that Azolla says he can alter to make into inconspicuous headgear."
"That sounds like a fantastic idea!" Helena replies with a grin.
"Let's remember not to spend too heavily though." Tamara cautions with a slight frown.
"Frivolous spending isn't worth it, but investing in safety certainly is." Evelynn gently reminds her with a smile, causing Tamara to sigh and relent.
"Fine, I wonder if we can get something for the children as well." Tamara states as she looks over at the sleepy ones.
"I feel like we can at least get them something manageable." Illiana adds in.
"That's for tomorrow, these little ones are too tired to put up with much more." Adriana says with a smirk as she catches Hero nodding off.
"To be honest, I am too." Illiana tries to state, but is interrupted by a yawn.
"Same." The rest reply almost in perfect unison.