They arrived at the first Builders' office, but it was more of a villa. Teerom exchanged a look of worry with Paley, who was slightly nervous too. They walked through the open main gates and up the large staircase splitting around a fountain.
The paths around the villa were surrounded by neatly cut bushes and statues of noblemen.
"I think this place is a bit too prestigious for me," Teerom commented as they arrived at the main door.
"It stinks of nobility. You want to turn back?"
"We might as well see. They might be nice people." Teerom knocked on the door. Two minutes later a young butler opened it. He had perfect posture and stood with clear superiority.
"What're you here for?" He asked in a painfully posh tone.
"Uh, I'm looking for work," Teerom felt the need to bow.
"Him too?" The butler didn't fail to show his lack of respect for Paley. Teerom had fixed his rags up that morning to look good for the interviews. He made sure there were no holes and that the previous patching blended well.
Paley, on the other hand, had a ripped sleeve and crusty trousers.
"He's just accompanying me,"
"Come in," The butler opened the door all the way and let them into the villa. The interior was somehow bigger than it seemed from the outside. Most of it was empty space with the odd bit of furniture here and there.
The floor was made of reflective marble and there was a giant glass window on the other end of the room.
The actual workshop was underground, with this and the higher floors being the living quarters. Two women sat on the sofas in the middle of the room, sipping on tea as they read romance books.
They looked back at Teerom and sighed, frustrated. They'd already had a bunch of people come in that day looking for work. Each one they turned away.
"What's your name?" The slightly chubbier one asked coldly. Paley tugged at Teerom's sleeve, but Teerom signaled him to be patient.
"Teerom," He answered and bowed to them. The other woman, much taller and slender, approached him and caressed his cheek.
"You're adorable," She said mockingly, "Wanna be my pet?" She cackled. Paley sighed and grabbed Teerom's arm, walking towards the door.
"Where do you think you're going?" She asked, crossing her arms.
"Somewhere better," Paley replied.
"I guess your sense of smell was right," Teerom said gloomily once they reached the main gates.
"There are nine other places left. I'm sure you'll find one that you like."
They didn't. Every other place either required paper evidence of building experience or didn't accept peasant orphans. They sat down on a bench in front of the last workplace they tried. It was a relatively wealthy-looking place, but it was more practical than the first one.
"Well, that's that. Let's go home," Teerom said, trying to hide his disappointment.
"Aren't we gonna stop by a restaurant?" Paley asked.
"I don't have any money," Teerom showed his pockets guiltily.
"What? Did you lose it?"
"I paid the advisor at the town hall all of it..." He trailed off when Paley looked at him, unamused, "She fell asleep! I didn't know what to do,"
"You do realize they work for free? A portion of the city's tax goes to their salary," Paley explained.
"Really?"
"Yes." Paley sighed and stood up, "Hold on, I'll get us some money." He flew up and into the builders' house. He emerged a few minutes later, holding a leather bag, and flew back down to Teerom.
"There, that sounds about 200 silver coins." He handed the bag to Teerom.
"You stole it?" Teerom sounded shocked.
"Come on, they could've rejected you politely. An eye for an eye. Besides, they've got a ton of money. It's not like 200 silver coins are gonna matter to them."
"You got a point... Fine, let's go. But we're going home right after." Teerom stood up and began walking.
"Where is it?" Paley followed him.
"It's next to the b-brothel," Teerom replied awkwardly. When he was looking for the town hall, he saw a few men coming out of the brothel and entering the restaurant.
"What, you wanna go there?" Paley joked as they walked out onto the main streets.
"Of course not! You know I- Jurie- Ahem, that's the only place I know of," Teerom hastily justified.
"I get it. I get it." They walked through the growing crowds of people near the bazaar into the contrastingly empty streets near the brothel.
It was a shoddy restaurant. The exterior had a lot of loose planks and even a cracked window. They walked in and found that the interior was slightly better. There were signs of regular cleaning and maintenance.
On their left was the kitchen, where five people were lining up to order. They joined the line, standing under a floating dim lamp that seemed eager to fall. There was a mild amount of chaos mostly caused by a group of unusually tiny people laughing obnoxiously.
"Are those dwarves?" Teerom mumbled.
"Dwarves?" Paley recalled Manoha (The Quimnia before him) writing of them in her autobiography.
"Dwarves are... non-humans. They're super short like that." Teerom explained as one of the dwarves approached a man flirting with one of the waitresses. Paley noticed that the dwarf had left behind a bag full of tools at the table where the other dwarves were.
"So, what do you think about coming with me for the day?" The man slipped her a few gold coins.
"I'm sorry, sir, I don't do that kind of work. You can go next door for that." She held her platter to her chest defensively.
"Come on, all the hags there have already been used. I want something fresh. Plus, you're wearing a maid uniform. That's just my kink," The man grinned horridly and grabbed her shoulder, making her wince.
"Hands off, ya creep." The dwarf pulled the man's hand away. The man stared at the dwarf, surprised that a dirty lowly dwarf touched someone of his class.
"Do we have a problem?" A tall blonde man approached them. He was friends with the creep.
"A quite small problem, aye." The dwarf joked.
"Quite a few small problems." The other dwarves joined him.
"Hm," The blonde man chuckled and pulled out a knife, swinging it at the dwarves. One of them sacrificed his forearm to block the attack and countered with a tiny but powerful kick to the groin.
The two parties stared at each other for a moment before pandemonium ensued. The creep threw his fists at the dwarves, missing all of his attacks. His neatly combed hair now hung down loosely over his sneering face.
The blonde man was wheezing on the floor after another kick to the groin.
"We should get out of here!" Teerom grabbed Paley's hand, but Paley pushed him away and stopped a knife flying at them with air magic.
One of the dwarves was pinned down by the creep and looked back at Paley, who quickly put the knife in Teerom's hand.
"Nice catch! Mind helping me out?" The dwarf shouted, trying to pry the man - who was now scratching furiously - off him.
"Huh? I-" before Teerom got the chance to refuse, the knife flew out of his hand and lodged itself in the man's hair. It didn't pierce his skin, only grazing it. The creep stopped in a panic, letting the dwarves around him pin him down and beat him senseless.
"That's it! He's done." They all left him gasping for air on the ground.
"Nice throw," The dwarf that the creep pinned down high-fived Teerom.
"T-Thanks." Teerom played along after he saw Paley signaling him with his eyes to do so.
"Thank you, sirs," The waitress bowed gratefully.
"Ah, don't mention it." The leading dwarf, who had ginger hair, rubbed the back of his head modestly.
"How can I repay you?" She asked.
"With a pint of your finest spirit!" The other dwarves exclaimed.
"You heard 'em," He grinned, showing his two missing teeth.
The dwarves decided to sit with Teerom and Paley. The fight had trashed the restaurant. Tables were broken and the walls were stained with little splatters of blood.
"That was probably the best throw I've ever seen," The dwarf said in his thick accent.
"What happened? One moment, I was about to get my face kicked in, and the next, a knife came out of nowhere and nearly hit Blondie." The leading dwarf chugged his tankard of alcohol. It didn't change his sobriety since he was always drunk.
"How can you drink so much?" Teerom asked.
"We dwarves have the strongest livers in the world, HAHAHA!" The dwarves burst with laughter. Teerom couldn't help but join the goofballs. In contrast, Paley was silently watching. He had yet to develop his sense of humour towards loud people.
"Have a drink. It's on us." The leading dwarf pressured.
"I'll have an orange juice." Teerom thought he'd said something wrong because the dwarves fell silent. But the next moment they roared with laughter.
"Waitress! Get this lad an orange juice!"
"I'm gonna go order something," Paley mumbled to Teerom and left to wait in line.
"Hey, we should get to know each other," Teerom suggested.
"I don't trust Sobres, but alright. Allow us to introduce ourselves." (Sobres are people who don't drink any alcohol) The leading dwarf began with himself. His name was Aleisar, but his close friends called him Alei. Next was Candul. He was the tallest of the dwarves and the strongest. He was also the softest.
After him, was Battdur, the youngest (In his early thirties) and the one that Teerom helped when he 'threw the knife'.
Wallas and Gilray were last. They were jolly brothers, often finishing each other's sentences.
"I'm Teerom." Teerom introduced himself, then looked back at Paley, "He's Paley. We're orphans."
"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss." Aleisar stole Battdur's drink and chugged it.
"Don't be. We're all really happy with our mom taking care of us. And him. You wouldn't believe the number of times he's saved us." Teerom looked back at Paley. He was now at the front of the line, asking the girl at the counter what the options were. She was about fourteen, nearly Jurie's age. The restaurant was her father's, so she was just earning an extra coin there.
"Looks like a great kid, but I'm gonna have to get to know him to like him. Something about him feels off." The other dwarves nodded in agreement with Aleisar.
"He's got a bit of a staring problem, but trust me, he's really nice- If he likes you." Teerom added, "He's lost his memory, you see. Don't blame him for how he is. I think he had a rough past." Teerom, since he met Paley, had been pushing away the intrigue over what could've caused Paley's expression to grow so cold.
"Looks like he's a ladies' man, though," Wallas and Gilray chuckled as the attendant was now drawn into Paley even though he was just ordering food. She'd seen him use his air magic to stop the knife.
"Of course, anything else?" She asked suggestively, holding his hand.
"Nothing else, there's my table." Paley pulled his hand away coldly and pointed to Teerom and the dwarves.
They chatted over a big plate of meats and vegetables lumped together. It looked horrible, but at least it was delicious.
"So, what brings you to the city?" Aleisar asked.
"I'm here looking for work. Everyone else is gonna go to school, and I wanted to start helping out our mom."
"Well, you came to the right city. The employment rates here are the highest in Lusitra," Candul said.
"And yet we just can't seem to bring in any employees," Aleisar sighed and called for another pint.
"You're looking for people to work for you?" Teerom asked.
"Work *with* us. But we need a minimum of six people to count as a company. You humans and your damned regulations."
"Oh, I see. I hope you find a sixth member." Teerom sipped on his orange juice. He and the dwarves had barely eaten. It was Paley who was devouring plate after plate while he listened to the conversation. The girl at the counter had given him a discount of one silver coin for a buffet plate instead of five silver coins.
"And we hope you find your work." The dwarves held out their tankards.
"Thanks," Teerom clinked his juice with their alcohol. Paley was staring at both parties, confused and unamused.
"What kind of company are you?" He asked the dwarves.
"A building company!" Aleisar said pridefully. Paley shifted his gaze to Teerom and nodded slowly.
"I'm looking for a building job!" Teerom exclaimed.
"Really? Are you any good? You look fit, but you don't look manly. No offense," Battdur said.
"None taken. I've been making things since I was five years old. I'll admit that it was mostly stuff to make stealing easier, but I started making cooler stuff recently. I've got my tools right here," Teerom took out his trusty chisel and hammer from a small rucksack.
"Let me see," Aleisar took the tools and inspected them carefully. Paley felt weirded out by how his fingers wriggled around the handles and metal bits.
"Wow, I can see that you take great care of your equipment. Unless you bought new equipment recently, you rarely damage your tools while using them." The dwarf's compliments went in one ear and out the other.
"Uh, thanks?" Teerom replied.
"That *was* a compliment," Paley finished his third plate and lied back with a full stomach, but the girl at the counter bought him another plate, this time free. He sighed and began devouring it, producing a smile on the girl's face.
"What do you say? Wanna come work for us?" Aleisar and the dwarves asked eagerly.
"I'd love to!"
The dwarves took Paley and Teerom to their workplace. It was a small shack situated on the outskirts of the city near the east gate.
"It could use some work, but it's home." Aleisar patted Teerom on the back, "Come on," The other dwarves walked past him.
"Is that a statue of Aneros!?" Teerom ran over to a small statue of a well-built man with long flowing black hair and a big grin on his face. He wore a long robe with gems lining the edges and long flailing bands coming out of the collar. (This was a glorified depiction of Aneros. In his tale, he was said to have spent most of his life wearing gladiator armour).
In his left hand resided a book. It was a grimoire. Grimoires were books imbued with the owner's mana in which they wrote their spells' names with magical ink. With normal black ink, they could write a description under it. However, Quimnia's were the only ones who needed a grimoire since everyone else memorized their main spells. Additionally, maintaining a magic connection to the grimoire was draining, reinforcing it as ideal only for Quimnias.
"Aye, it's one of my father's statues." Aleisar smiled soberly.
"He is a fantastic sculptor! Look at all that detail." Teerom inspected the statue, finding a new detail every few seconds.
"*Was*. Your kind killed him and destroyed our village," Aleisar said boldly, "but don't worry. We're not the type to hold grudges like you lot." The dwarves went into the shack. Paley could tell that it hadn't been occupied in years from the broken floorboards and withering ceiling. They'd bought it recently and couldn't find the time to refurbish it.
There was a lonely round table in the middle and empty wood lockers on the left opposite a window. The contents of the lockers were strewn around on the floor, buried in mounds of dust. The windowsill too had inches of grey powder piled up.
"Sorry about the place. We spent all our money on drinks, so..."
"It's fine. Paley can fix this up in a flash." Teerom looked at Paley, begging with his expression.
Paley sighed, making his frustration clear, "Alright, everyone out." The dwarves and Teerom stood outside of the shack as loud wooshing, clanking, and rattling noises emerged from inside.
"What's he doing?" Battdur mumbled to Teerom.
"Cleaning." Teerom smiled, dreading the earful Paley would give him when they return.
"You're gonna have to fix the rest yourselves." Paley emerged from the shack, drying off his hands with his shirt. The dwarves entered hesitantly to find the shack completely clean and organized.
"What kind of sorcery is this?" Candul ran his finger along the sparkling windowsill.
"Magic," Teerom said, showing the pride of an older brother. Paley watched from the doorway while the dwarves sat with Teerom and discussed his salary and what the job offered. It met all his wants: working with his hands, the afternoon being off (the dwarves would rather die than sacrifice their drinking time) so that he could be with the orphans after school.
For the first time in his life, Teerom had a real purpose. From the pesky thief in the back alleys of Rukae to a full-fledged builder in Gouon. Paley smiled to himself at the sight of him blending in with the dwarves, laughing and talking about their fairy tale hero, Aneros.
He slid a note onto Teerom's lap, telling him that he would be back to pick him up in two hours and that he should wait outside the dwarves' shack for him. Then, he left quietly, happy for his brother.
As he flew over the city he spotted a wedding taking place in a park. He was about to fly past it but decided to linger and watch when he recognized Yadalee (From Chapter 5) as the bride. She was getting married to a tall handsome man. A commoner who was slightly younger than her.
Paley watched emptily from a rooftop. 'Will I ever experience that?' The gloomy question got to him. But his thoughts shifted when he saw the woman he helped carry the various white flowers in the venue.
She stood with her husband. Though he was still half-drunk, he seemed to be making an effort. Paley felt better at the thought that he helped them. The woman happened to look in his direction, catching him off guard. He hid, thinking she was going to expose him.
But she didn't. Instead, she smiled and waved at him with her husband. Paley waved back and continued on his way to the orphanage, not noticing the Hijian girl sitting below him, staring at him with awe while trying to get her parents' attention.
Something didn't feel right, though. Lately, the topic of love had begun to haunt him. Something he was deeply and irrationally afraid of. So he couldn't help but ask himself: "Will I ever fall in love?"