Disturbed by the light coming from the window, I opened my eyes. A little disoriented after drinking too much last night, I was surprised to find Ciel sleeping next to me before I finally remembered that we became husband and wife yesterday.
I chuckled while stroking her hair. "How come she always gets up late when we slept in the same place?"
A groan escaped from her lips as she rubbed her cheeks to my hand, content.
"Don't we have morning training to do?" I asked.
She stretched her whole body like a cat, opening her eyes ever so slowly, before finally scooting over to the edge of the bed and slumping on the floor.
"Come on, let's go. Elder sister is waiting for us." I straightened her up.
"Carry me…" she stuck herself to the ground, unwilling to be moved unless I carried her.
"Fine." I sighed and squatted, letting her climb onto my back.
She immediately climbed up, as if all that sleepiness was an act. But still, I carried her to the training grounds, attracting contented looks from everyone we passed by.
"We have arrived, princess."
"Thank you, my dear knight." She replied, kissing me on the cheeks.
Seeing us walking inside the training grounds, elder sister Sarah scolded us. "Don't be late next time." She simply said.
We apologized together before we took our respective training swords. Unlike other days, however, we're not being trained separately. This time, they made us spar with each other. Truly, a husband and wife who swordfight the day after their wedding; there's gotta be a joke somewhere there. Still, we sparred.
Our swords flashed while sparks could be seen from our clashes. From our sparring session this time, I felt much closer to Ciel's physical prowess. Looks like training did pay off.
An hour or two passed before she released us from training. It was finally time for us to move our luggage into our new home.
First things first, we need to buy some furniture; a double bed, two cupboards, one table with a couple of chairs, and a wardrobe. Secondly, we need to transport them along with our luggage to our wagon house at the circus. Finally, I have to expand the space within the wagon itself.
With so much to do and so little time, we carried our luggage to the circus.
Passing by the busy streets of Rivellon, we've arrived at our destination.
After greeting the troupe and putting our luggage in its rightful place, we quickly went around the district, looking for the right furniture at a shop called Sleeper's Home. It had a middle-eastern aesthetic to it with all the tribal rugs strewn across the shop. Coupled with the vintage wood panels and the yellow paint for its walls, the shop feels somewhat homely if not for how desolate it was.
The problem was apparent. We tried dozens of beds but none was up to our standard. Some were too gaudy, some too small, while some were too comfy. Don't get me wrong, you'll need comfiness for a good bed, but too much of a good thing will always backfire.
However, hope remained.
"What do you think of this?" Ciel asked.
In front of me was a simple bed crafted beautifully. I don't know how they did it, but there's a bounce to it. The bed was not just comfy, there was a tension that absorbed our weight, and it returns to its neutral state after use. In other words, there was a bounce to it, and it was very comfortable.
"Excuse me! How much is this bed?" I called the shopkeeper.
"Ah, I'm sorry dear customer, that is an apprentice's bed. There is no fixed price for that one."
"May we meet with the one who created this bed, then?"
The shopkeeper nodded his head, acknowledging my request. "I will pass your message to him, sir." He then looked towards the back area of the shop and shouted loudly. "Oy, Jeremy! A customer for your goods, son!" After he finished calling the apprentice over, he looked at us warmly. "He will be here very shortly, dear sir and madam."
Three of us, the shopkeeper, me and Ciel, waited for the apprentice called Jeremy to come over. Though, after a minute or two, no one came.
"Please excuse me, sir and madam, I will bring Jeremy to you in a moment." He bowed apologetically and went to the back of the shop. "Oy, Jeremy!! What's keeping you, son!?" A loud voice could be heard. "What do you mean you're designing a new kind of bed?! A customer is waiting for you there! Don't make the wait."
Ciel cracked up at how the shop quickly changed his selling face the moment he wasn't facing us, while I understood his plight as someone whose whole schtick involved diplomacy and talking. Still, seeing her cracking up like that brought a smile to my face, one that quickly changed into a peal of laughter.
"Was everything alright, dear customers?" The shopkeeper asked.
Taking deep breaths to calm herself down, Ciel replied. "Everything's alright sir. Where's the apprentice?"
He clapped his hands, remembering the apprentice he brought. "Here was Jeremy, he's the one who designed this bed."
Jeremy whom he spoke of, had a standoffish character. The way he behaved reminded us of how a true craftsman would act. He dressed simply, unbothered about anything else except his work. He cared not about money nor fame, only the progress of his craft. Some might say that such a character was quite difficult to talk to, however, I beg to differ. Show that you cared about what he made, be informed of whatever it is that he does, and finally, keep the topic to his craft and his craft only unless he himself changed it to something else.
"What was this bed made of? It's very… different." I asked.
Jeremy looked into my eyes, which were not there to meet his gaze as mine was looking at the bed he created. "What do you think about the bed?"
"Far better than the normal cotton beds, it had some spring to it, but it retained its shape after use. I'd like to buy it if possible, no matter the price." I praised his work to the moon.
He mulled a bit, before quoting a price. "1500 Guld." It was much higher than most beds, however, I believe it was worth it. "Sold." I passed him the money.
Looking a bit surprised, he asked. "Why would you buy it?"
"You're selling it, right?"
"Well, yeah."
"Then that's it. I believed it's worth it."
Jeremy patted the bed he painstakingly crafted. It was by no means easy to create such a bed that would not only last for ages but also gave its user continued relaxation. He had forged specially-made springs and sourced the right type of cotton all by himself in order to create such a masterpiece.
He found himself bowing at the couple who bought his work. "Thank you, sir and madam! Please cherish it dearly."
Exploring the carpentry shops in the district to find the right kind of furniture (mainly tables, chairs, and shelves) was, in a way, an excitement. We looked round and round, watching the artisans work their craft, on both the new and old. Everyone worked hard on their products. That's why the store I'm at right now, stood out from the rest, with its prided motto "We bring the past, right into your hands".
It was a store called Antique's Rest. Like its name, the whole store was full of antiques that were traded in and out of the store daily. We found two decent cupboards made of oak there, and when we were about to buy them, we got a somewhat unique story from the store's mistress.
"Always look inside what you buy, you two." She said with a smirk.
At first, we didn't understand what she meant. Ciel, being the curious one and a sucker for good stories, immediately perked her ears.
"What do you mean, madam?" She asked expectantly.
"You know we are mainly a reseller, right?"
Both of us nodded.
"We don't do repairs, and we never touched our products ourselves. We sold 'em as is. Sometimes, one might find something they never bargained for, it might be something beneficial, or else." She chuckled.
"Don't listen to th' nonsense. We checked fer stuff after that one incident." A man replied to the store's mistress from the back of the shop.
"That one incident?" I inquired.
"An unlucky chap bought a dressing table from us, got a couple o' bones in it."
"Bones? Inside a dressing table?"
"Jupp, we lost a lotsa money cuz o' that."
"So you checked the items since then?"
"To every nook n' cranny."
Because of the story the owner told us, we double, nay, triple-checked the cupboards we were going to buy. Fortunately, there was nothing of note inside those cupboards. Thus, off it goes to Cirque du Ciel.