As the sun sunk just over the trees, Etrius was sure that it had cleaned up all of the spider webs and most of the dust in its new house. Though calling it new was an overstatement. This cabin was likely one of the oldest buildings in town. Quite a distance from the town center, the cabin was on the edge of the forest and was on the verge of becoming overrun by it. The door hung on by a single hinge, various parts of the walls were starting to rot, the top of the chimney had fallen over, and it looked like several birds abandoned nests inside it. Most of the windows were broken with only one being saved due to a shrub that shielded it from the elements and stone tossing children.

Though it didn't inspect it, the ceiling was likely in need of repair. The only parts of the building that were not in need of replacing was the stone floor, which was actually part of the foundation, the stone counter, and the base of the fireplace. Though Etrius did note that next to the counter in what was the kitchen, a stove size gap made itself known. Aside from furniture, kitchenware and appliances would need to be bought. As well as cleaning out the bathtub, which had green water in it. There was still plenty of work that needed to be done.

Taking a break, Etrius walked outside. To the left of the house was what may have been a pen. The wooden fence was rotted and the trough for water was filled with dead leaves. That was one of the first things that Etrius had cleaned. Here Maul was roaming, being sure to keep itself in sight of the house. Directly behind the pen was a shed with missing doors. This too was rotten and part of the ceiling collapsed. Also, it goes without saying, but it too was overgrown with grass and weeds. Needless to say, this place was a fixer.

Luckily for Etrius however, it had plenty of time before it's job officially started, with that being after winter. So, there was a decent amount of time for moving into a new house. As for fixing up the house? Etrius wasn't so sure. That being said, it had to try. Though not today, or rather tonight. With everything that needed to be done, Etrius looked at both the cabin and shed, making a mental list of what materials it needed. Interrupting its thoughts, came a nudge on its side. Looking over, it saw Maul looking at it.

 

"Any ideas?" Etrius asked.

"…" Maul looked at it.

"Yeah yeah, got it." Etrius said.

 

Opening a hole in the surrounding darkness, Etrius watched Maul disappear. Now, though not necessarily alone, Etrius once more looked to its cabin. In complete honesty, fixing this place was no real issue. Fixing it in a way that drew as little suspicion as possible was somewhat troublesome. Given that it had no materials with it, nothing could be done at the moment. Sighing, it headed inside to wait out the night. For a moment, it thought about lighting up the fireplace, but remembered its poor condition. Instead, it placed a candle lantern on the counter and illuminated the kitchen.

The small shadows which were coming out of hiding, danced in the flickering light as they spread with the setting sun. Sitting with its back against the wall, Etrius waited out the long night.

Long after the candle burned out, the sun rose and the crawling shadows returned into hiding. Rising from its spot, Etrius exited the building and headed into town. Already having a list of what it needed, it first had some other business to attend to. With its hood raised, it entered town from one of the little used dirt roads. Despite it being early morning, many were already up and heading to work. Few looked at Etrius, but none seemed too concerned with its appearance and simply let it be. Thankful for that, Etrius explored the town in search of useful stores.

One of the first ones was a brick building with a large wooden sign with various tools painted on it. After taking a moment, Etrius entered the building. Being greeted by several wooden shelves, rack, and barrels, filled with various tools, boxes of nails, and some sharpening implements. On the walls were various long handled farming implements as well as some saw for cutting high up tree branches.

 

"Welcome." A man at the counter called out.

 

Turning its attention from the walls, Etrius saw a somewhat younger looking man with short black hair and a black button up shirt. Perhaps due to recently opening, he was wiping down the counter with a damp rag.

 

"Find what you need or here for repairs?" The man asked.

"For now, I'm just looking around." Etrius said. "I recently moved here and my future home is in need of some repairs."

"Well, short of bricks and lumber we have all of the tools you'll need." He said.

"That much is helpful." Etrius said. "I notice that you also have farming tools, but I didn't see any fields when riding in."

"Yeah, there are some fields to the east, where the trees were cleared up way back when." He said.

"Must have been hard work." It said.

"Apparently some traveling witch cleared it up as a request by the founder of the town." He said.

"Oh that's nice."

"And then the witch-hunters came to apprehend her."

"Yeah, but they're the witch-hunters."

"I know. She left before they arrived, and they burned down the roof for a well and gave chase."

"Have they ever caught a witch?" Etrius asked.

"Not that I know of. Where did they even come from anyways?" The man asked.

"I only know of the two that were shackled on the seafloor." Etrius said.

"They should put them back." He said.

"Tell me about it." It agreed.

"So, did you find what you need?" He asked.

"Yeah, you have most of the tools that I need, so I'll be coming back in the next few days to get them along with everything else." It said.

"I'll look forward to it." He said.

"Yep." Etrius said exiting the store.

 

Having a place to source its tools, Etrius continued its self tour around town. Aside from the many general stores, there was an above average amount of butchers, but most of them were fairly small scale and looked to have little capacity. The further into town that it went, the wider, cleaner, and better kept the roads were. Most on the outskirts were loose stones, but now all of them seemed to be paved, and the rain gutters were kept clean, with only a few stray leaves to be seen.

Though heading deeper into town, the less industrial buildings and warehouses it saw. It had already likely passed what lumber and brick suppliers it was after. Though it did see a few promising looking furniture craftsmen, as well as a respectable looking carpet store, for such a distant town that is. Only as it came closer to the town center did it find any tailor and second hand clothing stores.

Due to the upcoming winter, most of the clothing were heavier fabrics and some somewhat water resistant ones. From the shops that Etrius visited, only one made clothing to order. How often that service was needed in this town, Etrius wasn't so sure. Possibly for weddings and maybe for funerals. Or maybe it was just something that the owner did for their own pleasure. Thinking nothing more of it, Etrius continued on its way in search of necessities for its future life here.

As it turned the corner, with the tailor moving out of view, a carriage made its way down the street. Though it was ornate, it was far from anything that someone would call fancy. That being said, it was far above the normal town's folk's pay grade. Slowing to a halt, the carriage found itself in front of the town's finest tailor shop.

With the carriage stopped, the left side door opened with two individuals stepping out. The first who stepped out was a slightly less than middle aged woman who, although dressed as a maid, gave off the aura of a secretary. She had long black hair which was neatly tied up in a bun, and a professional but stern look in her brown eyes. Just after her, and accepting her assistance, was Lord Haywood in a dark blue dress. Though she had short brown hair, just barely reaching her shoulders, it was neatly done with not a hair out of place. Her eyes, on the other hand, were squinted, frightening many who found themselves under her bright blue, ice like gaze. Children were especially vulnerable to this and it was not unheard of that some have cried due to this.

Partially because of this, many people outside her estate avoided her gaze and some of the more fearful town's people think of her as an evil woman, despite the fact that she has done nothing policy wise that would prove that. If one were to look into it, then they would find that she has in fact been trying to improve the roads, with limited success. Glancing at a passerby, who quickly crossed the street from her, Torie looked at the display items which she was fairly certain was winter attire. After a moment, both Torie and Zen entered the shop.

Inside, there were several shelves and racks with different articles of clothing. Though inviting, these were not their goal. Seeing them enter, the joyful shopkeeper moved to greet them.

 

"Lord Haywood, welcome!" The shopkeeper said.

"Stella, it's been a while." Torie smiled.

"Indeed it has." Stella nodded. "What can I help you with today?"

"I would like to order two, possibly three dresses, though one of them will be a rush order." She said.

"Any special occasion for them?" Stella asked.

"One used for normal meetings with the guild heads, possibly more on the formal end." She said. "As for the other two, just something to wear during town visits."

"I see, any special colors or fabric choices?"

"For the formal one, let's go with standard blue, as for the other two green and red, I'll leave the specifics to you."
"I understand, for the rush order, when do you need it?"

"If possible, I would like to have it before next week."

"I could get it done, though I would have to modify an existing dress and it may not be up to your standards."

"That's fine by me. You know how the guild heads are, there is no sense in putting them on edge by being overly gaudy."

"That much is true." Stella nodded. "I know that this may be improper of me to ask, but is there any need to call for the guild heads?"

"The capital saw fit to send a ranger our way." Torie said.

"A ranger?" Stella asked. "That's a surprise. I thought that they didn't want to be seen as provocative."

"I suppose they're afraid of poachers. Though I haven't heard any word from either the hunting guild, or the capital." Torie said.

"Well, if that's the case, I'll welcome them with open arms. Though I doubt they'll have much to do." She said. "When do you expect they'll arrive? After winter?"
"From what I heard, he arrived sometime yesterday." Torie said.

"That's a rather short notice." She said.

"Officially he was to arrive in spring, but it would seem that he wanted to beat the snow." Torie said.

"Rather ill advised if you ask me, especially since we've been getting earlier snow for the past few years now." Zen said.

"Well, there's not much we can do about it. He is here, so we might as well do the meeting sooner rather than later." Torie said.

"Well I don't have any other urgent orders at the moment, so I'll be able to have your dress ready in time." Stella said.

"Excellent." Torie smiled. "We can have the funds transferred at the earliest convenience, and if it's not too much to ask, can we have it delivered upon completion?"

"Of course." She said. "Anything for a loyal customer."

"Thank you." Torie said. "And as always, if we have any other needs, we'll be sure to come to you."

"Thank you." She said.

 

With that they took their leave, and like many others, began their winter preparations.