Aeric woke up the next day in a tangle of his own sheets. He wriggled his way out and stretched, rolling his shoulders to work out some of the kinks. Then turned to his wardrobe, grabbed his newly made suit, and put on the clothing. He inspected the shoes he’d bought the day before, they were the closest thing he’d found to dress shoes. They were made with what he would now call a proper craftsman’s touch. Aeric put on the socks and then slipped his shoes on. Glancing at the mirror that hung in his room, he nodded. The colours really did work together, the orange fit his hair nicely. Last but not least he folded the pocket-handkerchief and tucked it into the vest pocket for that little bit of contrary colour splash.

He headed out the door only to meet Yisillia in the hall as she left her own room, Aeric raised an eyebrow at her. “You’re up early, you usually sleep for at least another hour.”

Yisillia nodded, “I was asked to help in the hospital, there’s something of a new virus going around. I’ll be developing a cure and a vaccine if needed. Otherwise, I’ll just root it out. Depends which is better.”

Aeric cocked his head and blinked as he accompanied her to a table, “You can do all that by yourself?”

Yisillia raised an eyebrow at him, “What did you think a healer did? While I specialise in more instant healing suitable for combat, I’m more than well equipped to fight a few diseases or a virus or two. It isn’t my specialty but I’m probably still the best the city’s got for it.”

“I guess I kind of forgot how far-reaching magic can be. I’m so used to having a disease be identified and then the study of it tackled by entire teams of scientists that just calling in a single high-level mage to deal with the problem seems a bit odd to me. On another note, do you get paid for stuff like this?”

Yisillia hemmed and hawed her hand, a corner of her mouth drawing down. “Sort of, I’m technically on the governmental list of employees. So I get a lot of tax cuts and the like. I usually do this kind of stuff for free unless it's something that becomes really time-consuming. I don’t want diseases, or even worse a plague, going around the place I live after all.”

“Do other countries ask for people like you to visit and fix their diseases?”

Yisillia turned to him and frowned, “I think you misunderstand how high-level I am, just about every city has a healer of my level. If anything I’m a bit under-levelled for the position, I’m quite a high level for my relative age as an elf. But I’m nowhere near Xii’s level. She’s a higher level than even Aliami. I think she’s the third highest level individual in the city.”

Aeric looked over at the woman filleting a fish and making him breakfast. “She’s that strong?”

“Yup, there’s plenty of stories and songs about her. If you ever actually went outside a bit I bet you’d have no trouble finding a bard singing of her exploits. You know how she is, she’s rather reckless but always manages to make it out alive in a fight. Not to mention together with her cohort, she’s done some incredible things. People are already slating her as the next one to reach the Exquisite level. If we have two people at the Exquisite level in our city? Makes us practically untouchable.”

Aeric tilted his head and smiled a thanks at Xii as she put a plate before him, some fish with rice and some sear-cooked vegetables. “You mentioned that term twice, Exquisite level. What’s that mean?”

Xii grinned, “People over level fifty, the kind of people you could send against an entire army and expect them to come back. The absolute best of the best. There’s perhaps two-hundred or so of them world-wide.”

“And you’re almost one of them?”

She cackled, “Only three levels left to go, although people do consider me semi-exquisite when I’m with my cohort. Those team members I mentioned.”

“Then you’ll be as strong as Ursmir?”

She snorted, shaking her head. “Definitely not, Ursmir is strong even among the Exquisites. He’s probably in the top twenty strongest people on the continent. Although most people call only the combat-oriented people Exquisites. The non-combat classes have a separate ranking: Crafters have Grandmasters, musicians and artists and the like are called Famous, and people who make inventions or focus on research are called Sages.”

“Do we have any of those in the city?”

Yisillia shook her head, “We’ve got a few more people that are close to fifty like Xii but none that are actually over it.”

Xii shrugged, “There’s that one rumoured assassin who made the city their home. But no one really knows if that’s true or not. It’s not like they advertise where they live, that’d be stupid.”

“Having such a high-level assassin in your city doesn’t bother you?”

Xii laughed, “I sometimes forget how much you don’t know about our customs. It’s somewhat of an unspoken rule that the red guild members don’t do their business in the city they live in. So having one of their highest level members living in our city is good for us. Means they won't be taking contracts against the city. I’m also pretty sure they work for or with Ursmir, one of his old party members maybe. I’m at least sure they’re on good terms, from what I managed to gather from Ali.”

Aeric shrugged, “Well it’s not like I have to worry about it.”

Yisillia and Xii eyed each other. Aeric’s shoulders slumped and he frowned at the pair, “That look was anything but reassuring.”

Xii tapped her fingers on the desk, “You have to realise how much you are worth Aeric. You’re on schedule to reach level forty in a year. That’s an insane rate of growth. If people knew they could get their hands on a craftsman of that skill and the fact that he is a world-walker with an entire library worth of ideas? There’d be a bounty for capture on your head within a week if it got out. You have us and the city to look out for you, but you need to be aware of that.”

Aeric rubbed his hands together, then scratched at his beard before slumping back into his chair. “Well at least they want me alive, so I have that going for me. Which is something?”

She snorted, “That sounded like a quote. I don’t mean to scare you, but I don’t want you ignorant of the danger either. You’re pretty safe, being connected to me and through a direct connection with Ursmir. Then there’s the fact that we live on the frontier so any information will take a bit longer to spread throughout the continent. Which will buy us time to prepare when the word does get out.”

Aeric sighed and leaned back in his chair before shaking himself, “Well there’s no use worrying about it now. I’ll think about what to do about kidnapping if it ever happens. I’ll just count on you guys to save my skinny ass if the time ever comes.”

Xii grinned, “I plan to just prevent it from ever happening. If it does happen then you’ll have a small army coming to rescue your fine ass. They won’t make it far, especially since most of the time you’re around the workshop anyway. Hard to kidnap someone who doesn’t get out much. So I guess there's a bright side to your workaholism.”

“I’ll count on you then.” He returned with a grin.

“That’s the spirit, now get downstairs and go and play with your mannequin. I’ll be down soon.”

“Aye aye boss.” Aeric shoved the last of the breakfast into his mouth and headed down the stairs, Yisillia following behind.

Aeric sat down at his bench waving a brief goodbye to Yi as she left the store and headed to the hospital. A couple of minutes passed which Aeric spent performing maintenance on his tools. Xii stalked downstairs with Hurma and Lshrkr in tow, they nodded their heads in greeting and took their own spots. Hurma stepped beside him and Aeric continued where he had left off, explaining what patterns were needed and how they worked for a suit.

A bell tingled as someone entered the store, Aeric raised an eyebrow. It was rather early for a customer and Treeka wasn’t even out yet. Lshrkr stood up and headed to the storefront so he ignored it and continued his lesson. He looked up as a minute later Lshrkr walked back in with what couldn’t be anything other than a drow. Aeric blinked and raised a questioning eyebrow at Lshrkr.

“This customer is here to request a custom piece.”

Aeric nodded and stood up, walking towards the drow and extending his hand. “Hey, I’m Aeric and I’m the one that does the custom work. Something I can help you with?”

The drow had midnight black skin, his hair was a snowy white and fell in thick wavy locks over his shoulders. His face was sharp but handsome, his eyes a ruby red framed by ivory eyebrows. The face was slack with a lack of emotions and the eyes were dead despite their lively colour. He was wearing clothes that would blend in anywhere and even his height didn’t stand out much. The man grabbed Aeric’s hand and shook it.

“Greetings. I am here to request clothing.”

Aeric nodded, noting that the man didn’t give his name in return. “What kind of clothing are you looking for - something work-related? Something fashionable?”

The man tilted his head and stared Aeric in the eyes, his face devoid of expression. Aeric felt the hair on his arms rise and he felt decidedly unarmed. He blinked and remembered that Xii was in the room with him should things take a turn for the worse. The man opened his mouth, showcasing that his teeth were sharp. Though luckily not as much as Xii’s dentistry.

“I require clothing that doesn’t get stained by blood. I get splashed with a rather decent amount and wearing an apron or a similar piece to prevent splash is an annoyance. I’d say the clothing is work-related and I have no real requirements in regards to fashion.” The man’s voice was as bereft of emotion or inflection as his face.

The smile on Aeric’s face became strained, but he kept his customer smile on and gestured for the man to approach the workbench. “I will need to take some measurements if you don’t mind.”

“Acceptable.”

Aeric nodded, “If you could remove your clothing.”

The man untied his shirt and pulled it over his head. Aeric almost had a heart attack when he noticed the arsenal of knives held in various sheaths tied across the man’s body. He tensed and he could hear movement from Lshrkr and Hurma. Xii’s voice stopped them. “Relax, those aren’t knives for killing, they’re for carving.”

Aeric shot a look at Xii, clearly asking her to elaborate. “Unless I’m mistaken, the guy is a butcher. More accurately he works with monster parts. See that really thin knife? It’s for getting between scales, then that hook-like thing is used to remove beast eyes. He probably carries them under his shirt because wearing these things in public is bound to get the guards called on him.”

The man nodded, “An accurate statement.”

Aeric relaxed and moved to get the measuring tape. “I can see why you’d get arrested with all that stuff. It looks like you have an entire torturer’s arsenal in there. My mind went to dark places the moment I saw them.”

The man nodded again, answering in his monotone voice. “I have been arrested on the street a few times before. It is a hassle. When my clothes are covered in blood it gets even worse. My appearance often causes people to think the worst of me. If you could create something that would prevent that from happening I would be grateful.”

Aeric smiled, more at ease now. “I’ll do my best. I’ll make something that can comfortably hide your work kit while being resistant, or even completely immune to blood splatter. I’ll think of something that could even work as business clothing. Something that makes you more presentable and less intimidating?”

“I prefer black.”

“Black I can do!” Aeric took another deep breath as his hammering heart slowed down. Talking about assassins and kidnappers and then having a drow with an array of blades tied to his body appearing out of nowhere? That was asking for him to collapse into an early grave.

Aeric stepped next to the man and measured his sizes, then stepped back and tapped his chin. He honestly didn’t think that creating something elaborate would suit the man's needs. Aeric cocked his head and shrugged. “What do you think about something like this, I could make it all black if you prefer. It’s classy and would probably be able to make your customers feel more at ease when requesting your services. It should also stop you from being hassled by the guards or the people on the street.”

He grabbed one of the suits he had made to showcase in the shop, this one was a more standard marine blue, with a white blouse and marine blue slacks and tie. “I could of course make everything black.”

The man looked the suit up and down, quiet for a moment before nodding. “That would be adequate. Are there any added features I should know about?”

Aeric nodded, “All my clothing comes with minor self-repair, so any small cuts or tears you get in the line of work will fix themselves as long as not too much material was lost. You could always buy additional material and hold it to the damaged area and it will be incorporated into the suit. I’d advise dropping by if the damage was that severe however so I can make sure it’s fixed properly.”

“This would cost an additional fee?”

Aeric shrugged, “Not much, I mostly pride myself on making clothing that lasts. So you’d only need to come here for something that would absolutely ruin any normal set of clothing.”

“Acceptable, what would the price range be of such clothing?”

Aeric tapped his chin, “This piece wouldn’t be too complicated or require that much additional work. I’ll use some uncommon materials at best so I’d expect it to be priced at a gold or four?”

“Acceptable. Do you need anything else from me?”

“Nope, you can come back in two days and I’ll be done. If you have any further questions or requests feel free to drop by.”

“Agreed. Good day.”

“A good day to you as well sir.”

The drow bowed politely and left the store, Aeric sagged in his chair and rested his head against the headrest. “That scared the ever-living daylight out of me.”

Xii chuckled, “The guy had quite the demeanour to him, add that to the knives. I can see why he gets himself arrested. With blood on his clothing as well? He’s lucky he didn't get himself killed.”

Hurma released her grip on the workbench which had splintered slightly. She absentmindedly rubbed the splinters from her skin, it having been too thick for the pieces of wood to pierce. “I almost threw the desk at him, I could have killed the poor guy.”

“Remember to not judge a book by its cover, kids.”

Hurma snorted, “If the book is covered in blood you can’t blame me. You haven’t met him in your work though?”

Xii shook her head, “Not personally, I have seen him around though. You know me, I can do my own butchering and material gathering myself thank you very much.”

Aeric patted her shoulder, “We know you're competent, we eat your food every day. I’ve seen you butchering meat like that.” He snapped his fingers. “Do you know what his business is called by the way?”

Xii tilted her head, “I can ask around, why do you wanna know?”

“Well If I can add some stitching in silver to embroider the name of his business on his chest or something. It should help with his problems right? A work suit could use something like that, if it’s gonna be a monochrome suit. A little bit like that will help him stand out and bring some more business to his door.”

“Sounds like a good idea, I know a few people who’ve done business with the guy. I’ll ask em. I guess you’ll be working on that suit for the rest of the day?”

Aeric nodded, “It’s also a good opportunity to teach Hurma at the same time, can’t let her do the work on the custom piece but she can make a similar one at the same time. One with a bit more colour.”

Hurma nodded as she eyed the patterns on her bench, “Did you think of what to do with the blood splatter yet?”

“I’ll probably just head to Maddick’s and see if he has any materials that reject blood. Or maybe even absorb it. As long as it doesn’t show on the clothing it’d fulfil the request.”

Xii stretched and grabbed her needle. “Well, go ahead and do that. We’ll hold the fort.”