Elica stood, diligently attending the vat, large wooden paddle in hand. She closely observed as the wool made its way to the desired yellow, occasional stirring and prodding the cotton to attain an even colour.

“Elica, may I have a word?”

Elica turned quickly towards the voice. An old, gray man stood in the doorway that led deeper into the workshop, watching her with a sharp eye.

“Hello master,” she answered. “Is there something wrong,” she asked, throwing a glance towards Frie as he came up beside her, a puzzled look on his face.

“Nothing’s the matter, I would just like to have a word with you is all,” he said, motioning back towards the direction he had come from.

“Of course, that’s fine,” she replied, handing her paddle to Frie as she climbed down from the platform around the vat.

“This way then,” he said as he turned and walked back towards the door. “I trust you’ll be fine by yourself Frie?”

“Of course,” he called back as Elica made her way after the old man.

Elica scanned around her as they walked through the deeper parts of the dyery. They worked mainly with linen and cotton here, and her father should have been among the workers that milled around. She scanned the floor for him, unable to find him.

“Is my father not here,” she asked as they walked.

“I can hear the concern in your voice. Don’t worry, he was sent off just a bit ago, but there isn’t any problem that you need to worry about.”

“If you say so,” she replied, falling silent again as she followed, her mind flying through different reasons as to why he would have to leave.

Finally, they came to a largely separated part of the dyery at the far end of the workshop. “Have you ever been to this section before,” the master asked as the entered.

“I don’t believe so,” she said as she peered around the room. “It doesn’t look much different than where Frie and I work,” she remarked, noting the area’s small scale that stood in stark contrast to the much larger operations in the main body workshop.

“That’s right,” he chuckled. “This is where a select few and I work with the special silk orders.”

“Really,” she exclaimed, her mind being pulled from its thoughts. “Do I get to watch you work with it today?”

The old man chuckled to himself. “I’m glad you’re excited, but I’m not going to begin work on the silk I got this morning until later.”

“Then what did you want to talk to me about?”

The man's brow furrowed, clearly trying to think of how to word what he had to say. “Have you ever thought of getting married,” he asked finally.

“Excuse me? What are you getting at? You don’t have a son do you,” she asked, peering at him accusingly ready to decline a proposal.

“No, I don’t have any family eligible to marry you,” he said with another chuckle. “But the question is still yet to be answered.”

“Well, I suppose if it were possible, I would get married,” she replied in a more despondent tone.

“My dear,” the man said, his demeanor changing to a more grandfatherly state as he approached and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. “There is someone for everyone, there is no reason to fret. You have plenty of time to find them.”

“Thank you,” Elica shortly stuttered out, unable to correct him on her meaning as he stepped back again.

“Speaking of marriage,” he continued. “Have you heard that Valafar will be getting married soon?”

“Valafar,” she questioned, the name sounding vaguely familiar.

“Yes, the young lord Valafar, lord Rene’s heir to the Treue household, you haven’t heard of him?”

“Now that I think of it, I’m pretty sure somebody this morning brought him up…”

“So you weren’t aware that he has recently came back to the town for his wedding?”

“Well, no, how would I have known?”

“Well, never mind that, though it is a shame you didn’t know.”

“It’s fine, it isn’t that uncommon for the average person to be behind on the news of the nobility after all.”

“Yes, I suppose that’s true,” the man said after a moment, silently looking towards the ground. “Anyway, you need to get going now.”

“What do you mean? Where am I supposed to get going to?”

“Home, is what I mean. It’s where I sent your father off to as well, so he should be waiting for you there.”

“What’s the reason though? I still need to help Frie here.”

“Don’t worry about him, he’ll be fine by himself. As for the reason, I’m not sure if I’m the right person to be telling you; hurry up now, you don’t want to keep others waiting.”

“Okay then, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said as she turned towards the door.

“I’ll see you then, I suppose,” he called out after a moment.