“You need to become a better liar.”

I realized he was speaking elvish now and I wanted to hit myself. I was too comfortable to notice. His hand came off my shoulder and he picked up a box.

“Don’t be too stressed about it, there’s just a lot of people here that are more observant than what you might be used to. As long as you don’t spend too much time here it shouldn’t be an issue so don’t worry about it. Now watch the stuff while I carry it over.”

I nodded and sat on a box putting Mezu in my lap to fiddle with his hair.

He had explained a bit of how he did business on our way over as a way to fill up the gaps of silence.

He was acquainted with a smither in Manthia and was lent a corner of his store every time he came out. The smither would get a percentage of the sales and he’d stay until they were all sold out. This smith was run by a dwarf so the fact that there were even elven swords for sale gathered attention and they would sell out pretty quickly. Honestly, I don’t think I could think of anything weirder than a dwarf and an elf going into business together, and in smithing no less.

I assumed he’d buy me a sword from that stock.

“He’s not wrong, you either need to get better at lying or just never get comfortable enough to fuck up.”

Alcoroth’s insult was a bit tame in comparison to what I heard during training.

“We’ll be gone soon enough. I don’t think his knowing what languages I speak will create any trouble in the small time we’ll be here. As long as that woman respects Lykor enough not to look into me we should be fine.”

“You should have pushed him more to find out about that story. There was definitely something there about your past.”

“My past is of no urgent importance.”

“You aren’t in the slightest bit curious about why our arrangement even works?”

“I am, but honestly I don’t care too much about it. What would knowing even do? If it's something I need to hide I already do that to the best of my ability. What would knowing about it change?”

Mezu leaned back looking up at me and flashing a cute smile. I sighed, smiling back at him and hugging him tightly. What was it about that smile that just screamed cuteness? It was enough to distract me a bit from my heritage, but I couldn’t lie, that blank spot in the information page that Alcoroth had shown me had me worried.

At the end of the day, knowing the truth and accidentally letting others know would probably put me at risk. And as Lykor pointed out, I’m not the best at lying. It was probably better for me to just focus on climbing the tower and nothing else.

It didn’t take long for Lykor to take all the boxes to the store and I helped him with the last one.

“My friend is busy in the front of the store,” Lykor said as we entered the back door, “I’ll introduce you to him once the customers leave. We can pick a sword out for you then.”

“Alright.”

It had been a while since I had been around dwarves and I was a bit nervous. I really didn’t want anything to remind me of my uncle. Thinking about the past was always troublesome and it would tend to fill my head for longer than I’d like.

I put the box down where I saw the rest of them, and Mezu wandered the room checking out various things. Luckily with this being a storage room, there was plenty to get his attention, so I didn’t need to do much.

“I don’t know whether or not I should be impressed that you’re so fluent in elvish that you didn’t register that he switched languages. Or should I be relieved that we’ll soon be in the tower and your in ability to lie probably won’t be much of a problem from now on.”

There it was, that was the sort of response I was expecting from him.

“Yeah, well once I get the sword and buy some food, we’ll be on our way out of this place.”

“Buy food? With what money?”

How could I forget about that right away yet again?

I sighed heavily.

Lykor came back into the room this time with a dwarf. Luckily, he didn’t look at all familiar. His hair and beard were curly and a warm brown color, with bits that were burned and covered with soot.

“So this is the kid you were talking about huh?”

“Quartz this is Findoic. He closed the store for a bit so let's get you that sword.”

Findoic came up to me close and looked me up and down. I was used to that glance and just watched him.

“I know you wanted to double check, but my assessment wasn’t wrong.” Lykor said.

“He’ll be getting one of my swords. Of course I have to do the evaluation myself. It would be such a waste to give him a good one if I don’t pick it for him myself.”

He left my side and went into a barrel in the corner. He fished around grabbing a couple of wooden practice swords.

“Let's go out back I want to see you swing a sword for a bit.”

Mezu cheered, running over to the door and opening it.

“What’s with the little brat?”

“Ah don’t mind him, he’s just excited. He thinks swords are much cooler than my fists.”

I glanced out the door before following him. I had completely missed it, ugh I really needed to train my observation skills. The yard had multiple straw dummies lined up and in the back corner was a forge with a small covering for the work area.

“Alright brat let's do this.”

I took one of the swords he held. Its weight was a bit awkward for me and Findoic took it from me almost instantly. I grinned; the eye of a dwarf blacksmith was really something.

He passed me another one that felt a bit better. I took a few swings but Findoic just passed me a couple more. After going through them he sighed.

“I hate it when you’re right.”

Lykor laughed, clapping his friend on the back.

“I know you do, but would we be friends if you didn’t think I had some skill?’

Findoic laughed as well, “You’re not wrong. Alright brat I’ll go get your sword.”

He turned and went back into the building.

“Thanks again Lykor.”

“This is thanks for helping the village out, I told you. Don’t think too much about it alright?”

I smiled slightly. He was treating me nicer than I’d expect from a complete stranger. Maybe Alcoroth was right, he knows something about my past. But I wasn’t that interested in it still.

Findoic came back quickly and passed me a sword.

“Alright here you go, why don’t you give it a swing?”

I took it and pulled it from its sheath. It felt great in my hand, the weight alone felt right. After a few swings, I felt so much lighter with my movements. I knew dwarves were good, but this was a bit beyond my expectations. Uncle just sent me off with a couple of daggers, it’s not that I didn’t appreciate it, but they weren’t meant for me specifically. They were a short-term answer to my problem.

“Alright I’ve done my bit now, I’m gonna head back to the store. Take care of it properly, brat.”

He turned walking back to his store.

“I will, thanks for picking it out.”

He waved dismissively, closing the door behind him. I put it away, strapping it to my hip.

“So I guess this is it huh?”

“Yeah, well I need to get back and well at least out of this place before your friend gets any more curious about me.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

He laughed a little bit and glanced around.

“It looks like he wants to say something,” Alcoroth said.

Really?

I looked at him again, and he looked more like he had to pee than wanted to say something.

“Take care of yourself okay?”

“Sure.”

Alcoroth sighed annoyed. “If he wanted to say something, he just should’ve. What’s with that cheap cop out?”

Mezu ran over to me and jumped onto my back. I supported him a bit with a hand and pushed him up till he climbed onto my shoulders.

“Bye then”

I waved back at him and headed out of the backyard.