Ambrose and Gro-Lag gave a final huff as they lifted the second deer carcass onto Arlon's cart.

  "I think we need to priorities cutting a path closer to camp." Gro-Lag said, though heavy breaths.

  Ambrose; also trying to get his breath back, nodded.

  "Right, I should be back tomorrow evening. Same as normal Gro-Lag, you're the lord till I get back."

  They both looked at each other as the strange sensation that happened every time Ambrose had left him in charge ran through them.

  "I hope that stops, or we get used to it, otherwise, it's gonna get really annoying." Ambrose said, with a half smile.

  With that, he and Arlon got on the cart and began to make their way towards the village. Ambrose gave a wave as they departed, which was returned by Gro-Lag and a sad looking little girl standing by his side.

  Despite everything that had happened so for that day the afternoon was still young. The sun was almost directly overhead as they casually made their way down the rough dirt path. While Arlon was a half dwarf her cart; due to its need to carry animals, was actually a size where it was comfortable for Ambrose to ride in.

  Just as how he was appreciating that fact, they drove over a rock and as the cart bounced suddenly, a shock of pain shot through his lower chest.

  "Sorry." Said Arlon, with a small laugh. "I don't actually take this thing out much."

  Ambrose thought of several witty responses to her comment, but the stabbing from his ribs was cutting off any breaths he would need to speak them.

  "Ambrose? Ambrose are you ok?"

  He raised his head and looked at Arlon, her face creased in concern.

  He nodded and let out a long breath. "Yeah, forgot my ribs my still might be a bit broken."

  "Why are you ribs broken!?" Arlon said, emphatically.

  Ambrose thought about how to explain. Gro-Lag is gifted at rune crafting? We are simply too good at cutting down trees?

  The prospect answers actually elicited a laugh from him, which only served to shoot more pain into his ribs.

  "It's a complicated, but funny situation." He said, sucking in air. "It hadn't played up much since it happened, so I had hoped my pitiful healing magic had done enough." He shifted into a position where he felt less like he was being stabbed from the inside. "Guess I was wrong."

  "Do you need to head back?" Arlon asked. "I don't mind."

  Ambrose did believe her, but felt he could sense a tinge of disappointment in her comment. "No, it's fine, I am going to see about getting my tooth fixed, probably best if I get this looked at as well." Will just have to make sure to pay Gro-Lag back for any extra costs though. He thought.

  The rest of the journey fell into one of relaxed silence, mostly only broke by Arlon greeting traders and hunters she knew, who they passed on the road.

  "You seem quite popular?" Ambrose asked, after the sixth time she had recognised a passerby.

  "I get a lot of guild work from hunters who bring in there kills, plus being the cheaper of the tanners in town means I tend to get a lot of the individual hunters as opposed to large guild groups"

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  "Not to mention you other services." Ambrose added, under his breath.

  Arlon side eyed him. "I hope it's still understood that is something that shouldn't be openly discussed."

  He gave her a wry smile. "Of course, I was just wondering how you managed to offer that service considering its need for secrecy?"

  The half-Dwarf was silent for a moment, before looking around to check there was no one in ear shot of them. "I usually just say that I can facilitate having their skins tanned for them, as do a lot of skinners, I just don't mention that I'm the one who is doing it."

  "And the tanners guild hasn't caught wind of it?"

  "Every skinner in the city has a tanner who works with them, and there are many skinners, I guess being one of the smaller ones has just let me slip under their watchful eye."

  Ambrose knew that while the guilds where very supportive of their members, their rules were absolute. If your job was making stone blocks lighter for the builder’s guild and you get caught heating up furnaces for the metal workers for some coin on the side, if you're lucky they will just kick you out.

  "Is it really worth the risk?" He asked.

  Arlon considered his question for a moment, furrowing her brow in thought. "My pa used to tell me that a dwarf should always be as independent as possible. While he was mainly a chitin molder, he would also hunt the cave crawlers, process them and even prepare and eat or sell their meat." A sad but wistful look settled on her face. "I can hunt, I can skin, I can tan, by the stones I can even sew well enough to make clothes or bags. Having to follow all the rules the guilds force on us, it just makes me feel so..."

  "Trapped?" Ambrose finished.

  "Dependent." She corrected.

  He sat back and took in her words. He had wanted nothing more than to be a part of a guild, to have a name, to be part of something where he could feel he belonged. As he continued to mull over what she had said, Arlon posed a question of her own.

  "Do you think I am being reckless?"

  The question caught him a bit of guard. "Does what I think matter?"

  Arlon was the one to be caught off guard now. She looked at him genuinely confused. "Why wouldn't it?"

  Ambrose opened his mouth to answer, faltered as he realised, he wasn't sure what to say, and then noticed a group of people approaching them coming down the path from the city. He gestured in their general direction, which Arlon nodded in acknowledgment of and the topic was dropped.

  Once they had arrived in the city, Ambrose helped his traveling companion unload the two deer into her shop and onto a table.

  "Well at least this time the thing isn't half rancid." She said, taking a cloth from the side and wiping her hands.

  "Yeah, actually draining the damn thing helps that." Ambrose replied. He lent his head out the door and look at the position of the sun in the sky. "The days getting on, I should make a start on my errands."

  Arlon looked mildly disappointed. "But you will be back?"

  "Of course. Not gonna turn down a night in an actual bed. Haven't slept in one of those since the orphanage."

  She gave a look for a moment that Ambrose couldn’t read before smiling. "Well, get back for about sun set and I will have dinner ready."

  They bid each other adieu and parted ways.

  Ambrose had a few choices of where he could head first. Arlon’s tanner shop was tucked away just off an entrance to one of the back streets of the city, a fact that had alluded him on his first visit. He had mostly chosen the shop as it was the one he had seen the most and so came to mind the quickest, and while he felt bad to admit it, it also looked like it might be cheaper than most.

  How lucky was I. He though. That familiarity and judgmental opinion had meant that he had gain some invaluable skills and a business partner.

  Is that all she is, a business partner?

  Before he could continue to ponder that question, a sharp shock of pain in his jaw decided for him what his first destination should be.

  He let out a sigh. This wasn't the first time he had suffered from a tooth-ache. During his time at the orphanage he had broken a tooth when he had accidently bitten down on a bone when eating some stew. The pain had been blinding and his screams had panicked the staff and the other children. Luckily the city had provided a dentist that visited regularly. Tyrus had rushed out as fast as he could and fetched them. While the agony from the break had been nearly unbearable, what the dentists had needed to do to 'fix' the tooth had felt much worse. This had given him a lifelong resentment for dentists, hence why even when there had been a chance for him to visit a dentist when his tooth started to hurt, he had convinced himself his healing magic would eventually suffice. Now though, he knew he couldn't wait any longer.

  He did have one last distraction he felt he could justify before having to face his fear. The path that led to the dentists that Ambrose felt he could afford, involved passing quite close to Reabeck's shop.