Shades of Violet

Chapter 2: The Guildmaster

Caelus Darter

Four orders. Four orders short. 

"You are one cranky winged guy today," Eirlys squeaked beside me. "Why are you staring at the board like that?" 

I shook my head. "We've gotten four orders less than last month. And three less the month before. It's going to show on our profits soon." 

"That must stink," she remarked, flipping through the papers in the brown file she held. "Let me see which companies have reduced or stopped their orders." 

"You do that, and also check if we're stocked up on pearl weed." 

"Aye aye, captain!" Eirlys cheered and went back to scribbling into her little notepad, balancing a clipboard in one arm. 

I looked over at her clipboard, watching as she flipped through pages, underlining words, checking boxes and scoring out completed tasks. Her ears twitched a little, as it does when she's focused. 

"Did you have breakfast?" I prompted, not really wanting to end the conversation.

"Yep, had some berries," she replied, looking up at me and smiling. "How about you?" 

"Nuria made some pancakes today, they were delicious." 

Eirlys let out a small yelp. "Nuria made pancakes and you didn't invite me? How could you!" 

I let out a laugh, holding my hands up in surrender. "In my defense- " 

"You have none." 

"In my defense," I pressed on, amused at her reaction. "I wanted to spend some time with my wife." 

"Fair," the fox-hybrid replied, her face breaking into a wide grin. "I love it when you call her your wife." 

"You're obsessed," I scoffed light-heartedly, scratching her ears. "But it's okay. You haven't been exposed to loving people before Aldenward, but now you are. You deserve it." 

"I'm just happy you found the one for you. You deserve it too."

I smiled at that, my heart doing a little flip thinking of Nuria. 

"You're inviting me the next time, though." 

"Deal." 

Eirlys put her clipboard down and pulled me into a hug, wrapping her tail around me. "I missed you, you know. The treehouse was so empty without you. 

I chuckled at that, rubbing her back gently. "I missed you too. It's always a boring day when my sister isn't around." 

The fox-hybrid squeaked happily. "We should go on a quest together soon, It has been a while." 

"Absolutely. We'll get the whole gang." 

"Awesome!" 

----

I walked out of the bar, in need of a good stretch. Last week's quest had tired me out. - I had to lead a few guildmates to the Eastern Depths, to extract a special kind of pebble. We had to collect three sacks of those, and dodging the nasty little sea creatures was not an easy job.