Day Thirty-Four, Dusk

"Wow, a baby," Amerella exclaimed, setting another meat pie in front of Eve. "How is Markium taking it?"

"Better than I thought," Eve answered, digging into the pie. With a full mouth, she exclaimed, "Dear god's! I don't know what kind of meat is in here and I don't care, I love it!" She continued to stuff her face with the savory meal as Amerella talked.

"Where is Markium anyway? He left in such a hurry this afternoon."

"He is in town," Chim answered, allowing Eve to eat. "He wanted to pick up some things for back at the cottage before they left tomorrow and wanted her to relax."

"Wow, that was a long winded answer," Amerella joked. "I never even saw your lips move, Eve."

"Har har," Eve mocked, her mouth dripping with meat and gravy. "You know, I'm supposed to be eating."

"Yeah, eating, not spraying my bar with Lav's pies." She wiped the crumbs and drippings off.

Eve swallowed hard and hollored to the kitchen, "Best damned pie I've ever had!"

Two clanging noises came from the kitchen, Lav's way of thanking her.

Amerella laughed, "I will make sure to pack some for you to take home. Is there anything else you will need, sweetie?"

"Amerella, you are a saint among... well."

"I'm a prostitute, Eve, just say it."

"A professional."

"I like that, makes me feel good. Professional, nice."

Markium came into the tavern, beaming and ran over to Eve and Amerella. "Guess what I found," he sang, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

Eve shoveled a forkful of meat pie into his mouth, saying, "Someone to make me this every damn day?"

"Mmmmh! What kind of meat is this?" he asked.

"No, don't say," Eve yelled. "I can't eat it if I knew it was something cute."

"You've eaten rabbit."

"What's your news, big mouth?" She giggled, eating more pie.

"I bought a cart, horse, chicken feed and some seeds from a farmer, a scroll to learn woodworking, and Armand told me that he'd give you a discount on any more fabric or magic scrolls."

"Looks like Armand is still sweet on you," Amerella laughed, setting our another meat pie and ale for Markium. "Keep an eye on this one, Markium, you got competition."

"Well, this little lady is mine," he joked, pulling her close and planting a kiss on her hair.

Chim and Amerella laughed at Eve's annoyed look and went back to her pie.

"A horse and cart? How'd you swing those?" she asked between bites.

"Negotiating and..." He lifted his ale and took a deep drink. "I may have traded some of the poorer dresses you made to the farmers wife and daughter. They even asked if you would make them a few more and they'd pay in any way."

"Which ones did you give them?" She looked over concerned.

"The green ones that you said had 'choppy stitching' or whatever."

"I wanted to fix those," she whined and stabbed into his pie.

"Wait, you make dresses?" Amerella asked.

"Yeah, she made the one she's wearing." Markium pat her thigh softly and wiped crumbs off her dress.

"You think you could make some new dresses for me and my girls? Some are looking a little... Some can stand up on their own."

A prompt appeared looking like a sewing patch with needle and thread stuck through it.

You have been given the quest:

Dress the Mess

Amerella has asked you to make new dresses for the working girls of the Tavern

Reward: Increased relationship with Amerella

50 experience points per dress

Do you accept? Yes or No

"Oh, um, sure, I can do that," she answered, looking around at the five girls in dingey, faded, tattered dresses. "But why? They're just gonna get messed up again."

"New look for the girls might boost their moral."

"Uh, sure, I'll try to bring some in before next week."

Amerella smiled and hollored into the kitchen to Lav to make extra pies for Eve and Markium.