"Ash, Cael, I'm gonna go get a room for the night," Briar proclaimed, "You two can handle the supplies, right?"
"Of course you can," Cael put his hand over Briar's shoulder, "Hey, if you were to trust anyone with all of our money, it'd be me, right?" Cael took the small bag attached to Briar's belt that held all their money.
"Hand it over," Ash said, suddenly appearing right next to Cael. "I don't trust you and your track record with all of our money."
"Fine, but I get to buy parts for my arrows." Cael pouted.
Briar went on to find an inn, while Cael and Ash entered the unfamiliar market. There were many unfamiliar sights and smells in the market, bright fruits that neither of them had seen from Valcôte, and many varieties of flowers native to the region.
"We need bread for our packs, more milk for Briar, and a restock on all our other supplies," Ash commented. "Hey, are you listening?" She glanced over to see Cael excited over little gadgets in one of the stalls, "Cael, we have things to do, can you focus for a minute?"
"Just go on ahead, I'm gonna buy some arrow parts," Cael said. Ash sighed, then continued shopping. The streets were filled with merchants, and all of the people from the surrounding farms were buying supplies too. She quickly found all of the supplies that the party needed and returned to the square, waiting for Cael. Minutes later, Cael entered the plaza.
"What took you so long?" Ash wondered.
"Oh, nothing, I was just making sure they had the right arrow parts, y'know," Cael said suspiciously. Ash noticed one of his hands was behind his back as if hiding something from her.
"So if I walk behind you, it won't be a problem, right?" She pushed. Cael turned to face her perfectly head-on with her, dodging her attempts to grab his arm.
"Okay, okay, I'll stop." Cael pulled his hand from behind his back to reveal a single, red apple.
"I know you like apples, and they're in season right now, so I went looking for them," He admitted. "I thought I could get you something in return for the, uh…" He coughed, "Incident that happened a few days ago."
"What am I gonna do with you..." Ash grabbed the apple from his hand and gave an exaggerated sigh, "Now get a move on, you, we don't have all day." She playfully shoved Cael into the road.
As soon as Cael turned his back, her face flushed a bright red, a stark change from her normal tough-looking expression. She ran her thumb along the apple before she took a bite of her favorite fruit. It was wonderful.
They made their way to the inn that Briar was originally walking to. Briar sat by the entrance to the inn, sketching one of the flower pots that stood next to the door. Briar noticed Ash and Cael walking up.
"So… I forgot that I didn't have the wallet, but this inn's only 2 silver a night!" Briar exclaimed.
"Umm… About that…" Cael looked nervous and fidgeted with their hands, "We may or may not be out of money." Ash and Briar were shocked.
"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you with the money!" Ash scoffed, "What do we do now?"
There was an air of worry that surrounded the party. Cael let the awkward silence simmer for a while before interjecting, "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Cael reached into their vest pocket and whipped out a pamphlet that said 'Adventurers wanted, 5 gold reward'
"5 gold!?" Briar exclaimed, "That would pay for all of our travel up to the capital!" Briar examined the fine print of the pamphlet, snatching it out of Cael's hand.
'The esteemed Vintner family of Sonnhalde is in desperate need of skilled adventurers to investigate a series of strange occurrences in their wine cellar. Only the bravest adventurers should consider taking this job on.' It read.
"And, since I was the first one to grab it, we're guaranteed to get the job!" Cael put his hands in the air triumphantly, as if he had won an award.
Ash sighed. "You really need to stop surprising us like this, Cael."