#baronyofthesilverwolf

"You aiming those spoons for Miss Marigold?" He asks, curious.

She nods. "I want to give her something nice."

"Hrm." He nods, and a few more dollars are knocked off the price.

"I'll throw in the mineral oil as well."

He adds a small bottle to the counter.

"How about your ma? She cook? I got some nice salad bowls, cutting boards, this here is a wooden lettuce knife..."

"How much for those constellation animals?"

"Now see here, Skippy the elf already has his eyes on those, I won't be selling out from under another customer." He starts, and then considers - his boggan 'dar taking a read of Thistle/Art relationship.

"Skippy", meanwhile, is paging through a catalog and doesn't overhear.

"Listen... you quote him something under twenty, and I give you the difference?"

"He's wearing that outfit to earn some cash, y'know?"

Thistle might not be aware of exactly how she feels about Art - protective, yes. She'll admit to that part!

The rest of it is.. well, young. And earnest. And confused.

A sniff, and he grumbles. "$15 for the puzzle set, and you keep your money. It's never a mad idea to be on the good side of a noble, even a scrawny fledge like that." He says, covering his charity with bluster.

"Thanks."

"You ever do any work in wood, girl?"

She shakes her head. "Haven't."

"You have a hankering to try it out, you come by my shop. Always busy work for apprentices."

"I couldn't do this."

"What, too good for honest wood? Gotta have flim flams and circuitry? Need your cutting board to have 5G reception?"

"That's not.. no! These are just... they're nice..."

"And?" He asks, not ungently.

"I'd botch'em up."

"Of course you would." He snorts. "Ain't never been an apprentice worth her salt who didn't ruin a dozen fine pieces before churning out something worth even grading. You don't just WAKE UP good."

She seems flummoxed.

"Here's my card. Come by - NOT now, sometime after Yule. We'll see what you can do." He slips the card into the package, and rings them out.

"You really should charge more." Art says, cluelessly. "Your work is really good."

"Yeah. 'Wain's gonna love those, Art."

"You know though, I was looking at that lamp over there, the one that does the pinpoint lights? And you have Arcturus where Polaris should be. You see, the two are transposed, and you can tell because of the juxtiposition..."

Adler rolls his eyes. "I'll be sure to tell Zelda to fix it. Off with ye now, you'll miss the tree lighting." When did the sun set??

Well, there's still a bit of light in the sky.

A smile. "C'mon, Art." She takes his hand to tug him away before he can star again.

He grins and goes along. "Maybe I can find a book at the library to go along with the blocks... or heck, I bet I could make one, with paper and a protractor, and a ruler.

Adler watches them go, and smiles to himself. Then back to work, a boggan's work is never done.

"Sure! And you could go out past town where the sky is good, and show him."

"Right! We can all go. A nighttime picnic!"

"That could be fun."

Meanwhile....

Amy is staring up at the sky as the sun sets. "It's amazing how many stars you can see out here."

Nick chuckles, "Well, the light blocks a lot of them."

"Not compared to New York City. The city that never sleeps, but you can just about make out the moon. I wonder if the moon is lonely, up in the sky alone there." Amy says.

"Is it the moon that's really lonely?" Nick asks... "What do you mean?" Amy responds. "Oh, nothing. Pass me that tinsel, Joe?"

Cocoa is acquired, and Thistle passes one to Art as they cluster in for the tree lighting!

"Sure... you know, we may have too many stars o hanndle on our own. Amy should manage a few" Joe smile as he passes it over