After they had spoken, Ambrose thought that Shigrock may be able to use the rest of the time he and Reabeck were planning to stay on his land making a table, maybe even start on a chair. So, when he had made his way to dinner on the third and last day the dwarves were staying and he had presented a table, two chairs and a bed frame he had built, to say he surprised would be an understatement.

  "Honestly Shigrock, you have seriously missed a calling." He said, as he looked at the furniture.

  The dwarf waved away the compliment. "Once you have done it once it's easy to do again."

  Ambrose had spent the rest of the day working with Trelen and Reabeck, taking the tiles from the centre outwards of the circle they had made and firing them. Once they had fired a good amount, they split up. He and Trelen started placing the tiles onto the frame they had built for the roof, using small amounts of clay to secure them in place. This process they found to have a bit of a learning curve, one that lead to more than a few tiles sliding off the roof and cracking. It was only when Rea came over since she wanted to let a few tiles dry a bit longer before she fired them, that she explained the process of laying them in such a way that they stopped losing so many.

  Out of about a hundred tiles, by the end of the day they had covered the whole roof and had only used just over eighty, though with the breakages they only had five spare.

  Ros cut a chunk of venison of the spit that it was bubbling on. "You have all done so well today." She said, placing the piece on to Shigrock's plate.

  "That we have." The dwarf agreed. He stood and raised his cup. "We should all be very proud of ourselves; you have all shown yourself to be hardworking and well deserving of what you have built here." He tuned to Ambrose and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Ambrose, you are clearly a born leader. You have managed to bring together this group in a way I imagine few could."

  "Hear hear" Gro-lag said raising his own cup.

  "You have shown you self be a man who is adaptable, who puts his comrades before himself, a man who always make sure all around him get their fair share." He placed his hand on Reabeck shoulder. "A man who I would be proud to marry my daughter."

  There was a moment before what the older dwarf had said seemed to actually sink in. When it did, the younger dwarf coughed as she choked on the food she had been eating. Ambrose's face shifted from one of mild embarrassment at the compliments he had been receiving, to one a wide-eyed shock. Not to dissimilar to the one Gro-lag’s had also formed into. Ros and Trelen simply looked at each other and try to hide amused grins and giggles.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  "Da!" Reabeck finally managed to say as she stopped coughing. "You can't just marry me off!"

  Shigrock looked at his daughter and scowled. "And why not, that’s how me and your ma got together?"

  "It's was!?" His daughter, asked in shock.

  "Plus, the lad clearly has a thing for dwarf women."

  "What?" Ambrose almost barked.

  "Well, he does have a point there." Ros said, into her cup.

  "What?" He barked again.

  "He is also a lord, you ain't gonna do much better than that."

  Reabeck stood and got her face very close to her fathers. "Da, me and Ambrose are just business parters and… friends?" She looked at Ambrose for confirmation who shrugged and nodded. "But that is all."

  Shigrock kept eye contact with her for a few moments, before shrugging with a sigh. "Fair enough." He sat and took a bit of his food. "Though I do have five other daughters of age if you interested?" He said to Ambrose, his eyebrows raised suggestively.

  "I'm good, thank you Shigrock."

  A strange look crossed Reabeck's face. "…Wait, five?"

  Once the meal was done the dwarves finish up packing their things and prepared to leave.

  "Thank you for looking after her while we have been here." Reabeck said, as she stroked her pony.

  "Well, a thank you to her for the free fertilizer. I think it will give the farm a good head start." Ros replied, rubbing the animal behind its ear."

  Gro-lag walked over with a bag which he handed to the dwarf. "These are all of the runes you asked for."

  She opened that bag and gave a tired grin. "Honestly Gro, you made all these on a rock on your lap, I can wait to see what you will be able to do with a proper workshop."

  "As do I." Said Shigrock, offering his hand to the goblin.

  "I am going to work out a more reasonable order schedule before I open us up to taking more. I will bring your cut of gold when I bring them to you, or Ambrose can grab it the next time he is in the city but might I suggest you open a bank account the next time you are?"

  Ambrose considered it for a moment. They had just been keeping all of their gold in a trunk in the hut, one which didn't even have a lock "That sounds like a really good-" His head snapped to the side as the familiar twinge shot through his senses.

  Knowing what that meant the regular residents of the camp tensed slightly.

  "Hostile?" Ros asked.

  "I don't think so." Ambrose replied.

  "I can assure you I am not hostile."

  They all looked towards the unfamiliar voice and saw a light coming down the path. As it approached Ambrose could see it was illuminating a person so tall they could only be one thing.

  "Great, an elf." Shigrock grunted, under his breath.

  They made their way over and looked at the group. Their face crinkling like a bad smell had just hit them. After a moment he turned to Ambrose and spoke. "You are the owner of this land, a mister Ambrose?"

  "Yes, that is me." He replied, confused.

  The elf staired at him for a moment, a slight scowl on his face. "Strange, when I heard the reports about the effects of this section of the forest I honestly thought they were ridiculous but I have to concede I cannot escape the fact that this land is yours." He kept his gaze for a moment before nodding to himself. "Right then, where can I set up camp?"

  "I'm sorry?" Ambrose said, both bewildered and a bit annoyed. "Who are you?"

  The elf looked at him, almost annoyed at the need for him to introduce himself. "I am Marius Mana, a representative of the council of Bramptonburg. I am here to decide if this little patch of land could possibly be considered a settlement."