As the cresting sun brought Ambrose out of his unconsciousness, he could instantly feel that today was going to be colder. The temperature had been dropping slowly the last few weeks, but today was the first that he would call cold. He got up and got busy making a fire, building it bigger than he normally would. As he adding the last few bits of wood Gro-lag emerged from his hut blowing into his hands to warm them.

  "I didn't think it would be this cold so soon." He said, seeing Ambrose.

  "It should hopefully warm up as the day goes on." He said, lighting the fire with his magic. He let out a slightly pained grunt as his head throbbed.

  "Here." the goblin said as he handed him the waterskin.

  He took a long swig and the pressure in his head reduced. "Thanks."

  "Why do you insist on using your magic?"

  The two turned and saw Rea walking over, a blanket wrapped around her.

  "One of the runes I gave you could have sufficed."

  "True." He said taking another swig. "But I am currently a renewable resource, your runes aren’t." He stood and looked around "I am going to get started on finally getting us some non-fish to eat. Rea, can you help Ros and Trelen get breakfast sorted?"

  Reabeck nodded and Ambrose headed off to begin his task.

  He was half way through skinning the deer when Shigrock made his way over to him.

  "I have been asked to come get you for breakfast." He said, with a wide smile.

  Ambrose flicked some blood off his hands and nodded. "I will get cleaned up and be over."

  "I have to admit." The dwarf said, walking closer and looking at his work. "I find you quite impressive Lord Ambrose."

  Ambrose gave a smirk. "Please, you don't need to with the lord stuff."

  "But from what Gro-Lag was telling me based on the laws of this country you are a lord?"

  He gave a small shrug. "I guess."

  "Well either way, I still find it admirable that you are so self-sufficient. I have not seen many of your kinsmen who have such a wide range of skills."

  "Well, I have had some good teachers." Ambrose said, wiping his hands on a rag. "Your daughter for instance was the first person to show me how to make bricks and other good uses of the clay on my land. To be honest I doubt I would have even have thought to use it unless she had pointed it out to me."

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  Shigrock seemed mildly surprised but then gave a small smile and nodded. "I am glad she has been helpful to you."

  "She really has. If it wasn't for her, I would have no idea how we could have made so much coin."

  A look of unmistakable pride crossed the dwarf's face. "She is a good girl." He seemed to bask in the feeling for a moment before continuing. "Rea told me you were taught to skin by a dwarf as well?"

  "Did she?" He had purposely not told anyone from the city where he had learned to skin, considering the person who had taught him was not supposed to know how herself.

  Shigrock nodded. "Apparently they contacted Reabeck to warn her that the council might be paying her a visit."

  Ambrose relaxed, he thought for a moment that he had spoken without thinking and had slipped up. "Ah ok that makes sense. Arlon is a half dwarf and yeah she taught me how to skin and tan." He sat down on a tree stump and smiled. "She was one of the first people who really helped me out when all of this all started. I think without her showing me so early on that people could actually be open to helping me, that people could actually be…"

  "She sounds like she has made a big difference to you." Shigrock finished.

  "She has." He said, with a smile. "Anyway, better get moving. Won't be any left if we hang around."

  Once they had eaten Shigrock requested if he could, using some of his daughter’s runes, cut down some trees so he could make a start on building some furniture for Gro-lag's workshop. Since he felt this was how he could be most useful. After showing him the areas they were currently clearing, Ambrose made his way to check on what Reabeck and Trelen were up to.

  As he was walking up, he assumed he would hear the sound of work, maybe the roar of the kiln. What he was not expecting was the sounds of uncontrollable laughter.

  "So, he tries to tell me that too much man for me and I told him that I know women who are more of a man then him." Reabeck said, laughing loudly as she did.

  "I see you are both being productive." Ambrose said, with a smirk.

  The two of them turn to see him approaching, both wiping tears from their eyes.

  "We are just waiting for the tiles to dry." Trelen said, struggling to breathe and gesturing behind them.

  He followed it and saw a ring of clay tiles drying around the fire pit. "Oh wow." He walked over and looked at them closer. There must have been close to a hundred of them, all surprisingly uniform in shape. "You two did all this?"

  "I dug the clay; Rea shaped them all." Trelen replied.

  Ambrose looked closer at the tiles. "Did you make some kind of mold?"

  The dwarf shook her head. "No."

  He looked back at her. "How… Just how?"

  Rea giggled and almost looked like she blushed at Ambrose's comment. "It's really not that hard."

  He was basking in his amazement at her work when his mind conjured an observation.

  "Rea, why are you so good at all this stuff?"

  The dwarf seemed confused at his statement. "What stuff?"

  "You knew about brick molding and building a kiln and now how to make perfect looking tiles?"

  "Oh." She said as she started to understand what he meant. "Well, when I first planned to leave Nortok, I was planning to join the builder’s guild and so I studied a lot of it."

  "How come you didn't do that then? You seem really good at it?" Trelen asked.

  Reabeck looked down and away from both of them. "I mean, I was guaranteed entry into the Rune crafters since my family's clan was recognized in the city…" She trailed off and sighed. "I guess it was less scary than the exams for the builders."

  Ambrose found himself almost annoyed at his friend; she clearly had a talent and seemingly she has let her own insecurity cause her to not pursue it.

  "You could always still apply to join them? There are no laws about changing guilds."

  She gave a half-hearted, almost defeated shrug. "The shops doing really well thanks to Gro; I can't see much point now. Anyway." She said waving the conversation away. "As I was saying, He then started claiming he was a lost member of the royals.