"So, Tobias told me that you and your husband used to work for a friend of his, is that right?" Verdan asked, taking a seat opposite Adrienne.

"Yes, Mr Brock's cousin. She was a touch eccentric, so we're used to odd happenings around the house, which Mr Brock said would be the case for you." Adrienne gave him a warm smile as she spoke, and her husband bobbed his head in agreement.

"Yes, well, that will likely be the case," Verdan said honestly. At this point, things were already quite strange, and it would only get more so over time. "So, why do you want to work here, knowing that?"

"Henry and I like to support things being done, not just to keep things the same. By that, I mean that we like working for an active employer and doing what we can to help them. People underestimate the worth of having a well-run household, but I can confidently say that it makes everything easier." Adrienne lifted her chin as she spoke, challenging Verdan to gainsay her.

Henry tapped a finger on the armrest of his chair, getting Adrienne's attention, before flicking his long fingers through a series of shapes.

"Ah, yes, Henry says that he also makes a fantastic mushroom and steak pastry," Adrienne said, smiling lovingly at her husband before looking over at Verdan. The confusion on his face must have been clear as Adrienne chuckled and reached over to pat Henry’s hand. "My husband is mute; it's why we work as a pair. His skill in the kitchen is top-notch, however."

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but is it a physical issue?" Verdan asked gently, not wanting to give offence.

"We don't know; he was born this way. We communicate well enough with hand signs, though. By now, I know the way he thinks," Adrienne said, squeezing Henry's hand as they shared a small smile.

"Well, Tobias has said he'll be paying you for the time being, so I see no reason not to give you a chance. You're welcome to start whenever is convenient for you," Verdan said, enjoying the broad smiles on their faces.

"Would tomorrow work for you?" Adrienne asked after a glance at her husband.

"Perfect," Verdan said, starting to rise from his chair before pausing as he thought of a problem. "Where do you live at the moment? Is it far away?"

"On the other side of the city, but Mr Brock put us in touch with a man named Samuel, who said there's an empty house we can move into just a minute or two away."

"Never mind then," Verdan said with a wry smile. It seemed that all the details had already been taken care of.

"We'll start moving our things across now, we'll be here bright and early tomorrow," Adrienne said, hurrying her husband up and out of his chair.

"Kai, see if Samuel has some people he can send to help them move their things over," Verdan said, tossing Kai a pair of silver darns.

"Thank you, Verdan," Adrienne said, stumbling over his name a little.

"Not a problem," Verdan said, happy to help them and the local workers at the same time. "I look forward to your cooking tomorrow." Verdan addressed the last to Henry directly, making the other man smile and nod in response.

Seeing them out the door, Verdan headed back to his workshop. He was going to meditate and work on his gathering spiral for an hour or two and then maybe work on that enchantment some more. If he could improve the resilience of the construct to the foreign Essence, it would last longer and be more efficient for Kai.

-**-

Verdan started the next day with a quick energy spell to perk him up. He'd ended up staying later at the workshop than expected, but he was satisfied with both his progress on the third spiral and the improvements to the construct for Kai's spear. He'd used up two of the spares they had in the meantime, but he was confident enough now to work on Kai's actual spear.

Once that was done, he'd need to test with Tom to see if the same construct would work or if they'd need to make any changes to the design for his weapon. Verdan was quietly confident in his construct, but thorough testing was the key to success.

Heading down to the kitchen, Verdan found both Kai and Henry already present. For a change, Kai wasn't the one making breakfast and was instead sitting with a crumb-covered plate in front of him.

Henry perked up as Verdan walked in and arched a surprisingly expressive eyebrow at him with a grin. Seeing he had Verdan's attention, Henry tapped what looked like a fresh loaf of bread and then a ceramic container filled with eggs.

"The eggs, please. Do you have any mushrooms?" Verdan asked, taking a seat and watching with interest as their mute chef got to work.

Kai was a reasonable cook and was a deft hand at prepping food, but Henry was on a different level altogether. It wasn't that the chef was fast or rushing; it was that he knew precisely what he was doing and acted with purpose in every motion. Verdan had always found that there was something soothing about watching an expert at work, their grace and effortless skill never failed to impress.

In no time at all, Verdan had a mushroom omelette in front of him, seasoned and cooked to perfection.

"Thank you, Henry," Verdan said, satisfied that he'd made the right choice with the Barbeau's.

"The weapons and their prospective wielders will be here today," Kai said, a touch of a smile on his face as Verdan set about devouring his delicious breakfast.

"I've had a few ideas for how to quickly find the ones we need. We should be able to cut down their numbers quickly," Verdan said, reluctantly pausing between bites to respond to Kai.

"So, you're testing for Aether sensitivity, right?" Kai asked with a thoughtful expression, his fingers drumming on his spear idly.

"Yes, why?" Verdan asked, intrigued by where Kai was going with this.

"Tim and Tom have been approached by a few people looking for work as guards. Some of them have decent experience. There just isn't a lot of call for trained fighters at the moment. If I get them here tonight, could you run through the same test with them, see who passes?"

"Why not? I can see a few more guards being useful," Verdan said with a shrug. He was a little concerned about the money side of things, but he still had a reasonable amount left to use. Of course, he also had a steady source of income from the city guard on the horizon, which would help. Something about using the money earned from equipping the city guard to pay the wages of his own private guards amused Verdan no end.

"Excellent, I'll send the brothers out to round up some people," Kai said, heading out of the room at a quick trot.

Something about Kai's speedy exit made Verdan feel that he'd been conned there, somehow. Maybe there was an ulterior motive that Kai had for increasing the number of guards?

Shrugging, Verdan went back to his breakfast. He trusted Kai to not screw him over too badly. It was probably something simple like Kai wanting other people to do guard duty so he didn't have to.

Finishing up his food, Verdan headed outside to see Adrienne directing a trio of guardsmen on where to deposit a handcart with a few cloth-wrapped bundles. Given that some of the bundles looked to be almost six-foot-long, Verdan was fairly confident that those were the weapons he was waiting for.

"Good morning, Verdan. These fine gentlemen have a delivery for you. They were just telling me that they would carry everything to where you needed, isn't that right?" Adrienne turned her sunny smile on the three guardsmen, who gave a somewhat reluctant nod.

"Good morning, Adrienne. By the entrance to the workshop will be fine, thank you," Verdan said, gesturing to the big building as he struggled to keep a straight face.

"Did my Henry see to your breakfast already?" Adrienne asked, half-watching the guardsmen as they pushed the handcart over to the workshop.

"He has, and it was just as delicious as advertised," Verdan said, knowing what she was fishing for.

"Excellent, you could do with a bit more weight on you. Those lovely boys of yours have already told me that you spend far too much time meditating. A balanced diet is important," Adrienne said, her tone giving Verdan flashbacks to his visits home to see his mother. Some things never changed.

"I'm sure that now Henry is here, that won't be a problem," Verdan said, promising nothing that she could hold over his head later. His work on his gathering spiral was far too important to ignore.

Adrienne's eyes narrowed, and she started to say something when she noticed that the guardsmen were about to unload the weapons and take their handcart. "No need for that, gentlemen. We'll need that to move them around, you see. I'm sure you understand."

One of the guardsmen started to argue, but they soon gave up when the other two abandoned them.

"How did you know we were going to be moving these around a lot?" Verdan asked as the two of them walked over to the handcart.

"Oh, I had no idea. I just thought we could do with a free handcart," Adrienne said with a cheeky grin that made Verdan chuckle. He had a feeling that she was going to keep him on his toes.

"Well, once I've taken these inside, it's all yours," Verdan said, shaking his head at her antics.

"Actually, I have a question. If you have a moment?" Adrienne's tone went serious, so Verdan stopped and gave her his full attention, motioning for her to continue. "Well, I wanted to know what our budget was for the household. Have you set some funds aside for us?"

"Ah, yes, a good point. Here, this should cover us in the short-term," Verdan said, producing a dozen silver darns for her. He had to provide for six people and a wolf at the moment, so no doubt the food bill was going to go through the roof.

"Excellent. Would you like to review my purchases at the end of the week?"

"No, no need for that. Give me a summary at the end of the month and let me know when you need more funds. Other than that, I trust you to manage the day-to-day expenses." Verdan had full confidence in Adrienne; Tobias hadn't steered him wrong yet, after all.

"Thank you, Verdan," Adrienne said, her warm smile back in full force. "I expect for a household of six..."

"Seven, actually," Verdan interrupted, holding a hand up to apologise as he did. "Please tell your husband to prepare meals for Sylvie as well. Tim's wolf." Verdan explained, clarifying who he meant when he saw the blank expression on Adrienne's face.

"Yes, of course, the wolf," Adrienne said, coughing into her hand before continuing. "So, food and household costs for seven. That will likely come to around a silver to a silver and a half per day. I'll do what I can to keep us to the lower side of that, but expect a monthly cost of around thirty-five to forty-five silver."

"I see," Verdan said thoughtfully. He knew he had a poor idea of the relative value of things with the darn currency system, but that sounded about right. The dozen silver darn he'd given her would last them a week or so from the sound of it, which was fine by him. "Very good, keep me updated."

Adrienne left him to go inform her husband that he was now cooking for a wolf as well, something Verdan should probably have mentioned previously. He'd have a word with Henry later to ensure that it was more than just slop in a bowl as well.

Verdan seemed to be the only one who was picking up on the intelligence of the wolf, how it wasn't trained but just responded to the things that Tim said. Perhaps intelligent creatures were more common these days, and that was why no one was remarking on it. It didn't really matter, the creature was doing no harm as far as Verdan was aware, and he still owed it a full healing. The least Verdan could do in the meantime was make sure she got some decent meals.