They left for Bellharbour the next day, arriving mid-afternoon. Their first stop was Luke and Martha, receiving a warm welcome as always, and a very strongly worded invitation to dinner, which was readily accepted.

  When asked about the purpose of their visit, a blushing Niala retrieved one of the wedding invitations from her pouch and handed it to Martha, who opened the envelope just a little too quickly to appear composed.

  The woman then squealed, rushed up to the catkin and enveloped the smaller woman in her arms, lifting her up into a spin.

  Luke, eyeing his unhinged wife, walked up to David and quirked an eyebrow, to which his brother grinned and nodded, receiving Luke's hand on his shoulder as congratulations, along with his best smile.

  Samuel and Annette, the Waymans' son and daughter, eventually managed to decipher their mother's rambling and realized that a wedding was coming up, both quickly joining the celebration. In young Samuel's case, it was mainly due to the prospect of the trip and food, while Annette was right at the age where such things were transforming from hazy dreams into tangible prospects.

  Martha declared the rest of the evening's activities cancelled and dragged everyone to the living room, where she began questioning Niala on the wedding plans, like a wolf who'd found a particularly juicy bone filled with fresh marrow. Not a single delicious drop was going to escape its maw.

  David smiled when he noticed Annette inconspicuously sit down next to her mother and, with a slight blush on her cheeks, feign indifference while straining her ears to not miss a single piece of information.

  His smile doubled when he glanced at Luke, who had noticed his daughter, and, from the devastated look on his face, had just realized that his baby girl was rapidly growing out of his grasp.

  David gave his brother a good pat on the back as a sign of support, only to have the man throw him a look whose meaning was crystal clear: “You laugh now, but just you wait when you have a daughter of your own.”

  It took David a few seconds to accept that, yes, he would most probably end up in the same situation. His smile fell away as he realized he had no idea how to deal with such a situation, however far into the future it was.

  Seeing his face, Luke returned David's supportive pat on his back.

  The two men looked at each other and nodded, a wordless exchange done between them.

  “You help me with my daughter, I'll help you with yours.”

  The coalition of the Dads-who-will-protect-their-baby-girls was thus officialized.

  Had David asked if he wasn't a bit too premature to join the Dad-coalition, Luke would have answered that being a Dad was all about the mindset, and not actually about having kids.

  The next morning had them go see Batty and hand her an invitation. The woman stared at the fancy piece of paper in her hands for a good while. When she looked up, her eyes were moist with tears. Niala hurried to ask what was wrong.

  Batty's voice trembled. “I... I've never been invited to a wedding before.”

  David felt a pang of sympathy for the eccentric girl, right before a bawling Niala crashed into her, wrapping her arms around Batty, who lost her fight with her own tears.

  They remained tangled for a while as Niala promised her friend that she'd invite her to every single celebration from now on, and apologized that she hadn't been invited to renewal day.

  At the very least, that was what David understood from between the sobs and sniffles.

  Once the tears ran dry, they unclasped from each other, Batty awkwardly giving Niala her best wishes, the catkin promising her friend she'd come see her more often.

  With that particularly touching invitation behind them, one last Bellharbour guest remained.

  One that Niala was both adamant had to happen, while dreading the result just as much.

  The Sylvan's Brocade doorbell chimed, announcing a guest. Fimmzi's ears twitched as she finished folding up a pair of pants and putting them away. Not the most popular female clothing item, which she found to be a shame. As far as she was concerned, pants were just all over superior. Easier to move in, more pockets, and much more interesting to look at when well-tailored.

  She hopped down from her step ladder and made her way to the front of the store. She grinned when she recognized who had just walked in. It had certainly been a while, but her daughter's letters had kept her informed of what had been going on.

  If she were a betting goblin, and she was, they weren't just here for a friendly visit, and not for regular clothes either.

  She lifted her hand. “Hey there, chaps! Been a long while since I saw yer mugs in here!”

  David and Niala turned toward her, the catkin's mouth turning into a wide smile. “Fimmzy! Hi! We didn't get much of a chance to talk when we visited, but your daughter has told us a lot about you!”

  The goblin woman scoffed. “Probably prefaced with words like Witch and hag.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Nialas kept her smile on, even while a bead of sweat rolled down her brow.

  Fimmzy grinned. “Aye, that girl has fire in her. She doing honest work? If she ain't, just let me know, an' I'll go an' gob-smack her sumthin' silly. Ya don't shit where ya eat, that's just bad business.” She explained, shaking her head.

  David coughed into his fist. “Linzy's been doing good work, and the books are clean.”

  Fimmzy gave him a shark-toothed smile. “Boy, if you think my girl don't know how ta cook the books, I have a hut to sell you up north.”

  David tilted his head and opened his mouth to reply, but another voice cut him off.

  “David! Niala! Darlings! I knew I'd recognized those voices!” Yrlemagne's honeyed words wafted in from the back store as the elf woman walked out, a measuring band hanging from her neck.

  She quickly made her way to them, pulling each into a quick hug before resting her eyes on Niala, who had a big smile on her face.

  “Darling, look at you! You're positively glowing! Fimmzy told me you had been training, but words did not do you justice! That posture! Your toned abdomen! Your developed thighs! Your flowering bust!”

  David nodded approvingly, throwing a glance at his girlfriend, who was in the process of silently reddening.

  Fimmzy sighed. “Boss, yer embarassin' yer client again.”

  Yrlemagne's mouth formed a circle as she covered it with a hand before stepping up to Niala and pulling her into a hug once more. “Dear! I'm sorry! It is stronger than me! When I see a beautiful woman's figure, I get lost in admiration!”

  In no way did that help Niala's blush.

  David grinned. “She is very beautiful.”

  The elf let go of the red tomato and chuckled as she playfully slapped at David's shoulder. “Oh, you incorrigible man. Look at what you've done to your poor girl. Look at how red she is now!”

  He frowned. “I'm pretty sure that's y-”

  Yrlemagne waved his retort away. “No matter! Dears! It is good to see you! Is this just a courtesy visit?” She asked, eyes widening as she thought of something. “Oh! Niala! Did you need more nightly clothes? Now that you and David are discovering each other's bodies, surely you must want to feel his lecherous eyes running up and down your lightly covered self?!”

  David blinked before turning his head toward Niala, and...

  Yes, that had done it. Her face was now a uniform shade of crimson red. He looked at Yrlemagne with an appreciative frown. Getting his kitten to turn red wasn't hard, but getting this exact shade of red? That took some skills or luck.

  He put a hand on her shoulder and lightly squeezed, sending comforting thoughts through their link.

  Niala squeaked, shook her head and hid her embarrassment behind her social duties. “It's good to see you as well, Yrlemagne! In a way, I did come here for clothes, but, huh... well...” She trailed off, dragging the last invitation out of her pouch.

  The elf's eyes nearly popped out of their orbit as she locked on that letter, her pupils pining, a few of her fingers twitching.

  “Dear... is that...?” She asked, never lifting her gaze from the envelope.

  Niala's blush returned somewhat. “Ah, it's, well, an invitation to my, uh, wed-”

  Yrlemagne appeared next to Niala, her arms snaking over her prey, making sure there would be no escape. She began speaking at the same time she marched and dragged Niala with her toward the back of the store. “Fimmzi! We are closed until further notice! Do what you must, and join me in my atelier. I will need your help!”

  The elf turned her head to speak over her shoulder. “David, dear, do go to Mr. Fringel's Gentlemanly Attires. He is the best tailor for groom suits. Don't bother coming back here. Go and wait at Martha's once you are done.”

  David watched as Niala was abducted and disappeared into the aisles. He looked down at Fimmzy, who was grinning at him.

  “You heard the boss. Git yer muscly butt out of here. I's got a store to close.”

  He nodded and left, finding Fringel's shop within a few minutes. Once he inquired about a wedding suit and gave them his name, the clerk's eyes widened, asking David to wait a moment, and fled to the office, where he spoke with someone behind closed doors. A few moments later, a pot-bellied mutton-chopped dogkin walked out, followed by the clerk, and bee-lined for David.

  He stopped a few paces away and began observing him with a critical eye, mumbling to himself.

  David quirked an eyebrow. “Is something wrong?”

  The dogkin jolted and looked up to David. “What? No! No... nothing is wrong, hrrm...” He let his eyes wander over the young man's body some more before returning his sight to his face. “Young man, David Wayman, was it? My name is Fringel. It's a pleasure to meet you. If you would follow me to one of the measuring stations, we can get started.” The dogkin motioned toward a cleared-out space near the back of the shop.

  “Aren't we going to discuss payment?” David inquired.

  Fringel blinked. “Payment? It's already been paid, my good man. We were just waiting for you to show up.” He explained, walking up to David and gently placing a hand over his back, showing him the way with his other hand.

  David frowned, looking between the clerk and the owner, before shrugging and letting himself get corralled.

  He wasn't about to say no to a free suit, though he was curious as to who had paid for him.

  He walked back out of Fringel's shop a few bells later, looked at the time, went for a quick lunch, and then made his way back to his brother's shop, where he discussed the distribution of the Old Woman herbs with the man.

  Martha's endorsement had apparently kick-started the old woman adoption process, and he was selling many thousands of doses per day already. They figured out how much lead time David would need to increase production, saying that the bottleneck would be the number of workers.

  On David's assurance that demand would only grow, they planned to double, and soon thereafter triple, the deliveries. Packaging machines for the individual doses would be ordered by Luke, and he would look for a workforce willing to relocate to Riverwall. David suggested offering a lifetime supply of Old Woman herbs as part of the relocation package.

  Luke's merchant heart wondered if a lifetime wasn't too much to offer.

  David reassured his brother that it was the least they could do.

  By the time dinner was ready, they had built up a solid expansion plan for the Old Woman Brewery. The taste would be acquired, and David couldn't be happier about it.

  He did get somewhat worried when Niala didn't show up for dinner, however, but since she was with Yrlemagne, he thought it was fine. The measurements were just taking a bit longer, surely.

  He wouldn't see Niala again until very late that day.

  When she did reappear, she refused to speak about what had happened; every one of his questions only got her to blush, and nothing more.

  Strange.