The World Dragon's Heir

Dominic headed straight for the tailor's shop, as they should have everything that he needed today.

"Your Grace, what brings you in today? The Duchess' order won't be ready for a few more days." The tailor greeted him from the far side of the room, where he was arranging bolts of cloth.

"I will let her know. But that's not what brought me here. Master Pops is taking a new apprentice. So, I need a good leather apron for an adolescent Dwarven girl, and a bracer with a socket. Also, preferably leather and sized for a lady's arm.

Dwarves are tougher than average, but she's still young, so her arms aren't going to be too thick for a while." Dominic explained.

The tailor nodded, and his assistant ran off into the back room. They returned a moment later with a half dozen aprons, most with ruffled silk trim.

"I think that you misunderstood, I need a leather apron for the forge. Not a lady's cooking apron." Dominic explained.

"Oh, my apologies, Your Grace. But what about these? Are they inappropriate?"

The assistant held up a tray full of leather arm guards, the fancy sort that were normally used to hold a lady's dress sleeves on outings.

"No, I think those will be just fine. There are a few pairs there that will be proper for a lady of the forge." Dominic replied.

Women's fashion always seemed to have long and wide sleeves, Dominic had noticed. But you could tuck those into the arm guards so you didn't get your dress dirty or tangled in your work.

Alexis had plenty of similar items, but had learned to fight with her sleeves free so that she could respond if she was attacked at a formal event.

Dominic picked a set that were dyed black, on the logic that black went with anything. It also helped hide the soot from the forge, and tempering oil stains. For that reason, his black robes were his favourite.

"I will take these, and you can go look for appropriate aprons." He decided.

The assistant ran out, then came back with a sheepish look, and two leather aprons.

"My Lord, these are the only ones we have in leather."

They were both obviously made for adult human men, and far too long for any Dwarf. But one of them was more slender, and shouldn't be too wide for the Apprentice.

"Tailor, can you shorten this to Dwarven height, and stamp the name 'Mead' on the chest? Spelled the same as the drink." Dominic requested.

The tailor bowed. "Of course, My Lord. The Seamstress can do that right away."

The tailor's wife came out with a smile and looked at the apron. "You said this is for a girl?"

"Indeed. Half a head shorter than Pops, and Dwarven, so she's not going to grow too much. She's not as broad yet, but don't make it too narrow. Once she's hard at work in the forge, the muscles will fill in." Dominic agreed.

The tailor smiled. "There is no worse insult to a fine Dwarven lady than to call her skinny."

Dominic waited for a few minutes while the seamstress altered the apron, then stamped in a new design around the altered edges and added Mead's name to the top.

"That is perfect. I'm certain that she will love it. Here is payment, and I will see you again soon, unless someone else comes for the Princess's order."

The walk back to the forge was a quiet one, with nearly everyone at work at this time of day.

There were a few people out shopping, but most were focused on trying to get the harvest in and the wet season crops planted before the worst of the rains started.

Once that happened, it would be nearly impossible to work in the fields, especially the lower fields near the river, which would retain water much longer. Most of those were actually going to be flooded and planted with rice, which made it even more important that they were ready on time.

Mead was working the counter, and greeted Dominic with a "Welcome, what can we get for you today?" Before she realized that it was him.

"Oh, Your Grace, welcome back." She amended.

"No need for titles in the forge. We're both Pops' apprentices, so you can just call me Dominic at work." He explained, then handed the apron to Pops.

The old Dwarf examined it carefully, checking the quality and suitability to be used in the forge, then nodded and held it out to Mead.

"Here you are. Your first smithy apron. We've seen everyone who placed an order in advance, so we can start restocking the tools. First up, we're making frying pans." Pops explained.

Dominic smiled. That would be an interesting experience.

"And I have a gift for you. Every Apprentice deserves to be able to show off their pride in their trade, so I got you something to hold your trade skill core, once Pops grants you one." He explained as he held out the arm guards.

"Oh, those are lovely. They're even sized right for me." Mead gasped.

"Go ahead and try them on. It will keep your sleeves safe as you work. Making cast iron frying pans with Pops means both casting and forging a better surface, so you'll be working hard around hot iron." Dominic suggested.

While Mead got changed, Dominic bundled up the spears he had created and put them in his storage cube for transport.

Pops looked down at his new apprentice in approval, then held out a simple metal orb.

"Take that and give it some mana to speed up the attunement. Once that's done, we can get to work." He insisted, his tone gruff, but his eyes soft with fondness for the eager new apprentice.

It took a few minutes, but eventually, the trade skill core gave a dim yellow glow. That was the sign it was active, and that Mead was considered a first level apprentice, ready to start her formal training.

"Perfect. Now, let's show you how to cast the pans. Lord Dominic, we will see you for dinner."