Mau's Carpentry

LIGHTY
Seph was in a hurry. He had overslept for once and now he was rushed to open shop. He pulled his key ring from his satchel and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. The door was unlocked, the lights turned on, and Seph got ready to start the day.

LIGHTY
A few people entered and wandered through the store. A little boy darted away from his parents and over to the toy section. Seph kept a watchful eye on the boy. It wasn't well known, but Seph had a soft spot for little kids.

"Mama! Da!" The child called loudly. His mother rushed over to calm him down. He gave a large grin and held up a wooden boat. "Please?"

The mother considered it. "Markel, say the entire sentence and your father and I will consider it."

"May I have the boat?" The boy, Markel, asked. "It says it floats!"

It was at this point that Seph wandered over to the mother and son. He smiled. "Are you looking at the boat? It's made of a light weight wood and sealed so it will never fill with water unless you pour water over the top. I've sent ones like it down a river and they travel far." The boys eyes widened and Seph felt another smile spread across his face. "Tell you what, kid, I'll give it to you twenty-five percent off."

The sale was made quickly, the husband paying for both his chair and his son's toy, and Seph called a goodbye as they left. The boy waved and the smile on his face didn't disappear before the boy did.

LIGHTY
The shop always closed for an hour mid-day. It was a tradition. When it had been Seph and Mau, they would eat lunch and go over finances and inventory. Seph turned the sign to closed and locked the door. His parents had asked for him to return for lunch and so that was his plan. They had said something about important news and Seph's interest was piqued.

LIGHTY
Seph pulled away from Ceeci to take his keyring out of his bag. He unlocked the doors and propped one open with a wood block. Seph backed into the store, arms opened wide, and said to Ceeci, "Welcome to Mau's Carpentry, home of nineteen types of wood, items ranging from formal dining tables to little toy boats, and the best hot chocolate around. If you would follow me...." Seph led Ceeci around to a door in the back which let out into a small kitchen area. The dark haired man set about making hot chocolate for his guest.

DAWNY
Ceeci followed Seph, glancing about at all the wood things. She pulled out a chair from the kitchen table and perched on the edge while she watched Seph prepare the hot chocolate.

LIGHTY
Soon the hot chocolate was done and Seph poured it into a cup for her and a cup for him. "Here you are Miss Ceeci." He said as he handed the girl the cup. "If you wish you can relax back here for a bit, or you can sit out in the main room with me. I need to be out there if customers come in..." He was sorry, but his duties as only worker and shop owner came first.

DAWNY
"Oh, right." Ceeci accepted her hot chocolate and blew on it. "Can I wait back here for a little while?"

LIGHTY
"Yeah. Take as long as you need." Seph offered Ceeci another smile before ducking through the door. He sat behind his counter and considered the girl the next room over. Ceeci. What were the chances that they were engaged? Next to none, Seph decided. One of his friends was going through an arranged marriage too, last he checked. It was still common among the upper class for there to be alliances and companies merging through marriage. And from what little his parents had described, the picture in Seph's head was not Ceeci. Still, friends were good.

DAWNY
Ceeci dropped her head onto the table next to her mug and groaned. Marriage. Marriage marriage marriage. She raised her head and took a sip of hot chocolate. Maybe she would just stay here in this shop for ever and ever and her parents would never find her and never make her get married. She was only eighteen. She didn't want to get married. He would be aweful, she knew. She'd never be able to love him, she was sure. He would expect her to wait on him hand and foot, and cook and clean and stay home and have lots of babies. She made a face at the thought. "Urg." She jumped to her feet and walked out into the main shop, shaking her head to rid herself of the dread that was settling over her. She managed a smile for Seph as she meandered around picking up this toy and running a hand over that table.

LIGHTY
A boy, around eight years old, darted into the shop. The kid brushed past Ceeci and ran towards Seph. "Seph! Seph!" The boy called out. He pulled a wagon behind him and that wagon bumped and clicked and clumped all the way up to Seph. A wheel was partially detached and one of the sides was damaged. "It broke, Seph, can you fix it?"

"Yes I can Sammy." Seph said as he ruffled the boy's hair. Seph pulled some tooks out from under the counter and started to tinker with the wagon. Very quickly the wheel was reattached. "Now, Sammy, to fix the side here I'm going to have to take the board out, ok? Its going to take some time, so why don't you come back tomorrow morning and I'll have it fixed for you? I'm sure your mother wants you home soon." Seph knew the boy well enough to know that the boy had likely run off to play, broken the wagon, and come straight here rather then going home to tell his family where he was.

"Alright Seph!" Sammy said. He hugged the man quickly before darting out of the store just as quickly as he had come in.

Seph pulled the wagon out of the way and turned to face Ceeci. "Sorry 'bout Sammy. Kid's cute, but he's a bit wild. He didn't push you or anything, right?" Seph had seen Sammy run by Ceeci and was concerned now that Ceeci felt awkward or uncomfortable.

DAWNY
"Umm, no." Ceeci shook her head. "He didn't. It's fine. He's cute." she nodded towards the wagon. "It's
LIGHTY
Seph blushed a bit and looked down. "Sammy is a good kid. He's got three siblings and his mother recently lost her job. Anything I can do to help that kid benefits his family. Doesn't matter if I'm fixing a wagon's wheels or buying each of those kids an orange. A little bit of kindness goes a long way." Seph reached up and ran his fingers through his hair.

DAWNY
"A lot of people wouldn't have done what you did. For him. Or for me. I don't really have any room to complain. Compaired to them, I've got it good." She shook her head. She was lucky, she really was. But why did it still feel like she was being captured to live the rest of her life in a cage? "Thank you so much, Seph. I shouldn't take any more of your time. You've got stuff to do."

LIGHTY
"You're not bothering me in any way." Seph told Ceeci. "I can work with you here." He wasn't sure why exactly he wanted her to stay. Maybe it was that he couldn't stand it when pretty girls were upset and he wanted to help. Seph moved to stand in front of her. The top of her head came to his chin. "If you are going though, I want you to know you're always welcome here. Also..." Seph paused and then said, "on the topic of your marriage, um, try to give your husband a chance? I can assure you he's just as nervous as you, especially if you guys haven't met or don't know each other really well. Not all guys are idiots and he'd have to be an idiot to take you for granted. Alright?"

DAWNY
Ceeci couldn't stop herself from smiling. "Thank you, Seph?" That was what the little boy had called him, she hoped it was his name. "I'll do my best to give him a chance. You're right, he's probably thinking the same thing I am right now. I just hope he isn't an idiot." She said with a grin, but she was only half-joking. She glanced about the shop, looking for an excuse not to leave. She didn't want to go home and see her parents yet, and the shop was cozy.

LIGHTY
"Here! Wait!" Seph jolted straighter with a thought. "Stay right there!" He gathered his little tools, the kind he used to carving details, and he took three long chunks of wood from the back. "Take your pick of wood. This purple-y one is called Purple Heart, the red one is Paduk, and the dark brown is Chestnut. I'll make you something out of your favorite color."

DAWNY
"Oh. Umm, Paduk. Wait! You don't have to make me anything. You already made me hot chocolate!" Ceeci couldn't help but feel flattered, but her training to be a good lady kicked in and she immediately felt bad that he was going out of his way for her. She hadn't done anything to merit it besides whine.

LIGHTY
"This will be my gift to you. Think of it as an early wedding present." Seph started whittling away at the Paduk. Slowly one end sloped to a point. Seph kept working, whistling as he went.

DAWNY
"Thank you." Ceeci watched with curiosity as Seph worked, trying to guess what he was making.

LIGHTY
The wood was narrow at one end now. Seph blunted the sharp point with practiced ease. He moved on to the other end started to chip away at it. A half an hour had already passed with him working and Ceeci watching and Seph knew he'd still need another half an hour to perfect his work and then another ten minutes or so to spray it for gloss and let it dry. Seph looked up at Ceeci and saw that she was still involved with watching him work and so he went back to the wood with renewed vigor. It would need to be done before she left. Seph chipped a section of wood away to make a tear shape that you could see through. He made curves in the wood, making it seem like there were overlapping pieces even though everything was from the same wood. Seph cut out two more small areas and started smoothing the wood.

DAWNY
"Is it a hairpin?" Ceeci asked curously. She'd never watched one being made before. How did you he know just what to cut, she wondered. If he messed up, it was so delicate that he would have to start all over again and that piece of wood would be waisted.

LIGHTY
Seph paused his work. "Yeah." He said. "I still have to finish this edge here and smooth it out. Then I'm going to spray with this stuff that makes the wood shiny and water resistant." Seph changed tools and was soon finishing it up. It was rather plain, Seph thought with a frown, but he couldn't do much more elaborate without more time.

DAWNY
"It's beautiful," Ceeci said. "You finished it so fast! How do you know where's the right place to cut the wood?"

LIGHTY
Seph blushed at Ceeci's praise. "It's the way the wood flows. It's hard to explain. Knots where the branches have been cut off the main tree create weak wood. Avoid knots, go for wood that has been drying for a year, and then practice makes perfect." Seph stood and made his way over to a shelf. He took a towel and layed the hair pin on it and then covered the wood in the mixture he had been talking about moments eariler.

DAWNY
Ceeci followed Seph over to the shelf. She waited a moment after he had covered it and then reached out her hand. "Can I touch it?"

LIGHTY
"Not yet. It needs another few minutes to dry. Since we're right near a window here and there's a breeze, it will be done very soon." Seph smiled. Seph stretched and rolled his shoulders. He was good at focusing on work, but his muscles needed movement same as anyone. He twisted his head and heard his neck cracked a little.

DAWNY
"Okay. Is carpentry hard?" Ceeci wondered. "You have to do all this work your self, especially when you make big things."

LIGHTY
"It can be hard, just like any other job I imagine. When I'm making a custom item with a deadline the stress can be incredible. Last year, a nobleman paid me a large sum of money to make him and his new bride a formal dining table with twelve chairs. He wanted to present them to her with his final wedding gift, a diamond necklace worth the same amount that he had paid for my work. I had eight months to finish the table and chairs. I worked every day on them. I would close shop, work for four hours or so every night, and then work all day Sundays, in other words, my day off. The week leading up the day I handed them over had me pulling all nighters to work. I got the set finished with my sanity half intact and to this day I swear my best work was down for that nobleman. The pay check he gave me was enough to cover all material costs and enough was left over for me to finalize payments for my own plot of land. I've started working out arrangements for foundation to be laid and I've been doing more inventory counting and finance checking to buy more wood. I want my house built by this time next year." Seph was very proud of his work and it came through when he talked.

DAWNY
"That sounds kind of terrible. Worse than learning manner and how to bake. You're building your own house? Where is it going to be?" Ceeci asked. "Will it be here in Valaire?"

LIGHTY
"My work's not always that bad. Yeah, the land I bought it by the river. It's furthur downstream than many of the houses and I'm pretty sure I got the deal I did because the land is more of a hill than it is flat. I want the house at the top of the hill for safety, and I'm going to create a stone path down to the river. I'm going to plant some berry bushes and maybe some sort of fruit tree. I dunno if I have a green thumb, but it's worth a shot, right?" Seph shrugged.

DAWNY
"Try cherry tries," Ceeci advised. "They're pretty easy. I bet that you'll have a lovely view from the top of the hill once your house is built."

LIGHTY
"Thank you." Seph told Ceeci. "Now, your hair pin should be done. Pick it up, hold it against your hair, I wanna see if I did a decent job." He smiled.

DAWNY
Ceeci carefully picked up the hair pin and held it against the side of her head, he face turned slightly away from Seph so he could see the pin. "How does it look?"

LIGHTY
"Good choice with the red. It goes well with your hair." Seph said thoughtfully.

DAWNY
"Thank you. It's beautiful." Ceeci took her hand away from her head to look at the pin, and carefully stuck the hairpin through a coil of her hair. She turned her head so Seph could see. "Hows that?"

LIGHTY
"Move your hand?" Seph asked. When Ceeci did, Seph took out the pin and let down her hair. Aware he might be overstepping a bound, Seph asked, "Can I braid your hair and put the pin in? It would look very nice that way."

DAWNY
Ceeci glanced over her shoulder at Seph and nodded. "Sure, I guess. Go ahead." She was slightly concerned about his braiding abilites, most guys she knew could bairly braid three pieces of rope, but she figured she'd let him go ahead and try. If it was horrible, she could just redo it herself as soon as she left.

LIGHTY
Seph separated Ceeci's hair with very little difficulty. He paused before starting to weave the hair together and then started braiding. Ceeci's hair was so long and Seph had an idea on what to make his future bride as her first gift. Seph braided Ceeci's hair and then started to make a bun out of it. To hold the braided bun in place Seph pushed the pin through it and tucked the end of the braid under. "There." Seph said with satisfaction. It wasn't the best, but it pretty enough and it stayed. The red pin didn't match Ceeci's green dress, but the clash in colors was it's own sort of attractive. Seph realized that he was standing too close a heartbeat later and took a step back.

DAWNY
Ceeci carefully reached up to feel her bun and the hair pin. When she was satisfied that it was okay, she spun around the face Seph, smiling. "Thank you, Seph. I'll wear it when I go to meet my fiance. That was such a sweet thing to do. I feep much better than I did before. Is there any way I can repay you?" She didn't think that he would accept payment for his time and the hairpiece, but perhaps there was still something she could do.

LIGHTY
"Just give the guy a chance, ok?" Seph returned Ceeci's smile easily. He didn't voice the thought that popped into his head at her words, the request that couldn't be, instead choosing to remain silent. Ceeci wasn't free to ask out to dinner, and neither was he to even make the request. Seph had no right to even consider the thought. "I'm glad I could help, even if it was only a little bit."

DAWNY
"I will." Ceeci nodded. "Are you sure there's not anything else I can do for you?"

LIGHTY
Seph considered Ceeci's words for a moment and then opened his arms. "A hug." He said quietly, even though he knew it probably wasn't proper. He was almost sad now, after thinking that thought of taking Ceeci to dinner. It was the what-ifs that would bother him. It didn't matter. He would learn to love his wife to be and Ceeci would come to accept her husband. They weren't meant to be. A hug wasn't proper given their circumstances, but Seph felt like he needed one.

DAWNY
"Absolutely. Its the least I can do." Ceeci stepped closer and stood on tiptoe to put her arms around Seph's neck. She rested her chin on his shoulder and looked over at his shop. If her fiance was anything like Swph, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

LIGHTY
Seph's arms tightened around Ceeci and he took a breath to steady himself. Her hair smelled like lavender.

A young man entered the shop with the attitude of one who often visits a place only to stop and stare at Seph and Ceeci. "I, um, Seph? Is this the girl your parents were talking about? Do I finally get to meet her?"

Seph pulled away from Ceeci as if burned. "I... no, this is Ceeci. We met at the marketplace earlier today."

DAWNY
Ceeci stepped back and glanced from Seph his friend as she put two and two together. Then she grinned broadly. "No, I'm definitely who his parents were talking about. Right?" She leaned over and kissed Seph's cheek and whispered in his ear, "Are you engaged?"

LIGHTY
Seph's face was quickly turning red and he only nodded his head ever so slightly to Ceeci. "Uh, Ceeci this is James, James meet Ceeci." Seph couldn't understand what Ceeci was playing at. Why was she pretending to be his fiance? It didn't make sense.

"It's a pleasure." James greeted Ceeci before turning a smirking gaze toward Seph. "Seph's like the brother I wish I had and I've been wanting to meet his girl since I heard about her."

DAWNY
"Oh?" Ceeci had her own smirk as she extended a hand towards James. "I hope you've heard good thing."

LIGHTY
"I've heard barely anything! Seph's been keeping quiet. It's his mother who's the most excited for the wedding. She's the one who told me about Seph's girl, you I mean, and she's the one who is making all the arrangements apparently." James shook Ceeci's hand.

Seph groaned. He opened his mouth to say he hadn't ever met the girl, but with Ceeci there it was impossible to say that. "I just... wanted her to myself for a bit?" Seph's words were more question then statement.

DAWNY
Ceeci nodded solemnly. "My mother's been pretty excited about it to. She can't wait to plan a big white wedding and invite every single one of my father's soldier, and probably the rest of the city too. I was just experimenting with hair styles. What do you think of this pin?" She turned in a circle so James could see. "White satin dress, I think the red will be nice. Don't you?"

LIGHTY
"Seph made you that?" James looked on with interest. "I thought he'd go for the purple wood and make it really fancy with flowers and stuff. Seph's good at making fancy stuff. But yes, the red would look good with a white dress."

Seph was thinking prayers to every god and goddess with hopes of getting out of this situation. "Love, are you sure a huge wedding is necessary?" He wasn't sure what else to do but play along.

DAWNY
"I like this one better." Ceeci reached up to touch the pin in her hair. "Its beautiful." When Seph called her 'love' she gave him a wicked grin and slipped her hand into his. "No, I think we should run away and elope but I'm not sure I can disappoint my mother like that. I think she's looking forward to my wedding more than she looked forward to her own."

LIGHTY
Seph looked down at their hands and chuckled. "You're going to have to wash your hands after this." His hands were red with sawdust and from previous experiences Seph knew the red would transfer with physical contact. James grinned. "I'm invited, right?" He directed this sentence to Seph with a grin.

DAWNY
"I think I can handle that," Ceeci assured Seph. "Of course you're invited!" She told James. "You can have a special job."

LIGHTY
"Yes," Seph added with a growing smirk, "You can be the entertainment. You can juggle for us and sing that lovely ballad your wrote for your sister's birthday."

James groaned and rubbed his eyes in embarressement. "I thought you would have let that go, like sometime last year."

"But it was so funny!" Seph protested with glee. "You wrote a ballad and preformed for her and it was almost cute!"

DAWNY
"A ballad? Ooh, I wanna hear it!" Ceeci said with great Interest. "Sing it for us, James! Please?"

LIGHTY
"No. No, not happening," James said, "Seph, don't you dare say any more!"

Seph was cracking up with laughter at James. "Didn't you have a couple of lines in there like, 'You're beauty is that of a sister, and I must keep the boys away'?"

DAWNY
"Oh, come on. Sing it for me!" Ceeci pleaded. "It sounds so beautiful!"

LIGHTY
James groaned again. "I'll sing a part of it. It's very long and I don't want to make a complete fool of myself again." James started humming and then added some words.

"I hate you when you act annoyingly
I love you when you behave supportively
This love-hate relationship of ours
Is more fragrant than any flower
All these smiles, laughter, arguments and bickering
I adore, whether it is morning or evening
I am your older brother
And I am very protective of my younger sister
So I want you to remember that regardless
Of how much we fight, being your brother gives me happiness
As you begin a life’s year new
Sis, I wish a very happy birthday to you."
(Yes I know I found a rhyme online because I'm lazy and boring lol)

DAWNY
Ceeci let go of Seph's hand so she could clap when James finished. "That was beautiful. You are a wonderful composer. I think we should put you in charge of all music for the wedding."
"Not happening." Seph told Ceeci with a grin. "My mom's planning for a group to come and play."


LIGHTY
James sighed. "I'm out of here. You're loveyness and wedding planning is making me sick. I'll talk to you later, Seph, yeah?"

Seph nodded. "Yeah, later." Seph let out a sigh of relief once James was out of earshot. "Ceeci! What were you thinking?" Seph asked as he turned to his companion.

DAWNY
Ceeci grinned broadly and bounced up and down on her toes happily. "You should have seen your face!" She chortled. "It was priceless. You're so cute when you blush. You're going to have fun explaining that to your friends. Maybe we can do the same thing to my parents, see if I can really confuse them!"

LIGHTY
Much to Seph's embarressment, his face started heating up again. "We are not doing this with your parents. If we did this," Seph held up their still linked hands, "in front of your parents, while your engagment is going on, things would be assumed. Bad things. Bad things that could end up with me dead at the end of your father's sword."

DAWNY
Ceeci giggled. "Don't be silly. Daddy wouldn't hurt you! He'd think it was funny. Mom might try to poison you, though." She said thoughtfully.

LIGHTY
"We are not doing this in front of your parents. End of story. Done, good, great." Seph nodded. His mind was completely made up. He wouldn't seek Ceeci out in the future. She could come to his shop if she needed him, but their relationship would be limited friendship. He wouldn't risk getting in the way of her marriage and that way her parents couldn't kill him. He also had to think about his duty to his family and the girl he had never met. Duty was important.

DAWNY
Ceeci sighed. "You're no fun," she complained. "I'm about to get married and then I will never have fun ever again," she said dramatically. "You're ruining my last few minutes of freedom."

LIGHTY
Seph nearly choked on his laughter. "Few minutes? I'm sure you've got at least a few weeks."

DAWNY
"Weeks, minutes, what's the difference?" Ceeci asked with a wave of her hand

LIGHTY
"Time. Time is the difference." Seph said smartly. They had been talking a while and it was almost time for Seph to close up shop. "Sorry, I have to sweep now." Seph took a broom from behind the counter and started sweeping the floor.

DAWNY
Ceeci perched on one of the table so she would be out of the way. "Yeah, but given a few weeks versus the rest of my life, its pretty much the same as minutes."

LIGHTY
Seph considered Ceeci's words as he swept under a table. "Yeah, but you don't know the guy. He might let you have freedom. I mean, I would."

DAWNY
Ceeci snorted derisively. "Yeah, well what are the chances that I'm going to get someone like you? I promise to give him a chance, but I'm not expecting much. A lot of the other guys I've met," she said, "I don't know, they're probably great people but..." she trailed off and shrugged.

LIGHTY
"Is he a teenager? Teenage guys are pigs. You're about... seventeen? I know you don't want someone much older, but," Seph said as he moved a chair over, "once you hit twenty, well, once you're in your early twenties, there's a different outlook on life. For guys at least. That sounds strange, right? But it's true. If he's nineteen he'll probably be an idiot, but if he's twenty one he probably is more open to different ideas. It comes with having a carreer too. If he's on his own with a solid job then he has some independance, and that's what you want. You want him to be able to do stuff on his own without help so you can have a breather. If he's worth anything he'll listen to your ideas, let you have free time and freedom, and respect you."

DAWNY
"I can hope." Ceeci shrugged. "I actually have a absolutely no idea about anything about him yet, besides that he's just a few years older than me, so probably 20 or maybe 21 and that he's 'successful' whatever that's supposed to mean. I'm 18, by the way. I'm just short."

LIGHTY
"Eh, probably has a solid and steady job. That's good, he can pay for things that you guys will need. Food, clothes, extra stuff like a bracelet or necklace for you on special occasions. Bet he isn't building a house though." Seph couldn't help but throw that comment in. His house was going to be his pride and joy.

DAWNY
Ceeci had to laugh. She shook her head. "No, I bet he isn't building his own house. My money is in him being one of Daddy's soldiers so that means he lives in the palace."

LIGHTY
"Will you be moving there then? That's weird." Seph decided. "He should at least get an apartment for you guys. It's only polite. A lady should have enough space to relax and a comfortable chair and you wouldn't get that in a soldier's room."

DAWNY
"Maybe if he's married, he would get a bigger apartment in the palace, or be allowed to live outside the barracks. I don't know." Ceeci screwed up her face. "Maybe I'll get to keep living at home? Maybe I can live here." She patted the table she was sitting in. "Right here. On this table."

LIGHTY
"Nahh you wouldn't live at home once you're married. That would be weird. Maybe he would be allowed to live outside the palace. That's the most likely. I'd let you live on that table if you weren't to be married. You're parents and husband to be would not like it." Seph told Ceeci. He didn't let any sadness over her getting married leak into his voice. He was engaged, she was engaged, end of story and done. There was no point in being sad about it. Even if they had been free there was nothing definite about them.

LIGHTY
"Eeh, they'd get used to it. Anyways, I'm not married yet and for the next few weeks I'm still a free person. Let's go do something fun and avoid everyone I know. They'll probably congratulate me or something and I'm not sure I can stand that. We can climb over the roofs and then jump in the river."
"We can go swimming in the river." Seph offered. It wasn't a smart thing for him to offer, but offer he did. "By the land I bought. It's a bit aways from most of the houses."

DAWNY
"O-kay!" Ceeci jumped off the table and smoother her skirts. "Lets go!"
LIGHTY
Seph nodded. He easily locked up the store and motioned for Ceeci to follow him. Swimming with Ceeci would go against many rules of society. He was taking a risk and so was she. Both of their reputations were at stake.

DAWNY
Ceeci followed close behind Seph, skipping slightly. She felt reckless, rebellious. Why shouldn't she have a bit of fun before she was married for good. What was the worst that could happen. Her engagement being canceled? Tragic. She felt a twinge of guilt at getting Seph involved. He was one of the nicest people she'd met in a while and normally, she wouldn't have done any of what she had done after she learned he was engaged to, but she supposed he could have said no, asked her politely to leave, that he had to clean up and go home now, and he hadn't. She was glad.