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Jeremiah chuckled. "I see. I usually see Amalirahc with his parents and his aunt and uncle, and I have to admit I do hear a lot of talk about different places, though I do admit they don't speak Common Elvish when they're in here, so I feel a bit guilty listening to them."

Amalirahc beamed at Jeremiah. "You know the Common Tongue too?" he asked eagerly.

The tanner laughed. "Indeed, I do. And High Elven. I find that it's handy to learn different languages when you have to deal with different countries for your work. And it makes traveling easier, as well."

"Well, once in a while, I need to travel for my work," Jeremiah explained. "So while I don't travel often, I do from time to time. So far I've gone alone, though I was considering taking Jess with me the next time I go. Jasta ... well, I don't think she could handle much travel, not beyond the nearest town anyways, and my wife, Jacinthe, minds the shop when I'm gone."

"Where do you go?" River asked curiously.

Jeremiah smiled. "Here and there. Mostly towns and villages here in the Westland, though I've once been to the Eastland, and a few times to the Southland. I don't like those trips much, though, I don't like to leave my family for that long."

"Ever been to the Borderlands?" Amalirahc spoke up eagerly. Some of his favourite people lived there, including his great-grandparents, and he was wondering if Jeremiah might ever have met them.

But the tanner shook his head. "No. There's no economy there for me to do business with."

Jeremiah didn't know the answer to that one exactly, and he looked to Halmir for help.

Halmir smiled at Miyuki. "Not exactly. At Haven, we do need to trade with towns and such to get some things that are necessary, like sugar, tools, nails, harnesses, brushes, salt ... a lot of things, really. But to get those things, we trade horses and we buy with gold. In Haven itself, however, we don't buy and sell things - that's what an economy is, buying and selling. It's a business, we work and are paid, and buy from other places what we need. We don't have artisans and craftsmen and the like."

"And since there's no tanner or jeweler or whatever that sell things, they don't need guild masters to come and check on them?" River asked to clarify.

Halmir nodded. "The only time people from here come to Haven is when it's tax time, and they need to check what we have to see how much we need to pay."

Before Halmir could begin his explanation, River looked up at him and said quickly, "I'm going to look around for something for Mama and Papa."

As she headed off to look at everything on display, Halmir explained for Miyuki.

"When we buy an item from a shop, we pay the owner of the shop," he began. "When we receive a service - such as a guard, someone to guide us, or whatever, we pay the person who supplies the service for us. Now, when we think about it, the King and Queen supply all kinds of services for us - they make sure that the city is taken care of, that the streets are kept in good shape, that we have an army to protect us, that there are people like guild masters and border control to make sure the economy runs smoothly and the peoples' businesses can flourish ... and that's just a small bit of what they do. They really do so much more. Like your father, he helps with relations between other countries and makes maps and so on. Anyways, that all needs to be paid for - the army needs to be paid, the workers, the supplies need to be paid for ... so every year, they collect taxes, which is a percentage of the money that we've earned in the year, or grown, or produced, or whatever form it might take. It's our payment to them to keep things running."

A long and yet brief explanation that he hoped would make sense for her.

Halmir chuckled softly. "Good."

He turned to Jeremiah. "By the way, did your children mention when they returned today that your family is invited to dine with us at the palace?"

Jeremiah nodded. "Though I must admit, it was hard to believe," he admitted.

Halmir chuckled. "It's quite true. The children were quite excited to have their friends visit. Their Majesties have extended an invitation to you and your family to join us at the palace for dinner at your convenience. They ask only at least a day's advance knowledge so that they can have things prepared."

The tanner smiled and bowed low. "Then we gratefully and humbly accept. I will speak with my wife about a suitable date."

"But don't wait too long!" Amalirahc blurted, eavesdropping on the conversation. "We'll probably only be here for another week!"

Amalirahc stared at Miyuki. "We don't usually stay anywhere longer than two weeks," he pointed out to her.

Halmir put one hand on Amalirahc's shoulder. "That is true, but I think, considering the circumstances, we might stay longer," he suggested. "After all, I'm not certain that the tailor can finish all of the clothes we asked him to make in just two weeks. Especially with the dress that River ordered."

It was a complicated one - not that he knew much about dresses, considering he had never seen his wife in one.

"Only because Mama says my pants aren't nice enough for a palace banquet!" Amalirahc protested.

"Hold on a moment," Halmir interrupted, cutting Amalirahc off. "My wife is getting a dress?"

No matter how he tried, he couldn't imagine his wife in a dress. In their years together, he had never seen her in a dress, never heard her talk about one, nothing.

"Is it so strange that she would have a dress for a palace banquet?" Jeremiah asked, not understanding Halmir's reaction.

"If you knew her, you would understand," Halmir replied. "We're both fighters - former soldiers, and she was one of the Home Guard of the Southland. For the past ... well, nearly a century now ... we've been fighters and guardians of the ranch. It is not in her blood to dress up."

Halmir chuckled at Miyuki. "Your mother is quite different from my wife, Miyuki. You don't know her as well as I do, and it would be quite difficult to explain."

"Master Jeremiah!" River called from the other side of the shop, looking intently at one of the displays. It was a shelf with a few leather balls on it, the same kind that Jess always brought to the football field with him, a patchwork of hexagons and pentagons. But while Jess's ball was a simple brown, the natural colour of leather, these ones had been decorated with stamps and dyes to give them a variety of looks. "Did you make these?"

Jeremiah smiled and moved to join her by the display. "Yes. Do you like them?"

It certainly explained why the boys liked to play with Jess's ball the best, if his father had made it, and was the best leather smith in the city (or country if one listened to Amalirahc).

River nodded, smiling softly as she gazed at the game balls. "They're really nice ..."

Jeremiah smiled warmly. "Jasta was the one who dyed them. She loves leather, but it annoys her that it's always the same colours." He watched her for a moment, then asked her, "Would you like to buy one?"

"Oh, no!" River exclaimed, perhaps a little too hastily, blushing as she stood straight and put her hands behind her back. "I- I mean, I would, but- but I'm looking for gifts for my parents, not for something for me."

Jeremiah chuckled softly. "I see."

Amalirahc was over at the other wall. "Hey River, didn't you say your papa would like some new bracers?" he called to her, pointing at a display of bracers on the wall.