Griffin held the shaking wolf close to his chest as he reached a secluded area.
"I'm sorry," Nathan muttered.
"It's alright. I know you're shaken up but we need to wait till we get home to discuss this further. Okay?"
Nathan took several deep breaths before he could pull back from Griffin's chest. "Okay," he whispered.
Griffin patted and rubbed his back before setting him on his feet. Grabbing Nathan's hand, Griffin quietly guided him towards the market.
Much to his relief, Nathan relaxed as they entered the lively space. Griffin hung back, letting Nathan explore to his heart's content without ever letting go of his hand. Nathan moved from stall to stall, checking out everything there was for sale. Spices, jewelry, armor, weapons, pastries, cooking utensils, camping supplies; one after another each stall different.
After giving Nathan a fair amount of time to explore, Griffin led him to a store front in the middle of the market. In the display windows were manakins displaying dresses, cloaks and suits. "Let's start here."
As they entered the building, a small bell above the door signaled their arrival.
"Coming," a voice called from the back. A robust woman came out from the back room a moment later. "Welcome dear customers to Madam Spinner's, where comfort is spun into elegance. My name is Maggie. How may I assist you today?"
The woman smiled warmly at the two in front of her.
Griffin smiled as he replied, "My mate needs new clothes, for both summer and winter. We live in the mountains north of here."
Maggie's hand shot up to cover her mouth. "Oh dear, that is a distance from here. I'll have to make sure you're covered for the seasons." She enthusiastically turned toward Nathan, causing him to take an involuntary step back. Before he could react, she lunged for him, grabbing his wrist and pulling him to a raised platform.
"Let's take your measurements, dear."
Nathan looked back at Griffin, his eyes pleading for help. Unfortunately, Griffin had moved to browse through the clothes that were already made.
Maggie forced Nathan into position, moving him around, measuring something, writing it down and moving onto the next.
"You are a small one aren't you?" she asked. "I'm not saying it's a bad thing! Just unusual for a dragon's mate!" Maggie quickly clarified at the gloomy expression that crossed Nathan's face.
At the words, 'dragon's mate,' Griffin made his way over to them. "You know I'm a dragon? How?"
Maggie gave him a look like he was an idiot. "Your eyes, dear. Even other species with green eyes don't have eyes that gleam the way a dragon's does. Can't say I'm sure about your lovely mate though. Fairies are the only ones I know of that have purple eyes, but I've never known them to mate outside their race."
She leaned in closer to Nathan's face, "Are you rebelling against your family, dear?"
Griffin cleared his throat, pulling Maggie's attention back to himself. "I believe we came here to get some clothes."
Maggie, thankfully, took the hint and backed off. "Of course. Now, did you find something you liked from the ready made clothes or were you looking to get something fully customed?"
Griffin pulled several clothes off the racks they were hanging on. "These will do great. Are you able to tailor them to fit him perfectly?"
Maggie scoffed at him, "Of course. Is there anything else you'd like?"
"Actually yes. If I sketched it out would you be able to make him a custom coat? If so, how long would it take?"
"I can make it. The time is hard to guess until I know what it looks like and what it's made out of."
Grabbing her sketch book and pencil, Maggie handed them to the dragon. Griffin spent several minutes drawing out what he wanted the coat to look like, making sure Nathan couldn't see what he was drawing.