Nathan had a wide smile on his face as he finished the last bite of cake. "That was so good," he sighed.
Griffin gave him a small smile as he grabbed a napkin and wiped away chocolate that had gotten smeared on Nathan's face. "Glad to hear it, but you made a mess."
As he was cleaning up the wolf in front of him, their waitress came back. "Looks like someone enjoyed the cake," she said, laughter hidden in her tone. "Here's your check and I'll be right back." She picked up the plate and quickly retreated.
Griffin looked it over before pulling out his coin pouch. "Glad to see their prices haven't changed," he muttered as he pulled out coins. When Diane returned, he handed her the coins, "Keep the change."
Diane looked at the coins she was holding, "This is way too much!" She exclaimed.
"You deserve it. Come on, Nate," he said as he stood. Grabbing Nathan's hand, he looked back at Diane, adding, "I'm not sure if he's just having an off day, but the host that seated us should remember his manners."
Diane smiled in triumph. "I'll let the manager know."
As they exited the restaurant and began walking back toward Madam Spinner's, Nathan couldn't contain his question any longer, "Griff?"
"Yes?"
"I was wondering, where did you get your money from?"
Griffin pulled him around a large group of women that were taking up a lot of the street as he answered, "Most of it I've saved over the years. Living off the land doesn't cost much, and whenever I ended up with more than I needed, I sold it."
Nathan nodded at the logic before a thought crossed his mind. "If you sell stuff you don't need, why did you have clothes from when you were younger?"
Griffin's face flushed at the reminder. "Uh… well… I do sell furs and other things I acquire but stuff I've owned for years, it feels weird to get rid of them."
Kael's voice came across the bond, talking to both of them, [Trust me, little wolf. I've been trying to get him to get rid of stuff. At least his hoarding tendencies came in handy for once, but it's ridiculous how much stuff he still has.]
Griffin groaned as Nathan chuckled.
[Maybe we could help,] Axel chimed in. [If you're not looking, maybe it'll be easier to get rid of things.]
"Yeah," Nathan added. "Axel and I could go through your stuff. Anything we're not sure whether to keep or get rid of, we'll ask Kael. He'll know what's valuable or sentimental to you and what's junk."
Griffin had never wished he was able to glare at Kael as much as he did right then. He sighed, "Are you sure?"
Nathan beamed up at him, "Absolutely!"
Griffin groaned in defeat. "Alright, fine. If you really want to, you can go through my storage."
Nathan threw up his hands in victory, "Yay! It'll be fun." Nathan was in a good mood for the rest of their time in town.
Purchases in hand, they made their way back to the town's gates where they encountered the same guard from earlier.
"Names?" He asked, bored.
Nathan responded faster than Griffin, "Nathan Esmeray and Griffin DeLuca."
The guard checked his list, crossing off their names. "Thank you. Enjoy the rest of your day."
Griffin watched the small wolf walking in front of him, proud of him.