At first, the morning had seemed like any other to Olivia. Her muscles were sore and her head was aching from sleeping on the money she had made dancing the night before. Her husband, Gregor, hadn't been working as a sellsword for several months. He didn't bring up the topic with Olivia, but she noticed the way his hands had shook for those weeks after the war with Grima was over. She knew he needed time to recover, and relaxing in Regna Ferox was probably the best thing for him. This, however, didn't magically get rid of their money problems, and so she had taken to dancing at night to make ends meet.

The door to the bedroom slammed open, and Olivia was quick to get to her feet, a dagger in her hand as Gregor came into the room with a crate on his shoulder. Olivia grew concerned when she noticed his furious expression.

"Gregor," she asked as she moved out of her combat stance, "what's wrong?"

"Gregor knows you've been dancing extra to make ends meet," was her husband's simple reply.

Olivia's shoulders hunched together. Was he mad at her for doing this behind his back.

"Gregor apologizes, Olivia," he said with a grave seriousness Olivia didn't often see. "He didn't know that our finances had been in such bad repair. So, Gregor went and took out a small group of bandits." And with that statement, the sellsword tossed down the crate he had been carrying, where the top fell off revealing that is was filled to the brim with money.

Olivia's brow furrowed. "Wait, Gregor, when did you have time to fight these bandits? You were still in bed when I came home last night."

Gregor looked affronted. "Gregor didn't need more than 4 hours to take out a group like that. There were only 60 of them."

Olivia's hands immediately started flailing as she rushed over to her husband to check for injuries. "60?! Gregor! You could've been hurt."

"Olivia," Gregor said as he gently cupped his bride's face in his large hands, "Gregor knows that he hasn't been the best husband he could be to you following war with giant dragon, and for that he is willing to be apologizing to you forever. But never doubt the strength of his sword arm when he has you to go back home to. You are his river, and he will always long to return to your curves."

"Gregor!" Olivia said, slapping her hand on his chest before letting the big man engulf her in a hug. Face crimson, she mumbled into his chest, "you were almost romantic until you mentioned my curves."

Gregor smiled. "Well, they are nice curves." He laughed as he received another half-hearted swat on the chest from his wife. "But Gregor does wish Olivia to know this: marriage is a partnership, so Olivia never need to be worrying about bothering him when it comes to even the smallest details. Gregor is willing and able to listen to Olivia forever."

"Even if I start to nag?" Olivia asked as she relaxed further into her husband's embrace.

"Gregor would be luckiest man on the planet to bear the brunt of your nagging, Olivia. Now," he said as he picked up Olivia in a bridal style carry, "as Gregor is sure he has enough money for at least 2 weeks of living, he is going to be making sure that his river gets a well deserved rest for as many days as she likes."

"Gregor, that much will last us for months!"

"Gregor is starting to realize that perhaps his wife is much better than him at managing money."