Rowan walked through the streets of Orynth praying to gods that no longer existed that he could find a jeweler. It was Aelin's birthday tomorrow and most of her gifts were already done as was the preparation for her party that could been done today. Now all he had to do was get their rings engraved. As much as Aelin loved the rings she had pilfered from the barrow-wight she had commented earlier on how much better they would look if they were engraved. So this morning he had asked her for her ring. Granted it wouldn't be much of a surprise but she still didn't know how he was going to get them personalized for them.

He was dressed in a hood and unassuming clothes. Certainly not clothes suited for a King, but if he tried to go into the city without the hood he would be instantly surrounded and never get anything done. So far all of the jewelers he had been to either couldn't do what he wanted or had made a huge deal out of him being King. That got rather annoying rather quick. He wasn't used to that much attention. Even before when he was just a warrior people only looked at with fear in their eyes before giving him a wide birth. Now people were only giving him a wide birth because even if no one recognized him he was still a tall and imposing figure. Then he saw a small shop with various knives, swords, and jewelry on display. A sign boasted hand-crafted weaponry and jewelry. A Fae female was sitting comfortably in a chair with her feet propped up on a stool reading a book. She looked up as he got closer, "Can I help you," she asked.

"Do you do engravings?" He asked.

She stood and put her book down on the chair, he was surprised at how tall she was, only a few inches shorter than him. "It depends on what I'm engraving."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the rings and put them in her waiting palm. She turned them both over in her hand and examined them. "What do you want engraved?"

Out of his other pocket he pulled out the paper on which he had written what he wanted done. He wanted their names carved on the rings in both the common tongue and in the old language. She took the paper and looked at it then back at the rings still in her hand. She didn't even seem surprised at the names on the paper. "When do you need this finished by?"

"The end of today."

She paused at that, "I can't do this in one day." Of course she couldn't.

"Why not?" Rowan snapped tired of things not going his way today.

Not even a blink at his sharp tone, which he had to give her credit for. "When you engrave something onto metal it heats up and becomes too malleable to work with especially gold. You have to take time between each carving to let the metal cool or it will lose its shape. What you want written would take too long to cool. Especially because you want carvings on the inside and outside."

He sighed and rubbed his face with his hand. Then she put the rings down on the counter between them and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. "I can, however, do your initials."

Rowan watched her write out the letters AAWG in the common tongue in rather beautiful script then the same, but in the old language. Then she wrote out RWG the same way. "Common tongue on the outside old language on the inside?"

"Yes."

She nodded and picked up the two rings and the piece of paper, "They'll be done in three and a half hours." Then she disappeared behind a curtain to what he assumed was a work shop. He stood there for a minute or two before her voice drifted back to him, "If you're going to wait here the entire time I have some books you can read."

Rowan huffed in annoyance and turned on his heel before saying, "I'll be back to pick them up in three and a half hours."

He swore he heard a slight chuckle from behind the curtain as he walked away.

After he left he went and ate lunch. Then walked around for the remaining time making sure to buy some hazel nut chocolates for Aelin. An apology just in case the rings got f*cked up. Which he doubted considering the skill he'd seen in the other items on display.

When he went back to the shop there was another person buying a wickedly curved knife. He picked one of the daggers on display and held it up testing the balance and weight; just another customer. The blade itself was sharp, with a good balance and weight, not to mention the craftsmanship of the handle. Simple but beautiful and still useful in a fight or battle. The other customer left with the knife wrapped in a package and he set down the dagger before walking up to her. She slipped the money from the previous sale into a drawer and walked back behind the curtain without looking at him.

When she came back she had both rings and handed them to him. "Satisfied?"

Rowan examined his ring first both carvings were done beautifully. The same with Aelin's, but on the other side of the emerald was a small intricate engraving of a stag. He looked up at her and she raised both brows in question leaning her hip on the counter arms crossed. "They're beautiful," he admitted. He slipped both rings in his pocket and asked, "How much do I owe you?"

She tilted her head to the side and named her price. Now he was no jeweler but he knew she was under charging him. "You're under charging me." Not a question.

"I am."

"Why?" If it was because he was King then he was going to be rather annoyed. After all she hadn't made big deal about him being King yet. Why would she now?

She read the word in his eyes, "No it's not because you're King. It's because of what you and Aelin both risked and sacrificed to save Terrasen."

Rowan cocked his head to the side and looked at her more closely. From the accent she was certainly from Terrasen. She just kept looking at him. Then he put it together. "You're one of the Lost Fae of Terrasen that Aelin called during the last battle."

"I am, but thanks to Aelin I think we're content to just be called the Fae of Terrasen."

He nodded and paid what she asked for before turning away. Then he turned back and asked, "What's your name?"

"Arklynn," was the response.

Rowan nodded again and said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Arklynn replied and he walked away.

Later that night when he was in their bed chambers, he pulled out the rings again and looked at them in the dying firelight. Aelin came out of the bathroom and walked over to him. "Are those the rings?"

He nodded and handed them to her before pulling her smoothly into his lap. "Happy early birthday Aelin."

She smiled at him and examined the rings. "They're beautiful," she said softly and slipped the larger ring onto his finger. Then she looked more closely on the stag on her ring. "The Lord of the North," she said then looked at him, "the craftsmanship on this is beautiful. Did you design this?"

"No the jeweler did."

"Well I have to say that this is impressive."

"She also had a rather impressive collection of hand crafted weapons."

Aelin grinned and slipped the ring on her finger before kissing him. "Hmm well now I know where I'm going to buy most of the gifts for this Yulemas."

Rowan laughed at that, "Glad I could help," and kissed her again.