It was remarkable, how much could happen in two days. What little peace Anastolyr had thought he might be able to enjoy was shattered in a matter of mere hours. By the time he had arrived back into the castle, his kin's temper tantrum was in full swing. Ana still did not understand what exactly had caused it, but if he was being honest, it need not have been much.
Life was stressful enough, however, without having to resort to very firm words to keep the peace, especially since that peace was the least the elves could do for such hospitable hosts. It would have been a grave insult to let things carry on. Once it was done, however, Ana was left with the unenviable task of dealing with his own thoughts.
Segari had thought him a lady. In retrospect, Ana should have realized it sooner. It had been a hard lesson to understand how humans treated one another and all their little customs, but still certain things had fallen through the cracks. Like how it was not terribly common for a man to talk about how pretty another man was, or be bashful around his bare skin, or offer his arm.
Which was... more than a little embarrassing for Ana. He hadn't realized, and had incidentally allowed Segari to carry on behaving as if he were, in fact, a fine lady and not just a wordsmith from the north. The embarrassment was only underlined when Ana finally had a chance to sort through his belongings, to discover that Segari had not used any of the coins Ana had given him for the stew, but rather had returned it all in full to the elf without him realizing it.
Which was, from what Ana understood of the culture, very gentlemanly. But Ana was not a fine lady. Unwittingly or not, he'd taken advantage of the giant's kindness, and that was not something that he could stand by and allow to remain unresolved.
And so, two days later, Ana found himself headed back into the market district and to the bazaar. It had taken him a bit longer to decide on what to wear, as his robes had probably not assisted matters for the giant and been far to reminiscent of the... dresses? That was the word. The dresses that ladies wore.
He had to borrow a tunic from one of his kin, leaving his own longer clothing behind save for another pair of trousers. The shirt itself was a bit overlong, still, but decidedly less dress-like than his robes had been. Lest he be robbed yet again, he also forewent his usual satchel, instead keeping the coins he intended to repay Segari with tucked inside of his shirt.
He'd already purchased two of the crabapples from the stall, those similarly tucked away while he waited in the market for a much, much taller man with much, much brighter hair than anyone around. Assuming, of course, that Segari had not taken insult to the unintentional ruse and had decided against coming.
Ana's stomach did a small roll at the idea and twisted into a knot for good measure. He hated the thought of leaving such a poor impression.