Simon was surprised by the sudden tug on his arm, but he did nothing to move away. The ruse was simple enough to figure out. Lilia was attempting to suggest they were a couple, and that would set away the suspicions. Well, it might have worked if their attire matched even remotely. But what would be worse was if he tried to shake her away, with both of them so clearly in view of the farmer. And so Simon's fingers curled onto the front of his shirt with a bend of his elbow, so that she had a little nook to rest her hand at. And then they waited. And in the end, nothing. They had made with, with the help or despite the attempt to cover up the tracks, now that he could not know.<br/><br/>He let out a somewhat shaky breath with Lilia, the tension flowing out of him from all the nooks and crannies it had stored itself into just now. Well, at least it felt like it to him. He was sure there was some of it lurking beneath everything still, but at least that was the first obstacle of the journey down. Strangely enough, it wasn't until she mentioned the unfairness of the world towards Simon and others of irregular disposition that she released his arm, and this made Simon aware of the fact that she had still been holding on to him. After the initial idea, he hadn't really thought about it at all. But it wasn't anything strange, was it? They were so old friends that it could easily feel natural to do something like that. To walk arm in arm. Hm, okay, perhaps that might be a little weird. If one considered them as nothing but friends still. Now wasn't that quite the thought? Simon refrained from running along with the idea that popped in his head, as there were much more important things to be discussing here now. Such as the purchase of a boat.<br/><br/>All that she said sounded sensible to Simon, and so he gave her a nod. "I will be skulking away in the woods. Been there, done that. Should not have, but you know me. I knew the skills would come in handy in something else than getting myself into trouble", he smirked, remembering how Cassandra had a habit of schooling him about being careful every time he returned late via the woods as the sun had risen too high for the other routes. His mother was right about that of course, but as Simon had suggested right now the merits of that training came in handy.<br/><br/>With the aquatic creature dressed in man's clothing vanishing into the wood, heading towards the river at an angle, the task was left into the hands of Lilia. To her luck, a fisherman was indeed present at the dock, repairing a net that was still partially on a drying rack, dry as it might look. With her approach, he turned to look at her from the corner of his eye, turned back to his work and then immediately took a double take. Yes, this was a newcomer. In very unusual clothes for the locale to boot. He couldn't help but wonder if there was something foul afoot, but soon he had something else to consider as the request came in. The woman wanted a boat. Well, sure, he could sell if one paid a fair price. Thing was, he needed that boat to earn his living. So his definition of fair might not apply to those that were looking to buy it.<br/><br/>A boat like that, if one knew the listings, could be bought for around two sharps, the circular coins that were mostly used by soldiers who received their pay in them (hence the name), merchants and nobles. But then again, a fisherman might earn a fair few 'gons per day, those hexagonal coins minted with a hole in the middle that traded fifty to one with the sharps, and for all the time he did not have his boat he was severely impaired in that regard. Slabs, the lowest form of currency never even came to be mentioned in the conversation, given tenths of a gon weren't really relevant in the purchase of a fisher's row boat. The negotiations begun at four sharps, and this boat wasn't even new. Important to his livelihood as it may be, that was much too steep an asking price, and it would be downright ridiculous to accept it right off the bat. The pair bartered for a time, but eventually the bill would settle down at three sharps with two or three gons thrown down as extra if the fancy city woman didn't want the man to be telling tales about the strange lady. Completely optional an expenditure, naturally. But had Simon been there, he would have readily advised her to take it if she hesitated.<br/><br/>Once the purchase was completed and Lilia set off downstream, she would be greeted by Simon's sudden emergence from nearby bush and a quick leap onto a nearby rock by the male. "Seems it went well. How much was it? I'm sure he tried to rip you off for being city folk", he asked her with honest curiosity, dropping into the boat once it got close enough or following her back to the shore if she preferred to do it that way. "I would have waited for you in the water, but then I would have had to go through the trouble of carrying my clothes separately", he whined about the difficulties of the situation, but it wasn't anything he really expected an answer to. It was just him moaning the fact he couldn't just soak in the river all day.