Serrif nodded a little measuring out her payment of a hundred and eighty gold rimmed mizas. He stacked the coins in units of twenty high. He knew nine stacks would be the payment and when he measured it out and surveyed what he was paying the price actually hit him. It was a steep price for him but he knew if she was asking that for payment then she had indeed made something of master level craftsmanship for him. He then headed out to the temple to get his hands dressed a little. There were a few people about and he got some ointment put on them that helped with the pain. That was really all he needed, he was told not to do any more tedious activities. But he knew he would be breaking that rule here soon, because he knew he would have to feel those blades in his hands. He wanted to feel the wonderful craftsmanship in his hands, especially since he had just paid a sizable amount of coin for them. But custom masterwork didn’t come cheap, and he knew he would be floored by the ornateness of the weapons. He wondered if they would be more works of art than weapons.
The herbalist tended to his wounds tenderly and then nodded telling him he could go. It hadn’t been an hour yet but being there early couldn’t hurt. He walked back to the Heart of Steel and he could tell by the position of the moon that the sun wasn’t too far behind. He had been up the entire night now. And still he didn’t feel tired. He felt anxious. He wanted to know what she had prepared for him. She had been working tirelessly on the craft. He could only imagine that it was going to be something completely awe inspiring. He entered the shop again and then took to browsing the wares. He knew he had other things he needed to get as well. He was leaving Mura and going out into the world. He knew he needed some armor of some kind. But he had never trained with armor before now. So he knew that he would need a light armor. Maybe leather? He walked the shelves a little and found a rather large studded leather chest piece with the back as well.
But as he felt it he started to have second guesses about it. It was thin and frail, likely not offering much in the way of protection. It wouldn’t really do much against anything and well if he needed armor he would indeed need something that would offer him more protection than this. When he needed armor he would need it to be protecting him a little more than this simple studded leather. Setting the leather back on the shelf he then continued down the shelves, K’Sien was still busy doing the last touches on the daggers so he had time. He caught a body of scale mail, it had a back and front. He picked it up and felt it in his hands. It was much better in the ways of protection. But alone it wasn’t enough. There on the shelf next to it was a back and breastplate. That could easily be worn over the scale mail and profide extra protection. But that still left his arms exposed. He knew he didn’t want them to get too cut up if he could avoid it. He had already set his mind on the scale mail, but what about his arms? He looked and there on the bottom were gauntlets. He bent down and touched one, by the feeling they were cold iron, that was good because it would offer him protection from steel weapons and most anything except Isurian steel weapons; which weren’t that common. The looked to be the right size for his arms, the may not be exact but they would likely be close enough.
He picked them up and strapped them to his arms. They were even toothed he wondered what the purpose of that was. He ran through his mind and eventually came to the conclusion that they would catch blades for him and maybe even let him use the little teeth as weapons. That would be good, and allow for an adequate amount of protection when paired with the scale mail. He nodded approving of his choices but he also knew he had no idea on price. He thought somewhere near a hundred and thirty mizas would be good. He perused the store a little more and near the bows he found a very interesting quiver. It was a little bigger than a normal quiver and had a covered top. He picked it up and opened the straps holding the top on. Inside on the bottom was a somewhat soft cork bottom. He figured it could hold around a good sixty or so arrows. There were also all kinds of straps on it to help secure it to the wearer. That was kind of interesting. He figured it would be good to have if he was running and still needed to put arrows on target. It would keep them from falling out and scattering all about the place. He figured about fifty gold mizas would be fair for the quiver.
He set the cold iron toothed gauntlets, scale mail, back and breast plate and climbers quiver on the table. He figured she would tell him prices or he would suggest them when it looked like she got a spare moment. But for now he heard…nothing. She had stopped crafting. That meant in mere moments he would see what he had gotten for his coin. He was anxious as he waited. As she emerged from the back room he could see her eyes were alight. He was astonished really as she presented the daggers to him. He couldn’t believe the craftsmanship she had done. He just could hardly fathom that the daggers would look this ornate. Then she presented him with the matching scabbards that only helped to accentuate the weapons more. The scabbards were white and decorated with gold inlays and such. There was also another larger scabbard meant for a gladius as well. She had taken it upon herself to craft the scabbard? Or did she have it laying around? He couldn’t be sure. There was also a weapon harness. That was something he would’ve been buying eventually anyway and now he had a finely crafted one. This was going very well for him. He observed all the belts and such on it so that it could be tuned to his body better. It seemed that it could fit all his weapons and more, and with the several belts on it the harness could be tweaked to fit his body no matter what armor he wore.
He set the daggers on the weapon harness and then put his arm through the two loops of the harness. He felt the leather straps on his body and well it fit well. It seemed she was pretty good at memorizing things that she only saw for a short period of time. He adjusted one of the straps slightly and put the loops at the end of the front of the harness in his belt. That held the daggers hilt down on his chest where they could be easily accessed. That was nice and well he could eventually draw down both daggers at once if he ever learned to wield them both at the same time… He stretched and moved around some. The harness didn’t bind at all on his body. It was indeed perfectly made for him. It was about now that she spoke about the only other item she had ever left unfinished. He watched intently as she carried down a rather medium sized box from the shelf.
She spoke of a member of the Coglias clan. She spoke of this Albion of the Coglias clan quite highly almost like they were lovers. He supposed that was possible. But the weapon she handed him was….extraordinary even if it was unfinished. It had an ornate handle and seemed to be made of cold iron, it also had a very ornate sword guard and sword catcher. It also had a serrated edge on it. He noted that there was wording engraved in it that spelled out “Abase”. He wasn’t sure but he knew if the blade was ever finished it would be priceless. He would have to take good care of it. He didn’t know if he would ever find anyone of the Coglias clan to give the blade back to. But for now it was in his care. And he planned to keep it well.
Before she went back into the backroom he laid out payment for the climbers quiver, cold iron toothed gauntlets, and the back and front pieces for the scale mail. He laid out exactly another hundred and eighty mizas for the items and then she walked back to the backroom and composed himself. He was worried about her but he knew there really wasn’t anything he could do about it. She was going to gather herself and well there was nothing he could say or do to help her. So he instead went to practice with his new daggers. There was a clearing sparring area in the middle of the house and he stepped inside the area and then readied himself.
With the way the harness sat on his body the daggers would have to be drawn downwards from the opposite hand. So he reached up and felt the ornate handle of the dagger on the left side of his body with his right hand. He with a flick of his thumb released the leather strap that held the dagger in place and pulled the dagger gently from its scabbard. He could feel just how wonderful the dagger was in his hand quite easily. The spiraled handle fit his hand perfectly without a lot of slack on either side. She had obviously measured his hand perfectly. It looked perfectly sized in his hand even with the seven inch blade. He turned his hand over and looked at the ornate pictures in the blade. This one had the Opal Temple and Rak’keli’s tower in it. Absolutely wonderful crafts. He felt it in his hand and it indeed felt perfect, even though his hands were still burning some from the cuts on them the dagger felt perfect…It was obvious he had gotten exactly what he had paid for here.
He practiced some lunges and stabs against invisible targets. It was obvious that this was a very deadly stabbing weapon by the way the daggers blade came to a very fine sharp tip. He knew with the right amount of pressure it would be able to power through flesh and likely leather armor as well. He practiced his footing some as well; he didn’t understand much about daggers. But he knew that one day he would be able to wield them effectively, and that time might be coming a little sooner than he first expected. It seemed that he would be working on these daggers with whatever Mistress Ildin had set him up with now.
He practiced some lateral slices against more invisible opponents and he was beginning to see just how dangerous these daggers could be when wielded in the right hands. And the right hands would be his hands when he trained enough. He would learn to use these wonderful works of art to defend himself. He was sure he could learn this at the Suvai Pavilion. But for now he was going to practice a few more lunges and stabs. Again his mind was fixated with the fact that these well forged blades could easily bite through bone and flesh alike. They would be dangerous and he would have to learn how to use them effectively of he could end up injuring himself instead of his enemy. Eventually K’sien came out to watch Serrif and he smiled to her.
“I found a few more items I wish to purchase from you. The scale mail, gauntlets, and quiver. I think one hundred and eighty Mizas is fair payment.” He said as she nodded her head and scooped the gold into a leather pouch. Today had been a good day for her business wise.
He walked to the counter and spoke to her again.
“Would it be possible to coat these items in a white anything? I could pay for it of course name your price.”K’sien pondered for a few moments. She did have some kind of white powder treatment that she could bake onto the armor and it would hold up a little better than just simple paint.
“I could do the gauntlets, and armor for an extra sixteen Mizas if you want.” Serrif nodded and handed her sixteen mizas. She then took the items and went into the back room to do the procedure. She mixed a white powder in a specialized water mixture and then heated it up slightly. She then heated the scale mail up a little and then dipped it into the bath gently. The white film coated the platelets evenly and smoothly creating a smooth surface that was pure white. The mixture dried quickly on the surfaces and she then dipped the back of the scale mail in as well. She then submerged each piece of the breastplate front and back into the mixture, it came out well too. She waited for the mixture to dry on the armor and she then moved to the gauntlets. She carefully submerged them and then withdrew them when she believed they were finished, again they had an even white film on them that was slick to the touch but definitely fixed on the surface of the metal. She let the metal settle some and she then nodded and brought the finished items out again laying them on the table. Morning was almost here and he would need to get going if he was to make it in time.
Serrif was in the ring practicing some more. He wasn’t going to be caught off guard by his new Mistress in the Suvai Pavilion. He wanted to prove to her that he was worth her time to teach. After all Ildin had set him up with this and he had no idea what she had told his new Mistress. But he knew whomever she was that she was going to test him likely just like Ildin had. It seemed teachers here had a tendency to really push people’s boundaries so they found out who they really were. He was finding out more about himself this way than he could ever imagine. And he was also finding out that boundaries were just lies constructed by people who couldn’t endure. Pain was really the only boundary most people faced, and if they could confront it and push past it they could be better people for it. Maybe even reach farther than they thought possible.
Serrif looked over at the work K’sien had done with a smile. It was indeed just what he was looking for. He walked over and felt it all. Wonderful, just wonderful...she did to great work. And he felt safe hanging his life on her craftsmanship. Serrif nodded and then put all of the extra items in his backpack. In all it had been a very productive day for him. He had accomplished much and well had gotten the first few items he needed to get. He had armor, weapons, and a quiver. There weren’t many more items on his list now but he knew that he would be making a few more shopping trips before it was all over.
This is almost wrapped up.
. Hope you had fun.