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Andarien grinned. He liked surprises. And speaking of which, he was glad to see that Kaito had arrived safely.

"Hey Kaito, when did you come?" he asked cheerfully.

Kaito set his bag on the floor. "Just now," he replied. "Saw Miyuki and Lin from the air and went straight to them, and Miyuki brought me here."

"Hey, does that mean you got the fan you wanted?" Andarien asked Miyuki eagerly.

"Speaking of which, did you want to see what I brought for you?" Kaito asked Andarien, holding his bag up and ready to open.

Andarien set his jaw and nodded. He was fighting between excitement and dread, and it was clear from the look on his face. He shifted slightly, rubbing his hands together to keep from fidgeting too much.

Kaito grinned and set his bag on the floor and knelt next to it. Carefully, he opened the clasp, pulled back the flap, and reached inside. He had to rummage around a bit before he found what he was looking for, but then he slowly pulled out two long packages, one wrapped in violet and gold cloth and gold cord, the other wrapped in a simple white cloth with a plain brown length of rope.

"Open this one first," he said, laying down the violet and gold package and passing the white package to Andarien.

Andarien laid the package across his lap and pulled on the rope. The knot fell away easily, and he opened the cloth. Inside were two wooden bokken, very similar to River's. One was long, like hers, and the other was smaller, a little less than half the size of the larger one. Both were in wooden sheaths, both of which had ties with which Andarien could tie them to his waist.

Andarien hesitated a moment before pulling the smaller bokken from its sheath. It slid out easily, and Andarien held it in his hand for a moment in silence.

"It's kind of heavy," he said after a moment, surprised by the weight of the wooden blade.

Andarien held the sword out in front of him. It felt awkward in his hand, and Kaito grinned at the way he held it, but he kept silent.

"It's weird," Andarien decided finally. "I don't think I've seen a sword with only one sharp edge before."

"You haven't seen River's?" Kaito questioned.

Andarien blinked. "She has one?"

"Huh." Andarien looked back at the short wooden sword in his hand and put it awkwardly back in its sheath. "Maybe if Kaito makes me too mad, River can give me lessons instead," he mused.

Kaito laughed. "Yeah, if you can tear her away from Jess," he grinned. "Anyways, put that away and check out the real thing."

He waited until Andarien had put the first two swords onto the bed, then passed him the violet and gold wrapped package.

"Wow, soft cloth," Andarien breathed. He pulled on one of the golden tassels and peeled back the cloth, revealing two sheathed Japanese-style blades. They were the same size as the wooden ones, and shaped the same, but when Andarien pulled the smaller one from its sheath the metal it was made of reflected a multitude of colours in the light from the window.

"Be careful with that," Kaito warned Andarien. "That blade is sharp enough to slice through just about anything. Especially fingers."

Andarien paled, and before he even finished taking the sword from its sheath, he slid it back in and retied the rope that had kept it in place.

Andarien hesitated and wrapped the two swords back in their cloth before answering Miyuki.

"Well ... they're shiny," he admitted, "but ... I guess we'll see if I can do anything with them."

"Trust me," Kaito promised Andarien, "with me teaching you, you'll be able to use them. Maybe not both at the same time, but I'll get you proficient with at least the katana."

Andarien blinked. "Which one's that?"

Kaito grinned. "The longer one. The shorter one is called a wakizashi. Together, they are daishō. And while it'd be great if someday you can use the real ones, the wooden ones are pretty dangerous on their own, especially with my specifications."

"The wood's been specially treated," Kaito explained. "It's good and solid now, it won't break easily, and it's a bit heavier - denser - so that when Andarien's ready to switch over from wood to metal blades, the transition will be easier."

He rose and stretched again. "Anyways, I need to do something active. Andarien, are you up for a bit of training now? Otherwise I'm going to find Shiro or something, and we'll start tomorrow."

Andarien thought carefully. He didn't really want to, but he wasn't ready to work in the shop yet, and even he was smart enough to realize that if he worked with his newly grown arms and legs, he was more likely to be able to control them better more quickly. He nodded. "Yeah, I'll come with you. There's room behind the shop, if you don't mind staying in the city."

"I'd like to come, too," Earendil grinned. "I'd love to see these blades in action."

"Miyuki?" Kaito turned to look at his cousin. "What about you? What are you going to do? Come with us? Go back?"

Andarien rose - a bit wobbly, to be sure - and picked up his new wooden swords, leaving the real blades wrapped on the bed.

"I'll let Corazin know we're going outside," he told the others. At the door, he pointed down the hall, away from the shop. "There's the door to out back, I'll be there in just a minute."

"Or two," Kaito grinned, seeing how awkwardly Andarien was moving.

Andarien couldn't stop himself from sticking his tongue out at his cousin.

Earendil laughed. "Go on, go on, we'll be waiting for you," he grinned.

Behind the shop there was a sizable yard, and the grass in it was beginning to turn green. There was a bench next to the back wall, and a bird bath on the far side of the yard, next to a brown picket fence that walled off the yard and the road behind it.

"I think I like this place," Kaito grinned, looking around. "It's nice."

Earendil chuckled and took a seat on the bench as Kaito dropped his bag on the ground and opened it up once more. He started to pull out a wrapped package, then slid it back inside and pulled out a different one.

"Best not to use a real blade inside the city, maybe," he decided, setting the package on the ground. He opened it up, revealing wooden bokken identical to the ones he had given Andarien.