Welcome to Gaia! ::

The morning was a pleasant one; cool air, bright early morning sunshine, beautiful blue skies. Palisade was just waking up, the bustling noise of the city muted for now as the sun climbed leisurely into the sky. Her bed was warm and cozy, if sadly empty, and she could smell the breakfast waiting for her downstairs, where the common room of the inn sat. It seemed, upon her waking, that nothing at all would be able to ruin it.

And then Desmond Grey had shown up.

"I can't complete your order. At least, not in the time you've so arrogantly demanded."

He stood in the hall, looking so flustered that she almost wanted to laugh. Knowing how he would take to the sight of her, she had merely thrown on her lightweight robe, barely bothering to tie the belt around her waist. Desmond Grey was so awkward with women that Soibhan found it pathetic at times. The man was one part useful, three parts annoying. And right now, she was wondering why she had even bothered with him.

"Oh? And why might that be, lad?" she asked, yawning into her palm before beckoning him into her room. He hesitated, looking for all the world like he was literally trying to force himself through some invisible barrier that blocked his way. Eventually, he scuttled inside and stood by the window, looking out before flicking the gauzy curtains shut as if worried someone on the street might see him with her. The gesture made her annoyance flair, and as if simply to spite him, she lifted her arms into the air and stretched languidly, making full certain that her breasts pressed firmly against the lightweight fabric of her robe.

"F-f-f-first of all," he stammered, staring intently at the ceiling, "You're not p-paying me, which means acquiring the steel I need will be...difficult."

Soibhan yawned again, bending over to grab her undergarments from the floor. Without preamble, she slipped into them right in front of him, just as he dared to look away from the spot on the ceiling. Soibhan stifled a snort of laughter; he looked like he was about to have a nosebleed.

"S-secondly, I....N-n-need help."

"That part was pretty clear ta me, blacksmith. Shall I hunt down a head doctor fer ya?"

He glared at her, his anger overcoming his immense desire to run out of the room. "No. I meant I need help forging your damned swords."

"Ahh, y'see, that's all ya needed ta say." She turned and dropped her robe, preparing to dress. "Let's go find ya a fellow blacksmith ta help," she added, but the door had already clicked shut and Desmond was gone, leaving her to laugh despite herself.

~~~~~~~~~~

They found themselves on the opposite end of Palisade from her current lodgings, standing before a rather nondescript building on a fairly quiet street, its door open to the world. Soibhan squinted at the structure, hands on her hips.

When she'd asked around about reliable blacksmiths, she had been directed to nearly a dozen different ones all over the capital city, but none of the people she'd questioned had told her about this one, and she wondered why. The sounds of hammer striking steel came from within, and smoke steadily poured from the chimney, which obviously meant some sort of crafting was being done within.

"I've never seen this smithy before. Or heard of it," Desmond said, skepticism in his voice as his single good eye tried piercing the shadows beyond the door. Whereas he was severely awkward around women, he was extremely proud of his blacksmithing abilites and quite dedicated to his craft. He crossed his arms over his muscled chest. "If he were good, I would know about it."

His guardian snorted from her place beside him, the young doe eyeballing the smithy as well. Liadain had grown rather swiftly, but she was still only the size of a normal doe, though she held twice the attitude.

"Ya have a high opinion o' yerself, don't ye?" Soibhan smacked him in the arm hard enough for him to wince before she bodily shoved him through the open door, her voice ringing out as she stepped over the threshold after him. She felt blinded as her eyes adjusted from the bright sun to the dim interior. "Oy! We've come ta talk some business!"

As her eyes adjusted, she heard Desmond groan and turned to see why no one had pointed her towards this particular smithy.

A woman stood before forge and anvil, hammer gripped tightly in one hand as she beat metal into submission for some piece of armor or weapon. Soibhan, though not initially a fan of many women, had to admire this particular one for working a craft normally reserved for idiot men like Desmond, and for once, Liadain seemed to share his negative outlook.

Desmond opened his mouth to answer, but Soibhan both elbowed him and stomped on his toes with her heel. "Don't even." The man had the gall to glare at her, a look echoed by his surly guardian, but Soibhan had seen worse from scarier things. Turning back to the woman, she eyed Rosalie up and down with slightly narrowed eyes, seeing the tension in the set of her shoulders, understanding the crossed arms. The female smith was on the offensive, clearly, but Soibhan was going to surprise her.

"We want yer business, lady smith." She eyed the various pieces around the shop and moved to inspect some of them, lifting this blade, running her finger along the edge of that axe. Her gaze settled for a moment on the peeking Guardian curled in the corner, and her smile grew wider. He was a beautiful creature, though a lazy sleepiness was in his eyes.

"Ye make a fine weapon," Soibhan added, lifting a particularly beautiful looking blade and balancing it upon one finger. It hung suspended from the digit with a perfect weighting.

Soibhan was reluctant to put the sword back on its stand, but she did so anyway with a wistful sigh. She was in dire need of new weaponry, and perhaps she would ask for a blade similar to this from the woman before her.

"Weaponry. A lot o' swords, some hand axes, arrowheads, an' possibly some armor." She rattled off each item by also ticking them off on her fingers. At the last part, she tapped her chin, looking at Aelius, who seemed full grown, and Liadain, who still had a few months before she reached her full size. Neither of them were Awakened, so not nearly as large as Oberon or Cadence. "The armor is fer Guardians, an' me own horse. The horse'll be easy enough, but the Guardians...I doona ken they'll be as easy. A picky lot, they are."

As if remembering him after the fact, she suddenly grinned and gestured to Desmond, who was picking idly at the various pieces of jewelry scattered on a shelf. "And ye'll need ta be workin' with 'im," she added. "Ta help keep ya from gettin' overworked."

Desmond dropped a ring he had been inspecting and spun around, nearly knocking into the gray doe who'd been peering over his shoulder. "Excuse me?"

Soibhan's frown vanished and she sent him a withering stare as her arms crossed over her chest. "Aye, blacksmith. Doona argue this, or else." She turned back to Rosalie. "O' course, if yer willin' ta take the offer." Reaching behind her, she pulled a small but very heavy leather sack from beneath her shirt and tossed it at the woman with a smile.

Desmond scowled at both women before stooping to pick up the ring. He set it gently back on the shelf before crossing his arms over his chest. "Your work would be going towards her silly little-"

"Army," Soibhan interjected, glowering at the man. He had the gall to stick his tongue out at her. "What're ye, a wee child? Shut yer mouth and let the adults talk, little lad." She turned back to the female smith. "It's goin' towards a good enough cause, lass. It involves they Wardens. I can't tell ye much else unless yer willin' to join us. Else ye'd be a liability."

Desmond had warned her to be less open with her plans, lest someone spying for the Queen managed to catch her motives and throw her out of Sunderland.

Or worse.

"Uh, ye basically jus' did. So, welcome?" Soibhan said with a shrug, taking the girl's words at face value. She wouldn't have asked them if she hadn't wanted to join up. "A lot of the new chosen are trainin' with their guardians, but they're usin' wooden swords because they're afraid o' hurtin' the big beasties. I keep tellin' em tha' practicin' with steel is better than wood, as it's more realistic. At some point, I plan on takin' those silly sticks away."

Desmond frowned fiercely, but she was used to that sour look on his face already.

"You an' Des here will split the workload, bu' I want runnin' communications between the two o' ye so I know wha's done an' wha' isn't. Ye'll get consistent coin fer yer work."

Soibhan barked out a laugh and looked at Desmond with a smirk. "Ah, yes. Raj be part o' the group. She's one o' the three leads along with m'self an' a fellow by the name o' Macaire."

"Seems she had the same thought we did," Desmond said, running his hand through the light whiskers on his chin. "I was an armor smith first," he added after a moment, trying to be conciliatory. "I could make the guardian armor if you think you can handle the weapon crafting."

"An' Raj is a slippery one. Who knows if the weapons she commissioned are even fer the cause. They migh' be fer somethin' else entirely." Crossing her arms, the gaelic woman smiled. "I trust ye both te work out a plan between the two o' ye. Jus' doona kill each other, ye hear? I'm sure ye'd no' enjoy yer guardians havin' te watch ye like nannies."

Desmond looked sheepish at least as she said it, Liadain looked pleased at the prospect of nannying her chosen, though she already sort of did.

His chest puffed up in indignation. "I do plan on fighting. Liadain wouldn't let me stay out of it even if I'd wanted to." That was an understatement, but he wouldn't admit that to the female smith. Though truth be told, nothing would keep him out of the fighting except his unwillingness to put others in danger because of his...disability. He would have to retrain himself to fight with his limited depth-perception. It was something that worried him, but that too Liadain wouldn't let him run away from.

Soibhan wiggled her fingers as she counted. "At least a dozen, fer now. Is that somethin' the two o' ye can manage?"