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Character || Dyakida
Stage || Journeyman Blacksmith
Crafting || Dual Blades
Crafting Stat || 32+5
Difficulty || 18
Roll Needed || 30-100
Rolled || 100
Outcome || Success
Experience earned ||
38 exp

Had she done something wrong somewhere?

That was usually how relationships end, was it not? When one of the partners did something wrong? Semashi had done something terribly wrong, indeed, with her poisonous words, but these things came in chains. Semashi's sins had to have come from somewhere, or something else, and Dyakida couldn't shake the thought that she might have caused it. It could have been something small or insignificant, something Dyakida hadn't thought about. It had to have been something. Semashi's betrayal could not have come out of nowhere.

“Dyakida, are you all right?”

Dyakida closed her eyes. “I suppose.”

“Are you sure?”

“What did you need?” Dyakida said, perhaps too briskly. This sister was a sacred heart, a wielder of two blades, and a friend of hers. She had many friends, indeed, her deep and widespread friendships were the reason why Semashi's poisonous words were not affecting her life more deeply. People knew her, and people knew her friends. While some may have listened to Semashi's rumors, and even spread them, there were enough people on Dyakida's side to kill the rumors before they could grow into something truly dangerous.

“I, uh...” She had taken her sister by surprise with her sharp tone, and Dyakida regretted it.

“I'm sorry. Did you need something, Sister?” she said again, in a softer tone. Yes, this was a friend, and they were concerned. She was grateful. She needed to be grateful.

“Oh, yes, but you don't have to do it now, if you don't feel up to it.”

“Did you need your blades sharpened or repaired, Sister? If so, I'd be happy to do so.” she reassured her.

“Oh, well then... yes.” said the woman, “I've been hunting the strange beasts that have been appearing in the woods as of late. They have large crystal spikes on them, and I think they are dulling my blades.”

“Oh?” Dyakida took the proffered blades and ran her fingers over them, checking them carefully. “That is unusual. Normally crystals would not be a problem for these blades, unless...” Unless they were harder? But how could that be, these blades were her own work, made of the hardest Jauharan crystals she had ever worked with. And, in her experience, the blade's crystals were some of the hardest crystals in Tendaji, grown from trees as armor from the sharp mandibles of insects. But maybe these were crystals of a type she'd never encountered before – that was possible. “Do you have any of them? The crystals?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes!” Dyakida listened to the sound of crystals jingling in her friend's hands and held her hand out to receive them.

They clinked into her grasp and she jumbled them around experimentally. They were hard and sharp, like spines. She quickly put most of them down before they could injure her. “I'll repair this for you.” she said, starting her repairs, “But, do you mind... telling me more about these strange creatures?”

“Oh, of course not.” said her friend. As the Sister launched into her story, Dyakida smiled with relief. In truth, she didn't care so much about the story. She just wanted her friend there. Being alone with her own thoughts, she felt, would be more painful than anything those crystal spines could do to her.