The Morning of the Date

Yvonne tore through her armoire, looking for anything at all that would fit for a date. Her “business” attire was too simple, she thought, and inadequate to stand next to a woman like Lirena.

“Dammit, I have enough money, but it’s too late to buy anything new,” she growled.

It was the early morning. Lirena would be over within a couple of hours.

After they parted (and the realization of what had happened fully set in), Yvonne had worked into the night to finish the sword - it wasn’t like her heart was going to let her fall asleep anytime soon after that.

Besides, she wanted to have the whole morning to clean up and prepare herself. The shop wasn’t even going to be opened today, with a sign up to check back tomorrow. She had her bath, and now came the difficult part of deciding on an outfit, a daunting task even with her meager selection.

Eventually she landed on a dark green tunic and clean trousers - it wasn’t her normal sleeveless shirts she took to in her days off, and it wasn’t her burned, thicker clothes for working the forge. It would have to do.

The hours seemed to pass agonizingly slowly, until finally, at about 11, the bell at the front of the shop rang. Yvonne peaked out from the door connecting to her home and saw Lirena peek into the shop.

The two met each other’s gaze and laughed nervously as they both stepped into the shop proper.

“Didn’t think you’d be so coy to come in,” Yvonne said.

“I hoped I would catch you working,” Lirena admitted, “but it looks like you’re already finished and cleaned up!”

“I… had a sudden urge to work on it last night, so I had the morning free,” Yvonne said, rubbing the back of her head and hoping Lirena would not inquire too deeply into the nature of her sudden change of schedule. “Ah, speaking of which!” She walked over to the rack with the sole project on it, the sword, and carried it over to her counter.

Lirena picked the blade up and examined it in the light streaming in from the windows. “It looks almost brand new,” she said in awe.

“There are a few scars where the metal bonding helped to repair the blade,” Yvonne said, pointing to the tip of the sword where faint lines appeared where large cracks had once been. “The original work was too immaculate to take any drastic measures with it, but metal bonding helps the process.” Her expression grew more pensive. “I’ve heard of some Earthtouched who can perform the bonding with no scarring, but that’s a bit outside of my expertise.”

Lirena stared at the blade and turned it over, letting the light glint off of it. “No, no, it’s… beautiful, really,” Her eyes shifted over to Yvonne. “I feel such things preserve the character of it far more than a return to its former state.”

Yvonne bowed. “A pleasure to hear such compliments on my work.”

Lirena pulled out a large coin from her pocket and placed it on the counter as she returned the sword to the empty scabbard on her waist. “I believe this covers the amount you had listed previously, correct?”

Yvonne looked at the coin, a piece of platinum, and far above the total she had written early that week. “Please, miss, this is far too much, I can’t accept…”

“Oh, have the days of work already made you forget my name, Miss Darlain? Am I ‘miss’ again?” Lirena asked with a smirk.

“Lirena,” Yvonne corrected. “Though it feels strange to be called ‘Miss Darlain’ while I’m referring to a noblewoman by her first name.”

“Tell you what. You keep the change from that as a tip, and I’ll use ‘Yvonne’ instead,” Lirena said matter-of-factly.

“I mean, I do prefer that, but that doesn’t-“

“Settled!” Lirena said with a laugh as she turned away. “With that matter out of the way, what do you say we get out of here a little early? We’ll be ahead of the lunch rush at the café I wanted to treat you to.”

Yvonne retrieved her satchel from her room and rejoined Lirena. The two headed out, locking the doors and windows on the way out, which Lirena helped with.

“Have you been to the Upperside before?” Lirena asked as they walked toward the Zoner Commission and the Upperside wards, where the wealthier merchants and nobility lived. Beyond it still was the Crown ward, where the king and government officials lived and did business, but access to it was restricted to all but those invited if they did not live there.“Haven’t had reason to,” Yvonne shrugged. “Most nobles won’t deal with businesses in the Low ward - yourself excluded, obviously.”

“A shame, you have some good folk down here. Good food, too,” Lirena lamented.

“You know you gave them a bit of a fright, right?” Yvonne asked.

Lirena sighed. “I figured, but maybe some repeat visits will help them relax around me. I tire of being cooped up with the same snobby merchants every day. Besides, I am unaware of any Touched businesses in the Upperside. It’s unlikely I would have gotten the kind of service for my sword that you provided.”

Yvonne looked away. Compliments were something she could generally endure, even take pride in, but it struck differently in this situation.

“Besides, I found a blacksmith that can talk to swords! Oh! What does it sound like? What kind of voice does it have?” Lirena rapid-fired the questions at her and Yvonne held up her hands to cut her off.

“It doesn’t really sound like words. More of a ringing sound? Somewhat like when metal clangs against something, but more refined, I suppose? It’s not harsh, and it’s not really a ‘sound’ in so much as my ears hear it. Treating it as such is just the closest I can figure to describe it.”

“Hmm. Must be difficult to put into words a sense that few other possess,” Lirena said.

Yvonne nodded. “But it tells me the kind of metal it is if I can’t tell at a glance, and what sort of things it ‘experienced.’ That’s how I saw all of those duels of yours.” She thought for a moment. “What were all of those for anyway?”

Lirena didn’t answer right away as they continued their walk. The road gradually inclined upward as they continued - the Upperside was more than just symbolically above the Low ward.

After a pause, she finally answered, “Silly noble matters that grow more tedious the more I have to partake in them.”

Yvonne quirked an eyebrow. Clearly not the whole story, but she doesn’t seem to want to talk about it.

“The … metal bonding, was it? How does that factor in?” Lirena asked, pivoting back to her question.

“Ah. That’s a bit more like playing matchmaker, I guess,” Yvonne said. “I guess I can sort of nudge the different components to accept new material, which they’re not normally keen to without a complete reforge. But once they ring in harmony, the new material gets melted down and fills in. Honestly spooked me the first time I pulled it off, it’s nothing like forging a new piece of equipment from scratch - cools far too quickly on its own.”

“So, it’s magic!” Lirena offered.

“Some might call it that, but I haven’t heard of a Touched that gets to practice actual magic. Apparently, our innate abilities might ‘make it run wild and turn us into the next Magus,’” Yvonne said mockingly.

“Nonsense,” Lirena said. “Personally, I’d want to see what beautiful new things could be done combining spells and your gifts. Ooh, maybe you could metal bond a whole sword from scratch!”

Yvonne chuckled. “Possibly, but I think that would take some of the fun out of it. I enjoy working the anvil and creating a thing with my own hands. Probably wouldn’t get as good a workout with the hammer, either.” She flexed and laughed off her own comment but caught Lirena staring at her arms again.

“That would be unfortunate… I take it back. The … results you produce are already superb.” She said after some hesitation and fixed her eyes on the road before them.

A large archway marked the road entrance to the Upperside. Large horse-driven carts made their way through the wide passageway, with pedestrian traffic off to the sides. The people making their way in were all dressed in far nicer clothes, Yvonne noted, but few people seemed to be leaving unless it was in a carriage.

She took a deep breath to calm her nerves.

A hand rested calmly on her shoulder, and Lirena’s voice spoke to her softly. “Don’t worry about it. If anyone gives you any trouble, I’ll deal with them.”

“Apologies for the trouble,” Yvonne muttered.

“I’m the one who took you up here, remember?” Lirena said and patted her on the back as they made their way through the archway.

The buildings on the other side were all significantly nicer than what Yvonne was used to, with less obvious repair work showing and everything just being significantly brighter - likely a mixture of cleaning and materials used, she guessed. The buildings were also more frequently two stories or more, making the skyline tower above her. From the Low ward, it was only ever possible to see the rooftops in the Upperside, and now she knew why.

She also noticed more than a few people staring at her, and in turn realized that there were no Touched in view around her.

Lirena turned around and took a dramatic bow. “Welcome to Upperside, the area I grew up in. It may be a bit much at first, but I promise to guide you faithfully through the chaos - even if I must hold your hand to do so.”

Yvonne felt her face flush. It seemed the day’s challenges were only getting started.