Chapter 14:

14

Balancing the Scales: The Sage Hero's Story


Kaz was awakened to the sound of clanging metal in the room. He sits up straight and stretches his arms, he notices Tasi had returned at some point with a sack of several unfamiliar stones and metals. Tasi sees him get up and waves a hammer at him, “Good morning mister hero.” she jokes and returns to hammering on her armor. Kaz shudders at the high pitched reverberations of the metal every time she struck her armor with the mallet. He snaps out of his trance, grabs a biscuit off the table and sits on the floor across from Tasi. “So what is all this?” he asks as he takes a bite out of his breakfast. Tasi sets her mallet down and pats the space next to her on the wooden floor, inviting Kaz to take a seat next to her. He gulps the last bit of his biscuit down and takes the seat next to the purple naga. “It wasn’t easy getting all the materials I needed, I could understand the clerk, but didn’t understand me.” she huffed in an annoyed tone.

“I mean, if it’s that much of an issue. I could teach you.” Kaz intervened. Tasi leaned over and wrapped him in a hug, “I’d love that, maybe at a later date Kaz. Now, pay attention.” she tells him. She begins naming off the different minerals, “Surely you know what silver is, that’s what I’m using to fix up my armor. Lastly, there’s electrum.” She puts on a leather glove and picks up a bright green stone and hands it to Kaz, who in turn drops it immediately with a loud shout. “Ouch! What the heck, it shocked me?” he whined. Tasi laughed, “Electrum stores up electrical current it gathers from the air around it. Don’t touch it barehanded hun.” She takes his hand and looks where he got shocked. “You’re fine.” she assures him. Kaz puts a glove on as well and picks up the stone, eyeing it curiously he asks. “Would you mind if I took this Tasi? I have something I want to try with it.” Kaz was thinking he could jury rig it to his vehicle somehow to charge the battery. Tasi added more silver plating to her breastplate, covering more of her chest and stomach. She also gave Kaz's armor a good polishing and made it shine like new.

After they finished, the two tidied up the room back to how it looked when they arrived and headed down the stairs to the lobby of the inn. Kaz paid the bill and then they were off to the town's gate to meet Ferron outside. Tasi pulled on Kaz' sleeve and pointed at a guard they passed. "Look at that, he's got one of your flashlights hanging from his belt." She whispered to him. "Ah, that's why the Commander bought all of them. For the guards, that makes sense." He replied. Kaz and Tasi were surprised when the two guarding the gate stopped them on their way out, "Hey buddy, we just wanted to thank you for these flashlight things. They really take a load off of us on our night watch. Make sure you come see us back here in Vance soon!" one of the guards thanked Kaz and showed the two through the gate. Kaz was shocked by the complete one-eighty degree change in the guard's attitude towards them. Kaz and Tasi waved their goodbyes and went to see how Kaz's car had turned out.

Just before the two came upon where Ferron had been working, they were greeted by Saphana who popped out of the brush as they walked past. Kaz went up and wrapped his arms around her neck and gave her a hug, Saphana looked down at him. "Everything went alright I'm guessing?" She asks as she looks over him for any sign of scratches or wounds, then she looks over at Tasi. "I suppose you are reliable after all, Tasi. You have my thanks for watching him." She tells Tasi as she continues to look over Kaz for any signs of injury.

Kaz explains their current situation, and the part of his deal with Ferron where he'd show him where the scales on his car came from. Saphana scolds Kaz, saying that he shouldn't have promised that, and that it isn't a good idea. Nevertheless, she agrees to meet him. Only because Kaz found Ron to be trustworthy. Kaz tells Saphana to hang back until they call her over. Tasi and Kaz head onward and find Ferron packing his tools up into a cart, they call out to him and wave. "I fixed your car up, now for your end of the bargain Kaz. Where did you get those scales, I gotta know!" He begs. Kaz tells him, but when he hears that they're from his friend, he starts booming with laughter. "No really kid, where'd you find them?" He inquires once more.

Kaz sighs and puts his fingers to his mouth and whistles. Saphana slowly comes out of the brush, and Kaz walks up and puts his arm around one of her forelegs. Ferron falls back on his behind, "H-hey now. You weren't kidding me, were you?" He stutters as he struggles to get to his feet. Kaz takes out his Adventurer's identification card and shows Ferron the Dragon's Tongue skill. Ron shakes his head in disbelief, he walks up slowly to Saphana. "So, this dragon understands me right?" He asks Kaz. Kaz nods and then goes to look over his car. It didn't look too bad, it was already silver so the steel used to rejoin the roof didn't stick out too much.

Ferron looks at every inch of Saphana, taking in every detail. He stops in front of her, "Erm, Miss dragon. If you don't mind my asking, would you let me forge you some armor? It'd be a real challenge for me, you see. Forging swords and platemail for guards all day gets boring. I won't charge you, the challenge is payment enough. Oh, and don't worry, I won't go blabbing about you either." Ferron states in a calm collected voice followed by a wink. Saphana lowers her head to his height and blows some steam out of her nostrils at him and nods. Ferron nearly falls over again, he bows respectfully to her and dashes to get his measurement tools. He takes every precise measurement and marks it on his clipboard before calling Kaz over. "What do you think kid, how does it look?" Ron says as he elbows Kaz.

"I'm honestly surprised." He began, "You can't even tell the roof was ripped off from a distance. You did great Ron!" He shakes Ferron's hand. Kaz explains that they've got to get going, Ferron pulls Kaz aside, and whispers something in his ear and points at the trunk of the car, Kaz nods and he then gets ready to depart. Ferron tells them to come back in a month or so to see the armor he'd promised to craft for Saphana. Ferron heads back into town, and Tasi climbs into the passenger's seat of Kaz's car. They all agreed on Saphana flying above while they drove along underneath on their way back to Rath. 

Chill64
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