Delivery

[Arianna]

The night was dragging on and on. The town was silent except for the howling wind and the sound of metal clashing against metal as the blacksmith worked. Arianna sat in front of her forge trying to finish Kayiri's daggers for the deadline. Her eyes slowly drooped, gently closing for a moment, but then she would suddenly wake and return to her work. She needed to sleep, she knew it was a bad idea to work at the forge while drowsy, but she had to finish the knives within the hour so she could deliver them on time. She continued on like that for another half an hour until she could no longer keep her eyes open. Arianna faultered, and she fell toward the forge.

At the very last moment, just before she was about to fall into the flames, the heat woke arianna up. Quickly she stuck out her left, uncovered arm to brace herself with the stone ledge, the flames licking around her hand and her arm. She let out a silent scream and fell backwards, clutching at her burned limb. The pain was terrible, almost unbearable. Surely they would end up as 2nd or 3rd degree burns. She stood quickly and gently placed her arm in the icy cold water she kept next to the forge for super cooling the metals. Dammit. Why the hell was I working when I was this tired? she asked herself. Gingerly she removed her arm from the water and quickly grabbed a roll of bandages and wrapped her burned arm tightly.

with her arm taken care of for the time being, she set about gathering Kayiri's order, gently wrapping each knife in scrap fabric to protect the sharp blades, all while ignoring the throbbing pain in her arm.

Half an hour later Arianna stood in front of Kayiri's studio. She reached out her good arm and gently knocked on the door, hoping her would hear her.

[kayiri]

Running, running. He was running. Running from a monster, running from his pain, his suffering, his hate, his despair, his love...

He was running from it all. A gap in the bridge. He jumped, but missed. The maw of his feelings opened beneath him...

THUMP! THUMP THUMP! Kayiri shot awake, his bloodshot eyes scanning the room in a military fashion. Finally, he let a breath out, lugging his feet over the side of the bed. He slowly rose to his feet after rubbing his face in an attempt to wake himself further. The moment he did, all he could feel was pain. Sheer, piercing agony coming from his head.

"I'm coming," he managed to blurt out, stumbling to the door, trying to ignore the screaming pain in his head. Finally, he made it to the front door, and proceeded to unlock it, giving whoever was waiting a great view of the sheer shittiness of the state he and his studio were in. Bottles of alcoholic beverages were strewn this way and that, and there was more than one hold punched in the wall.

"Can I help you?" he asked, sounding exhausted.

[Arianna]

Arianna smiled weakly at Kayiri. She held out one of the blades to show she was in fact the black smith he had hired several days ago. She replaced the blade in it's makeshift sheath, then pulled out her note pad, her words reading "Hello Master Kayiri, I have your order here".

She shifted her injured arm ever so slightly and an intense look of pain crossed her face as she did so.

[kayiri]

"You're arm, it's hurt," Kayiri said as a statement, not an inquiry. He may have a nasty hangover right now, but it was almost second nature right now to notice wounds on people not very skilled in hiding them. "If you come into the back room, I probably have some stuff to help you out. Think of it as personal thanks for filling out the order." He cocked his head towards the back of the studio, stepping back from the door to let her in.

[Arianna]

Arianna nodded and followed Kayiri into the building, her arm still throbbing violently. She wished she could ask him were to set the knives as they walked, but all she could do was silently wish she could once again speak.

[kayiri]

Kayiri took the knives from her hands, as if he heard her silent prayer. He placed them off on a side shelf, one kept relatively clear. Stepping over the glass bottles, he soon reached his back room, the clinic, he liked to call it, and opened it.

The contrast was breath taking. While the entire studio was in disarray, the clinic was perfect. Everything was in order, poultices and potions organized from A to Z, their effects documented, the books opened to commonly needed pages... It was like entering a whole 'nother world. He patted the table in the middle, pulling up her sleeve gently when he did.

[Arianna]

Arianna sat down and braced herself. Kayiri began to gently roll up her sleeve, but no matter how careful he was, every movement that disturbed her burned arm shot searing pain through the appendage. She closed her eyes tightly, a silent scream escaping her lips. It hurt so badly that she wanted to cry, maybe even cut off the arm to save her from the pain.

[kayiri]

Kayiri finally finished pulling her sleeve up. He folded it back to prevent it from coming back down, and examined them. "What the hell did you do, fall flat into the forge?" Kayiri mused. He walked around his clinic, opening cabinets, grabbing random things and throwing them either onto the table or into the cauldron on the right of her. "It'll take around ten minutes. Think you can manage?" Kayiri asked simply, wanting a simple nod or shake of the head. He rolled his shoulders idly, waiting for the materials to finish boiling and mixing.

[Arianna]

You have no idea Arianna thought to herself. Her arm throbbed even more violently now, but with the promise of help, she kept still, enduring the pain.

Kayiri asked if she would be able to manage. She nodded softly, careful not to move anything but her head.