What feels right?

[Lighthawk76]

The Lornius bazaar was buzzing in the aftermath of the first round of LCC battles. Everywhere people were talking: restating loyalties, speaking of cheaters, and bad-mouthing the teams they hated. The whole place was ready for the true tournament to get under way, now that the cream of the crop was left. Until that started though, the bickering would continue.

Blank was just happy that it was over for him. He hadn’t come away scarred and bitter, he hadn’t lost anything he couldn’t replace, and amazingly, Alan had been mildly impressed with him.

The old man, his traveling companion for the past months, had congratulated him as soon as he was off the battlefield. That was a rare thing coming from Alan, who was so sarcastically critical about most things. Just as soon as the congratulations were done, the man had disappeared again though. How he had seen the match would remain a mystery until a later time.

Now though, Blank had more pressing matters. His back was bare of the staff he had grown so accustomed to carrying, and the two pieces of it were sticking out of his satchel. It was only bad thing to come out of the LCC as far as Blank was concerned. It was more a symbol of pride though. His staff had been broken by the blade of Letho Ravenheart. That was something to be proud of.

Continuing to push himself through the crowds, at one moment thin and easy to move through, and the next becoming a bottlenecked cluster, he came to a small weapon shop. Walking in, he took out his broken staff, and placed the pieces on the counter.

“Hi. I, uh, need a replacement for this. I’m not sure what wood would be best, uh, probably oak or yew, though nothing too worn. And… umm… is there anything you can do with these… I mean…”

Blank wasn’t sure how he should word it. He picked up the two pieces of wood, and swung them around slowly, as if they were two blades. “Can you make them into wooden short swords?”

[nekoprince]

"For yew it'll be one hundred gold" the merchant said. "And trust me, oak isn't all that useful friend for a sword freind."

[Lighthawk76]

Blank dug into his pack for the money. He grabbed a handful of ten-gold coins, and counted out the money.

His face was a little flushed, embarrassed over the denial. He wondered if he should push for the swords still. He wasn’t planning to use them for combat, but maybe they wouldn’t even be useful for what he had in mind.

Still, he wanted to learn. He had no passion for the staff, no matter what Alan said about its ease of use and multi-functionality. He wanted a set of blades.

“I’m not, uh, using them for actual combat. Just training. I don’t have enough to buy a real pair, but I, uh, can learn the basics with something their size and weight, right?”

Alan had said that he wouldn’t teach Blank how to fight with a blade, but it’s what Blank wanted. Besides, he wasn’t learning to fight with a blade, but with wood. When he got good enough, and had a little more money, he could buy a pair of blades.

“So, umm, do you think you could do it? I-I don’t need it for actual strength or anything, just weighted and sized correct. They’re long enough already just, uh, need to be shaved down to make it thin enough and have a handle.”

He smiled hoping his request would be made. This just felt right.

[nekoprince]

"Well, it'll probably end up being a little extra for them to be as heavy as a set of iron blades, in yew," the merchant trailed off. It was a bit of an odd order, often people just wanted the metal ones and that was it. "I'm guessing around 130 gold then. Though it may just be easier for you to buy two iron sword and have them dulled. That way you're never at a loss for a weapon."

[Lighthawk76]

Blank looked at the two pieces of wood, lying on the counter. They would work just as well for practice, but easier for two iron blades… He would have a pair of weapons that could be in use as soon as he finished training with them. Even if they were dulled, he would only have to get them sharpened.

“How much for the cheapest set of blades, dulled or otherwise?” he said ready to pay if it wasn’t much more expensive.

[nekoprince]

"100 for a set of dwarvern iron blades kid," the merchant replied. "And dulled for free."

[Lighthawk76]

Taking his broken wooden staff from the counter, Blank replaced it in his pack and drew out another 100 gold.

He smiled, thinking about what Alan would say. You’ll get your self killed with them. Who knew, maybe he would take to the blades better than he took to the staff? There was just something about them. Just the idea of the two blades in his hands seemed right, like a good memory.

“I’ll take them dulled.” That would allay some of Alan’s fear.

[nekoprince]

"So it's just the metal ones then?" the merchant asked. He took two of the iron swords from behind him, handing them to his assisstant who would bring them to the blacksmith. It would work out quickly enough fro his customer anyway.

[Lighthawk76]

“The staff too,” Blank reminded the vendor, motioning to the two hundred on the counter.

The young man waited quietly while the blades were dulled. They were done quickly, and soon Blank had the blades and staff handed to him.

“Thank you very much.” With that the young man walked out, the dulled blades taking their place by his broken weapon while his new staff took its place at his back.

[nekoprince]

((Thread Ended. All that stuff gone.

180 gold taken away (gross overcharge on staff, sorry bout that) and 200 remains at time of thread completion))