Ruby thinks "Sulking?! I am not sulking! I am mad at you and giving you the silent treatment!"

"Alright, yes I took a risk and it's going to happen again. Living safely is not going to make me stronger or get me out of here to the surface. I took a calculated risk, it was a risk but the odds were in my favor. If the odds are against me I will either not do it or think of a way that improves the odds. This is the way I am, and I'm sorry that you are stuck with me."

Ruby quickly comes out of the amulet and takes her human form, only to turn around and slap me. I am surprised to say the least, I give her a wide eyed 'what did I do?' look.

Ruby says "I chose to be bonded to you! Don't you ever again say I'm stuck with you!"

"Oh, right, sorry. Guess it was a bad choice of words."

Ruby says "Okay then, what did you mean?"

"Basically, that this is the way I am. I'm sorry for that, but get used to it. I guess."

Ruby looks like she wants to hit me again, but then she takes a deep breath and settles down a bit. Luckily my stomach chooses that moment to grumble loudly, making her laugh.

Ruby says "You've skipped eating to work on something again haven't you?"

"Um, I guess. I'm not sure how long it has been."

Ruby says "Okay, let's go to camp and you can explain things to me after we eat."

"Okay!"

So the two of us head back to camp together. Once there I quickly fry up some gator steaks and mushrooms and we sit down next to the fire to eat. We finish eating and Ruby turns to look at me, she has a much less angry look on her face.

Ruby says "Can you explain to me why you would be so reckless? I know you say it was a calculated risk, but normal people don't take risks like that."

"Well, I haven't really thought about it, but it's probably because of how I lived my previous life. I never took any real risks, I lived a fairly dull life, yet I still died screaming and crying in pain. I think this time I would rather take risks and not live in fear, if I'm going to die in pain anyway I would rather it be because I was doing something worthwhile."

Ruby says "You don't speak of your past life much. Maybe, if you tell me about it, it will help me understand you better?"

So as we sit comfortably by the fire I tell Ruby all about my past life. This of course means explaining all sorts of things like technology and anime and manga.

Ruby seems fascinated and interested, and I don't get the usual feeling that I am just being humored. She seems to be genuinely listening to my long boring story. By the time I finish telling her everything I can think of to help her understand me I am yawning after every other word.

Ruby says "Thank you! I have a lot to think over, I still don't understand a lot about your previous world, but I think I understand you quite a bit better. I am going to rest and think everything over, why don't you get some sleep before your jaw comes loose."

Ruby's laughter echoes around me as she changes into a spirit and enters the amulet to rest. I agree with her and climb into my hammock to get some actual sleep.

I end up sleeping for about twelve hours and when I wake up I am hungry again. It is only as I am eating breakfast that I remember I didn't even get around to giving Ruby her new swords. I finish eating and then clean up the camp and myself before tapping the amulet.

"Ruby?"

She zips out of the amulet and circles my head once before landing and taking human form.

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Ruby says "Good morning, master!"

"Good morning, would you like me to cook you some breakfast?"

Ruby says "No, thanks. I don't get hungry so you should save it for yourself to delay going back to fish for a bit longer."

"Ha ha well, thank you for being considerate of my diet."

Ruby says "So, I did a lot of thinking and I now understand some of what drives you. I won't promise not to hit you when you do something stupid, but I will try to keep in mind the reasons behind some of the things you do. Even if they scare the life out of me at times."

"Thank you. And I'm sorry I scared you."

Ruby smiles and says "Apology accepted! So what's the plan for today?"

"Actually, I made something for you."

Ruby says "Oh? For me? What is it?"

"Follow me and you will see."

With a smile I turn and lead Ruby back to the forge room, where I take the swords from behind the forge and hold them out to her. She takes them with a smile but she looks slightly confused.

Ruby says "What kind of swords are these? I've never seen a sword this shape."

"In my world they were called scimitars, they are for a flowing sword style like you use."

Intrigued, she draws one of the swords and gasps as she sees the blue flames crawling along the blade.

Ruby says "What on earth is this? I've never seen blue flames! And I was a fire elemental so I've seen a lot of fire!"

"Blue fire is more intense and hotter than normal flames."

Ruby says "Don't misunderstand me, the sword is beautiful and I love it. I just want to understand exactly how you did this. I was fairly sure you didn't have enough mana yet to cast any of the enchanting spells."

"Err, there are enchanting spells?"

Ruby frowns and says "Yes, of course there are! Wait, if you don't know them then how did you enchant this? And with a new type of fire no less!"

"How about you put the sword away before I tell you?"

Ruby says "Why?"

"Because, you hitting me is one thing, with that sword you could kill me without meaning to."

Ruby sheathes the sword and sets both aside all the while giving me a look like she is debating on hitting me just on principle before I explain anything.

"So, I enchanted them kind of like how I modified my own core and mana channels."

Ruby says "You mean you manipulated the raw mana in the swords? That is dangerous! But then what about the blue fire?"

"It wasn't all that dangerous, I did it slowly just to be safe. And the blue fire came from me evolving my firebolt spell and then fusing it with the sword's core."

Ruby says "So you created an item core, which I didn't think was possible, then you fused a spell with it, which should be impossible. Did you even stop to think that it might have blown up in your face? Not to mention evolving a spell which should have blown up in your face!"

Ruby suddenly sits down on the stone bench. I sigh quietly in relief since I was expecting to get hit. She seems to be taking deep breaths and her eyes look a little wide.

"I was as careful as I could be, I promise. And it wasn't so much evolving a spell as applying physics to a spell."

Ruby looks up and says "What? Physics? What is that?"

So I give Ruby a rough explanation of what physics is, but I stop before getting too technical as she looks a little overwhelmed.

"Um, think of it as a set of rules that allow you to understand how natural things work and why they work that way."

Ruby says "Stop. Just stop for a minute. I feel like my head is too small."

"Okay, sorry. Sometimes I forget you have no frame of reference for some of the things that I say."

I sit on the floor and wait quietly for Ruby to organize her thoughts. She stares off into space for almost a half hour, while she is distracted, I enjoy just sitting and looking at her. When her eyes focus again she stands up and stretches, then she takes the old swords off her back and hands them to me.

She walks over and picks up the scimitars and puts them on her back before drawing them. I watch as she tests out the swords getting a feel for them. Once she has that, she does a full practice routine with the swords, her graceful, flowing form is truly a pleasure to watch.

Standing still she is beautiful, but when she is moving she becomes truly stunning. I admit I spend the entire time she is practicing staring at her, luckily for me she is absorbed in the swords and doesn't notice. When she finally stops I quickly look at her face as she turns to me.

"So? What do you think of them?"

Ruby says "They are perfect! They feel like a part of me! I love them! Thank you so much, master!"

She rushes over and hugs me hard, she is so excited she doesn't even sheathe the swords. Being very careful of the blades I hug her back.

"I'm really glad you like them. Now you should never have to worry about not being able to hurt an armored opponent again."

Ruby says "They are amazing swords, I'm sorry for getting mad at you."

"It's fine. Even in my past life I had a talent for pissing women off."

Ruby smiles and says "Oh? Is that so? You will have to tell me about that sometime."

"If you are going to smile at me like that please put the swords away!"

Ruby blushes and says "Oops! Sorry, forgot I had them out."

She quickly and smoothly sheathes both swords as if she has done it a thousand times before. Except for the color they truly look like a natural part of her.

Ruby says "Master, can you teach me this new fire magic?"

"I can try, but not here. It might be a bit too dangerous near the forge. I know a good place where we can practice, come with me."

Ruby says "Yes, master!"