As Rutus angrily made her way down the mountain away from her parents, she heard a twig snap, and silently unhooked her axe from her side. Making an animal noise to cover the obvious clicking noise, she deftly threw her axe in the direction of the snapped twig.
When a young man appeared she wished she had waited to throw her axe. But when he took his hair down, he was actually a she. She said she was the princess from the fairy kingdom. Knowing that the fairies were the Dwarven kingdom's strongest allies, she swallowed any curses she might have said and curtsied. Because she didn't want it getting out that she nearly took the head off the princess.
When Rutus realized that she wasn't going to send for scouts to have her imprisoned, she grabbed her axe out of the tree trunk. She said she wanted to escape from her parents' strict rules and Endermon said she didn't know what she even wanted to do. Hearing that the princess's life wasn't perfect made her a little more relatable.
During these interactions, she noticed her staring at her armor and bristled, knowing what was coming. Endermon asked where she got her armor and Rutus said she had gathered extra metal and leather lying around and fastened them together to make an unorthodox suit of armor. Endermon thought it was amazing as she had only seen blacksmiths make armor.
Finding out that someone admired her work made her feel a shred of hope and the fact that Endermon handed her a jar of something to rub into the leather to keep it from cracking, got them on the topic of weapons. While Endermon looked at and admired ger folding axe she marveled at the craftsmanship of one of her knives.
Feeling somewhat normal, Rutus started to relax. They weren't friends but they weren't strangers either. They talked about lots of stuff, including the best mountain shops, travel tricks, and the differences in their lives. Rutus heard voices in the background, and pausing to listen, recognized them immediately. It was her parents coming to set her on the right path. Well that was her thought anyway.
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Noting Endermon's confusion, she said she was cool and all but she had to go, like, yesterday. She gathered all her stuff and ran down the trail that Endermon motioned to. She didn't mean to leave in such a hurry, but she really couldn't stand to talk to her parents right then.
She meant to make a name for herself and nothing was going to get in her way. Not an admittedly cool princess, not her parents, nobody. But she hoped she could get in with some tradesmen and further her blacksmith career. Not that she had one, but she hoped she could start one and she couldn't do it up in the mountains.
As she got closer and closer to the valley, she realized she had no clue how to survive without the constant cold. When she would get off track in the higher elevations, she could always light a fire, but with no need, she decided she could always make camp, and she would re-evaluate later.
She took the little jar out of a pocket and looked at it. She remembered that the strange princess girl told her she only needed a little bit for each bit of leather. A bit on her fingertip ought to do it she said. With nothing better to do, she shimmied out of her armor and started working the leather bits.
Once all the leather was shiny and soft, she wiped her hands on a rag she had. Seeing a scuff mark on one of the metal pieces, she rubbed the cloth on it. Finding it worked as a polish as well, she got to work until the metal was gleaming. Until she could get more or find out what it was, she decided it was worth more than any amount of gold or jewels. She secreted it away to keep it safe. She settled into her makeshift camp and hoped that she would find her passion out in the world.