— Aleka —

The room Aleka walked into was clearly meant to be a decent sized storage room. Heavy reinforced crates and shelves clearly designed for storing ore and ingots lined the back wall. Most of the rest of the walls were lined with wide sturdy, albeit a bit rusty in places, steel shelves that would be at least functional storage for almost any typical finished product. The last of the wall space held a number of closely and evenly spaced holes drilled into the stone wall with leather wrapped iron pegs protruding creating area’s to hang up tools.

It also was very clearly not being used for that purpose, or at least mostly wasn’t. About half of the ore and ingot storage was filled with its intended materials and there were some of her less used tools hanging up on the peg board. The rest of the crates held large gears, shafts and other unwieldy machine parts and the shelves above were piled high with metal panels, and other more stackable parts.

Most of the shelves on one side of the room were filled with hundreds of books and all manner of small mechanical trinkets and tools. Most of the shelves on the other side of the room held boxes and trays of small parts. The final shelf that was the closest to a convenient height for a dwarf was turned into a makeshift workbench with a number of different types of work areas. The middle of the room was a strange bed. At the moment it was barely a cot made for a single dwarf to fit, mostly comfortably. In short order however the complex series of gears and hinged sections could allow it to expand and comfortably hold both Aleka and Emrik.

At the moment Aleka was less interested in the frustration of her partner being stuck making due with a room not at all intended for its current purpose than the dwarf in question.

Emrik was standing almost at the far end of the room leaned over a small rune stone powered lathe, carefully shaping a metal cylinder. Like most dwarves even her daily casual clothes were barely a step below armor. The thick cotton and leather base layer was almost as sturdy as quilted and leather armor respectively and the steel accents might have been ornate but they were also basically sections of plate.

Aleka was pleased to note that most of the metal elements were things that she’d forged for them over the years. She was even more pleased and more than a bit proud, as always, to note that their pale brown hair was pulled back in a complex braid that was the counterpart to Aleka’s own braid, aside from the traditional dwarven status symbols woven throughout it.

Aleka was careful to announce her presence as she walked over to Emrik. She fully intended to gently glomp onto them and didn’t want to risk interfering with their probably delicate work.

Aleka grinned a bit when she saw Emrik finish her current cut and pull back the tool, a gentle smile on her face.

Gently but firmly, Aleka bent forward a bit and hugged Emrik from behind and when they tilted their head to the side she leaned her head down and kissed their cheek.

After a few moments of enjoying the hug Aleka said in Orcish “As much as I’m enjoying this, I didn’t come in here just for a quick cuddle. You remember the general that sometimes commissions things from me?” When Emrik nodded Aleka continued “Well she brought an elf who apparently has a big job she wants to offer both of us. Want to come with me and hear the details?”

After a few seconds of thought Emrik switched off the lathe and put away her turning tool. As alway Aleka was amazed how perfect their Orcish was when they said “I’m curious what elf General Stonfury might have brought, and we could definitely do with a big job.”

When Aleka walked back through the curtain with Emrik following close behind she saw Marsaili and Keir were sitting on the couch. The elf’s impressive sword was leaned against the arm of the couch within easy reach but Aleka suspected that was a result of habit more than distrust.

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As Aleka and Emrik drew close the elf stood with effortless grace and said “While I believe Marsaili may have already mentioned my name, I should probably introduce myself properly. My name is Keira, but please just call me Keir. I have recently become the leader of the newly resurrected Still-Leaf Village.”

Emrik tapped a quiet rhythm in a way she only did when searching her memories so Aleka decided to handle the introductions, such as they were and said “Well as ya know I’m Aleka an’ this ‘ere’s my partner Emrik. Ya wanna ‘ave a seat an’ tell us more ‘bout the job?”

Keir was just returning to her seat and Aleka started moving the chairs by the table over when Emrik said “Oh yeah, it’s the snake village.” When she realized she’d spoken aloud a blush colored her pale gray cheeks.

Keir flinched slightly at Emrik’s statement like she’d been slapped but almost immediately schooled her expression. After a moment Keir quite deliberately inhaled and exhaled, something Aleka hadn’t consciously noticed the woman hadn’t been doing, and after refilling her lungs she said “If you think you might be interested in the job or perhaps jobs we can go into more detail on that. For now, yes Still-Leaf Village was indeed the village that fell to giant vipers.”

A somewhat awkward silence seemed to be threatening to fall as Aleka returned with the chair. Fortunately neither of the people involved actually seemed mad. Instead Emrik was clearly embarrassed that she’d just blurted thet out. And while Aleka couldn’t read the elf very well yet, she got the impression that Emrik’s statement had hit on a painful subject and Keir looked like she regretted how she’d reacted.

Aleka patted Emrik on the head and switched to Orcish to make her point better than she could with Common Trade Speak “I’m sure that’s a bit of a sensitive subject. I’m also sure she didn’t intend to bring up difficult topics or cause any offense. That’s just how their mind works. When she knows something but can’t remember she gets completely stuck on it until she remembers and often blurts it out, even if it’s long after the topic has been dropped or is something she probably shouldn’t blurt out.”

Keir looked like she was about to say something when Emrik began speaking in a soft earnest tone in what Aleka assumed was Elvish. The language was strange and while Aleka couldn’t understand a word of it she somehow felt the sea was in every part of it. The cadence held the ebb and flow of tides. The swish of water flowing across sand and between kelp and coral was in every syllable.

When Keir responded it was definitely the same language but also different. The sea was still in her words but there was a dichotomy there. There was the gentleness of warm nourishing shallow seas and the crushing dark of abyssal depths. There was also the sounds and feeling of steel. Listening, Aleka could almost imagine a lump of iron ore as it was mined, refined, and forged before standing eternal vigil between that dark hostile sea and the vibrant shallow life filled water.

Emrik tried to match the odd elements in Keir’s speech but quickly returned to the ocean filled speech for a few more seconds.

Clearly whatever was expressed was well received as Keir smiled and in Common Trade Speak said “Your Elvish is very impressive, and yes, I would be happy to teach you the Steel Coast Dialect. If you take the job I can teach you when we both have some free time, otherwise I can stop in, the next time I visit the city.” With that she reached up and brushed her hair back with hand and continued “On that note let me explain the jobs that I’m hoping you can and will accept. In the simplest terms I’m in Stoneshield looking for assistance rebuilding Still-Leaf Village. There are two main jobs I'm hoping you can complet towards that end. Aleka, what I need a blacksmith's skills for is more countless small jobs. I’m not an expert at rebuilding a badly damaged village but I know we’ll need old tools repaired, new tools made, and all manner of fittings, nails and the like. You will probably also need to make some parts for the job I need Emrik for. Emrik, I want to hire you to design, build, and install a water wheel powered saw for a lumber mill. Do you have any questions or concerns before we talk about possible payments.”

Aleka was a bit stunned by what Keir just said. Assuming the elf didn’t try to pay coppers on the gold, that volume of work would be a life saver. Such a large custom job for Emrik would also be a high paying prospect. When she started to think about the actual logistics of that sort of job she realized it would be difficult if not impossible to complete it from the city.

Realizing that Keir was still waiting for an answer and Emrik also hadn’t spoken yet Alek asked “Are ya plannin’ on us needin’ ta go ta yer village fer this job?”

Keir looked a bit sheepish but determined when she said “I think that’s the only way for it to work. Trying to communicate and transport materials and products between here and there is not really feasible. Is that a deal breaker for you.”

Aleka wasn’t really sure if it was one for her and before she could ask how Emrik felt, she got her answer.

Emric quietly spoke up in Common Trade Speak “It’s not a deal breaker but we probably won’t have an answer today. Give us a rough idea of what you’re offering and we’ll get you an answer by nightfall tomorrow.”