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OLDHAMMER SMITHY - EARLY AFTERNOON
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Cavro has had an incredibly stressful day, hardly able to keep himself inside the smithy to account for his lost goods the evening before, and barely able to get a wink of sleep. Through the morning he toils at straightening everything back up, quickly repairing the damaged parts on the huge doors, and eating a cold lunch while stuck waiting for a new bellows chain to be found. Even with so much negative aura coming from the tarnished room around him, he can't help but sigh and smile occasionally. After putting his leftover food away and puttering about for a bit, Cavro putters over to the forge, sticking his head inside the gate to inspect the firebricks with this rare opportunity.
Brunilda knocks on the door, peeking in. "Hello? The resident smith here?" The elephant looks a bit tired but otherwise less stressed than she's been lately.
Cavro carefully pulls himself out of the forge, dragging with him a dust cloud of coke ash that clings to his fur in clumps. He puffs, dusting off as he approaches the door and calls out. "You've got the the the right place, miss!"
Brunilda looks at the badger, then smiles as she steps in, in all of her leather-and-plated glory. She's also holding her four-metre halberd, setting it aside for the moment. She holds out her hand: "Name's Brunilda, I'm a new guard in town. Pleasure to meet you."
Cavro looks up at the wall of guard in front of him, wiping any dust away from his eyes. "Oh, pleasure to me me meet you as well!" He pats his hands off before shaking hers, before his eyes take in the monstrous weapon she had carried with her, then back to her. "My name is Cavro. Do you need my services today?"
Brunilda nods, glancing at her halberd: "As it is, I do." She picks up the weapon, looking it over: "The blade could use a professional sharpening, and the lower handle-" She shifts the weapon, grasping and moving the lower part of the weapon: "...it got a bit 'hurt' as I, uh... got angry." She can practically hear her grandfather scolding her for mishandling a weapon in anger, but attempts to ignore it. She even succeeds, mostly.
Cavro looks over the halberd's edge, noticing more damage than just dullness, though he mostly just grunts in disapproval before he takes a couple steps over to look at the handle. "I'm not even going to ask..." He mutters, running a hand along the cold steel. "All right, bring it over to the bench and let me see what I can do right now. You'll have to come back to to to fix everything properly though,-" He turns and points at his cold forge, "-my shop was recently robbed and I can't run the bellows right now."
Brunilda nods, bringing the halberd over as she takes a look around the forge: "Robbed? Of... oh. I see."
Cavro nods sadly, grunting. "They couldn't take the weights or the cogs, but they they they took the chain alright." He wanders over to a set of drawers, pulling out a pair of differently colored whetstones. "It's been reported to the guards already, so hopefully some of of of my goods come home."
Brunilda nods absently as she looks at the badger: "I did hear about something like that, but I'm not part of that investigation, just a gate guard mostly."
Cavro smiles at her, "Well I didn't expect every guard in the city to to to look for a few stolen goods, of course!" He sets his whetstones down near the head of the weapon before shifting it so the flat of the blade was resting on a thick iron plate. He goes quiet, examining the edge before flipping the weapon over and doing the same from the other side.
Brunilda looks at the blade's edge: "Sand alligators are dumb as bricks, but stubborn and their leather is almost as bad to the blade as sand itself..."
Cavro nods at her experience with the creatures outside the city. "Of course, but the curve in the the the head is making the damage worse." He traces his finger down the dull blade, making an upside-down arc from how it lies to exaggerate a visually minor flaw. "But I can't fix that cold." He picks up the coarser of the two whetstones, gripping the back of the halberd with his free hand as he starts grinding the steel with a wicked gritty chorus.
Brunilda nods, wincing slightly at the noise that her hearing is way too good at picking up: "Well, do what you can."
Cavro nods, unfazed by the sound at this point. He flips the halberd over again and continues with the same whetstone on the other side for a minute before setting it down. "How has being a guard been treating you, miss Brunilda?" he asks, quickly walking over to a basin and taking out a rag soaked with a strong smelling oil, which he begins rubbing into the freshly scratched up blade.
Brunilda sighs a bit: "Honestly, I'm not sure. I mean, it's what I'm good at and what I've trained for..."
Cavro finishes treating the iron from both sides, taking up the finer whetstone and using it on the weapon. The oil and finer grit of the tool make for a much softer rasping noise as a smooth silvery shine starts emerging behind each pass. "Sounds like you have something else you you you'd rather be doing, miss. I've only been a smith my whole life, but it's what I love." He looks at her, still working the whetstone. "Perhaps you should consider a new path?"
Brunilda chuckles softly: "That's what I keep hearing. And wondering. I have gotten into reading and thinking, but no obvious direction yet." She sighs a bit: "Not that I can really leave the Guard thing that easily, anyway."
Cavro stops to flip the weapon over again, bringing stone to iron. "Oh, so so obligation is the problem? That's just a loose cobblestone in the road, make yourself happy. If you can take hold of of of something that fills you with joy, why wouldn't you?" He starts smiling as he speaks, pushing a little harder on the whetstone.
Brunilda frowns briefly, before nodding: "It's... what I have been trying. I think." She looks definitely uncertain about this mode of thinking.
Cavro nods. "Well at least you're trying. More than a a a lot of people bother doing, honestly."
Brunilda chuckles wryly: "...even if said trying got me late for a caravan I was supposed to be a part of. Cap'n wasn't too happy about that."
Cavro snorts a laugh. "Oh my, hopefully they'll be okay without you, though this weapon might not have have been too helpful. When was this?"
Brunilda shrugs, leaning on the wall: "A few days ago. That's when that-" she nods at the handle: "-kinda happened, when I realized."
Cavro hums to himself, finishing the last pass on the blade with a bit of a flourish. He turns it so the edge is facing the ceiling, peering down the length before moving to the side, still holding the weapon upward. "There it it it is, how does that suit you?"
Brunilda looks over the blade and smiles: "It's better, certainly." She takes the weapon in her own hands again, hefting it a bit: "Guess you will have to let me know when you have things up and running again, to do the rest?"
Cavro smiles up at her, nodding. "Yes, of course. I want to get this this this tool back into top shape for you, even if you don't plan on carrying it around for much longer."
Brunilda nods in agreement: "It is a bit of a family heirloom. Was my grandfather's, before he retired." She starts heading for the door: "I will be back for the rest, then."
Cavro waves as she heads out. "Have a good day, miss Brunilda! Take care with with that edge please!"
Brunilda smiles, turning at the door as she ducks out: "Will do. Take care, and hope this gets solved quickly."