As usual, I don't own anything, I'm just a fan writing some fiction. Please enjoy! (Also, I finished my summer internship this Friday, so MAYBE now I can get back to posting chapters on time. Maybe.)

Dwarven Vow 88:
Is minig a bha claidheamh math an droch thruaill.
Often a good sword rests in a poor scabbard.

10-

"Wow, these swords are nice! Are these really standard issue?"

Lloyd found himself admiring the intricate hilt of the broadswords that Kratos and Anna carried, holding it up to the light to get a better view. Kratos tapped him on the shoulder and motioned to the sheath that had been set aside with the other supplies. "Don't swing that around inside the house."

"Who's your supplier?" Lloyd continued, though he reluctantly sheathed the weapon and set it aside. "I'd like to learn how to forge something like this."

Anna was sitting on the couch, watching the men working to inspect and pack up the weaponry that Kratos had gathered to bring with them to Meltokio. Noishe was curled up beside her with his head resting on her lap and his tail wagging contentedly. "You should ask Dirk to make that your first project at the school," she offered. "They're modeled after the Dwarven claidheamh beag, which has been used in traditional Dwarven fencing for generations-"

"Oh! Speaking of which," Lloyd interrupted, sitting up straighter, "the agent told me that the paperwork would be all finished and the property would be ready for me to inspect as early as noon today. She said it was a pretty fast turnaround for a property that size- can you believe my luck?"

"I wouldn't call it luck," Kratos scoffed. "You didn't have much competition for that place. Calling it a 'fixer-upper' would be generous."

Anna giggled. "You have your work cut out for you, Lloyd sweetie."

Lloyd gave a hmph!, turning his head away. "I know what I'm getting into, you guys. Sheena's been helping me with some renovation plans and I feel pretty confident that I can manage."

As he passed by the couch again, Anna threw a playful punch at his shoulder. "What's that Dwarven Vow? Confidence killed the cat?"

"Mom, that's curiosity, and that's not even a Dwarven Vow-" Lloyd responded with an identical punch toward her shoulder, but as he did so, Noishe lifted his head from Anna's lap and let out a shrill bark. Lloyd flinched and stepped away, wide-eyed. "N-Noishe? What's the big deal?"

"Aw, he's just being protective," Anna responded, petting Noishe's head and pushing him back so that he was resting on her lap again.

"Protective of what? He's seen you throw around men twice your size." Lloyd reached out- gently this time- to rest his hand on Anna's shoulder, but as soon as he got close, Noishe let out a low growl.

Anna threw her arms around Noishe's neck and nuzzled her cheek against his head. "Aww, Noishe~ don't growl at Lloyd. That's a good boy."

"That's so weird," Lloyd commented, looking down at his hand. "He's never growled at me like that. Everything seemed fine this morning. I wonder what's up."

"Noishe is an odd one," Kratos looked up from the inventory sheet he was marking to join in the conversation. "I gave up trying to figure him out centuries ago."

Whiiiiiiine~

"I didn't mean that as an insult, Noishe."

Lloyd laughed, but he was cut off by a "heads up!" as Kratos tossed a gauntlet at him. He caught it, taking a step back in surprise.

"Less talking, more packing."

"Why are we the only ones working?" Lloyd retorted. "Mom's just lying around."

"Well, why should I work if I've got my two favorite boys to do it for me?"

"Mom." Lloyd moved to the other side of the room to get the matching gauntlet from Kratos. "Flattery won't get you anywhere-"

The conversation was cut off by a loud knock on the door. Noishe's ears perked up and his gaze snapped over to the front door, but Kratos responded before Noishe could go anywhere, mumbling under his breath as he did so.

"If that's Song, I swear…"

Lloyd was occupied packing up the gauntlets with the others, so he didn't pay any attention until he heard Kratos call from the front door.

"Lloyd! It's for you!"

By the time he turned around, Anna was already sitting up and waving. "Come on in, Sheena! We were just having Lloyd help with some chores. He's all yours once Kratos decides that he's more trouble than he's worth."

"Mom," Lloyd groaned, though he ignored her and dashed over to the doorway so that he could greet Sheena with a hug. "I'm so glad you're here! You're just in time to come check out my new forge! Or, forge-to-be, I guess. I can start moving stuff in at noon."

"You already finalized the deal?" Sheena stammered. "That was a fast turnaround!"

"It's a real fixer-upper," Anna offered with a playful wink, "but I'm sure dating Lloyd has given you plenty of experience in that regard."

The comment made Sheena laugh, but Lloyd took on a look of pride. "Thanks, Mom!" he chirped pleasantly, beaming until he felt Sheena tap him on the back of the head.

"That was an insult. She was taking a dig at you."

"I-I knew that!" Lloyd stammered, his face turning a bright red. "But I appreciate the sentiment regardless. And anyway, I need to finish up with this packing before-"

Kratos stepped in front of Lloyd, taking the pair of gauntlets he was holding. "I think we've exploited enough free labor out of you. You kids should go catch up. Anna and I will take it from here."

"You sure-?" Lloyd began to ask, but within a few minutes Kratos had shooed the two out the front door, giving them a farewell and thanking Lloyd for his help. Anna's voice could be heard from inside, telling them to have fun and wishing them a lovely afternoon.

Both Lloyd and Sheena were a little embarrassed by the treatment, but neither complained. It had been a little while, and a lunch date was in order to catch each other up on all the news.

And, boy, did they have a lot to discuss.

The building was in pretty bad shape considering that no building in Luin was more than five years old. According to the realtor, the building has been created as a glassblowing studio shortly after the World Regeneration by an artist from Altamira, hoping to cash in on the new tourism craze that swept Tethe'alla once Sylvarant became accessible. However, when the artist was commissioned by the king of Meltokio to create an attraction for the first anniversary of the worlds' reunion, he closed his Luin studio with the intention of reopening it once he was finished.

That never happened.

The building had been sitting vacant on the hillside for the past four years, growing less and less appealing to potential buyers as pipes rusted and wildlife moved in. Had Lloyd not noticed its potential, it might have been torn down eventually- which would be a shame, he thought, considering its unique modern-Altamiran decor and stylized exterior.

Several birds flew out when Lloyd pushed the door open, prompting Sheena to step back and frown in disgust. He, however, was pleased.

"Seems like the birds like it! That's a good sign, right?"

"Yeah," Sheena replied, "if you like being surrounded by bird nests and poop."

Lloyd had to admit, he did see a lot of bird droppings as he walked in, but he tried to stay optimistic.

"Hey, isn't bird's nest soup a delicacy in Mizuho?"

"It's true that we use cave swift nests as traditional medicine-" Sheena stepped lightly over the stained floor, suddenly wishing she'd worn more substantial shoes. "-but those are special nests found on the edges of high cliffs. Not in attics and rafters."

"But they're similar, right?" Lloyd shrugged his shoulders, turning his attention to the equipment to his right. A large furnace was built into the wall in the corner, with a supporting post to allow a hollow blowpipe to be stabilized when collecting the glass. There were no blowpipes around, but the floor was littered with beads of raw glass in various colors. Lloyd sat down on the brick edge of the furnace, leaning backwards and pulling the door to the side to examine the interior.

Sheena drew closer, a smile crossing her lips as she watched him try to contort himself to see the walls better. "How does it look?" she asked, really not sure what kind of answer to expect. He pulled himself out of the oven, rushing dirt and soot off his hands.

"Not bad. I'll have to get Dad to look at it and see if there's a better way to control the temperature when we have it burning. In the meantime-" He paused and kicked the post in front of him. "-we'll have to get rid of this."

Sheena glanced around. "There are several of them around here. We'll have our work cut out for us."

Lloyd tapped his heel against the packed-earth floor, assessing its strength. "With the right tools, digging them up shouldn't be a problem. It'll be filling the holes in the floor that might be difficult. We want the floor to be safe and sturdy."

With that statement, he began visiting the other two furnaces, examining each for their size and state of repair. Leaning into one brought him face to face with a pair of angry sparrows and he saw signs that a small mammal had been nesting in the other, but he was satisfied with how everything looked. Each examination culminated with him writing notes about his plans to clean and remodel, so Sheena went to each of the windows and pulled the curtains aside to let light in. For all the years she'd known him, she'd never seen him so engaged in writing something down. Sure, Lloyd was passionate- that was one of the reasons she was so drawn to him- but his pursuits were more or less things that he just did rather than things that required thinking and planning. This was the first time she'd seen him so diligently work and it fascinated her.

It didn't take long for Lloyd to notice her silence, and he stopped what he was doing to look over at her. "Something wrong, Sheena?"

"No. I just like watching you work. It's different."

The statement seemed to confuse Lloyd. "Is that an insult?"

"N-no! It's just that, when you're focused on writing things down like that, you look so… studious. I've never seen you like this. I like it."

She wasn't sure if she should've said that last part, considering how opposite this was of Lloyd's usual personality. Would he be offended? She opened her mouth to amend the statement, but he was already beaming with pride.

"Gee, thanks! It'll be tough, but I'm excited about how it's going to turn out."

He looked so happy, Sheena couldn't keep a smile off her face no matter how hard she tried. She was sure that she must look like some kind of lovestruck idiot, and turned her head away before Lloyd could catch on and tease her. "So what's next?"

"If you can, I'd like you to help me clean out the closets. There are several on the back wall here, and then a few in the hallway that leads to the gallery. I just need to make sure that they're all open and empty."

"Sounds good, but I'll leave evicting any sort of creatures to you."

"Fair enough."

Unlike the furnaces, the closets were free of small animals. There were some spider webs and traces of other insects, but once again Lloyd was pleased with the state of things. He was busy cleaning cobwebs out of one corner with a broom when he heard Sheena's voice from behind him, coming from the gallery.

"How about this door?"

Lloyd went to investigate and found himself surprised by what she'd found. Sheena was standing by one door that looked slightly different than the others, the knob sitting under a padlock bolted shut.

"Did the agent give you the key for this one?" she asked.

"That one? No, she never said anything. Is it locked?"

"It's definitely bolted."

"How weird. She said all the closets should be open, so I never really paid attention to any specific doors." Lloyd tugged at the bolt, but just as Sheena had said, it was locked tightly. He knelt down and examined the lock, as though trying to determine whether or not he could pick it himself. "…maybe we could break the door down…"

"A huge metal door like this? That's just asking for trouble."

"No it isn't." Lloyd shook his head, stepping to the side and waving his arms out. "You could just summon Efreet and- boom!- melt the door into a metal puddle!"

Sheena buried her face in her palm. "I think that's one of the worst ideas you've ever come up with- and that's saying something."

Lloyd gave a little chuckle. It was clear he hadn't been serious, but he always appreciated Sheena taking him seriously. "Yeah, I didn't exactly expect you to agree to that. But maybe Efreet could just… burn the lock off?"

Hearing a more logical idea encouraged Sheena to give it some thought. "Efreet's power seems like it'd do too much damage, doesn't it? If I was going to summon a spirit to unlock the door, I'd just summon Gnome. It's metal, so he could use his earth powers to unlock it for us without breaking anything."

"Genius!" Lloyd clapped his hands in approval. "That's why you're the smart one in this relationship."

"That's not hard to do, given the competition." Sheena rolled her eyes, but she reached into her robe where she kept her talismans, wondering whether or not she was really going to summon one of the world's most powerful beings just to unlock a door for them. Knowing Gnome, he'd probably be dismissive of the whole idea… but of all the spirits, he'd probably be one of the more forgiving.

She stepped back and took a deep breath.

"I call upon the servant of Mother Earth. I summon thee, come Gnome!"

The ground beneath them shook as the aura of the spirit filled the room and Sheena began calling instructions before Gnome mistook the call for a battle summons and destroyed the place.

"Great Gnome, I ask you, please use your power over metal to disable the bolt on this door!"

It took a moment to get a response, but finally the sound of a high-pitched laughter punctuated the air.

"Really, now, you're calling on the power of a summon spirit for this? Unlocking a door so you kids can play hanky-panky in the basement?"

Sheena's face flashed red. "Th-that's not-"

"Basement?" Lloyd interrupted, more concerned about that part of Gnome's statement than the accusation. "There's a basement?"

"Of course, even this is better than making a pact with someone and then never being summoned for FOUR-THOUSAND YEARS. I mean, not that I'm bitter or anything. Just make sure that next time you call me, it's for something cool, 'kay?"

With that, Gnome's presence began to dissipate and finally disappeared from the room altogether. Sheena sighed in relief, having expected much worse than some light teasing. Lloyd, however, was already throwing the door open and looking down into the darkness behind it.

"A staircase! It is a basement! I don't believe this!" He was practically jumping with excitement. "Do you know what this means? Part of this building is underground! We could build a real Dwarven forge here!"

"Don't get too excited just yet." Sheena placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. "Let's use the remaining daylight to finish surveying the main floor. Then after dinner we can get some lanterns and find out what's down those stairs. Okay?"

Lloyd bit his lip. The impatience was killing him, but he knew that she was right.

"Okay. Sounds like a plan."

Seles' friends were overjoyed to see her out of the house for once. Her presence at the park that evening drew a small crowd, mostly fellow aristocrats she'd met at parties and sporting events.

"How've you been, Seles? It feels like it's been ages since we've had coffee together. "Wow, Seles, that dress is gorgeous! Who made it? I want one like it!" "You look so thin, Seles. Have you been eating?" "How's life without an appendix treating you, Seles? Can I see the scar where they took it out?"

"You may not." Of all the questions coming her way, Seles chose to answer the easiest first. "And if you ever ask me such a question again, Trevor, I'll cut you off my New Year's cards list."

The way she held her head and waved her fan as she said it made it clear she was joking, and the whole group had a laugh. Zelos knew everyone she was talking with too, but he stayed to the side and simply watched. To tell the truth, he felt a little out of place at this event. He wanted to stay with Seles, but he knew that he'd get chewed out if he started to hover. He wanted to spend time with Colette, but with Adora in tow, the sight of the three of them might inspire some undesirable rumors. He needed some unaffiliated person to hang out with, just to tie them all together. If he could only find-

There! Zelos would recognize that hair anywhere!

"Yo! What's up, Yuan? What are you doing at a place like this?"

Yuan was milling about in the crowd with another half-elf man at his heels that Zelos didn't recognize. They must've been together, however, because both of them immediately turned upon hearing Zelos' voice. The other half-elf spoke up first.

"There you are! We've been looking fo-"

Yuan butted in before the man could finish. "Well, fancy meeting you here, Zelos. What's the most popular man in Meltokio doing all alone on a night like this? I thought every lady here would be clamoring to be your date."

"I'm sorry to disappoint them, but they'll have to clamor for some other man. I have a date- she's gone off the get some refreshments." He brushed a few strands of hair away from his face. "In the meantime, who's your date here?"

"Ah, that's right. You haven't met Song, have you?" Yuan motioned over to his friend. "This is my buddy and business partner, Song Lu."

"Lu, huh? The Lu family has a long history of involvement in Tethe'allan medical research. It's an honor to meet you. I'm Zelos Wilder-"

"I know who you are." Song grabbed Zelos' hand and eagerly pumped it up and down. "And wowza! Might I say, you are way prettier in-person than you are in pictures?"

Zelos forced a smile. "Uh, th-thanks. I'll admit, I'm not used to taking sincere compliments from guys, but you seem pretty genuine."

"Oh, buddy, am I ever!" Song gave a wink. "Lemme tell ya, if I were ten years younger, those ladies clamoring for your attention would have some competition."

The statement caused Zelos to pause, trying not to grimace. "...thanks. But I have a date and you seem quite happy with Yuan here-"

"It's not like that," Yuan interrupted, waving one hand dismissively. "But speaking of your date, I heard through the grapevine that Colette has started a babysitting business. Is that a fact?"

"Grapevine?" Zelos raised an eyebrow, a knot of concern growing in his stomach. Were rumors flying that fast? "What sorta grapevine are we talking about?"

"Kratos."

Oh. "Well, that makes sense. He's a pretty reliable source these days." With a smile and a gesture back in the direction he'd come from, Zelos started to lead the two men to where he'd agreed to meet Colette. "You guys wanna come see the little tyke? She's pretty cute, and a really playful thing to boot. I've never seen a baby with more charm." Not to mention that having a couple of half-elves around would make Adora seem less out of place, and Zelos could play with her to his heart's content. Score!

"Of course!" Song chimed. "We were hoping to-"

Yuan stepped in front of Song. "Well, if you're so eager to show her off, we could take a peek. You seem quite, uh, fond of her."

Was it Zelos' imagination, or did Yuan sound a little… pissed-off? "What, you don't like babies?" he asked with a smirk.

Yuan offered a deadpan expression as he followed.

"No, Zelos. I just don't like you."