Anrier thanked the woman for the meal and watched her go then turned back to the bards he sitting at the table with him. "We'll rehearse again after we eat."
They nodded and tucked in to their plates, half-listening to the bard that worked the tavern they sat in. "Thoughts?" one of the bards asked.
They all stated the woman was terrible and Anrier nodded. The bard wasn't very good but she was good enough for a tavern where the liquor was strong and cheap and the workers just wanted a nice singalong after a hard day's work.
"Food is good," Anrier said as he wiped up the last bit of the stew with the last of the pan fried bread.
"So filling," the young woman in their group said, pushing the rest of her stew away.
Anrier grabbed it before anyone else could.
Done with the meal they left a dozen coppers on the table then walked out to their waiting mounts. The group rode to a nearby park and settled in under a copse of trees where the snow wouldn't hit them.
Anrier stroked his lute and listened to the tone then adjusted a peg while the others tuned up their instruments then began playing along with Anrier when they were ready.
They began to draw a crowd and Anrier shifted in to a different song.
By the time the sun began to set, Anrier's lutecase had been filled with hundreds of coppers, dozens of silver pieces, and a handful of gold pieces.
Anrier and the others began putting their instruments away. Anrier divvied up the coins between the four others then put his lutecase on his mount's neck. He patted it and the eyes of the construct flashed brightly as it looked at him. "Yeah, you need a voice," he told it and patted its muzzle.
"Should we ride to the city?" one of his troupe asked.
Anrier laughed. "Suicidal are we? Riding at night in the Northern Province is a wonderful way to get killed by Ice Wolves, get lost, or freeze to death. We'll stay here tonight and start off in the morning. A good pace will get us to my home an hour or two before dusk."
"It's that dangerous up here?" another asked.
Anrier nodded. "The North breeds men among men. My brother and my father are some of the hardiest men I've ever met. When I was little and we went on hunting trips, I'd have to be covered up by a half-dozen furs so I wouldn't freeze to death" due to his half-elven heritage "they made do with the heat the coals put out. I've seen my grandfather stalk a wolf for six days wearing just a loincloth. Northerners are hardier than any nonmagical being I've ever met."
"Seriously? Just a loincloth?"
"He'd wear only them if it wasn't for my grandmother nagging him." They all laughed as they headed back to the inn.
xxxxx
First light broke over the horizon as Anrier packed his belongings away in his trunk then had it jump up in to the construct.
The rest of the troupe he had assembled for his sister's wedding brought their own horses out of the stable. "How much would it cost to have one of those made?"
"About five hundred gold pieces in material, a pair of star rubies for the eyes, and one moss agate or flawless blue quartz piece for every day you want it to function. Or one flawless blue diamond for eternal functionality. I went eternal functionality. Then another five hundred gold pieces for me to do the work. Still want one?"
"I'll stick with horses," he decided and the rest laughed.
They mounted their horses and set out, Anrier's Iron Destroyer rushing ahead to take point.
"How much did it cost to build?"
"Cheaper. About four hundred pieces in total. The chest was about nine hundred pieces. Subsidized though, since they were my test pieces and they were gifted to me by my mentors."
They arrived in his town as the sun dipped below the horizon. The city guards recognized Anrier and came to attention, greeting him by name, some more excitedly than others. Then his brother called out his name and Anrier swung off his horse and was picked up by his brother and swung around then both were knocked off their feet by the Iron Defender. "HOLD!" Anrier yelled and the Iron Defender froze mid-attack.
"Nice toy," he said, pulling Anrier up.
"Sorry Aano. I didn't add you to its friend or foe identifiers. Back in the horse Iron!"
The dog pawed open the chest plate then leapt in to the horse.
"That's amazing," Aano said. He hugged his brother again then set him down and felt the half-elf's shoulders. "You've gained muscle!"
"I put it on fast working the forge. The dragonforge builds muscle faster. In fact, my mentor said I should seek out two or three students from here so that they can train then build another forge here."
"Grandfather will want to hear about this. Now, come, let's get home and open some casks of mead. Grandfather ordered your favorite to be stocked for the wedding."
Anrier remounted and used the ride to introduce the troupe to his brother.
At their home, he introduced them to his sister who looked incredibly nervous about her upcoming nuptials and their mother and father then introduced the troupe to his grandfather who was drinking from a massive stein. "Anrier my boy! Grab a mug and pour yourself some mead, it's the blackhoney!"
Once he had his mead he sat down by his sister and put his arm around her. "Stop looking so worried. It's your intended who has to worry about your brothers."
She smiled at that and kissed his cheek then took his mug. "Hey!"
She stuck her tongue out at him and drank it down quickly.
"You're a little brat Iza!"
A servant brought him another mug of the mead and he kept a better grip on it as he said, "Keep being a brat and you're not gonna get your gift."
"Gift? Gimme! Now, please," she asked, her eyes wide and moist and impossible to say no to once he looked in to them.
He hesitated then nodded. "Fine. Anja?"
The servant came over and he smiled. "Can you go to my horse and touch its nose and whisper this," he asked, gesturing her to lean down. She did so and he told her what to do then she nodded and left to go see to his request.
When she returned, she was warily looking back at the chest following her.
"Ahh! You're doing well as an artificer then!" their grandfather exclaimed upon seeing it. "Beatiful work Anrier!"
Anrier opened the case and took out the ornately carved box. He set it in front of his sister then put his hand on it before she could open it. "Whistle your favorite song."
Iza held her hand up to cover her mouth—Anrier and Aano had used to tease her about how it looked when she whistled, trying to get her to stop whistling—and whistled the first few notes of her favorite song. Birds began singing, muffled by the box.
Anrier moved his hand away and the lid opened on its own. The seven songbirds launched from the case and began orbiting his sister's head and shoulders, singing her favorite song in counterpoint. He'd had to add a three new instruments to it and write the music for them but it had turned out perfectly he believed, especially since his sister was sitting in slack-jawed amazement while others leaned forward, trying to see the mechanical birds easier.
xxxxx
Anrier awoke to his sister and his dog both snuggling up against him. "What are you doing?" he asked.
She yawned as she opened her eyes and started scratching his dog's head. "I came in here to ask you something and it's so warm in here it made me sleepy."
He reached over and scratched his dog's belly as he asked, "Well?"
"Oh, right, you said they can do other songs?"
"Yes. I have to infuse them on to moss agates then you put the moss agates in the seven slots on the case and they'll learn the song but they can only hold three songs aside from your favorite."
"How long does it take to put songs on the agates?"
"A day or so. Go away."
"But it's so warm in here."
"You're not four anymore. Out!"
She pouted then slid out from under his covers and said, "C'mon bitch. Anrier is being bitchy."
His hound ruffed and followed her out as he rolled his eyes and rolled over to see the servant that had come to bed with him was gone. He sat up and stretched then used the basin and pitcher of water to clean himself up then got dressed and broke up the fire in his fireplace and pulled the iron cover down on it so it would die down but not burn out.
He made his way down the halls and settled at the table as the servant he had slept with brought him a plate of food and some watered down mead. She blushed as he pinched her backside.
As he was cutting up the honey cake, his grandmother sat down across from him then his mother joined them. "Well?" his mother asked.
"Well what?" he asked as he sopped up some honey with the honey cake.
"Where are my grandchildren!?"
His grandmother started laughing at the question and his cake falling out of his hand and into his lap.
"You're going to live another two hundred fifty years easily! You can wait a few more years!"
"I won't," his grandmother reminded him. "Give me more great-grandchildren. Two aren't enough."
"Your granddaughter is about to get married! She'll be pregnant within the month. And if he doesn't, well we can find her a real man." Anrier turned around and smirked at his brother-in-law-to-be who was flushing bright red.
"H-hello Anrier. How'd you know I was here?"
"I didn't," he lied. "That's how we always talk about you when you're not around."
Everyone laughed as his mother stood and walked over to pat the man on the shoulders. "He's joking."
"Your brother sent for me?"
"I asked him to," Anrier said and stood, cleaning the cake off his shirt with some mead dipped cloth.
When he was done, Anrier took the weapons display case down from above the fire.
"For you. Unless tonight's wedding doesn't happen. Then I'll hunt you down and either make it happen or kill you. Whichever is easier."
They all laughed again, this time the groom-to-be as well.
"Open it now?" he asked.
Anrier nodded and the younger man opened the case and picked up the blade.
"I know you're a bit of a wuss when it comes to fighting so the magic of the schiavona will cause those you're fighting to submit to your will." People laughed again. His fighting skills were legendary. He had passed everything to join the City Guard then accidentally stabbed Anrier's father during the sword training classes. Every day until Aano failed him out. Now he was a scribe for the queen's court but he still took the sword training classes. As clumsy as he was, he was actually a fairly good swordsman when it was sticking in the right person. They had had to do something unprecedented for training a Northern swordsman: they had made him a wooden sword to train with. "This way if you're hitting the wrong person, you're much less likely to accidentally kill them since they'll submit instead of fighting to the death."
He flushed but laughed as he thanked Anrier.
Anrier grabbed him by the neck and rubbed his head with his knuckles. "Now, go get ready to marry my sister."
He dashed off.
xxxxx
The music swelled and Anrier smiled as his sister turned to smile at him. He stuck his tongue out at her and she fought not to giggle then turned back, a giggle escaping her as the other women lifted up her palanquin.
She reclined, waving at the other Northerners who lined the route to the clearing then those people fell into line behind Anrier and the troupe as they played the traditional tune.
When they arrived, his sister stepped off the palanquin and looked up at the snow coming down then stepped to her spot, smiling so beauteously for half a moment, Anrier was depressed she was his half-sister.
He started the next traditional tune and turned slightly to see where her intended was supposed to arrive. When he did, he smiled at seeing his blade at the young man's side.
He approached their grandfather and asked permission to pay the bride price, a lot more forcefully than Anrier had thought he'd be able to.
Their grandfather decked the young man.
He pulled himself up off the ground and tackled the old man. Anrier leaned forward a bit, trying to see just how the young man would retaliate. His eyebrow went to his hairline nearly when he saw the groom-to-be use the dirty snow to blind the old man then pick up Iza and run for it, the young man's family moving to block Iza's family. His brother and father gave a token fight against the others but a few moments later Iza and her groom were gone and he changed from a traditional tune to a more peppy tune and dancing began, his father dancing with his mother for a song before dancing with his new son-in-law's mother.
Three hours later as the party was reaching its peak, the now married and consummated couple reappeared.
"Think she was a virgin?" one of his troupe asked.
The answer arrived before he could answer he didn't care. His mother and his sister's mother-in-law held up the bloodstained sheets to the semi-shocked cheers of the guests: few Northerner women were virgins at marriage but it did command a hefty bride price. "It appears so." Her husband's family now owed their grandfather an additional four cows and two goats.
His sister came over and hugged him, hiding her face in his chest. "Why did they show that?!"
He chuckled and kissed the top of her head. "Go, dance. People are happy for you and we're gonna play your favorite song. Or sit down, I'm sure you're a bit sore."
She turned even brighter red and hit him repeatedly to the laughter of those nearby.
xxxxx
"Do you really have to leave so soon?" Iza asked. "Please stay!" she pleaded.
"I have to go," Anrier told her and kissed her forehead. "And you need to go make me a nephew and a niece."
She pouted but hugged him nonetheless.
"Now remember, don't raise your hand to him," he told her as her husband came in. "He's a bit of a wimp and you might hurt him."
"I like it when she hurts me," he said and Iza turned bright red and buried her face in Anrier's chest.
"Stop it!"
Both men laughed and Anrier kissed the top of her head then pushed her back and pulled his pack on. "Well, then go abuse your new husband. I'll try to visit again within the year, okay?"
She nodded and let go of him after she pulled him down to kiss his cheek. "Safe travels. Take no prisoners."
"Northerners leave no survivors!" The traditional reply. And untrue. Northerners were more likely to subjugate and enslave an enemy instead of killing them all. Nowadays. In the past Northerners were a White Horde, descending on their victims and taking it all.
Anrier patted his brother-in-law's shoulder then walked out to find his troupe waiting for him. They planned to travel together to the southernmost city to catch the airship back to the southern provinces.
He mounted his horse and smiled as he watched his sister and her husband walk to their new home, a freshly build stone and log cabin in the large territory his family had carved out centuries ago.
He turned to see the two women and one man he had selected to become artificers and they all set off.