Last time: Kyr and Cien met with the Mastersmith and she agreed to make Cien armor.

Now: The armor is complete

Chapter 16- Cien's Armor; Kyr's Heart

Two and a half weeks later, the Armorer called for Kyr to join her in the forge. He and Cien had adopted a small branch of a tunnel for their camp and passed the time together, between when she had to return to the forge for fittings. The Armorer had called for Cien some time ago, and Kyr had waited impatiently and nervously after he had packed what little supplies they had. When he walked through the outer room, past the other Mandalorians, several nodded to him in greeting and he nodded back, his and Cien's presence having been tentatively embraced by a few here.

He stepped through into the forge, and saw no sign of Cien. The Armorer met him and drew the curtain. "Well met, Kyr'prudii of clan Xiv."

"Well met, Mastersmith." He said respectfully.

"There is one last piece to forge, and I thought it best to ask you privately if you had any wish for it, since in the past you have always had such interesting requests for this final piece." She regarded him.

He hesitated, and felt guilty for it. He knew what he wanted to do, but he wasn't sure if it was right. For all the time they had spent together for over a month and a half now, how deeply things seemed to have settled between them, he was still not entirely sure how real this was, how real it was to her. Where she ultimately saw their relationship in the years to come, even if he knew his own private wish. He could not shake the feeling in the back of his mind that a Sith Lord so powerful as she would not want something like that in her life. And he felt terrible for having those doubts.

"Your companion, Cienestra," the Armorer said in an oddly quiet tone, "mentioned that she was unsure of your eventual intentions between you when we first spoke. Though she embraces the path you have invited her to join you on. Looking into her eyes, I could see the conviction with which she spoke then, and during our fittings her heart for this matter has only grown stronger. For that reason, she has the armor that she wears now."

Kyr swallowed nervously, and reached down to his chest, detaching a plate from the rest of the armor he wrapped himself in. He held the chest diamond, his heart, in his hand. A piece that had been reforged originally for him from his father's set to make his original armor. And again reforged when he melted that set along with his mother and sister's, after they had been killed, to make his own copper set that had seen him through so much. This heart was made from the beskar hearts of his family, and he had split that with Oppie. Years and years later, when he had made the heart pieces for Sasha and Viran, he had done the same, remaking his heart piece and theirs from that same mix of his family's beskar so that Sasha and Viran could share the heart of the family they had joined.

He held out the heart piece for the armorer to take. "It already belongs to her." He said quietly.

The Armorer nodded, and took the piece with reverence. "You may remove your buy'ce, if you wish." She stated. Kyr did so, tucking it under his left arm as she then walked across the room to a door and opened it, and stepped aside. Cien was waiting on the other side, and she looked over at Kyr with a smile. Kyr's heart thudded in his chest as he looked at her. Her armor had been kept a mystery to him.

She stood with her buy'ce tucked under her right arm. Underneath was a black flight suit, as dark as night under her plates. She had a matching cape, similar to Kyr's style attaching at her left shoulder and then down at her right waist, that also evoked the presence of the dark robes she preferred to wear normally. She had minimal armor, but the same style of interlocked trauma plate covering that he had, which was a surprise to him. Albeit, her plates were not as heavy as his so she could still move and fight with her saber; chest, shoulders and a small plate for her abdomen. Hip plates that hung at her side and a black leather belt that held her matching black pouches, and shin armor that covered her boots and knee plates to protect her joints. Her armor shimmered in the dim light of these rooms and the flames of the forge, a lustrous and brilliant silver with only a slight tint of gold to it, so she looked like the bright light of a summer's day captured and made solid. The light played across her armor, sparkling from the microfacets it was covered in, and Cinestra Swanseae embodied the name her parents had given her.

She was beautiful, just like when she had appeared in her illusion of the dining room, and almost comparable to the first most beautiful thing on his list. Certainly the beach and that planet he had spoken to her about bumped down to number four.

"Your armor is nearly complete." The Mastersmith finally spoke, after a moment. "I thought it fitting that your companion should be here for this final forging."

"Thank you." Cien stepped forward to stand next to Kyr and watch. As she approached she looked at his armor, at the missing piece from his chest, and halted. She turned and looked over to the Armorer, who was placing his heart in the forge along with one of the ingots of her beskar. She looked back at Kyr, meeting his eyes with a shocked look on her face, and Kyr smiled, just slightly. She blinked several times and then moved to stand next to him, her hand finding his and holding it, tightly.

The beskar melted under the heat of the flame. The beskar alloy of his mixing with the slight golden hue of hers, and forming two heart pieces that were a mix of the two, somewhere between his copper and her solidified sunlight.

They walked out of the forge with their buy'ces on, past the curtain together. All of the Mandalorians outside looked at them, some nodding in deep approval as they walked through side by side. Without a word they left the covert behind, turning the corner to head into the sewers, to head back to their ship and begin their ultimate mission. They made their way back through the maze.

Cien was still in her buy'ce, since she felt it appropriate to wear, at least for the moment, and it would hide her face when she was on the surface. She was overwhelmed by the interface though. The overlay of the map presented to her, the sensitive compass heading above, the surround video ribbon that was above her glass visor which she found disorienting. The information about the systems in her suit presented to her in various graphs and scrolling text. The information about Kyr's suit and vitals which hers was already interfaced with. She glanced down at her left gauntlet, and the visor highlighted all of the unmarked buttons with labels which seemingly jumped out at her. When she looked away and blinked, her eyes were over some vision toggle and she accidentally activated some kind of mode that highlighted every movement, and displayed the room in what looked like ultraviolet light. When she tried to repeat that, hoping to toggle the vision system off, her glance was accidentally over another indicator, and all the sounds in even this quiet place where amplified to startling levels - she could hear animals scurrying in the walls, footsteps of those above ground, voices from a distant cantina, and murmurs from the Mandalorians they had left behind.

The Armorer had given her a quick introduction to all of this after she had first made the buy'ce, but actually having it interfaced with all the systems of her full armor was overwhelming. It reminded her of the sensation she had of the people around her when she was so young, and overwhelmed by the flood of their thoughts and emotions before her training master recognized her gift and took her to train in the quiet with the mummified dead. This time she was being flooded with senses from the physical world.

She faltered slightly. Kyr looked back at her, and remembered back to his own training days so long ago.

"Let me help." He said, very quietly since he could guess what she was hearing from the twist of her neck. He stepped forward to where she stood, trying to orient herself and bring things back to normal. He put his arms on her shoulders to help center her, and he rested his forehead against hers, the gesture of an armored Mandalorian kiss - a synchronising protocol he thought was very astute of the Mastersmith, and he was interfaced with her systems, able to call them up on his own. Almost every sensor feed and option was on, a default for most Mandalorians. He brought her vision back to normal, and turned the sound enhancement off.

"Thank you." She said with relief. She felt like she was back at the temple in a way, but glad that her current mentor was far kinder than her Sith mentor.

"It's a lot, I'll help you with it. Soon it will be second nature, and it will actually be helpful." He murmured as he disabled a few more options. Almost everything had been turned off, they would need to work back up from there.

There was the sound of someone else moving through the tunnels, and they both looked up from their erstwhile Mandalorian kiss and at the figure approaching them in the gloom of the sewers. It was another Mandalorian, making his way through the tunnels, back to the covert. He looked tired, like he was getting back from a hard job. Aside from a beskar buy'ce, he had a patchwork of brown and earth tone durasteel plates and he walked with a slight jangle. Kyr admired the Amban rifle slung over his back.

The Mandalorian glanced at them, and then did a double take realizing he did not recognize the copper plated Mandalorian, nor the goldish silver Mandalorian he seemed to be embracing. The two nodded at him as they got underway, walking past him. The Mandalorian they passed nodded back, and watched them go, then turned to continue to the covert, confusion on his face under his buy'ce.

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