Another update! Givin' y'all a little extra reading material for this weekend. To those new to the story, welcome! Please enjoy and leave me some honest feedback!

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"So, here's the forge. You can buy more farm tools here, Claire. The owner's a little intimidating, but he means well. Just thought I'd give both of you fair warning."

"I've been here already," Claire replied.

"Me, too." Cliff nodded.

"Oh!" Karen was a little surprised. "Well, I guess we can just skip over it, then."

Claire's feet remained glued to the ground. She had another chance to speak to the apprentice, and she was not about to let it pass her by. "W-wait!" Claire's hands were sweaty and she wiped them off on her overalls. "I-it wouldn't hurt to go in and s-say hello…."

"Alright. If you want to, then let's go in," Karen shrugged.

The farmer opened the door with shaking hands and her heart began to pound as the familiar scent of smoldering metal hit her nose.

"Good day," Saibara greeted them.

"Hello. I'm showing these new folks around town today," the young woman explained.

Claire's eyes were already locked on the left side of the room. She watched the apprentice load the furnace with ingots.

"Hello, Mr. Saibara," Cliff nodded to him politely.

"Hello, young man. Can I help you with something today, Cliff?"

"Actually… I was wondering if you would be interested in another trade," he asked with a courteous smile. "I'm really happy with the work you did for me before; I can that tell you train very hard."

Karen was surprised at the shy young man's bold offer; the old blacksmith always made his customers pay up front in cash.

Saibara nodded approvingly and a smile crept onto his face. "Most young people don't understand… You must practice hard every day; it doesn't matter how long you've been doing it… I'm also satisfied with the work you've done for me. Alright, let's talk."

Karen's eyes moved over to Claire; she was watching Gray throw ingots into the furnace. "Hey, what are you going to make with all of that?" Karen asked.

Gray looked over at his grandfather. Saibara was grinning and nodding at his roommate while the young man skillfully negotiated with him; they looked pretty engaged. Gray rolled his eyes at Karen.

"None of your damn business."

"Hey, come on! Don't be like that! What are you making?" She repeated.

He didn't look up at her. "I said it was none of your damn business."

"Quit being an ass," Karen folded her arms across her chest.

"Why does it matter to you what I'm making? It will just end up in the furnace anyway, right? It's not your stupid spatula, that's for sure."

"Don't tell me you're still angry about this morning! If anyone should be mad, it should be me!"

Claire sighed; this visit wasn't going the way she had hoped for at all…

Karen caught the look on her friend's face. "Hey… Let's not fight. Why don't you show us what you do back there?"

"This is dangerous stuff. Don't treat it so casually like you're on a field trip or something," Gray's voice was gruff as he turned around and glared at Karen.

Claire was watching the glow of the furnace with wide eyes. "You ever get burnt on that?"

Gray almost scoffed at her, but he found himself unable to. Her eyes and tone of voice were both too sincere. "Well, that's why I wear these heavy gloves." He took them off. "But accidents still happen."

The farmer gasped as he showed her a few burn scars on his hands. "Do they still hurt?"

"Not at all. You can't tell me you have never burned yourself on something before."

"Well, I worked at a restaurant in the city for a few years, but I've never gotten anything like that…" Claire looked down at her own hands for a moment and frowned. They weren't quite as soft as when she lived in the city, and despite the fact that she wore work gloves, she was starting to get calluses from handling her farming tools.

"How did you get that one on your right hand, Claire?" Karen asked her friend.

"I got it slammed in a train door on my way home from work a couple of years ago. I couldn't write for a couple of weeks; catching up at work was worse than the actual injury," she laughed weakly.

"Well, I got this scar on my elbow from when I was a kid," Karen showed off her scar proudly.

"How did you get that one?" Claire asked.

"Something stupid, I'm sure. I think I was climbing a tree with Rick and fell."

Gray showed Claire a long pink mark on his left hand. "That's nothing compared to this one."

"Oh, so it's a competition now?" Karen teased.

Gray ignored her question. "I got this one when I first started. I sneezed when I was standing in front of a metal rod that was cooling. Hurt like hell."

"What about that one?" Claire pointed to his thumb.

"Ha... Got that one when I was a kid. I came here to visit with my parents and I saw some copper ingots cooling and apparently I thought they were candy. Goddess, I was stupid… Check it out; I only have a partial fingerprint." He held out his hand.

Claire took his hand in hers and ran her finger along the shiny scar. "That must've hurt so much… Second degree burn at least, right?"

"I guess. I don't remember it all that well; I think I was four or five... Hey, that tickles," A hint of a smile spread across his lips and his cheeks turned pink.

Claire looked up at him and quickly let go. "Oh, uh, s-sorry!" She stammered, blushing deeply.

Gray shrugged and pulled down on the bill of his cap. "Anyway, hot metal's nothing to fool around with. It's best to keep at a safe distance. I'm not going to be held responsible for anything stupid you decide to do, Karen."

"Whatever, we have somewhere else to go to next, anyway," She turned back toward her other companion, who was still talking to the owner.

"So you're already preparing for fall, huh?" Saibara asked.

Cliff nodded, and Karen was surprised at how comfortable he sounded talking to the old blacksmith. "Well, it's never too early to start; I've been scouting a lot now that it's warming up a bit. I am eager to see what Mother's Hill has to offer. I haven't seen too much yet, but I'm trying to remain hopeful."

"I'll have half a dozen ready for you by next week… Why don't you come over for tea tomorrow morning at seven? We can talk more then."

"Th-thank you… I'm honored," the young man stammered, reddening.

The old blacksmith laughed. "I have a feeling you'll do just fine in this town. We could use more polite young men like you."

Gray rolled his eyes.

"Well, I've got work to do; see you soon," Saibara said, not unkindly. "I will see you tomorrow morning, Cliff." He nodded at him.

"Yes. I'm looking forward to it," he bowed respectfully.

Saibara turned around and shuffled through his tools noisily, focusing on his next project.

"You're meeting Gramps for tea?" Gray cocked an eyebrow. "Hope you like bitter matcha, and you better drink it real slowly. He's very particular."

"I'm sure I'll be fine," Cliff replied, rolling his eyes; he was familiar with the way his roommate spoke of his grandfather.

"Well, you better hope you are. He invited me once for tea, and he nearly flipped the table over because I sat down wearing my hat. I think I need to be eight parts more wabi and five parts more sabi to meet his standards," he rolled his eyes, scoffing.

Claire blinked at the young man; the joke went over her head. Karen roared with laughter.

The old man turned back around, distracted by the young woman's loud voice. "Get back to the furnace, boy!" He roared. "I'm going to need steel!"

Gray sighed. "See you guys around." He headed back to his workstation.

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Author's note: Gray's joke at the end of this chapter is referring to the concept of wabi-sabi. This is kind of a hard term to describe from a western standpoint. Basically, wabi-sabi is the idea of imperfection and rustic simplicity, or the elegance and grace that comes with age and use. So, simply put, Saibara thinks his grandson is an impatient yahoo.

I hope I at least got a giggle out of someone with these last two coordinating chapter titles…

Please feel free to let me know what you think of the story so far!