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Note to my readers #2: So I know I've been cramming short chapters in like a machine gun. I write when I can get a coherent idea out, and usually do each chapter in one sitting. I hope this isn't discouraging readers. I promise, when this is all finished, it won't be a short read, but hopefully by keeping the chapters short, readers will feel less obligated to sit down and read for three hours just to make sure they don't lose their place when they get up. Maybe that's just me, though. Well... anyways, more excitement in this chapter. I may go about this the wrong way, but I'll never know till I publish it and get responses. Call this chapter something of a baited hook. Anyways, see you storyside!
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The satisfying clank as the sword-edge of the switchaxe joined the axe-head was as sweet as the finest crystal bell in Sinika's ears. Nothing could have been more musical than the gentle hiss as the blades locked, linking the phial Rogishen had made for the purpose to the veins running throughout the swordblade. Priming the vial with a special toggle in the handle, she raised the heavy blade over her head and swung diagonally down across her front through the air. She could feel the heat as the phial's contents, hissed through the air as the blade used the centripetal force to pump the fluid. In an arc in front of her, the fluid-turned-vapor hissed violently, and then detonated. The blast blew Sinika's short hair back for a moment before it went back to resting down behind her ears. She heard an appreciative whistle from behind her, and pulled a chain link in the handle to disengage the phial and switch the blade into axe mode, the sword blade vanishing into the axe head. Seconds later, she felt the arms of her overexcited apprentice circle her shoulders in what was slowly becoming a trademark of his interactions with Sinika. She didn't blush quite as badly now, but there was still a warm glow on her cheeks as he hopped back, clapping excitedly, giddy as a concert fangirl. Yu-Yian was easily excited by anything having to do with blacksmithing, and this latest creation made him doubly excited because it had been a collaborative effort between himself and his teacher. It helped for Sinika to feel his heartbeat. Just like his anxiety imprinted on her, his excitement did in a big way. She could hear his radiant excitement and even joy, and thus could feel it as if it was her own. A blessing and a curse that comes with being a blind girl with superhuman hearing.
"It's perfect," she mused, getting a feel for the balance of the axe. "Seamless transformation between modes... no leaks in phial connectivity. And Rogishen's mix sure does its job well. Flawless..." Yu-Yian laughed openly and crossed his arms.
"Isn't that what we expected? The only part I doubted was that my hinging mechanism would work properly, but your techniques were exactly what I needed! A perfect Royal Ludroth switchaxe!" Yu-Yian beamed. It was just the two of them there in the shop, and soon it would be just Yu-Yian. There were a few commissions in, and he'd be busy. Sinika, on the other hand, planned to put this new weapon of hers to good use. She wouldn't worry him about it... she owed him a day of relaxation to do simple commissions. It used to be like therapy for her, so surely he would feel the same, especially since he was the more passionate of the two about smithing. But she planned to do him one better. To put the ribbon on the package, she was going to commission him to do an original piece with her next hunt's material. It was her way of officially giving over full ownership of her forge. The switchaxe was his doctoral thesis, and he had completed it flawlessly. She knew it would be difficult to convince him to take pay for doing work for her, but she hoped he would appreciate the sentiment and meaning behind it. Whistling an old familiar lullaby to herself, she was soon on an airship headed to the icy northern mountains. She would be gone for a week or so for this hunt. She had come with nothing but her switchaxe, but fortunately, the guild would readily take care of her needs during the hunting expedition. The hunt of the day was a Tigrex. It had much the same posture and build of a Nargacuga, but with much more unbridled rage and much less sharp tailspines to lash out with. In a way, this was her graduation as well. Hunting bird wyverns hardly counted as hunting at all. Yes, it was more useful closer to the cities to have a plethora of hunters to do bird wyvern hunts, as those raptor-like wyverns tended to stray towards people more readily, but the more powerful brute, leviathan, and winged wyverns had a more devastating affect on ecosystems in a broad sense, and a lot of the Guild's job was wildlife conservation, interestingly enough. This particular Tigrex had come in from the glacial north where it had no doubt depleted its supply of Popos and Aptenoth, and grown tired of munching on starving baggi. Now it was encroaching on a place known as Pokke, which was famous for its ice, herb, and fur exports. She would be pretty far from Pokke itself, but her job was to kill or capture this Tigrex before it became a more pressing problem.
High above the clouds on the deck of the small airship, Sinika whistled over the gusts of wind to calm herself. This high above the earth was unnerving for Sinika. It was the first time she felt truly blind in years, and she hated it. She could have been headed anywhere. The ground nowhere to be detected. It was like being suspended in the vacuum of space with not even the stars out to see. It was borderline terrifying. All she could hear was the whistling of the wind and the mewling of the felyne pilot guiding their ship above the clouds. She could hear occasionally the rumble of thunder from some storm going on far below them. The air was thin where they were. Thin, and yet humid. For all she knew, they could be in the middle of a cloud. Soon, she heard the felyne approaching her, abandoning the helm temporarily. The small bipedal cat stopped near her and paused there for a few moments. She tried to imagine he must have been saluting her or making some physical gesture of respect to her, but she didn't know at all what he was doing.
"Young Miss, we're nearing Pokke. It's snowing below us, so it's unlikely they will be out and about to greet us, so I've elected to transport you directly to the Guild camp, if Miss approves," the tiny cat stated. Sinika nodded her approval and went back to whistling her childhood lullaby to comfort herself. The cat turned on its heels and headed back to the helm, and the huntress hugged the switchaxe to her chest, as if it offered her some degree of protection from the looming void of the sky. Soon, though, she could feel the chill of snowflakes on her cheek, and listened intently for the ground to rise to her. They had to be getting close. Soon, she could hear the whistling of the wind through treetops, and finally eased her grip on the broad switchaxe. Soon, she heard the thud of the anchor of the airship thudding to the ground, and gears squeaked as it was reeled in, bringing the ship towards the ground. As soon as she could hear the ground mere feet from the underside of the ship, she stood up and walked to the edge and jumped down. She heard protest from the felyne as it watched her cross the twelve foot gap to the ground, but she rolled expertly and was soon back to whistling. It took all her strength of will not to get on all fours and kiss the snowy turf. She could hear the flapping of leathery fabric in the wind, and walked towards it. Soon, the snow and wind stopped chilling her exposed face, and she sat down on the beds positioned in the shelter of the tent. As she shook the melting snowflakes from her hair, her breath suddenly ceased. She could hear a heartbeat nearby. Someone was laying in one of the beds. Turning to the source of the nearby figure, she held her breath to listen to the sound of the person's breathing and heartbeat. Her blood went cold as she recognized the familiar scent the moment she could pick it up.
"Yu-Yian, you damned fool! What the hell are you doing here?!" she exclaimed. The figure didn't stir. He must have been deep in slumber. Reaching over, she gripped the front of her apprentice's shirt and jerked him up suddenly to a sitting position. She could hear him sputter as he was so suddenly woken, and he wiped his eyes as he recognized Sinika through sleep-bleary eyes.
"You're finally here! I wait..." he was suddenly cut off as Sinika's palm left a sharp sting through his face. She held her hand poised to follow through her slap with a backhand, but paused there.
"What the hell are you doing here? You weren't even supposed to hear about this trip..." she growled at him. Feeling a little bit hurt at her lack of welcoming, he muttered briefly and than spoke up.
"Noran told me about it. He stopped by when you had already headed to the port, so I left to beat you here. You know you forgot replacement phials for your switchaxe?" he grumbled. Sinika pressed her palm against her forehead and shook her head.
"Dammit, Yu... You know that only Hunters are allowed in Guild camps..." she chastised him. Yu Yian's lips curled into an unseen smile, and he proudly spoke back.
"That's easy enough. I got a Hunter's license a week back. Don't worry, I'm still a fulltime smith. I just needed access to the guild's quest board so I could keep tabs on you when you suddenly vanished on me." Sinika sighed at this. She was at least relieved that he hadn't gone on a hunt. But still, his presence here left her more than just a little uneasy. She immediately was haunted with the imagined sound of his screams as he was chomped by a Tigrex or pummeled off the edge by the brutish wyvern's charge.
"Fine... thanks for bringing the phials, but you're not leaving this camp." she insisted adamantly. Yu-Yian tensed at the firmness in her voice.
"I'm afraid that's not going to happen," he stated coldly. It was a side of him she had not heard before, and she immediately felt his eyes on her, gaze cold as ice, even though she couldn't begin to describe what such a gaze would look like. It turned her own voice to pleading.
"You're... I... Please... You're the heir to my smithing techniques. I couldn't bear for them to be lost forever..." she said, but her heart was somewhere else entirely. She wanted to tell him that she cared too much about him to risk him dying, but she kept that concealed. "I beg you... Don't risk that much..."
"Not happening," he said in softer tones. It was yet another side of him she had never heard before. If she had not been so sure of his voice and scent, she would have thought him an imposter. He had seen through her facade. "You may think this inappropriate, but you yourself are more valuable than your techniques." Sinika's breath halted for a moment. Was this a confession of affection? She thought back to all his enthusiastic hugs. Was there more to it than she had assumed?
"Promise me you're just going to stay at a distance," she pleaded. Yian's voice went back to his old familiar enthusiasm, though what he said offered her no comfort.
"Of course. I didn't bring a weapon anyways. I was only planning to stay by with some of Rogishen's potions and some phials." Sinika's blood ran cold, and again she imagined his despairing cries of pain as she imagined him torn in two by razor-sharp Tigrex fangs. She didn't say anything, though. He was showing her sides of him she had not thought existed. She didn't know how to react. She simply offered a prayer that this wouldn't be something she would regret.