Reforged [Darkrider/Invite]

"Sometimes they're just ready," Boko added, also in spite of himself. He nodded to himself as if to say good talk and kept on walking down the streets. Between turning back around, eating, and running into that scoundrel, he had already lost an hour and a half out of his day he hadn't been expecting, but he couldn't say it was too bad. Haris seemed like an interesting fellow despite Boko still not understanding him in many ways. What he did know was that reserved silence, though, and perhaps that was what made the boy such an amicable partner for him, or maybe it was something else. He didn't really know.

They had long since left that swarthier part of town, and they were back in the more upbeat section of a merchant's district. A woman scampered after her children, ducking around a wide-bellied merchant that was moving his cart full of tomatoes into a slightly better location. Long balconies often ran the lengths of the houses facing toward the streets, and Boko cracked a smile at the people lounging up there so peacefully. He nodded respectfully at a couple of guards that passed by and then turned back to Haris, asking him another question that had crossed his mind, "Will you be a blacksmith for the rest of your life here in Hyrule Castle Town?"

Haris, in a rare moment, smiled with little reservation. "Yeah...I want to carry on the family business. Help protect the people here...and the gaurds who help accomplish that, like you." He glanced at the merchant with the tomatoes, enjoying the deep crimson the fruit had to offer, and the bustling city life. It reminded him he lived in a town that was alive and at peace again. How he longed for the city to stay this way, admist of the bad rumors that continued to circle around in lands far away...outside these walls of safety.

His thoughts returned to Boko again. He had never really had this much interaction with a Hylian Gaurd before, certainly not like the man walking next to him. He like many of them, but also...different. Physically was a part of the latter, but the former, he enjoyed as familiar. He recognized Boko's silence to be out of respect, as well as his general demeanor. A generally upright man, a gentle giant...Haris felt comfortable around that. He could be more himself around Boko.

Boko considered the man's response for so long that when he finally wrapped it up and tucked it away, even nodding might seem off-putting and somewhat random. The boy seemed very complacent, though Boko couldn't quite finish that thought, not really sure of the word to use. He knew the idea, though. Understanding why the boy didn't want to move at all was likely beyond his own capacities, so he decided to let that rest as well. The man tucked his fingers into his belt and, after much deliberation, decided to not let it bother him further.

Instead, he would think about this weapon that was going to be in his hands hopefully before the week was out. His favored weapon was, indeed, a two-handed one by most standards to other men. For Boko, though, his size gave him a curious displacement for weapons. A two-handed weapon could be held and maneuvered with just a single hand, allowing him to even carry a shield as well if he wished. More often than not, though, he simply preferred to use both his hands, finding the most accuracy and comfort in that regard. His thoughts walked alongside his feet all through Castle Town, finally stopping when he realized he should as well, "I think we're here."

Haris suddenly looked up, snapping out of his introverted daydreaming. His eyes quickly took in the surrounding area, his expression filled with wonder. Everything seemed so much more official here; gaurds stood ready beside great gates of stone and iron. Wealthier hylians moved about in a stately manner, and banners of Hyrule drifted with much pomp in the wind. It was not the castle town that he knew.

Forge remembered to nod once as a response to Boko's statement, and with a sigh to regain his sense of self, he turned to the giant and asked, "So where do we go now to the armory?"

Large stone walls layered themselves around the Hyrule Guard outpost in the noble district that Boko had taken his companion to. It was not particularly stately looking or imposing, but it was well maintained and sizable enough. The walls were about fifteen feet tall or so and wide enough to walk narrowly on at the top; to enter required going through a small gatehouse though, situated on the main part of the street with a guard sitting inside his little box, likely sorting through papers since he didn't have anything better to do with his time. Boko recognized a number of the guards he saw near this outpost within the city, but even more of them would likely recognize him. The Hylian Guard that was thick as a brick and taller than a house, they said; his resolve was not in question, at least.

Boko didn't respond to Haris, instead simply leading by example and walking up to the little gatehouse, stooping down to speak through the window. "I have business with the storehouse here, sir," he spoke politely to the man he could not really see. By the way the man shuffled around at once inside that little hut, though, one might have guessed he had seen Boko coming from a little ways away. The gate into the outpost opened promptly, and Boko entered while ushering his companion in as well.

The guard gave Boko a grim little nod, not seeming to show much emotion about his presence in the slightest. Waiting for the two of them to get inside, the man spoke up in a simple and bereft manner, "What're you here for today, then?"

Boko didn't respond, realizing he was not actually entire sure. Instead, he turned to Haris who he knew still had his letter and could answer any questions much better.

Haris, being better at social skills when put into a professional mindset, quickly retrieved the letter from his pant's pocket, and read out the short list of elements needed.

"Five ingots of steel...2 jars of silver dust, 2 ingots of gold, and 5 leather strips." the boy read aloud, looking up at the man when he was finished reading off the ingredients. In the times after, Forge glanced around to take a better look at the town. Perhaps it was of his circumstances, but his perspective on this end of town seemed to be a lot more majestic than what it actually was. His mind made it a fantasy, something out of a story more than real life.

The guard at the outpost wrinkled his nose slightly as the list was read aloud; those weren't the types of materials you just borrowed without asking or paying. For a moment, the man seemed to consider the request until something jogged his memory, "Oh! Gold, you said? I thought this was already sent out to a blacksmith across town." He looked at Boko searchingly, but the large man simply stared back at him impassively. "I'll make sure the order actually went through," he added with a tad of meekness, hurrying back into his little hut with all those papers inside of it.

After a few minutes of him loudly rummaging around, Boko's head turned to watch him scurrying back out holding a dirty, crinkled document that looked like it might have fallen behind someone's desk for a few days. He looked a little embarrassed by the whole thing, but as he started talking his eye caught someone walking by, and he hailed him promptly, "Boy! I need you to fill this order immediately. No, no, it can't wait, just go." The helping hand darted off when receiving that dirtied piece of paper, and the guardsmen scratched his head, turning back to Boko and Haris, "Sorry about that, you two. Things can get a little hectic here. I've still got more work to do, but the boy should be back soon enough with your package." Boko nodded once, and the man scurried back into his safe little cubicle.

Five minutes in silence passed before that same boy came back out with a small wooden box that looked much heavier than its size would suggest, judging by the way he arched his back and strained to carry it. Boko accepted the package easily, cracking the lid and showing it to Haris, "Is this right?"

Haris' ashen hands, probably as dirty as the paper was, lifted the lid slightly higher so the boy could look inside, who nodded twice. Here they were...the hard steel for the outer blade...and the silver dust to make a soft core, with a hyrbrid compound in the middle; his master's secret recipie for making a hard and powerful sword that at the same time lacked brittleness found in other designs. The gold would help the handle and prevent cold weather to damage the hilt, and the leather strips to assist with grip. "Yeah, these are the materials."

Forge closed the box and looked back at the store keeper with a shy, polite smile and a bow. "Thank you very much for giving us the supplies we needed." With that, the blacksmith turned back to Boko, waiting to travel back with him.

Nodding satisfactorily, Boko allowed the lid of the box to fall shut easily, somewhat wishing the thing simply had a handle so he could hold it at his side with one hand easily. There wasn't much to be done about it, he supposed. "We go back now, then," he said shortly and probably unnecessarily to his companion. He gave a final farewell to any guards that might be still around, and a few moments later the large man was headed back to where he had started this silly errand. He had done his best to simply turn off his thoughts, not something difficult for him, throughout the entire journey, but if he was honest the whole thing was somewhat irritating. It frustrated him that someone had lost his papers, and it frustrated him even more still that he could do very little to intervene in situations struggling like this. At least Haris was amicable enough and had been helpful, but it was the sentiment that rubbed the large man the wrong way.

In part it just made him want to go find that man from earlier and beat him back into a pulp. He was certain that would make him feel better; it usually did, anyway. Those days of being a thug were long past though, Boko reminded himself. Things were much harder without Gaer around. Glancing up the street, Boko tried to keep himself complacent with the fact that things were peaceful and running as they should. He tried to remind himself that was all he should care about. Still difficult. He glanced at Haris as if to say something while they walked, but he turned away; the man didn't know what to say, so silence was probably best.

Haris nodded once to Boko in acknowledgement, and once to the storekeeper in thanks. With that, he ran to catch up to the Hylian Gaurd, and noticed his glance. It seemed to be rather...painful? It was clear to Forge that it was best not to speak of it. Assured, he kept his words as wonder in his mind, and accompanied the man back to his own neck of town. The sky aged further, it's pale blue darkening slightly into a deeper hue.

The man walked in silence for a long while, doing little more than simply shifting his arms once in a while to keep a grip on the box he held. The busyness in the streets had died down considerably since the day had wound down from one of its busier hours. In some senses the lack of activity was partially calming, since the bustle wasn't nearly as intense. You simply didn't have to worry about bumping into someone every single step you took. But at the same time, the streets could be a little eerie when quieter. For all the talking that Boko did (or, rather, didn't), the silence made him somewhat nervous. It wasn't fear, really, though sometimes it could be; no, it just put the man on edge. It made his hairs prickle when there was nothing to worry about.

They had passed probably half a dozen pair of guards so far, so it wasn't as if the streets weren't safe or anything. They took a turn into an even quieter part of town, though, and Boko grimaced a little bit as he heard the sounds of isolation. The loudest thing he could hear was their own footfalls, and he didn't like that. If he strained his ears he could hear some dead leaves rustling around with the wind, lightly scraping across the paving stones they walked on top of. The man wasn't sure he could bear it much longer; he had to speak. "Why does your master choose to ally himself with the Hylian Guard?" was the first thing that came to his mind. He had no reason to ask it. He wasn't even sure he cared about the answer. But something was better than this silence that left him with just his footsteps and his thoughts.

A crow cawed in the distance, from the setting sun, and the blazing orange sky.

"It's a natural choice. Lifetime need...good pay. There's not much more to it than that." Forge responded simply. "There's not much else to say."

A little while longer down the road they travelled, Haris realized that Boko spoke out of necessity. Something was bothering the man's mind, if it agitated the silent giant enough to speak. "Why do you ask?" He asked, mostly to continue the conversation."

Boko's face remained relatively impassive as they walked, but Haris' question in return forced him to be thoughtful once more. Why did he ask? Part of him wanted to just reply that he didn't know, but that was not exactly true. "Because not everyone wishes to help," he responded relatively unhelpfully. Indeed, though, that was the part he did not really understand. Why did people not want to help the guard so often? They kept the city safe after all. Were they all simply as ignorant as he had once been? He had long since learned to not use his own intelligence as a gauge for other people too. Instead, he continued to navigate the streets; he could understand those, after all.

Before it had been long enough to call the conversation officially dead, though, he added on to his last question, "Would you serve the Guard even if it took you outside of the city?" Now that was a question indeed. Boko knew the answer for himself without a doubt, but he couldn't be sure of anyone else, he had found out.

Haris shrugged. "Personally, I'd get homesick, but that wouldn't matter. Whether I want to or not, it's my master that you would have to ask. Where he goes I go, and he's the one who determines what I do."

His expression saddened for only an instant, before he looked at the horizon again. "If we did...I'd hope that my family could move too. Probably would, if you need blacksmiths to make things in the field. I'd be less lonely that way..."

Boko looked at him with interest for a moment. Family? Sometimes he forgot about his own. He visited once and a while, but things were still uncomfortable and his living quarters with the guards felt much more like home. Before he got too far into his own thoughts, he asked the simple question, "You have family in the city, then?" The way the boy was close to his master, Boko realized he must have assumed that his profession was the closest thing to a family for Haris. Maybe that was just because that was how he himself felt. He shifted his shoulders slightly, wishing he had a weapon on his back. Things felt really out of balance ever since he had lost his sword and his friend, and he didn't have anyone to ask how to fix that feeling, or even if it could be fixed. Boko kept his eyes grimly focused on the street in front of them as they walked.

The ashen boy gave a nod. "Yeah. They're also blacksmiths. I come from a long line of them, but right now, I'm under apprenticeship in the guild of another. I'm hoping once I'm done with that, I can carry on the business..."

Tentatively, Haris ventured to ask the giant "What about you? Do you have any family in the city?"

Did he? He thought of Gaer, the closest thing he'd had to a father now dead. "No," Boko responded flatly, before he could really think about it. After a moment, he paused and reconsidered that statement, finding it not completely true, "Well, yes." He gave a grunt of frustration, not with Haris but rather with him himself. Sometimes his tongue still got the better of him when he wasn't paying attention, and so he was force to clarify with a third statement, "We do not... talk, much." Not only that, he didn't even talk about his family much. He seemed largely emotionless to the whole thing, or so he would have said, but his avoidance of the topic could speak for itself, perhaps. Family was a tricky business with Boko, and it seemed a lot easier to just let it do its own thing rather than trying to figure it out. He did not shy away from work or difficulties, but he did not like wasting his time on the impossible. Well, at least that's what he told himself.

"Oh..." Was all that Haris could muster, and he spoke no more. It was clear he reached a sensitive topic, and he wished to avoid it further, before he pissed Boko off. He instead continued to concentrate on the view and where they were going, back home.

Despite the slight awkwardness that came from his response, Boko was relatively indifferent to the way the conversation had gone. It did not strike him, though, that it may have given Haris the impression he was upset; like many other times that day, he left the conversation to die. Thankfully, the two of them were practically at their location. Boko glanced up at the sky, noting that most of his day had withered away now that the sun was retreating behind the horizon. He hoped that the blacksmiths would still get to start his weapon quickly enough, but he suspected it would still take a number of days to get just right. He didn't mind waiting as long as he knew it was going to get done.

The blacksmith's shop came into view and Boko nodded with satisfaction at the sight, hefting the crate a little higher to make sure his fingers still had a good grasp on it. A thought he should ask Haris occurred to him before just going up to the door, though, "Will your master keep the shop open until this hour?"

"He and I will be working on it for a week or two..." Haris mused out loud in response. "He doesn't like to be disturbed much then, so I don't think we'll open the shop until we are finished."

The boy's ashen hands knocked on the door softly a few times, and the older Hylian opened the door with a pleasant expression for them both, satisfied that the materials came through. With a word of thanks, Forge's mentor motioned for him to come inside and help him prepare the fire and unpack all the materials. After a few words between the teacher and the pupil, Haris ran back to Boko.

"If you want to come by and check on our progress, we'll let you do so. Just let us know beforehand, because we won't let anybody else in while we work."