[Closed] Tea and Tension

[Catriona Fraser]

The 10th of Yaris, 2719 • midday • Black Cat Smithy

Cat shook off Ava’s concern like one would dirt from their clothes, obviously embarrassed by the whole ordeal. It was one thing for the woman to threaten her in private but quite another to openly berate her in front of others. If Cat was rude to Ava she didn’t mean to be but she certainly had that way. She didn’t want anyone to pity her, and unfortunately, Cat often confused kindness with pity. Such was her nature.

”I’ll be fine.”She signed. At Aodh’s words she nodded angrily. “I’m not supposed to hate the Galdor but I do. My Master was a kind one so I suppose there are others...but they all think they’re better, think they own us...” at that she stopped. And it occurred to her, the way many bad thoughts occurred to her, that she really didn’t know these people and spies were most certainly a real thing. If they were spies she certainly had a good reason for lashing out. The red handprint already growing flush on her face. She pushed the thoughts that these kind strangers might be out to get her far away and sighed trying to smile. “Give me a moment.”

She took the bag of rolls from Ava and disappeared inside the workshop. She carefully locked the jewels and the coin in her small floor safe, covering it with a rug. She then took stock of her workshop, like anyone who had unexpected guests and kicked a dirty dress under her cot, laid the blankets over the cot as though she made her bed every morning. The cot was among the benches, not even enough room for a proper bed space and the foot of the cot went under one of the benches.

The forge itself, along with an anvil, a grindstone, and a couple of tables were all outdoors covered only by an awning to block out the sun. “This is...for all intents and purposes...my forge.”She signed to Ava and Aodh.

“I make weapons, horseshoes, signage, and all sorts of things but what people love most, at least the Galdor, is my jewelry. All of it is made of the finest golds and silvers as well as some more unique metals for those who can pay.” She blushed and grinned, realizing she was pitching.

“Sorry I know it’s all a bit boring. Please come in.” The workshop was big enough for the tables the surrounded the walls and in the middle for one person to move between them but lengthwise there was enough room for Cat to put out the two wooden folding chairs and to sit in the cot across from them. And she started laughing. It wasn’t a silent laugh either and sounded a bit as though someone were choking her while she laughed. No doubt getting some strange looks from her company.

“I’m sorry,” she signed as she wiped tears away, “It’s just I haven’t had this much excitement in one day in a very long time. Not even the day that woman threatened to kill me with the sword I made her. How often do you haggle for a ten carat diamond, destroy the merchant in the process, make a friend, get slapped in the clocking face in front of those new friends and get left to be watched by the Seventen!? Not often that’s what. At least that jewel merchant probably won’t try anything.”

She got up and worked her way around Ava’s chair to pull a sword off the table. She placed it in Ava’s hands so that she could sign.

The blade was a fine long sword with an edge sharp enough that if you sliced your arm off you wouldn’t know until you saw the blood.

The hilt was gold plated and had indents for where the rubies would line the top on each side and the pommel had a large indent where she would put the diamond.

It was well weighted and one could fight with it if one wished but it was meant as a ceremonial sword and would likely only be used as such.

“This is what I’m making for that woman. And it’s the finest thing I’ve probably ever made and she’ll likely kill me with it because it suits her. So if you don’t get your shears...” she laughed again, as though it were all a big joke.

“But if all goes well, and I’m paid what I’m owed, I’ll definitely be coming by your shop for some finer fabrics.” At that she grinned and turned to Aodh, making eye contact with him before signing slowly, “Thank you both, for staying silent. I wager none of us could afford the trouble.”

[Aodh Elzo]

The 10th of Yaris, 2719. Midday

Aodh looked over at Ava shrugged in apology, he forgot where he was for a moment and who might be listening. As he watched Cat sign he could see the agitation and bitterness on her face, when Ava translated that everything was fine and she needed a moment Aodh’s own eyebrow went up slightly be he nodded. It was not the time to press, not on the street.

He waited for Ava to translate what Cat said, he smiled impressed.

“Miss Cat you sound fair skilled indeed. I wouldn’t have a notion where to start with makin’a horseshoe let alone a sword. ”

Before they were shown in Aodd finished his cigarette, pinched it out and slipped the butt into a pocket to dispose of later.

“Not boring at all Miss.”

When he entered after Cat and Ava he looked around, and nodded in appreciation.

As Aodh listened to Ava relay what Cat was signing his face fell, she had had a day of it and all of it was through no fault of her own, seeing Ava start to struggle with the weight of the sword he took, carefully and examined it, careful not to touch or smudge the blade.

“Now this is a fair fine blade Miss Cat, might fine indeed.”

He clenched his jaw briefly but could not now hold his tongue, outside he could stay quiet, and her thanks was important to him but he now had to speak.

“No, I am done with jent thinking they bloody own folk. By my word she will you for this fine work. An’ after…”

Aodh let his breath out slowly, no. It would not do to speak of it here, that and it would better that Ava and Cat did not know what he planned. He looked back at the sword in his head, it truely was fine. He smiled to Cat.

“You have a rare skill Miss Cat. Puts my brushes and oddments to shame so it does.”

[Ava Weaver]

Midday, 10th Yaris, 2719
Black Cat Smithy, Uptown

Cat was not fine; Ava had known it before she asked, and she knew it as the blacksmith shook off her question with hunched, angry embarrassment, with the insistence that she would be fine. It was never easy to see someone in pain, especially when you couldn’t help. There was a good deal to be for leaving someone the dignity of bearing it on their own, particularly if there was nothing you could do.

And there was nothing Ava could do, not really. She could not help Cat against this galdor, nor any of the rest. She could provide no defense against whatever magic this woman could summon, nor against the unfairness of the laws tilted against the three of them, human and wick alike. And yet she had wanted to speak; she had wanted Cat to know that what they had seen was not all right - she had wanted to be sure that Cat knew she did not need to be all right. She thought the other woman’s rudeness as a fair trade, and she did not take it personally.

Aodh had been gentle enough with his words, but Cat was furious, and Ava was briefly glad that she stood between the blacksmith and the Seventen. She gave Cat the rolls when the blacksmith reached for them, and stood quietly, waiting, as she went inside. Aodh glanced at her, and Ava thought for a moment before replying. “She’ll be fine. She asked that we give her a moment.”

Better safe than sorry; better not even to repeat Cat’s words, not here where anyone might be listening. Better if she had not even signed them, not in front of the Seventen. To be human in Vienda - in Anaxas - was to walk a razor’s edge; one could hardly be too careful where they stepped. Aodh understood; he could hardly fail to understand.

They followed Cat into the forge after a few moments. Ava glanced around; she could not think the last time she had actually gone to a forge. She picked up translating again when Cat began to speak, finding the rhythm of it slightly easier, pausing here or there to ask the meaning of words she didn’t know. It felt most natural to ask before beginning the translation; if she focused, she could repeat the missing gestures back to Cat well enough, could fill in the rest.

The hardest part was when Cat began to cry. Ava, half-mimicking her, felt a lump in her own throat, telltale heat behind her eyes. She blinked the tears away, and this time she did not ask; when Cat began to sign again, her voice quivered and then grew smooth once more.

Ava very nearly jerked back when Cat reached the sword towards her; it was a tremendous shock to be handed such a thing. It was also, Ava realized immediately, terribly heavy; her arms were shaking slightly, and she was more than a little afraid she would cut herself. She did not quite know how to interrupt though, doing her best to hold the thing as she spoke Cat’s words aloud. Aodh took pity on her, and eased the sword from her hands; Ava shot him a grateful glance.

Cat laughed again; there was no joy in this sort of laughter. Whatever had left her with that scar had taken the softness of her laugh too, and the hardness of the day had robbed her of any lingering joy. Ava’s face was soft as she translated the threat, her hands pressed firmly together in front of her, and anger was writ large across her face. She could not but give Cat’s words a bitter tinge, and they sat heavy on her tongue.

And after, Ava agreed. She found a bitter smile of her own, thinking of it; she knew how Firebrand had gotten his name.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ava said, looking at the sword again. “Mr. Elzo is right, Cat. You have a gift,” she smiled at the blacksmith again, and left behind the nastiness of the galdor woman and all the rest, just a few moments more.

“Promise you’ll come by either way,” Ava said, quietly, looking back at Cat. “Just...” she hesitated, deliberately, letting concern play out over her face. “I can’t come to Kingsway for a ten day,” Ava managed a wry smile; she did not have time for such a trip any day the shop was open. It took time to cross Vienda on foot, and she hardly had the money for a carriage. “Just come, if you can,” she looked at Cat again, not wanting to put to words how worried she was. “Even if you’ve not had time for the shears.”

There was no trace of anything but soft concern on her face, but anger burned slow and steady in her chest nonetheless. It wasn’t the sort to whiten the grip of her knuckles; it wasn’t the sort to make her scream and cry. It was anger that felt the sharp straightness of her posture, anger that let her bow her head to the galdori without ever yielding inside. She hoped Cat had some anger of her own; not the hot, flashy sort, but the anger that beat deep within, the anger that kept you going when the world saw fit to grind you down. Ava thought that Cat did; she thought that Cat must need to.

[Catriona Fraser]

The 10th of Yaris, 2719 • midday • Black Cat Smithy

She laughed at herself for not realizing what a hard time Ava might have holding the sword and eventually retrieved it from Aodh after he’d inspected it. She sat it down on the workbench and signed to Ava, “Sorry, I just...I’m usually a bit more put together.”

Cat beamed at the praise of her guests. These people who had no call to know her or even care, went out of their way today to help her. And although Cat struggled to see the kindness as simply that, not pity, not ulterior motive, just kindness amongst strangers, she was grateful all the same. “Thank you. I was trained well, and I take pride in my craft. But I would love to see yours as well. Never mind that you are obviously an excellent musician. I could not make anything like your music come out of that instrument.” She signed, smiling at Aodh and motioning to his violin case.

She wanted to apologize to Ava for her having to crank out the translation, but there was simply no way to do that without making Mr. Elzo feel worse for not knowing sign, so she kept it to herself. Normally, Cat would have simply written things down for the Wick and they would have conversed that way, but as they were having a three person conversation, she saw no way to both sign to Ava and to write to Aodh. Perhaps she should have written for them both. Definitely, though, it was not the same having to write down things as you thought of them. By then the meaning behind one’s words was lost. One could not read your expression and interpret your tone. Also, simply writing anything down was a danger in and of itself. Especially in the context of their current conversation.

As they each versed their dissent for the way she’d been treated, Cat could not help but feel tired. It reminded her of the meetings that took place in her family’s basement. They’d drink, complain, and in the end it was always the same. When she’d come to Vienda it had been to escape. And things really had gotten better for her in some ways. In the four years since her Master had retired, she’d managed to make a name for herself as not only a skilled craftsman but also as someone who was more than willing to work with those who could not afford the traditional means of payment. Too, she had earned a reputation in the Galdori as someone who knew her place and kept to it well. So perhaps it was her own fault that she was walked over by this woman. Still, she saw something behind the eyes of the Wick before her that made her believe he was not content to stay in his place. The same for the Draper. And in their malcontent, Cat could find common ground and perhaps even become their friend, for she was also decidedly no longer comfortable with staying in her place.

Cat was suddenly overwhelmed with the cramped quarters of her workshop along with the fact that she was more than a bit frazzled by the day’s events.

“Thank you both for coming to my aid today.” She signed. “But now I have to get to work.”

She ushered them out of the workshop into the forge area where the Seventen was still patrolling. Cat could only roll her eyes and smiled as she signed to Ava. “I will come by soon. And I hope to see you again around the market, Mr. Elzo.” She turned to Aodh and bowed her head before turning back, leaving them both on the street.

Once back inside the workshop, Cat sank down on the other side of the door and began hyperventilating as a new wave of panic hit her from all sides. She pushed through it, like she always did, as she made her way to the safe and pulled out the gems. The rubies scattered into a tray with a fine clatter, but the diamond, this ridiculous diamond sat sturdily on the table. More than anything, Cat couldn’t wait to be rid of this clocking sword.