Gazing Upon The Stars

LATER THAT DAY:

The group majorly underestimated Daffodil's words when she said that they would make very quick profit.

Within hours of the gear being for sale, they had completely sold out, to the point where there were even bidding wars for the last few swords.

The gold piled up and the looks on the groups faces were well worth the effort to obtain the gear. At least, that's what John thinks as the group are finally back in Reduna'z Gaze.

Terra, Amilia and Lani have kicked their feet up and are relaxing in The Kreaky Kauldron while Kyuala and John are currently heading down the street as they walk toward Sylus the Smith's store.

"So, how'd you know this Sylus?" John asks.

"Oh gosh, i've known him since I was a grub. He was the main smith at the camp for years, kinda like an uncle-figure. He gave me my armour as a gift for my twentieth summer" Kyuala responds with a fond smile on her face.

John sees that look on the orc's face and simply states, "Wow, he seems to hold a special place in your heart".

"He does" Kyuala replies, "As do you, husband".

John slightly blushes, smiling as Kyuala wraps her large arm around him and pulls him a little closer to her body.

The two keep walking a little further and that's when they come upon the familiar large minotaur working away at his forge. Steel clashes against wearing steel as Sylus begins forming said steel into something but as he hammers away, Kyuala shouts, "Hey old man!".

Sylus looks up as he halts the smithing and that's when he sees Kyuala and an unfamiliar figure beside her. Just then, with a big smile on his face, he responds, "Ky! You survived!".

The two friends walk up to each other and share a hearty hug, ending with a slap to the others back.

"So, your suicide mission was a success then" Sylus says.

"Of course it was, it's me we're talking 'bout here?" Kyuala responds, earning a chuckle from the duo.

As the chuckling calms down, Sylus looks behind Kyuala, seeing a smaller man and asks, "So, who's the man?".

"Oh, this is John! He's drop-in, and, he helped us defeat the Darkcross" Kyuala explains.

John walks up and brings up his hand which Sylus reciprocates and the two men shake as John says, "Nice to meet you".

Sylus then promptly responds, "Nice to meet you too son".

The two let go of the others hand as Sylus comments, "So, you helped Ky take out those Darkcross bastards huh?".

"Uhh, well, she killed more of them but, yeah. I like to think that I helped some" John jokingly responds, earning a smile from the orc and minotaur.

"Ahh, if I know Ky, and unfortunately, I know her pretty well-" Sylus is then interrupted as Kyuala jokingly hits him in the arm.

"Oow, forgot how much you pack a punch girl. Anyway, ad I was saying, I know for a fact that she wanted to stretch her axe arm. How longs it been since you went on a dungeon crawl?" Sylus asks.

"Would've been when I was twenty one. I didn't have the drive for it anymore, especially after-" Kyuala interrupts herself this time, stopping as she seems to have remembered something she would rather have forgot.

Sylus sees the look on Kyuala's face and decides to intervene on her behalf, "In any case, what you saw was when she was rusty. Now, just imagine what she's like when she's back in the swing of things, no pun intended".

John and Sylus laugh a little at the pun which knocks Kyuala out of her head as she then says, "Uhh, anyway, we come bearing gifts!".

Kyuala moves the bag from her shoulder and passes it over to Sylus who responds, "Ky, you didn't have to. It's not my birthday for another three months".

Sylus places the bag down before opening it up and grabbing the first item he sees and as he does, the old minotaur is shocked, "Holy Mother of the Hunt. Ky, is this what I think it is?".

Kyuala, with a smile that stretches from ear-to-ear, simply replies, "Yep".

Sylus laughs in disbelief as he pulls out a sword, running his finger across the blade as he says, "Kalær steel, ahh, the sweet sound of a perfectly forged weapon".

"And there's a whole lot more in that bag" John comments.

Sylus places the sword down on the nearby table before diving into the bag and seeing all of the Kalær steel gear within. The elder man has a look of amazement on his face as one by one, he pulls out swords, axes, shields and daggers. Each piece of weaponry shines just as bright as the one before as Sylus carefully inspects each and every one.

"The amount of Kalær steel here is crazy, is this all there was?" Sylus asks.

"A few bags but we sold most of them in Wiralsama and we kept a few for us but all of this is for you" Kyuala responds.

Sylus is in awe, "All for me? Phew, how'd an old man like me get so lucky? Wait a minute-".

Sylus then pulls out the last thing that was in the bag, one lone leather shoulder guard splattered with blood, "You couldn't have cleaned it off first?".

"Oh, my bad. I got this new armour and I didn't even think to" John apologetically responds.

"Ach, it's alright, it's only a shoulder guard. You should try cleaning a dyed leather piece after a fight with a rat legion, I swear, their blood is as thick as pig shit" Sylus comments as he grabs a cloth and wipes the leather.

"See? Brand spanking new. Now, thank you two for this fantastic gift but if you both will excuse me I have some gear to display in my store" Sylus then gathers all of the gear and puts it all back into the bag before slinging it over his shoulder and heading into the store as Kyuala and John laugh as they walk away.

THE KREAKY KAULDRON:

Kyuala and John walk into the very loud and lively Kauldron as they're immediately met with the sight of Amilia drinking with the patrons which doesn't surprise Kyuala one bit.

A few tables away, Kyuala sees the back of her younger and smaller brother Radvar flirting with Terra who does not seem interested in his advances whatsoever as shown by her uninterested expression whilst she nurses her drink.

Being a good friend, Kyuala immediately walks over to Radvar and slaps him across the neck while saying, "Rad, Terra's not interested, go creep out one of Laila's maidens".

Radvar grabs the back of his neck, feeling the pain as he says, "Sorry Terra".

"It's fine Radvar, I wish you luck with the next lady" Terra responds as Radvar gets out of the chair and heads over to another table.

"Thank you Kyuala. Your brother is a, very, adamant man" Terra says with Kyuala responding with a chuckle and some words, "Ahh, he gets it from our father. Whenever our father had prey in mind, nothing would stop him from hunting it".

John then looks around, looking for Lani but he doesn't see her anywhere so he asks Terra, "Hey, d'you know where Lani is?".

"Oh, she's up in the room, said she wanted some quiet from all this ruckus" Terra says before continuing, "She seemed a little tired though so she might be sleeping".

"Oh, okay, i'll go check up on her quickly" John says as he heads to the stairs and walks up.

John And Lani's Room:

John opens the door and immediately sees Lani scrambling as she quickly puts something away in her bag before turning around and saying to John, "O-oh, hey! You're back!".

John has a confused look as he says, "Uhh yeah? We said we'd back, we only went to give the Kalær to Kyuala's friend".

"Oh, yeah, you totally did. My bad, hehe" Lani replies, worrying John a little as the fairy is acting strangely.

John is unsure of what to do in the situation so he simply says, "Uhh, Lani, are you, okay?".

"What? Yeah! Of course! Why wouldn't I be?! Hehehe..." Lani quickly responds but John just notices the obviously nervous laughter at the end.

Worried for his friend, John sits down beside her and asks, "Hey, what's wrong?".

Lani looks up toward John with the overly happy expression but as she looks into his eyes, that expression quickly fades into one of sadness as she sighs, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have tried to lie to you".

"I wouldn't really call it a lie to be honest" John responds, earning a small chuckle from Lani.

The room goes quiet again but after a few seconds, John asks, "In all seriousness though, what's wrong?".

Lani lets out another sigh before responding, "I'm-, we-, ugh" Lani drops her head, trying to fond her words before continuing, "These past few days have been, weird".

"You can definitely say that again" John adds along with a little chuckle from the both.

Lani then goes on, "I've read so many stories about fairies going head first into battle with people who'd become legendary adventurers, travellers etc. and every time, I would be so, enamoured with all those tales, then yesterday happened".

Lani takes a breath and composes herself once more, "I just realised that I, wasn't ready. As a guide in this world, we fairies are supposed to be ready for every sort of challenge but I just, wasn't, and that almost cost us our lives".

"Woah, woah, woah, Lani, not a single moment of what happened to us yesterday was ever your fault. We went directly into the den of a crime syndicate and expected it to go smoothly, even a blind person would've saw that coming. We were ill prepared in an unfamiliar place, literally the worst two factors for a fight, but, we persevered. Not only did we take down the Darkcross, we met Terra and Daffy as well, now, we may have nearly died but I would still call yesterday a win, of sorts".

Lani listens to John's words and understands his point, making her guilt ease off a little as she leans against his leg before saying, "I'm actually surprised".

John looks down at her, "About what?".

Lani responds, "Well, you literally dropped out of the sky a few days back after being brought to an entirely different world and you've taken it in stride. I can't even imagine what I would do if that happened to me".

Lani is a little worried about how John will respond but all her worries immediately disperse as John responds by simply laughing.

"What's so funny?" Lani asks with a confused expression.

John clears his throat and leans back a little, "I'm laughing cause just a week ago, the biggest struggle in my life was finding the best porn to watch because I was a lonely, horny bastard. Now, my life is swinging swords and hanging out with hot women, also sleeping with an incredibly intimidating orc woman but nonetheless, my life has changed drastically yes, but it's actually changed for the better, and, it started with you".

Lani looks up at her companion, no, her friend, with happy eyes, "My life got better when you dropped in too".

John looks at Lani with a smile on his face, "Glad to hear I was good for something at least" The two share a chuckle after his words as Lani once again leans back against John.

"But, what about this Imoga? Do you think that she might come for us?" Lani asks.

John thinks on it for a second before saying, "Nah, the chances of her even knowing it was us that fought the Darkcross in the first place, are like, astronomical".

"I hope so" Lani comments as the two drift back into silence as they relax and embrace once again.

During the aforementioned silence, Lani's mind is racing as she thinks back to John's words. She eventually gets her question in mind and finally asks,

"So, do you really think that?".

"Think what?" John swiftly responds.

Lani takes a second before sheepishly replying, "That, i'm, hot".

John looks down at Lani again, "Of course I do! Have you seen yourself? You're beautiful!".

Lani begins to blush as she looks away, "Really?".

"Absolutely! You're one of the most beautiful women i've ever seen, hell, you're better looking than all my exes combined".

Lani blushes even more as the two have another chuckle.

The dup embrace once more before John says, "Alright, i'm gonna go celebrate with the others, you coming?".

"Heck yeah!" Lani replies just before the two head toward the door.