RP:The Blacksmith

Part of the The Capital Bureau Arc

Governor's Estate

Tristram lounged in his study, reading a book instead of attending to the paperwork amassing on his desk. The cat lounged nearby, doing more with the correspondence than its master.

Terra had been coming and going as of late. More time put in at the clinic and quiet returns. This evening she came from upstairs, hair damp and a small towel hung over her shoulder. It was not a long journey to locate Tristram since the study was second on her list of places to search. "The cat works harder than you do."

Tristram looked up at Terra as she appeared, carrying with her the scent of whatever soaps and oils she'd chosen for the master suite. It was undeniably her, though, whatever it was. "Hello, petal. I don't doubt that it does. Maybe he can see to the complaints and the internal bickering of the merchants. Should we let it have a go?"

Terra went near enough to nudge the book closer to Tristram's face in an attempt to read the title. Then she went to the cat with a few scratches behind the ear to serve as a greeting. "Are you bored of it already?"

Tristram set his book down when it was clearl he would get no more reading done tonight. In truth, he preferred it. "The cat or the book?"

Terra lifted her hand and let the cat bump his head against it. "All of it. You just seem distracted." Not that a night away from his desk meant that he no longer cared. Perhaps it was projection."Everything has just been so quiet lately."

Tristram stood from his chair and wandered over to Terra to wrap his arms around her from behind, lower his chin to her shoulder. "Is it? Quiet? Truthfully, I don't mind it. There's a sort of peacefulness now in the mundane. Or maybe I'm just getting old." He eyed the cat as it eyed him. "Or maybe you are craving adventure. Are you? Dreaming of some far off place? Somebody in some far off place?"

Terra did not dissuade or disengage from the embrace and she had just started to relax when he caused her to snort. He'd likely get a mouth of hair as she turned her head away in the process of pulling free. "It feels like you're in a far off place so perhaps you're right." The cat, without attention, sought to gain it by knocking a paper of Tristram's desk. "Was your book any good?"

Tristram didn't pursue Terra, choosing instead to lean against his desk and watch the cat knock papers off it. "No, it was ghastly. No plot. Are you really going to hold my schedule against me? You never have before."

Terra scooped up the paper and the one that came after that and used them to direct the cat away from the stack of work. "It's not your work. It is the schedule. I told you this time was different." When that didn't deter the cat entirely he was bopped on the head with a quill... lot of good that did. "I meant that bit."

Leone interrupts the meeting-in-progress, thick-soled boots thudding her arrival even before Jacobo announces her. The woman that enters is short in stature and crowned with black hair that plunges into a central widow's peak. Half of the peak is awash with silver, and laps over an eye if not tucked behind her ear. Shards of silver radiate outward from the shocked patch, fading in frequency and intensity as they traverse over her cranium. Corded arms betray an otherwise petite physique, while calloused hands and blackened fingertips speak to the woman's occupation. She's clad in leathers, mostly in varying hues of brown, with the exception of a black tank-style shirt. Wiping her hands on the leather apron still caught around her torso, Leone extends one toward Tristram and smiles broadly. "Pleasure to see you again, Sir," Leone intones, her voice like sand upon velvet.

Tristram offered Terra the same look he gave the damn cat -- narrowed, thoughtful. After a moment, he ceded, "You're right." Movement in the doorway captured his attention and he added quietly, "But I'll need my business partner for an hour before we can talk about it." He moved to the front of the desk to receive Leone, and he returned her handshake with a hearty one of his own. "Not sir, Tristram's fine. I'm happy to see the finest blacksmith in all of the lands here in my humble city. Terra, meet Leone, if you haven't already. Leone, my business associate, Terra. I'd offer you something to drink, but we'd be taking it to go. I know it's late, but I have something I want to show you." He offered Terra his arm because he doubted Leone would take it, while indicating the doorway. To spare everyone the minutiae, the trip concludes just outside the clinic, one east, all the way south.

Terra had not been expecting company if the state of her person was anything to go by. Her hair was shoved backwards and a smile was found at the mention of business associate. She even managed to knock the cat away from the desk to give the impression that she was capable of professionalism. "Evening." Then there was movement and talk of drinks to go and before she knew it, she found herself outside the clinic once more. Since she had taken up the title of associate that evening, she seemed content to linger a few steps back and watch the exchange between the two.

Leone nods at the celerity of it all, and follows as quickly as her diminutive frame will allow her. Along the way, the blacksmith attempts to greet Terra properly, one of the rough, singed hands extended to her in turn. "Pleasure to meet you, as well," Leone greets the other female. From there, all of her attention is focused on Tristam, and whatever job proposition he might have for her. Folding her hands neatly over the small of her stomach, the farrier looks up at the presumably taller male while waiting for him to continue.

Lavender Pools

Tristram didn't pause at the clinic, really, so much as he passed right through, toward a back room. "I've been needing some rather specific expertise, you see, on a project. The project requires the utmost discretion. I trust I can rely on you for that, Leone? If I can depend wholly on your discretion, I can offer you more than I dare say you can imagine, unless you have a very, very vivid imagination. This way, please, mind your step." He opened a hatch which led down a stairwell. In the cave system below, he turned toward the right, slowing when he reached what appeared to be a spa, closed for the late hour.

Terra shook Leone's hand when it was offered and did not complain when the proof of the smith's labor transferred to her hand. Since she ha went down this route a time or two she gestured for Leone to follow after Tristram and she would bring up the end. "That's a better offer than what I got."

Leone snorts a laugh at her potential employer's baldness, though a customary nod of understanding foreshadows the blacksmith's speech. "I do not discuss the business of one with another," the farrier pipes up reassuringly. A snark about money itched at the back of her throat, and she cleared it with a gruff cough. "I will appraise the situation, and give you an estimate. We'll see how your offer and my labor line up." Twitching into a smile at the corners, the plover's carmel-colored lips stretch into thin swathes at the center, the gesture soon broadened and turned to Terra once the newly named associate has allowed Leone to pass first.

Tristram stopped just beyond a ridge of pools, in an area behind a particularly large outcropping of rock, which shielded an excavation site from ready observation. It was here that Tristram led his cave party. "May I be frank? I haven't much time. I require something by the way of security. Financial security, to be specific. I need the strongest metals. The sturdiest of granite. I need a structure here that will be impervious to assault. In short, I need a bank, Leone, that no one would dare even consider attempting to rob. Ever. I have workers that can be at your disposal, and I have a vague blueprint. What I need is a person who can bring that blueprint to life. As for money, minus supplies, name your price."

Leone steps forward, pacing off the already excavated area. Using her hand as a scale, the blacksmith counts off to about midpoint before tugging on an ear. Her lips move, easily discernable as forming numbers, though she doesn't speak aloud. "Granite? It cracks. If you want something impenetrable, I'd suggest a tempered metal. Steel would rust, if this level of water is the norm, so we'd have to stay away. The price of mithril alone would bankrupt you, even if we could get it in large enough supply. Buying that much wouldn't be descrete at all. Mm..yes. I believe I read about a large meteorite that crashed several years ago. I'm sure others have come down as well, and they're rather undervalued. If we're able to get enough to make a fortified door, then I can figure out a way to make a grid of lesser metals to underlay granite and provide structure for the vault, which would keep this cost-effective, and disallow anyone." A brow is piqued at the conclusion of her assessment, and the smith awaits the yea or nay from Tristram.

Tristram listened carefully to Leone's appraisal of the situation. He might have scoffed at something being unafforable -- the dragon in him posturing for some attention, perhaps -- but when she was finished speaking, he simply remained silent. He took a few steps around the excavated room before turning to face the blacksmith. A slow grin spread across his lips. "Why Leone, I could just kiss you. This is why you're the best. My man Jacobo will be your liaison. Any materials you need, anything, you can get it from him. As for your fee. I'll pay you half when construction begins, the other half when it's over, and then I'll add some more because I appreciate a brilliant mind when I come across one. I'll have a copy of the blueprint made and have it delivered to you. Now, I hate to rush off, but I have another appointment. If you are so inclined, Grargh has something waiting for you in the Grogshop. A bottle of your favored poison." He grinned again, flicked a two-fingered salute the blacksmith's way, and hastily departed.