Ray had left the tavern in a sore mood, not simply because Shouta had infuriated him, but because he was right. He walked through the streets, eschewing the use of the mechanical transportation, trying to cool his blood. As he did so, he came to the slow realization that he might have, in fact, been in the wrong. [i]Maybe remembering Hugh Scarthane dug up more than a few memories. Well, I'm not going back to apologize. I won't go begging for the pardon of anyone like him.[/i] 

He wandered off to a swordsmith to see if his blade could be repaired. Once Ray explained the damages it had gone through before, the swordsmith shook his head explaining if the sword were reforged, the metal would be too brittle to be useful. Had the blade been snapped in half instead of bent completely out of shape, it might have been repairable. Ray groaned, reaching into his wallet to give the man a silver for his time an unfinished dueling dagger caught his eye. It was just a blade and grip, lacking the hilt. Ray offered to buy it and suggested his damaged rapier be used to provide the metal for a basket hilt. The swordsmith nodded, liking the idea. 

Some time later, Ray left the swordsmith, feeling much better about the loss of his last memento from home. The swordsmith was quite happy to have been paid in a whole platinum coin. He made his way back to the ship and waited for everyone to arrive. When the Captain arrived, she handed Ray a new rapier. 

[b]“It's a temporary replacement until you can find one that suits you, or possibly get that fixed...”[/b] she gestured to Ray's sheath, with the hilt still protruding from the end. “Oh, this?” He drew what remained of his old rapier and showed that it was nothing but a hilt. “I already took care of that.” He displayed his new dueling dagger and explained how he he decided to turn his broken memento into something useful. He took the new rapier and drew it, giving a few test swings and gently bending the blade. “Not as supple as I'm used to, but I'll manage.” He gave a tired smile, “Thank you, Captain.”

“Oh yeah, I suppose we have our 'good friend' Mister Takan to thank for our new weapons,” Ray said as he procured the bag of platinum and tossed it to the captain. “I'm still not forgiving him for what he did, but at least he had sense enough to repay us for the losses he incurred. And before you ask, we are not spending this on booze, Luro!”