[color=ed1c24]Balon smiled wide as Leo told him of her blades, and the mystic steel they were forged from.[/color]
[color=a187be]"My girls, I have twin short blades. They are made with what we call Venus steel. Its metal that has been fused with the stongest demi-coral and the hardest gods pearl, and it has been sharpened with the sands of time. Any blade made with Venus steel is considere a very special blade, indeed. Its light weight cuts like nothing I've ever seen before, but the thing that i believe makes it very special is that when you rub two Venus blades together they make a high pitched hum that we call the siren song. Its beautifully intoxicating."[/color]
[color=ed1c24] Balon listened to her with admiration. Truly, as a swordsman he was deeply interested in this Venus Steel. His blades were top-notch quality, sure, but they weren't made from such a mythical metal.[/color]
[color=a187be]"So,"[/color][color=ed1c24] She smiled slightly, [/color][color=a187be]"You going to show a girl around or what?"[/color]
[color=f26522]"Ah but of course!"[/color][color=ed1c24] Balon said, standing up from straight. [/color][color=f26522]"Come, let's have a look around."[/color] [color=ed1c24]He showed her around the village. From the doctor's hut to the village hall, the village center, the fields that were just now getting up and running, the path to the hot springs further into the woods and then the docks. He showed her the ship that had carried them all here. She was a beauty, although a bit rugged.[/color] [color=f26522]"I don't know if you'd think me crazy, but sometimes when the loneliness of the sea got to me I would look out across the waters, leaning over the railings of the ship and I'd talk to her. How she was the only one who truly understood me nowadays, how I carried burdens like she carried passangers."[/color] [color=ed1c24]He looked admiringly at the ship. He realized something then that made his smile drop... He hadn't been talking to the ship. He had been talking to the woman whose life he couldn't save. The innocent one that his captain had forced him to murder. He blinked and tried to regain his expression.[/color] [color=f26522]"I mean talk to the ship."[/color] [color=ed1c24]he smiled.[/color]
[color=f26522]"Come, there's one last thing I want to show you."[/color] [color=ed1c24]Balon walked away from the docks, but tossed a last glance at the ship. She was truly magnificent.
He led her into the clearing north of the village, and pointed up at a thick tree. A latter was dangling down from the thick brush of leaves.[/color] [color=f26522]"That's where I made my home. In the trees."[/color] [color=ed1c24]he grinned, proud of his accomplishment. [/color][color=f26522]"Now it wasn't easy climbing up that high with the material to build the hut, but it's my hut. And I did it anyway."[/color] [color=ed1c24]He looked at her as if to say "Pretty impressive, huh?"[/color]