"Well," Tori responded dryly, "these gauntlets can put dust into a shield." She tapped one of the dust emitters on the front with an index finger. "I'm a defensive fighter, so it's helpful that they can do so. Makes it a lot easier to end up uninjured."

"[i]Until[/i]," she stressed, "you run out of dust. That's what happened. I was fighting an pair of Gryphons. Big guys, hard to fight. Ended up using a lot of dust. Right at the end, one dove at me. I tried to shield, but turns out I was out of dust. I dove hard, but its paw still managed to clip Sigyn." She motioned to the huge dent. "My arm was in it at the time. I'm lucky it's not shattered all to hell."

After taking a moment to continue conversing with him (and to marvel at the incredibly well-crafted dust crystal), she retired into one of the forge rooms that he'd pointed out and laid the gauntlet on the table, picking up a blowtorch and a hammer. As she went on autopilot, she began to wonder at the place she was in. And the people she was with. Unless she was mistaken, there was a guy putting something into his knee with metal hands. She supposed limb prosthetics were a possibility, but damn full prosthetic for one limb was expensive enough.

Once the metal was heated properly, she placed it over the horn of the anvil like a socket, letting the dent rest against the surface. She struck hard, wincing as her hammer-arm pained her, but she'd live with it. It was just bruised, it seemed; repairing Sigyn was more important.

The constant hammer-clang carried far and wide, and also totally deafened her. That's why she didn't turn around when the door opened behind her.