[center][h2]Meet the Smith[/h2][/center] -1- Lorelei and Astarte spilled out of the Shadow Realms and into a stinky pile of hay. They laid in it for a while, catching their breaths with their limbs intertwined, until a particularly curious gorse (a goat-like mountain horse that looked and acted exactly like a big goat would) came up to them and started nibbling on Astarte’s ponytail. She shuddered as a big glob of gorse spit landed on the back of her neck and swatted the creature away. “I hate gorses!” She complained as she untangled herself from Lorelei and jumped out of the pile of hay. “Y-You’re crazy...” Lorelei rolled her eyes at her friend after emerging from the hay. “At least we didn’t waste any time in the Bazaar. I-I had a bad feeling the entire time we were there.” The lavender-haired ex-goddess stretched her arms over her head so deep that a small squeak escaped her. “All part of the plan, mortal sis!” “S-Sure. By the way, where’re your boots?” “Traded them for a prayer dedicated to me! It was a steal!” Astarte explained with a pump of her arm and a grin. Lorelei couldn’t bring herself to tell the woman anything and instead just headed for the barn’s exit. -2- “Two hundred Havens. Take it or leave it, cat.” Lorelei pursed her lips. She felt her ears twitch and flatten against her head. This barbarian wanted to rip her off! Did she really think red skin and muscles were enough to intimidate her into accepting a bad deal? It’s like the smith had no idea of how difficult Havens were to obtain outside of the Thousand Kingdoms at all! The catgirl took in a deep breath before she said anything she could regret and noticed a particular glint coming off a few items on a half-hidden shelf in a corner of the room. “W-What about…” Lorelei grunted as she grabbed her heavy bag and started to look through it, eventually pulling out a large, brand-new glass bottle and setting it on the stone table across which sat the Smith. “... this?” The Red Oni chimera’s stern visage cracked at the sight and a slight smirk graced her face. “Hmph. Penumbr-Ale. The X-tronk kind… Not bad, cat. Not bad.” The Smith mused. She set down both elbows on the stone table and rested her head on both her fists, the poor piece of furniture nearly cracking under the solid weight of the giant. “S-So?” Lorelei asked, hopeful. The Oni furrowed her brow and rubbed her temples with her hands. After a while, she grunted and leaned back against her ‘throne’, which was actually just a big chair, and shrugged. “The bottle and 50 Havens. That’s the lowest I can go.” Lorelei put her pouch on the table and emptied its contents for the Smith to see. There were at least a dozen different currencies in her possession, and the amounts were all rather meagre with the exception for a collection of small vials filled with black pellets. “So… You got 2 Havens. And the Bottle. And a disgusting amount of Shades.” The Smith scratched the side of her nose and sighed. She carefully grabbed one of the vials of pellets and put it away safely in between her breasts. “Yea, forget the Havens. I can do more with Shades anyway. You really are broke though, aren’t you? I don’t understand how someone like you has all these ancient artefacts…” “O-Oh. I’m not really from around here, I c-came from another place.” The Oni narrowed her eyes. “... Yeah, I figured. I’ve been seein’ more and more of your kind around lately. None with real, non-magical cat ears obviously, but a couple of metal golems and such. They were pervs, so I kicked them out of the castle.” “Metal… Golems?” Lorelei’s heart skipped a few beats and all colour drained from her face. “Weirded out aren’t you? Honestly, same. First thing they did was stare at my body and beam some weird lights at me. I didn’t even entertain any of their requests before kicking them out. ” Lorelei felt her breakfast coming back up quickly and had to run towards the restroom. As the sounds of the catgirl retching echoed through the whole smithy, the Oni fixed her gaze on Astarte, who was buddy staring at her own reflecting in a shiny plated helmet. “Hey you, the weird one.” “Wha-” Astarte gasped and floated in place slightly. “Excuse you! Behold my Divine power, mortal!” With that, Astarte hurled an arc of magical lightning at the Oni. It fizzled out before reaching the Smith, who let out a chuckle. “It has been beheld. Your friend preggers or something?” Astarte crossed her arms. “Rude. And no. Her stomach just hates robots… Stop looking at me like that!” Astarte blushed and looked away. Meanwhile the Oni did not even try to hide the look of pity that she was giving Astarte. [hider=Summary] Lorelei and Astarte arrive at the Lonesome Masters’ Hold and meet the Oni Smith there. They reach an agreement on payment in exchange for the Oni’s services before finding out that Primes have been sighted around the Hold in the past. This sends Lorelei straight to the bathroom in a panic and leaves Astarte alone to be bullied by the buff oni woman. [/hider]