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As much was Esben was cross about spending extra time here, Éliane was glad for the pit stop, if only just barely. Like everyone else, she was quite motivated to get to bottom of whatever was happening in Solitude—the stakes she had in it did not need to be said more. On the other hand, being able to work with the smith had given her a rare opportunity to get some real repairs and upgrades done under a real Skaelan professional’s eye.

Her gunblade received a much-needed look over, and more importantly, she was able to get the mini gun repaired. It had been a rushed job, but the man was able to actually machine new parts in time to be fitted for the pieces that had been too mangled in the drop for any field repairs. She even was able to swap her wind and fire materia for new ones—between her overuse of it and whatever Esben had done with them while she was unconscious or recovering, they sorely needed replacement for something that wasn’t so worn out.

She’d picked up a new one, too, although how she’d use it in the future was yet to be seen.

Her regular sword and rifle had seen less overall wear, and she didn’t bother to ask for those to be looked over. She was perfectly capable of looking over those herself, and between her small arsenal and the rest of the Kirins, the smith looked about ready to keel over by the end. 

Thankfully, Éliane slept quite well. It was a shame there wasn’t good caffeine at this estate.

The rest of the next day passed mostly uneventfully for Éliane. Surprisingly, she did come across an acquaintance—Anders, an instructor that she knew in passing at the garden. Éliane was able to have a small chat with him, but as the night drew closer, she had to admit, even she was slightly apprehensive now about dinner at a lord’s mansion. For some strange, cursed reason, nonsense always seemed to happen in those cases! Never mind that Éliane tended to have a hand in making some of those incidents worse, she still knew something was going to happen. 

And now, sitting unusually far away from Esben at the dinner table, she was witness to yet another… incident. Éliane’s head became a swivel as she looked back and forth between Rudolf, the newly introduced Lene, and then Esben, a vacant, confused look on her face. 

In the end, she decided to roll with it that usual way that made it difficult to tell if she was being incredibly earnest or at Rudolf’s expense. She began clapping excitedly, ignoring the slight twinge that remained in her back as she smiled. “Wow! Congratulations, Rudi!”