“I am not going to buy any swords!” Jirot declared, letting out a furious huff, and she even looked away from her mother, reaching out for her grandmother.
“This is where kako Taygak bought her sword,” Adam informed.
Jirot’s head snapped towards her father, to the point her hat almost fell off her head, but as she reached up to fix it, she narrowed her eyes towards her father, gripping her mother’s shoulder tightly, much to Gangak’s chagrin. “At times like this, you are difficult to defeat, daddy.”
“It is because this fool of a father of yours is a fool that he is able to defeat you at times like this.”
“I do not accept my defeat, but I will buy many swords, because I wish to spoil my nanos and babos, and my nanas and babas, and my kakos and papos, and then, daddy, I am going to ask them to beat you up.”
“I surrender, my dear, so please show this father of yours mercy, for as someone as magnanimous as you, you should show this father of yours grace.”
“Mummy, it’s really pissing me off now,” Jirot whispered into her mother’s scarf, her arms wrapping around her neck tightly, the girl huffing repeatedly in frustration.
“Your father is so incorrigible, isn’t he?”
“So incorrigible!”
“At least get a thesaurus or something and find another word…”
“Hopeless! Irredeemable! Unredeemable! Unrepentant! Impenitent!” Jirot declared, pointing at her father, and swinging her finger towards him as though it were a blade, and since they were within a swordsmith’s smithy, it was appropriate.
Adam blinked.
‘I suppose the only one who can deal with a Father is a Daughter…’ Tawid thought.
Vonda wondered why Jirot was so aggressive today, and as she leaned down to rub her daughter’s cheek with her own, the girl turned and planting a kiss on her mother’s forehead, but returned immediately to threatening her father.
“You! You! You! How can you be this ruthless to your father? That’s it! I’m going to spoil my nana more than you can spoil her!”
“You dare!”
“Grandmother, pick a sword, any sword, and this grandson of yours will buy it for you!” Adam declared, his eyes snapping to his grandmother whose jaw was tense, for she couldn’t break at this time, not when seeing them fight was so entertaining.
“Nano!” Jirot then sat up taller within her mother’s arms and as she braced herself upon her mother’s shoulder with one shoulder, she waved a hand across an entire wall. “I buy all this wall for you, nano!”
“Cringe,” called a voice.
Adam and Jirot both turned their focus upon the one who spoke up, their mouths wide open, their eyes completely focused upon him, whose arms were crossed, huffing lightly before them both.
“You dare!” Jirot declared.
“I don’t want to hear that from you, you old geezer!” Adam added.
“Oh! Mummy, let me go right now! I’m going to! Oooh! I’m going to!” Jirot tried to squirm away from her mother, but unfortunately for her, her mother’s strength was also great, and she was unable to escape from the woman’s grasp. “You think you can-,”
Tawid’s eyes darted to the little girl, who was speaking in a language he didn’t understand, but he was certain it was the Iyr’s tongue, and as she spoke the words, she spoke them with such furious fluency, he understood the Iyr considered the girl one of her own, and considering the tone of her words, he realised the girl was indeed an Iyrman.
Vonda wasn’t sure what the girl was saying, but seeing Adam, her children, her grandfather, who was the subject of such scorn, and even the faces of the girl’s nanos, and even the Iyrmen who were escorting the children, she realised it was truly terrible.
It was upon seeing Adam’s face that Tawid understood the half elf spoke the Iyr’s tongue, though he decided to not mention it, but then he noted the bald woman who was staring at him, reading his face, and he realised he had let it slip.
“J…” Adam began, his eyes wide as the girl finished slinging out words she should never say, not even to the old Mad Dog. “Jirot, you… you can’t say something like that, Jibaby.”
Jirot panted at the end of her rant, fixing her hat atop her head, not yet noticing the way her siblings were staring at her, but she remained completely focused on her greatfather, who had slipped into his rage, his entire body tense. Then his shadow fell upon the tiny girl and the girl was in the middle of the air, and as she squealed, she was soon engulfed within the old Mad Dog’s chest.
Jarot’s laughter echoed throughout the forge, tears slipping down his face, for of course it was his Jirot who could speak such brutal words to him.
‘What did she say?’ Vonda thought, and though she wished to learn the language to understand what her children would say, she understood the distance she needed with the Iyr, for she wished to remain a Ray of Life’s Rose.
“Jibaby, even though babo is laughing, you cannot speak those words ever again,” Adam said, and though his daughter made to fight, he brushed her cheek tenderly, and the sadness upon her father’s face disarmed the girl.
“Okay, daddy…”
“You brat! If my greatdaughter wishes to speak such words to me, she may!” Jarot snapped, holding his greatdaughter close, and as he reached for little Jarot, he paused a moment, noting the look upon the boy’s face, for though he had committed a great slaughter upon. “Hmm…”
“Okay, okay, let’s buy some swords, okay?” Adam called, reaching out to fix the girl’s hat, gently rubbing along her lead shaped ear tip, and he understood he would need to speak with her later, but for now it was time to let silvers slip through their fingers.
The swords within this smithy were as one might have expected from one who was considered the greatest across the land, though he remained busy with forging a sword worthy of the various nobles, requiring weeks, months, even, while his son, Rabin, assisted the group.
Gangak stared at a particular sword, forged of a form of goldsteel, not dawnsteel, but not a goldsteel that was out of its league.
“Nano, do you like this sword?” Jirot asked from within her greatfather’s arms, the Iyrman silent though he was displeased with all the attention on the swords.
“I like it, but can you afford it?”
Jirot placed a hand upon her greatmother’s shoulder, patting it gently. “Nano. I am rich.”
“Ah. Of course.”
“Of coas,” Jirot added.
“Of coas,” came the echo of the rest of the children, causing Jirot to flush, but she needed to be bullied this way.
“I wonder which sword I should buy for nano, or should I buy a lovely sword for Elder Jaygak?”
“Daddy, you cannot buy a sword for the Elder, that is untoward,” Jirot informed.
“Oh?” Adam was only meant to tease his daughter, but after considering her words, he realised she may have been right.
“I will buy this sword for my kako Jaygak.”
“I thought you said I couldn’t buy a sword for her?”
“You, daddy, cannot buy a sword for Elder Jaygak. I, your daughter, can buy a sword for my kako Jaygak.”
“Ah, of course.”
“Of coas.”
“Of coas,” the children echoed.
Jirot retreated into her greatfather’s neck, for how could they all bully her like this, while the old man planted a kiss on her neck, and the girl continued to melt against him.
Adam waved a hand, motioning for many of the swords, but he found the side of a hand blocking his hand. “Et tu, darling?”
“You may buy a few swords, but if you spend all this money, then you will have to work for many weeks,” Vonda began, and raised her voice slightly, “and if my Jirot spends all her gold, she will have to work for many weeks, and I will be so lonely.”
The pair made a face together that confirmed they were father and daughter, as though they were both fools who didn’t understand how to appropriately spend their gold.
“Okay, mummy, I will only buy a little bit of sword, a little bit,” Jirot assured, pouting towards her mother.
“Thank you.” Vonda reached out to her daughter, allowing the girl to grasp her large hand with her own tiny hand, holding one another’s gaze.
“I’d also like to buy this sword,” Adam whispered towards the smith, pointing towards a quicksilver sword that was a touch longer, a touch thinner than a typical blade, engraved with a single word towards the blade.
HONOUR.
As the group bought all manner of swords, not just longsword, but shortswords and greatswords, they finally said their goodbyes, and though Adam could feel Vonda’s eyes against the side of his head, the half elf decided against thinking about how much gold he had spent, and how much of it he had to borrow from the business.
“Nano, you like this sword?” Jirot asked.
“It is a wonderful gift,” Gangak said, strapping the blade to her side, replacing the magical weapon at her side. “Perhaps I will wield it instead against the First Blade when we meet him?”
Jirot’s lips twitched into such a smile, the girl glancing away, as though not to show her greatmother her flushed cheeks, until she glanced aside towards her greatmother, the pair side smiling towards one another. “So silly, nano. So silly.”