“Is Councilor Lang available?” Adrissu asked, hands folded behind his back.
“Yes, he’s inside,” the girl answered, gesturing for the door. He nodded his thanks, ignoring how her eyes stared after him, as he brushed past the heat of the forge and into the shop. The inside wasn’t much cooler. Yue Lang was setting up a weapons rack in the corner, straightening up and waving when he spotted Adrissu.
“Councilor Adrissu,” he said, bowing his head in greeting as he approached. “To what do I owe the honor?”
“Hello, Yue,” Adrissu said, lowering his head slightly before continuing. “I am here to make an inquiry about a... custom piece, I suppose.”
“Not something for yourself? I don’t mean to presume, but...” the man replied, a slight grin crossing his features. His black hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, but Yue pushed a few loose pieces that were draped around his face out of the way as he spoke.
“No, not for me,” Adrissu agreed with a tight smile. “A gift for a... friend.”
“I see,” Yue replied, still smiling. His muscled arms rippled through his shirt, but the man was entirely too friendly for his own good—despite his size and obvious strength, he was not intimidating in the slightest. “Again, I don’t mean to presume, but if it’s thefriendI’m thinking of, I just made him a custom breastplate maybe a year ago, so I don’t think he’d be eager to replace it any time soon.”
“I understand,” Adrissu said with a nod. If it had been anyone but another councilor, and particularly Yue with his affable face, he might have snapped that he certainlywaspresuming and of course Adrissu knew about the damn armor. But he bit back the quip, and instead continued, “I was considering perhaps a shield that would be suitable for a protective enchantment I could place on it.”
“Interesting!” Yue said, already looking around the shop. “I have a few things that would probably work if you wanted something you could take home today. But I’d be happy to do a custom piece if you’d prefer.”
“Yes,” Adrissu agreed, pulling his hands from the sleeves of his robe. “I am perhaps not as familiar with the weaponry my friend uses as I should be for this purpose, but his current shield looks something like this.”
He held up one hand and conjured an illusion of the shield—smaller than it truly was, but the details were about the same. Ruan’s shield was rather plain, a simple but sturdy buckler without adornment.
“Easy enough,” Yue said.
“I think he’d like to stick with the same sort of shield,” Adrissu continued, sending the illusion dissipating with a flick of his wrist. “But if you could make it out of the best material you have available, and perhaps some sort of engraved design...”
“I could do just about any design. Did you have something particular in mind?”
“I did,” Adrissu said, as he conjured a second illusion of what he imagined. Yue blinked, staring at it, then laughed.
“Fearsome!” he said with a nod. “I can definitely do something like that. Let me sketch down that design, then I’ll show you the options for metals and inlays, and we can discuss the price.”
Ruan returned in just under three weeks—a bit longer than he’d anticipated, but he returned whole and healthy, as he always had. He arrived at Adrissu’s doorstep early one morning, not even bothering to knock. Vesper nearly bit him, rushing up to the door in surprise; but she happily crawled up his leg when she realized it was him. Her own fright had startled Adrissu from where he’d been sitting in his study, and he peered down from the second floor of the tower as Ruan laughed, petting the top of Vesper’s head as he closed the heavy wooden door behind him.
“I’m home,” he said fondly, glancing up to grin at Adrissu.
“You didn’t knock,” Adrissu said primly, but quickly descended the stairs to greet him. Ruan seemed hesitant at first, unsure whether to embrace Adrissu or kiss him; but Adrissu grabbed his face in his hands and decided for the both of them, kissing the human deeply and relishing in the curl of his lips as Ruan smiled against him.
“Missed me?” he asked breathlessly when Adrissu finally released him.
“Yes,” he replied, letting his fingers trail along Ruan’s face. The human must have shaved before coming; his face was smooth and clean, with no hint of stubble. “I have a gift for you.”
“A gift?” Ruan asked, voice lilting in surprise. “Well, let’s see it, then!”
“Come with me,” Adrissu said, pulling him toward the stairs, and Ruan’s grin became absolutely lecherous.
“Oh, it’s that sort of gift?” he asked, eyebrows waggling, and Adrissu scoffed.
“No,” he said. “Just come with me.”
Ruan laughed, but did not protest as he followed Adrissu up the stairs to the second floor. Adrissu had received the completed shield only two days prior, so it worked out well that Ruan had been slightly delayed. The shield was wrapped in cloth and set carefully on one of the extra small tables in Adrissu’s study. He picked it up, still wrapped, to present to Ruan.
“Adrissu,” Ruan said softly, his voice dropping to a hushed whisper the moment he’d started to unveil the shield. “This is...”
Gingerly, Adrissu placed a hand on Ruan’s shoulder, watching him peer down at the shield in his hands.
“I know you just had armor made, but I wanted to give you something that would help protect you,” he murmured, feeling Ruan shiver at the low voice in his ear. “I spent a day enchanting it, so it deflects projectiles better. It has some force behind it, so anyone striking you in melee distance will be thrown off balance as well.”
Ruan held the shield in one hand, and with the other slowly traced the symbol inlaid in the metal: the head of a dragon, horns curling upward. The visage of Zamnes, recognizable only to them. For a moment he was silent, then he glanced up at Adrissu with a watery smile.
