Chapter Text
The weather was pleasant as usual, with a moderate temperature that was neither too warm or too cold and skies that were dotted with a few clouds. A gentle breeze carried the fragrance of Windrest flowers down the cliffs from Millhaven to where your home-turned-smithy was located. Even the smell of smoke and burning coals from your forge couldn't completely mask the their iconic floral scent.
As you begin to buff and polish the blade of a freshly forged spear, the gradual change from dim to lustrous reminds you of Lohen's eyes. They're deceptively somber until light catches them at the right angle, and they sparkle and shift colors like alexandrite. After you've finished polishing the blade, you apply a layer of tung oil to the wooden parts of the handle and carefully consider where to tie your usual good luck charm. It's a small knotted tassel with a singular bead made of starsilver, that's designed to keep the weapon unobstructed and offer a small prayer to your patron Archon for the protection of the wielder. While easily replicable and even easier to lose, you've chosen this knotted tassel as your maker's mark.
It might just be a sort of confirmation bias, but every time Lohen returned with the tassel on his weapon broken, you considered it to have done its job because he's returned without notable injury. Even with his penchant for being the vanguard that lures enemies for his ranged unit, he's rarely ever been dealt a life threatening blow. With his ability, it's a wonder at all how that the tassel often gets broken when the rest of his spear hardly needs any maintenance, but he's always returned to have you fix his spear's tassel without fail.
You had already "graduated" from an apprenticeship with Wagner for a while now. Under his tutelage, you had learned the tools, techniques, and trade at the same time as Schulz, his other apprentice, but you ultimately did not want to compete with Schulz to take over his smithy. Wagner had been impressed by your ability to learn and your penchant for trying out more unique materials for forging. His only concern was that you seemed uncomfortable interacting with customers and had figured you'd be able to adjust to that eventually. However, the smithy location, though a prime spot within the city walls that saw plentiful foot traffic, proved to be too overstimulating for you. On top of having to compete with your fellow apprentice for a chance to take over that location when Wagner retired, you just didn't feel that its environment was right for you.
The edge of Millhaven bordering Dornman Port was where you decided to move and establish your smithy. Located not too far from Dornman Port, where there wasn't yet a dedicated blacksmith, and still nestled in a quiet enough place to focus on your work, you were quite proud of the deal you managed to strike for this particular plot of land and building. Perhaps because of the rural location and various surrounding hills and cliffs that did not make it an ideal spot for business foot traffic, you had received a fairly reasonable price to live and set up shop here. Somehow your meager savings from your eclectic assortment of past jobs was enough for the down payment, and the seller was kind enough to let you pay in low, monthly installments.
On some days where his duties ended earlier and the nearby monster population had already been sufficiently culled, Lohen would loiter around your smithy and content himself with watching you at work. The rhythmic clanging of a newly forged blade and the rasp of it being sanded down to perfection surprisingly became a decent lullaby to him. Lohen even had the cheek to set up his own personal hammock to nap nearby while you were focused on forging.
Lohen was always on the move and his duties as Vice Captain of the 5th Company often sent him on missions short-notice. Even before his expedition to Nod-Krai, there were times where you'd go weeks without seeing him. However, he always came eventually, barging into your smithy with little fanfare and holding up his dulled weapons for maintenance while pestering you for a new tassel.
This sort of exchange became routine for the two of you and few words had to be said out loud to know what Lohen wanted nor did you ever have to make clear the terms of payment. Lohen always paid you generously for your craftsmanship, sometimes too much for the more routine maintenance visits. Once, when you tried to refuse the overwhelming amount of Mora and gems that he dumped on your work counter, he convinced you he had more Mora than he knew what to do with it and that the gems were just a souvenir from his latest expedition. The cunning smile stretched over his face dared you to refuse. Instinctively, you knew any attempt would lead to him finding a way to make you take his payment (perhaps even threefold), so you inwardly considered this an investment towards a new weapon for Lohen.
"I ran into some Rift Wolves that had wandered out of Wolvendom and were nearing Springvale. My attempt to sharpen my spear on them backfired this time. Oh, I took care of them in the end, of course," Lohen said nonchalantly while offering up his spear for inspection. You gave Lohen a look-over first to check for any injuries. Only after you were satisfied to see that the worst signs of any battle on him was some dirt and frayed threads from where the rift wolves' claws may have caught on his uniform, you nodded and redirected your sight to quickly assess what maintenance his spear would need this time. Just in case, you brought out a first aid kit for him to use on any cuts or scrapes you might have overlooked, but Lohen gave it an uninterested glance.
Honestly, after his encounter with the Rift Wolves, the spear was barely even nicked, but there were scratches on the handle that could be patched up and it was about time for the spear tip to get some sharpening. Ah, and the good luck tassel you had placed on it had snagged on something, causing the knots to come partially undone.
Lohen's spear was your magnum opus. White iron was used to craft the shaft and give it a pristine, knightly look. Starsilver adorned the heel and also was the primary composition of the spearhead, which was comprised of a combination of starsilver and magical crystal chunks through a bit of alchemical assistance from Sucrose, to yield a blend of material that was both sturdy and very conductive to Lohen's Cryo Vision powers. Compared to the balance of a standard issue polearm, the spear tip was given more heft to give extra weight behind his forward thrusts and fortified with an extra white iron protrusion designed to resemble the armor of the Knights of Favonius. For additional function (and a bit of flare), two extra curved blades were attached to the spear tip and worked similarly to a halberd and its fluke, enabling it to make slide slashes at enemies and even hook onto them from a distance. 1-1
Lohen had teased you for the intricate metalwork, joking that a standard-issue Favonius Lance would have done the job. That made you glower at him with an intensity that only made his smirk twist further in a sadistically self-satisfied way. It was only when you motioned to take the spear back that he acquiesced, repeatedly assuring you that it was just a joke and that he would put your specially crafted weapon to good use.
Lohen actually thought that your eye for design and function were unmatched, as he had wanted a more flashy polearm, not unlike a ceremonial lance, to draw the attention of enemies more efficiently. You had even spent a couple training sessions with him to observe his preferred fighting style and attack patterns to ensure that the weapon would be perfectly customized just for him. With a hint of perfectionism, you also made sure to see him fighting with your spear after it was created in order to finalize any adjustments to the way it was held and swung, and you checked that the weight was balanced appropriately within his grip so that it didn't cause any unnecessary fatigue.
While you gave his spear a routine maintenance, Lohen took his rightful place on his personal hammock by near your forge to observe you and soak in the melody of your smithy. By the time you wrapped up your work and tied a new good luck tassel to his spear, Lohen's eyes were peacefully closed and his breathing was shallow. Dappled sunlight was speckled gently across his face; his usual shrewd mask was dropped in a rare show of vulnerability. You removed your gloves before reaching out to lightly thumb at the beauty mark below his eye but changed your mind at the last minute when you realized you might accidentally wake up Lohen during his likely much needed nap.
You didn't want to leave Lohen by himself while he was asleep, so you decided to start a new project. Looking at Lohen made you feel inspired again. Maybe he could use a new dagger with built in reservoir so that his poisons could flow down channels carved into the blade with a manual trigger. Visualizing the swift curve of his dagger's path and the deathly trail of Cryo that followed it caused your pulse to thrum a bit faster. With renewed creative vigor, you threw yourself into sketching out the design of your latest idea.
As you were lost in your own world, Lohen opened his eyes and glanced at you in secret. He had awoken from his light nap when he sensed your presence approaching nearby earlier, and he had wondered if you would cross that invisible barrier you had set up between them. Much to his disappointment, you shied away. If you had really touched him while he was pretending to be asleep, he'd considered throwing his remaining chivalry to the wind (surely Barbatos would pardon him), grabbing you, and pulling you along to nap with him. The hammock should be sturdy enough to hold the two of you together. On second thought, maybe he could also just drag you to nap on the bed that he replaced your old cot with. It was an old, uncomfortable looking thing, so Lohen took it upon himself to buy you a proper bed without your permission.
Because you had used all your savings on the down-payment for your new home and the tools needed to establish your smithy, the furnishings for its living spaces were sparse and consisted mostly of what the previous occupant had left behind. There was a small drawing room, a basic kitchen, a cozy dining room furnished with an unassuming two-person dining table, a modest bathroom with a tub, and two bedrooms. One of the bedrooms was entirely unfurnished and became your storage closet for your smithy tools, while the other bedroom came with an worn, barely padded cot and a quaint walnut dresser. The cot was made tolerable with a couple of layers of blankets, but when Lohen first laid his eyes on it, he assessed it with a look not unlike the look he'd give an enemy camp while determining which target was best to strike down immediately.
True to his strategy, he made the cot the first thing to go, and after bringing in a new bed for you, unannounced, your home was gradually filled with things both you and Lohen had added. Besides dishware and cutlery, most of your additions were decorative because Lohen had rushed to fill your home with the bigger furniture necessities before you could even afford them. The plush sofa that was long enough for Lohen to lay across seemed to be his favorite addition because he would lounge on it whenever he would enter your home and occasionally sleep on it overnight since the second bedroom was occupied by your tools. Perhaps out of chivalry, Lohen never asked to sleep in your bed, so you left a quilted throw on the sofa for whenever he decided to stay the night.
After you got the sketched drafts for a new weapon and detailed notes on materials you'd like to test out of your system, you turned to check on Lohen, who quickly pretended to be asleep again. As you quietly approached Lohen, he purposefully slowed his breathing to mimic unconsciousness. However, he let the corner of his mouth twitch upward as you gave him a suspicious prod to the cheek with your forefinger.
"Lohen, if you're awake let's go eat supper together. Frith decided to add Lohikeitto to today's daily special at Taste of the North." Now, sure that he was just pretending to be asleep, you gave gentle pinch to Lohen's cheek.
With his eyes still closed and a fuller smile stretched across his face, Lohen replied, "Beyond the first time I had their Lohikeitto, it's really nothing special, but if you're offering…"
"Yes, yes, I'll pay for our meal this time," you sighed exasperatedly without any real heat, "Come on, now. I want to return while the light is still out."
"You don't have anything to worry about since I'm by your side."
"I suppose, but I don't like the feeling of walking around when I can barely see my own two feet."
"Then you can hold onto me. I'll make sure not a single stone will fell you."
Before you knew it, Lohen was up on his feet with a slight bow and holding his arm out for you with full knightly charisma, "Shall we make our way there, Princess?"
"… Yes, Sir Lohen, let's make haste." You decided to play along with this silly game of Lohen's while pretending there wasn't warmth powdering the apples of your cheeks.