\u201cWell, well.\u201d The bass rumble, rough and gravelly as always, cut through the hiss of bellows and the crackle of flames, clear even under the ring of iron and steel. \u201cI hear someone’s moving up in the Citadel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease. You don’t need to remind me.\u201d The leonine figure remained hunched over the workbench a few moments more, making one last, careful twist, before he laid down his wrench and stood a bit taller. Tugging off one thick leather glove, he reached up to the monocle over his left eye and gave it two twists \u2013 once swiftly, to bring his vision back to normal size, and once more carefully, to restore proper focus. \u201cYou got business to talk about, Varuk, or did you come all the way to the Canton Factorium just to talk my left ears off?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat, work?\u201d Varuk snorted. \u201cA lame, soft diplomat like me? What kind of work would I be bringing you, Graaf?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood.\u201d The dark, white-striped Charr made his way around the work bench. \u201cCome on. I could use an excuse to sit down in the Serrated Blade for a bit, and a cub like me shouldn’t be forcing an honoured hero to aggravate old war wounds, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon’t get all soft and sentimental on me, cub.\u201d Varuk’s grin showed a wealth of still-sharp teeth. \u201cI’m not that<\/em> lame yet.\u201d His stride was a bit stiffer than the younger male’s, but still steady, still even; in spite of his mangled leg, he didn’t allow himself a visible limp.<\/p>\n \u201cYou’re still doing me a favour,\u201d was Graaf Sparksteel’s answering growl. \u201cFor the last three days it feels like I’ve only left the bench to eat and sleep, and sometimes I’m scarfing down a bite as I work.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThus the reward for a job well done, Legionnaire.\u201d The elder Charr lowered himself onto a seat rather more stiffly than he’d walked up to it, but still with careful dignity.<\/p>\n \u201cHmnf.\u201d Graaf turned his attention to the bar. \u201cHey, Gallowknot, get a few rounds of the good stuff over here, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSparing me the common swill? You must actually like me.\u201d Varuk Thunderfist grinned again, but he sobered as his companion sat down opposite him. \u201cI heard you lost most of your warband, Graaf. I’m sorry. They were good soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI’m honoured to hear you say that, Varuk,\u201d said Graaf with a slight dip of his head, \u201cand I’m sure they would be too. Thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNothing but the truth,\u201d the veteran assured him. \u201cWhat happened? They’ve had me playing ambassador to the Dominion of Winds, trying to soothe the Tengu’s ruffled feathers \u2013 I’ve heard a dozen different accounts in the day I’ve been back.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t really have much to tell,\u201d Graaf sighed. \u201cAll I really know is that Ashford’s ghosts hit Smokestead. Hard. We were stood down when it happened \u2013 cut off from each other, forced to work with whoever we were next to instead of out familiar teams \u2013 it was nasty. Never seen the ghosts come at us in such numbers. They were reforming almost as fast as we could disperse them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t envy you that fight.\u201d Varuk grimaced. \u201cStrangest thing, fighting something that doesn’t have flesh to cut. And they don’t even give decent trophies.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s like they knew what we were working on.\u201d Graaf shook his head, accepting a heavy tankard from the barkeep. \u201cAnother week and we’d have been able to push them back easy.\u201d He took a swig.<\/p>\n \u201cA special project?\u201d All four of Varuk’s ears focused on the younger male; he held his own tankard, but didn’t drink from it yet. \u201cIs that what got you made Legionnaire?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, the Ghostbore musket. Works like a charm \u2013 if only we’d had it when Smokestead got hit, we’d have had no problem.\u201d Graaf set his mug down with a sigh. \u201cIt should have been Blaze. Sure, the mechanism was my work \u2013 but that Silentclaw girl, you remember her, she did just as much, working out what components to use. It was Blaze that figured out how to pull everything into a workable whole that wouldn’t blow up in the gunner’s face. All I did was carry on her work.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd did it well, as always, I’m sure,\u201d replied Varuk, shaking his head. \u201cTribune Goreblade doesn’t reward incompetence. If he made you Legionnaire, he’s sure you can do the Iron Legion proud.\u201d There was a pause, as he considered the younger male. \u201cYou and Blaze… you were… close, weren’t you? I’m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c…Thanks.\u201d Graaf took another swig. \u201cFaugh. She’d use my head for an anvil if she ever caught me being this moody over her.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNobody sensible ever said you weren’t allowed to grieve, cub,\u201d said Varuk with a shake of his head, \u201cnot when you’ve lost your warband and<\/em> someone you might have sired your own cubs on, and from the sounds of it you haven’t had time to do that. I’d suggest you use your new status to make<\/em> time. Get someone else to work from your designs for a bit, get your head straightened out, and go on doing her and<\/em> the Legion proud.\u201d<\/p>\n For a few moments, Graaf just stared into his whiskey. Then he laughed, tossing the rest of it back and gulping it down. \u201cYou always did know what to say to people, Varuk. Maybe they should have given you<\/em> this job.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI did my time as Legionnaire,\u201d Varuk reminded him. \u201cBesides, you’re not too bad with words yourself. Easier to listen to than that Silentclaw girl you mentioned, so if they’re going to split the credit between you, it’s not strange that you get the promotion. You still working with her?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah. Her warband got hit hard, too, so we’ve teamed up since then. Now, on top of everything else we were doing just as soldiers, I’ve got to keep Blood and Ash Legion troops away from each other’s throats long enough to figure out how to put these things to good use and get Ashford back under our control.\u201d He leaned back a bit. \u201cIf I’d known I’d need to shout at this many people… well, I wouldn’t have turned it down.\u201d He shook his head sharply. \u201cI wouldn’t spit on Blaze’s memory like that. But it would have been tempting.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you’re allowed temptation, too,\u201d Varuk assured him. \u201cSo long as you do what’s right in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHeh. Glad someone<\/em> doesn’t think I’m crazy for it.\u201d With a sharp-fanged smile, Graaf leaned over to clap a hand on the older Charr’s shoulder. \u201cThanks, greyfur. Age hasn’t dulled your good sense, and I’m glad to benefit from it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJust put those ghosts back in the ground for me, huh? They’ve been a pain in the tail for longer than I’ve<\/em> been here.\u201d<\/p>\n Another, fiercer grin. \u201cYou \u2013 and the Legion \u2013 can count on me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Newly elevated from the rank and file, a soldier and artificer takes counsel from his old mentor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,155],"tags":[106,107],"class_list":["post-439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fanfic","category-guild-wars","tag-charr","tag-graaf-sparksteel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":440,"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439\/revisions\/440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}