"Alright, we're almost there Cyril. Let's drop off this stuff and check back with mom if there's anything else she needs us to do." This was the first time he'd played a delivery boy; his mother always preferred to handle things herself. But with the current situation, she couldn't leave the fort back in Apoy. She was totally sure that as soon as she looked away the entire island would be crawling with bug-people. If he was going, Cyril had to come with him. He was pretty used to his twin tagging along so he didn't complain. On the upside, that was probably a good idea–his younger brother had habit of wandering off if you didn't keep an eye on him. And there was the 'problem' of what sort of mess he'd get himself into without supervision. Cyril was a nice kid, but he was kind of…weird. Back when they were five, when he first discovered that Lys was a Rosenite, Cyril attempted to pry open the older boy's mouth to see what his fangs looked like. That scared Lys so much that he actively avoided them both for several days until his mom asked him what was wrong. Lys' mom was really nice and had a lot of patience for putting up with his kid brother's antics, though sometimes he still gave everybody a heart attack.

The portal closed behind them and they were inside the safety of the allied camp in Endapano. The air was much cooler and less muggy, which was a big improvement already. Also there weren't all those mosquitoes flying around–the small ones. "So much better…whew. I can feel my shirt drying out finally." He said fanning himself. His brother Cyril stretched his arms and they both went around asking where they could find Poppy, or anybody they knew. Everybody was too busy or preoccupied to help much, and this was taking too long. "How about we just find the blacksmith mom wants to send these blueprints to?" Cyril asked. Shifting the rolls of paper under his arm, he nodded. "Yeah, why not? I mean if we give them to Poppy she'd have to hand these off to them anyways. If we ask where the forges are somebody's bound to have an idea, right?"  

Toya had been gone for a long time now. It really was bothering Tempest at this point not to hear from her. Though freedom was liberating not to have anyone really breathing down her neck… There was a feeling of guilt and worry that was overflowing in her moral canals. Tempest was still a girl after all and she had been raised for the most part by her grandparents. While her mother worried her too it wasn’t the same… Keira was an important part of their culture for the White Court and it caused her to be away for extended periods of time. Sometimes the mother wolf couldn’t take her twins with her and often that left them in the care of Toya and Blaine. Naturally, it caused the twins to become more attached to their grandparents but that didn’t mean they didn’t love their mother.

The little half Rosenite was standing at the tent flap with her dragon around her neck. Tiny digits were reaching up and stroking Kaa’s small scaly noggin. The tiny red dragon had, in fact, noticed his master’s change in emotions and had only chosen to be stuck to her as a source of comfort in this trying time. “What do you suppose she is doing? Do you think she is okay?” The dragon snorted and Tempest smirked a bit. “I suppose that is a dumb question ain’t it?” The White Queen lived for battle but her granddaughter highly doubted that the queen would fall to some measly insects.

Tempest finally wrinkled her nose and huffed a bit. “No point in worrying over controlled lava.” The half werewolf nodded in affirmation as she went back to work. Her tent was black in color with light blue edges. There was her craftsman’s crest on the flaps of the tent so that people could find her easily.

Once the boys came had found Tempest’s tent she had barely noticed them. Her back was to them and her hair was in a wild frizzy mess of dark chocolate curls. She was swinging her hammer while Kaa was breathing fire when needed. It was Kaa who noticed the boys and he alerted his master. With one finally mighty hit of her hammer Tempest threw the blade into a water barrel and finally onto a workbench.

Pulling her goggles up she was a bloody mess in the front too when she finally looked at them. Her tan skin was littered with ash and soot making her a bit more darker than she appeared. Her true skin tone only showed where the goggles had been protecting her eyes. “Are you two lost or something?” She tilted her head. Kaa made a noise at her and Tempest made a face. “Right… Courteous.” She mumbled a bit and rubbed the back of her neck. “If you have a job for a blacksmith you’ve come to the right place. As long as you don’t mind apprentice work that is… Most of the time I only take jobs that have been requested for me.” She looked away from the two boys and mumbled a bit more. “Though, I do have a bit more room for special on the spot requests too I guess. Name’s Tempest and this little one is Kaa.”

"You know, that's just the thing. So the two of us here were looking for you–a special somebody gave us a referral and said if we needed any serious metalwork, you'd be the one to go to." Belen grinned, handing the blueprints. "It's nothing major compared to a sword or anything. Just some glorified lightning rods big enough to fry mosquitoes the size of a dog." His brother repeated what he said, but in different words. "Lady Angela said we should find you for any special blacksmithing jobs. I'm Cyril, and that's my older brother Belen. It's not super urgent, but if you have time for our order that'd be great!" Belen waved at her, then took a look around the tent. They were like mirror images, hair and eye colors aside. The pale-haired twin was absolutely spellbound at the stuff Tempest had in her forge, and it was pretty obvious he was distracted by the sword in progress resting on her workbench. 

It was pretty hot after spending just a few minutes in, and Belen was fanning himself. So much for escaping to cooler climates… But at least it was a dry heat, and not humid. Ugh, that was the worst. Despite being nonchalant, he was keeping a close eye on his younger brother. There was a small creature within his proximity, and as soon as he stopped being starry-eyed over the weapons he might try to pet it. Cyril did not have the best track record with animals. The only animal who didn't try to run, was Millie. But Millie was nice to everybody, even for a big fluffy cat. Lys would let Cyril play with her just to keep him occupied and out of trouble. 

The blueprints were much simpler than the ordered mess Shiloh's usual scribblings were. Cyril's description was pretty straightforward: they were just giant metal sticks with forked points to channel electricity. Almost like a smaller version of Antikythera's lightning towers, modified to discharge energy instead of collecting it. They'd require a lot of metal, but weren't nearly as labor-intensive. Belen had glanced at the diagrams on the way. "Oh yeah, we'll probably need at least twenty of these things. If you need more raw material I can ask mom to send some shipments." Unlike his mother he didn't have much knowledge on how smelting and metalworking went. That was more along the lines of Cyril's interests, but nobody was willing to let him near a hammer. Or a source of fire. Or…well you get the idea. 

For a moment her heart went fluttering and Tempest mode a whimsical noise with her lips and gave them two little finger guns and winked. “Yup, only the best blacksmith in all of Sularia… Well at least of my age.”

Once she settled down Tempest stared at them and then strained her eyes at them. Her eyes were like slits in an apple as she looked both of them over. They couldn’t have been any older than she was. That a rarity in itself except outside Angela’s lot. “Right… Aunty Ang sent ya did she?” If she didn’t take the job she would be in serious heat from her grandma about it. She rubbed the back of her neck and looked at Kaa. “I suppose I got the time.”

Tilting her head she watched Belen. “You act like you neva been in a hot box before. Arri would kill you if this lil’ bit of heat is bothering ya.” Her eyelashes were oddly full for a female as she batted them at him innocently. “Little heat never hurt. You get used to it when dragons litter your home yard and ya gramma is a spitfire. Literally by the way.” She winked a bit at both the twins once more. Boys her age were unusual and she couldn’t deny it was pleasant. Bless her little Rosenite heart.

“Twenty of them?” Tempest go hold of the blueprints herself and tilted her head. “They are good ya… but…” By the look on her face, there was some serious tinkering going on in her head. “Not that I would ever insult a maker of blueprints but mixing in some Lacriamium would make a nice conductor. Found out the hard way that Lacriamium conducts way better than most metals. I don’t think anyone has been dumb enough to find out… except me. Never swing about a Lacriamium sword out in a lightning storm.” She whirled her finger about. “Just about burnt my damn arm off… and if I had been human… I would probably be dead.” She said it with such cheerful optimism as she ferociously nodded her head. Her words were so carefree too. “It would be no issue making twenty of these little guys.”

When it came to his offer for raw metal she shook her head. “Being a great niece to Angela has its benefits but also my family has a fair bit of trade with other smithies. It shouldn’t take long to gather up the supplies here…”

She looked over everything. “Smarter not harder.” She went about to carve molds. Using a singular mold she was able to create a mold that would house all twenty. It was rather large though and she had worked fast. She let out a “Hmmmm.” As she looked at it. “Right. Kaa is too small for this. We need a large blacksmithing pot… and I know just the person to ask to make it. This wayyyy.”

Not wanting to leave the brothers in her forge alone she made them tag along. Coming to a green and gold tent Tempest knocked and Angela’s voice rang out. “You can come in.”

“Hey, Auntie Ang… I HAD THE MOST BRILLIANT IDEA.” Tempest called out as she led the boys inside.

Angela had a book in her hand and there might have been a slight eye roll at Tempest’s words. “Your last great idea had fireworks going everywhere in Arri.”

“Yeah… but this is a great and GOOD idea.” Tempest seemed down just a bit before she perked up and began to bounce. “What would it take for me to convince you to make me a giant smelting pot?”

“This about Shiloh’s job?” Angela moved her head to look at the boys. “You boys have gotten big.” She chuckled a bit to herself. “Fine, but Kaa is too small to heat something as big as what you are thinking… How are you going to get around that.”

“I’m going to piss off one of the dragons that Gramma brought with her.” Tempest crossed her arms and gave Angela a bit of attitude. “Our secret if you don’t tell Gramma.”

“Your Gramma would be smart enough to know you did something like that.” Angela calmly tried to keep the girl’s attitude down. “Why piss them off anyway?”

Tempest crossed her arms tighter. “Cause the fire they breath gets the hottest when they are pissed. The whiter the fire the hotter it is. Dragons don’t take little girls asking them to do things seriously you know. Kick them in the shins THAT’S WHAT I SAY.”

Angela looked amused for a moment. “…What do you think boys?”

The best blacksmith in all of Sularia for her age. Belen was impressed. "You definitely have bragging rights there! If this is a hot box, I'd rather be baked then broiled–if I had to say. Back home it's always a nice constant temperature between 'cold' and 'uncomfortably warm'." He'd never bothered sneaking into the workshops since there wasn't much point in doing so. He raised his eyebrows when she casually mentioned the dragons and grandmother. Talk about exotic pets! When Tempest started looking over the blueprints, she looked like she'd found something. Her suggestion on adding lacriamium was a good one, and he'd keep in mind to pass that along to his mom when he and his twin went back. "A better conductor huh? I guess we don't use it much since it's in more limited supply. Most of the equipment that gets used in heavy-duty jobs are made of those. It has pretty good corrosion resistance too." Yes, he would know after accidentally spilling something and freaking out only to breathe a sigh of relief when the tongs sitting in the spill didn't get eaten away in minutes. The metal didn't even tarnish or change after that.

The mold she made was probably the largest he'd even seen, then she had an idea. When she called them to follow her he and Cyril obliged, tailing after Tempest to a green and gold tent. He gave a polite nod to Lady Angela, and his brother did the same. That was when Tempest started talking. Clearly her aunt wasn't too keen on what the blacksmith had in mind, and the mention of 'fireworks' piqued his curiosity. Belen stifled a grin as he wondered how it all happened, and what her original plan had been. It sounded like a lot of fun from the looks of it. The two of them stood around and listened as she was bargaining with the goddess, working her angle to sell her idea. Lady Angela demanded solid details, and Tempest laid it all out on the table: she was going to goad a bigger dragon to set the metal on fire. 

Cyril's eyes went wide, and Belen whistled. She wanted to tick off a dragon, bad enough to make it spit fire and brimstone! And not just enough to be mad, but hopping mad. Her comment on kicking it in the shins topped it off. Then out of the blue, the goddess asked them what they thought. The twins spoke one after the other. "…That's amazing!" "–I like the sound of that!" Cyril had never seen a dragon breathe fire before, he was so excited! Belen thought it was crazy; but it was his kind of crazy–and it just might work. While the younger of the two had thoughts filled with what to expect seeing a dragon bigger than himself, the older brother wanted to see how Tempest was planning to make this play out. Dragons were smart. They didn't just do what you told them to unless they felt like it. Lys' little brother Efrain had one who hung around the kid while he was cooped up with a bunch of flasks and liquids. He wasn't the fire-breathing type, but he had a mind of his own. The more Belen thought about it the more he was starting to hesitate, but part of him wanted to see a girl egg a dragon on.