Kal stands outside “The Gentle Anvil” and presses his hand on the door. The shop is small but quaint. It’s a cottage style house/store front with strong stone walls and a peaked hutch above the door. The roof is red and green slate, with large double windows in the front for showcasing work. The rest of the cottage is home; two large bedrooms, a smallish kitchen and few rooms for “special” projects. Kal stops for a moment and takes a deep cleansing breath. He’s wearing his “finest” (This is his usual dress except for a deep scarlet sash along his waist). The billowing smoke from one of the three smoke stacks tells the tale. She’s hard at work as usual. The old door gives way and hits the brass bell hung behind it…

“One minute” a woman’s voice comes from beyond the front counter; it’s a deep, sultry tone that’s augmented by the Russ accent. Kal takes a moment to look around the store, “She’s been busy… and gotten better.” He thinks to himself. The shelves are littered with all manner of creation; hammers, tongs, shields, knives, swords and an absolutely stunning buckler above the door. The quality of the work ranges from very good to sheer perfection.

He picks up the rapier hanging on the wall and looks down its edge; it’s balanced, keened and of exceptional quality. But still not as good as his twin blades, Agatha and Abigail, he still has yet to see their equal. They were her masterpiece, the works that got her accepted into the master’s guilds. The first woman to ever reach that level… this means she’s twice as good as most of the men already in the guild.

Ashka walks into the room, she’s about 4’6” and light skinned with dark almond shaped eyes. The description Kal always spun to his shipmates was “Eyes & hair as dark as coal and skin as white as clouds on a perfect day, a waist that I could fit in my hands and a bust that I couldn’t reach my arms around. Her love is like the sea; some moments calm and still like a cool breeze on a hot night and other times she’d capsize you for the crime of looking at another woman. That’s my port, that’s my Ashka”. His descriptions almost made most of his crew fall in love with her but they knew that she was sacred ground for him.

“Kal.” She says in a low tone… “Ashka” he replies with affection in his voice. She walks slowly to him and looks up at his face, her eyes getting a bit glassy at his return home. “Ashka, I’ve mis” SLAP. His face burns from the sting of her hand. Kal knowing what is about to come next instinctively puts both hands up to his head and begins to protect his precious face like a weary boxer in the 10th round. After about a minute or so of hitting and apologizing, he grabs her roughly by the waist and does the only thing he knows how to do to stop a rampaging woman. The Kiss. (Kal has written several chapters about “The Kiss” and its effects, it is his secret weapon and more powerful than any magic) She immediately stops hitting him for that brief moment. Once the kiss is completed, he looks at her expecting the slow release of air and fluttering eyes… only to receive… another slap. He holds his face almost hurt at her stubbornness… her anger breaks immediately; she touches his face gingerly and smiles… “Let me get the kettle on”. As she saunters into the next room, Kal rubs his sore face and says softly… “Good times… good times”.

Kal spends the next hours speaking as he does, quickly and wildly. He explains the tail of the Seabecks and the cursed earth of the southern town. He tells wild stories about orithopters, white arrows the never miss, the golden sexton and more. Ashka hangs on every word… instinctively knowing what’s an exaggeration and what’s the truth. She’s the only woman (before Marlene) that ever could. He tells her of the new travelers he has met. The Slayer Dwarf, his friend and bodyguard, a good man who he feels worried for and saddened by his plight. The Priestly Dwarf, a comical fellow whose armor is a sight to behold and who words bring charms. The Human Wizard, who’s polite and soft spoken and controls flames, earth and all manner of creature, Then… the girl.

“I have to tell you something…I’ve taken in a stray” “What do you mean?” Ashka’s eyes narrow both in curiosity and female concern. “When we were at the town, where the chaos taint was, there was a young girl, she needed looking after and well… I took on the job” SLAP “NO NO NO it’s not what you think! Stop hitting me!” The sounds of beating continuing unit finally… “Well what DO you mean?” Kal takes a deep breath and begins to explain it… The fact that her family was killed in front of her, the fact that she needed him and how much she reminded her of someone else… like a sister or daughter, that he’d long forgot. When he finished, Ashka looked at him and tilted her head in the way she always did. She had an uncanny way of knowing the difference in his truth, tales, stories and lies. She knew it was true. “I think I share you enough…. But when do I meet her?” “Now” he replies.

Kal walks to the door and opens it, he gestures to someone outside and a few moments later Marlene, comes to the door in a pale green sundress, and her hair tied back in green velvet with matching slippers. For the first time she looked like a beautiful young women. Her hair blond and skin bronzed from the months on sea, her body lithe and young, she nodded her head and tired a polite bow. A blind man could see her uneasiness, her hands behind her back and her eyes darting about the room. Kal began the introduction: “Don’t let the nervousness fool you… she’s an unholy terror. Her name is Marlene. Marlene meets Ashka”. The two women look each other up and down and begin to dissect each other as only women do. The temperature in the room actually drops 10 degrees.

Marlene thinks to herself; “Short little thing. My only port, my harbor… HA he’s had a lot of harbors since I’ve been aboard the Mercy, “but this is where I call home”… she made the twin blades, the singing blades. Humph… she’s fat. Frankly, I don’t see the big deal “

Ashka thinks to herself; “Frail little human girl looking for adventures with her dashing “father figure”, better be father figure…. I mean come on Kal, what’s next? Taking in kittens? Frankly, I don’t see the big deal”

Kal thinks to himself; “Wow. This is going really well”

The three sit and Kal begins to talk, telling stories and going on. Explaining the way things are and adventures he’s had with each other. For each of the stories staring the mischievous, clever and strong Marlene, Ashka’s teeth grind, eyes narrow and forehead dampens. For every story staring the beautiful, gifted and fierce Ashka, Marlene shifts in seat making half smiles and rolling eyes.

And for the first time Kal stops talks…. Silence. For those of you know don’t know: Kal is a brave man, some would say foolhardy. He has been caught with 4 twin sisters in a night and talked his way out of it (and more). He has seen his near death and glimpsed at the gods. However, in a room with the two women he loves… this awkward silence and tension has him afraid. Very Afraid.

At the same time in low serious voice…. Ashka “Kal…” Marlene “Can you give us a moment alone” Ashka & Marlene “Girl Talk”

As he is ushered out of the room his blood begins to crawl and sound of the door closing behind him sounds like a long dull thud of a mausoleum door.

Behind the door two women that love the same man in very different ways begin circling each other. “So… you’re Ashka, frankly I expected more. HE talks about you like you’re an angel” says Marlene coolly. “Funny.. He never mentioned you at all” snaps back Ashka. “Well… we were busy” retorts Marlene eyebrow raised.

Over the course of the next 10 minutes insults are thrown about and then silence. From outside the door Kal sits patiently hoping they find a common ground. And then… he hears it. It starts as quiet “CLINK” and then another and then another…soon the sounds of metal on metal pitter pattering like rain on a tin roof. Swordplay. Kal tried to open the door and find it barred from the inside. After a minute he sits back down and waits, his eyes glazed over and questions swirling in his head:

“Are they actually fighting in there? Ashka is going to kill her… Maybe. Maybe Marlene… I mean their both pretty good and almost no ones’ as fast as Marlene but Ashka is an angry little thing. I mean ok ok ok…. If I was placing bets…. 0-9 Ashka… hmmm maybe not. I guess it would depend on what weapon their using. Marlene with twin curved knives… wait we left them in the ship. No… I know she snuck them in… I should of frisked her and Ashka… well she’s got a bloody arsenal in their! Oh man. This is bad. Should I knock? No no no let them work it out… work it out?!? Am I mad?!?”

He stands up. He sits down.

“Hmmm probably better for ME not to get involved… I mean I might accidentally hurt someone… OR more likely one of them will gut me. I should stay. I mean… I’m pretty important.”

He stands up. He sits down.

“Ok… these are the women I love.” He bangs on the door loudly “BOTH OF YOU KNOW LET ME IN.” His tone is defiant & scolding; any hardened man on the Mercy would bow and do as their told with such an order. Twin voices from the room “STAY OUT OF THIS AND SIT DOWN.”

He sits. He drinks rum quietly. He waits.

Inside the room, insults fly back and forth like daggers, each comment more hurtful then the last. Then it happens, someone (and as the narrator of the tale… I’ll never say who) takes it a bit too far… first a push and then a slap and then someone reaches steel. Ashka stands a mace in hand, the haft of it pulled up to her chin, like a samurai from the east. Marlene’s twin blades curve against her forearms both he hands in a boxer’s position ready to snap out. The combatants lash out at each other; each one skilled in their own disciplines.

Marlene dancing around the room, moving over obstacles with easy and Ashka taking perfectly timed controlled and powerful swings. They both narrowly miss each other and when they do strike the wounds are superficial. This continues for a time until…

Ashka “Truce.” Marlene “What?” Ashka “Truce on one condition and tell me the truth… have you and him ever…” Marlene “NO! (Said with both horror and disgust)... He’s Kal” Ashka “Sword father” Marlene “I guess so” (In a low and thoughtful tone) Ashka “Ok then… we’ll work this out on our own. He says that you WANT to learn.” Marlene “Yes, Everything.. but here with you?” Ashka “There’s no better teacher” Marlene “You? Would you? Why?” Ashka “Then I will teach you for a time” Marlene “What if I don’t want to there’s a whole world out there and I’m not going to live forever…” Ashka “And you’ll live a lot shorter if your not trained or armed properly” Marlene “… did you really make the singing blades?” Ashka “I did.” Marlene “Their amazing.” Ashka “I know” (She smiles) Marlene “So will your long knives… we’ll start on them tomorrow” <long> Ashka “He loves you” Marlene “You to” Ashka “SO what does he do out there that I’m not supposed to know about…”

Kal sits outside staring at the door and then an even more sinister sound is heard through the door, two girls giggling.

That night was lonely one for Kal. Ashka clearly felt that having a young woman in the house meant intimate movements. And after a long cold shower, the next day the three find themselves talking about what is to come over breakfast. Kal explains what they need to do while they are here and both girls look at him with disapproving eyes. They worry for him so and yet he pushes on, it is the only cruelty that he will ever burden them with but it is quite a load. Ashka warns him of the roads… roads where men lose their minds and never return. The “Lost Road” they call it. But this is Raethe’s quest and Kal made a promise to bring him there.

Kal then show’s Ashka the twin blades, her eyes widen as she sees the long scratch running down Agatha’s side. She explains that to repair it would be a mistake. It would ruin the integrity of the blade. Then she lifts the swords and turns white…

Ashka “What have you done to them?” Kal “Nothing… why?” Ashka “Their different… I don’t know how but they are” Kal “What do you mean?” Ashka “Their light and move more…. On their own.” Kal “I though it was me getting more and more used to them but something is different isn’t it” Ashka “It is, what made the scratch?” Kal “A beast. A Chaos Lord” Ashka “Hmm… could the metal be tainted… could the blades….” Kal “That’s not possible both are changed, why would they both be affected?” Ashka “The blades are sisters. They are from the same ore, the as much family as blood kin. Look on Abigail…” Kal notices for the first time a slight ripple in the steel… only Ashka could have noticed it. It mirrored Agathas wound. Kal “Wow. Is this even possible?” Ashka “It shouldn’t be but it is.”

The morning goes on for awhile and the three of them clean the table and sit be the fire. The two girls curled on either side, Kal wonders if this home. In his mind the conversation begins: “Could I leave the sea for this life? Would it get boring? Wouldn’t it? Ashka and I would fight, Marlene would get old and leave. Why can’t I just bottle this moment?” He kisses both of their foreheads and slowly pulls himself from their sleeping embrace.

He sits at the table and begins to write a note to them both:

Good morning my ladies, I need to go now for a few days. I have promised Reathe that I would walk the lost road with him. Don’t worry about me losing my way, I have my lighthouse in both of you and I will never be adrift again. I love you and will be home soon. Kal.

The door opens and closes quietly as slips outside into the cool air