unwrapping it.
“Your dagger was finished this morning,” he answered.
A tiny knife rolled out of the package and into my hand. The scabbard was a dark blue, and I could recognize from the touch that the leather was actually made from plants. I gave Rio a little smile and then pulled the blade out. It was so shiny, and so sharp.
“Thank you,” I said, for lack of anything better to say.
“Of course,” Rio said. “Now I’ll have to muscle in on Kewyn’s time and teach you a little about stabbing people.”
Kewyn and I looked at him.
“I’m kidding,” he said. “Sheesh. I’ll be back in about an hour.” Rio disappeared into the workshop and left me to finish my sparring session with Kewyn.
By the end of that week, I was sore in muscles I did not know I had. Between Kewyn’s vigorous workout routines and Rio’s knife training, I was worn out.
“Nooo,” I moaned as Rio opened the curtains by my bed again.
“Up, up!” he said.
“Why are you always so energetic?” I growled.
“Because I’m amazing,” he said. “Now get up or we’ll leave you here.”
“...I’d be fine with that,” I said.
“Nope. Up now.”
The next few days were passed in very much the same way: a quick breakfast, then down to Aenlilea’s for the day, then back to the inn for dinner and sleep. Kewyn had slowly warmed up to Rio and Levent enough to be in the same room with them for a few minutes without scowling, and the half-blood seemed to have settled down enough to have a conversation with her. It had been a while since he had made her red in the face with annoyance.
After a week of locking himself up in the shop all day, Aenlilea emerged and walked into the house. We all just stared at the man expectantly, when he smiled.
“I think I’m done.”