FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

If any of the characters resemble A character from another's story then I apologize for the coincidence. While this Chapter contains no sexual content later chapters will.

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Falk let out a heavy sigh as the castle gates came into view. He has been walking here for the last week and a half. When his father first set him off on the journey to the city of Greycott he was somewhat excited, but that changed rather quickly. After about a few days of travel he realized how long the journey was, and how bad it would be. It was probably the last stormy season this year before winter came, so it was cold as well. Being a dragon may help protect him from the elements, but even that has it's limits. It didn't help that all he had was the ragged clothes on his back and the few coins his father gave him.

He was cold, tired and hungry, but his day still wasn't done. He still had to find his father's old friend, who worked in the castle as a night watchman. Falk couldn't remember the name, but knew that the watchman was supposed to help him get started in this town.

"Halt! Who goes there?" Called a soldier from atop the castle walls. He was too far for Falk to make out any details, other than the armor he wore.

"My name is Falk Summers," He replied, his voice hoarse from not being used for so long.

"And what business do you have here?" The guard asked again, unceremoniously.

"My father, Rochous Summers, told me to come here and seek out an old friend of his. A night watchman. I forgot his name," Falk said, unsure if they would believe him right now. He knew he wouldn't.

The guard turned around, presumably to someone behind him, and began talking. He shout something, probably a 'hold on', and walked off. Seeing as he had nothing else better to do he sat on a stump on the side of the road. His feet were killing him.

A few minute later the gates began to open and a soldier came out, waving a paw at him. If he remembered correctly the soldier jogging towards him was a jackal. Falk never did run into too many jackals as his family's farm was out of the way.

"Falk! I've been waiting for you," The jackal said as he stopped in front of Falk. "Your father sent a letter ahead saying when you might arrive. Well, the others told me you forgot my name, so allow me to introduce myself. I am Nikolas Ingam, night watchman," he said as he held out a paw for a handshake.

Falk, not wanting to be rude, took Nikolas' hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you. I can see you already know my name. My father said that you'd help me get started in this town," Falk said, noting the defeated look on Nikolas' face at the last sentence.

"Yeah, about that," Nikolas said with a slight cringe. " I wasn't able to get everything your father asked for. I sorta got you a job. You have to show up tomorrow and she'll let you know if you're hired. Your father asked me to get you a house, well... there haven't been any houses for sale in the city for quite some time. I was able to get you a place at the local tavern though," he said with an expression screaming the question 'is that good enough?' and it was.

"so long as I get a place to sleep tonight, I don't care if i'm to sleep in the stables," Falk said with a shrug.

"Ok. Follow me then," The Jackal said before leading Falk into town. Even in his tired mind he found the gates shutting, while it was still daytime, odd.

Falk's tired mind woke up a little as the oddity of the city was becoming more and more apparent to him. He has been to a couple of cities before and the streets were so lively, but the streets here were so dead the city may have well been deserted. The weirdness of it all kept getting to him, and it must have been apparent because Nikolas cleared his throat.

"Don't mind the streets right now. Everyone is kind of on edge. Over the last couple of week we have been getting threats from some bandits. Normally we wouldn't think anything of it, but these bandits killed a detachment of over one hundred soldiers. They have also been raiding any merchant that comes this way. The city should liven up tomorrow as a guarded caravan is supposed to be arriving in the morning, straight from the capital," he said as they approached a tavern near the city square.

The tavern, just like the streets, seemed dead as a door nail. The building didn't look anything special, as far as taverns went. A sign with a perplexing icon hanging off the second story, being made up of stone and wood, and some lanterns hanging about outside. There were a few windows open as there was still light out. When they entered the tavern there wasn't a soul to be seen. He began to suspect that Nikolas is either mad or leading him on a wild goose chase.

"Welcome!" Came a booming voice from behind them. Falk didn't have time to react before he and Nikolas was caught in a headlock and we're lifted off the ground. "This is the young prospect you told me about?" The male voice asked before dropping them both. Nikolas landed on his feet, while Falk stumbled and fell flat on his face. His fall earned a laugh from both the voice and Nikolas.

"Jeez. You may be Rochous' boy, but you sure don't act like it," Nikolas said with a chuckle.

"Well, I don't know who this Rochous person is, but a dragon alone is interesting. Let alone a dragon who has a horse's mane, well it looks like one anyways," said the voice as Falk finally rolled over.

Falk was surprised to see the big bear standing there. He was obviously taller than Falk, and was a bit overweight. What really caught Falk's attention, however, was the fact that the bear had a scar going over his left eye, which was covered by an eye patch. The bear doesn't seem to be a spring chick anymore, if the graying hair is anything to go by.

"I know. Hey, where's the kid? I wanted to see her reaction to meeting a dragon," Nikolas said with a chuckle as Falk stood up.

"She's doing some cleaning, and you know how she is when she's cleaning," he said with a sigh.

"Yeah, you got a point. Even when she was knee high she was so territorial about that," Nikolas responded.

Falk could hear the bear respond and laugh in response to Nikolas, but it seemed muffled. The world around him seemed to grow a bit blurry as his body felt like weights were being added with each passing second. He heard panic from the two as a black curtain surrounded his vision while the floor rushed up to meet him.

---

Falk blinked his closed eyes a few times before he realized that he was in a bed. When he tried to open his eyes they felt like they weighed a ton. The sound outside was familiar whenever he was in a city. It was the sound of people going about their day. That single realization made him sit up as he remembered that the city streets were dead not too long ago. When he tried to get out of bed he only exceeded in falling flat on his face. His legs didn't want to move at all, and they hurt like hell if he tried.

It took him five minutes just to be able to stand upright. His walking was quite stiff as his legs felt more and more sore. He was able to get to the window, wanting to see what was going on, and was surprised by the sight before him. Thankfully there was a chair beside the window he could sit in, as his legs were now hurting too much for him to continue using them for right now. The streets were packed full of people. It took him a minute to realize that it was the next day.

"Glad to see you're awake," came a voice from the doorway.

Falk turned as was surprised by who was there. He had expected it to be the bear from before or Nikolas, but it was a doe. She was quite pretty. Her hair was red and came down to her shoulder blades. He guessed she was around his height, and she looked fit. He couldn't tell what he legs looked like because of her simple green dress. The male side of him brought his eyes to her breasts for a second, before he caught himself and looked away. That second was enough for him to notice that she had somewhat small breasts, maybe B or C cups. He was about to say something before his incredibly dry throat stopped him.

"Don't talk and don't get up. Dad and Nikolas told me what happened, and where you came from," she said before she approached him with a glass of water, which he took gratefully. "I'm guessing your legs feel like they're made of lead. Give me a second I can help with that. Now it's not a permanent fix, but it will help take the edge off the pain," she explained before she got on her knees.

He fully trusted her to know what to do as he had experience with some soreness in his arms and back. He had never once had any part of him hurt like this before. He began to take small sips of the water, wanting to focus on wetting his mouth and throat first. He was curious to what she was up to when she pulled up his pant legs. She did back off a moment with a look of slight disgust on her face. He couldn't blame her as he figured he did smell a bit since he hadn't taken a formal bath in over a week and his last 'cleaning', if you can call it that, was from the storm he was in.

After the initial breather she began to massage his calves. He had never had a massage before so it was new to him. She using quite a bit of force, so it did hurt a little, but after that it felt so much better. He had forgotten about the water in his hand as his legs felt like they were turning into jelly in her grip. Without realizing it he closed his eyes as he began to enjoy the massage.

"The public baths should be open right now. I suggest you go an take one. Dad already bought you a fresh pair of clothes. They'll be here when you get back," She said as she finished massaging his calves.

"Thank you. Now, who are you?" He asked, his voice a little hoarse, but sounding a bit better.

The doe blinked for a minute before her eyes opened wide as she realized that she never introduced herself. "Ah, sorry about that. My name is Evaline Rose, and yours is Falk Summers. My father, whom you've met is Syd Stroud. He's the bear from yesterday, and before you ask I am adopted," she said, obviously asked about their relationship quite often.

"How do I get to the Baths?" He asked as he drank a bit more water.

"Follow that street and it'll lead you to the baths. It is quite large and open top," she explained as she pointed out the window and down a street. "And don't worry about payment. They're run by the city so it's free," she said before leaving the room to do more cleaning.

Seeing as how he had nothing to gain from sitting around he got up and headed out of his room. He remembered what Nikolas said yesterday, about a job, but doesn't remember what he said. He was swiftly reminded about his sore legs when he began to descend the stairs. He began to stiffly walk through the tavern, which was just as dead as yesterday, but Syd was busy cleaning the kitchen equipment. Falk expected Syd to talk to him, but all Syd did was give him a wave. Falk waved back and began his somewhat painful trip down the street and to the baths.

He was grunting slightly as he stopped in front of the baths. He was impressed as the building was pretty big. It looked like it could hold a couple hundred people at least. Furs of every kind were entering and leaving the place simultaneously. He decided to head in and instantly he saw that the building was divided down the middle. One side for men and the other was women's. He saw several people, dressed identically, talking to people and writing something down. As he was looking around an otter, slightly younger than him approached.

"Hello good sir. Do you need anything special? Besides just a bath?" Asked as he was already writing something down.

"Do you have anything for sore muscles?" Falk asked curiously.

"Actually we do. Initial treatment is free. Anything extra will cost. Now, what is your name and what did you do to make your muscles sore? These will help make your treatment better," the otter explained.

"My name is Falk Summers. My legs are sore because I walked here from the town Chide," he said rather bluntly.

The otter paused his writing as he slowly looked up at the dragon. The otter's expression was a mix between confusion and amazement. The otter tried to say something, but what came out was a sputtering of sounds. He eventually let out a sigh before giving up. Falk had an idea about what the otter tried to say, as walking that distance wasn't exactly a normal thing. Without warning the otter gave Falk a little push, which caught him off guard. His reaction was sluggish and his legs hurt like hell the second he used the muscles to prevent falling. The pain was probably evident on his face because the otter apologized before he wrote something on the paper.

"Alright then Mr. Summers. Follow that sign to the baths," he said as he pointed to a sign with a water symbol on it. "There will be a place for you to place your clothes. Take a bath and someone will call for you. Follow them and they will handle your treatment. You got that?" The otter asked nicely.

"Yes, and thank you," Falk said with a smile before he began to force his body towards the signs.

"Ok, and have a nice bath. You freak of nature," the otter said, adding the last bit under his breath. Falk knew dragons were rare, but he knew that the freak part was directed at him walking so far, and that made him laugh a bit.

After going down a short hallway, he came to what he assumed was the changing room. There was baskets lining the walls where people were putting their clothes. He didn't worry about having his things stolen as he didn't have much. He stretched as he put his clothes into an empty basket. The one thing he liked about being a dragon, or a reptile in general, was that he had a vent where his reproductive organs resided. He grinned as he entered the adjacent room, which was the bathing area.

The bathing area, unlike what he thought would look like, consisted of several large baths. The floors were made out of some kind of porous stone. The tubs were imbedded into the stone, but was made with a smoother stone. There were also drains dotted around the place. The tubs were large enough to fit a dozen people in, and some were filled with people. He saw several furs using shampoo, but they weren't in the baths. He guessed so that they don't make the water dirtier.

He didn't know many people in this town so he found a relatively empty tub and got in. The water was quite warm, and it made him relax a bit. He slipped down so only his nose was above the water. He knew it looked kind of weird to others but he needed to clean his mane, at least a little. After combing his mane he resurfaced his head and rubbed his scales clean of dirt and muck. He payed extra attention to his legs as they had some dried mud on them. He continued to relax in the bath before hearing a voice call out his name. He had to drag himself, literally, out of the bath and headed to the front of the room.

"Hello Mr. Summers. Dry off and follow me. Also, cover yourself up after you dry off. I knew you have a vent to prevent indecency, but please do so anyways," the otter said as he approached the same otter as before.

He grabbed a towel from a nearby shelf a dried himself off as he began to follow the otter. The otter remained silent as they led him to one of the rooms along the side of the hallway he was in before.

"Ok, You're going to receive a massage, then we'll use some magic to help speed up the recovery process. Now normally we ask if you prefer a male or female to massage you, but because you're a dragon and and your muscles are probably hard as rocks. However, our top five strongest masseuses are male," the otter explained.

Falk chuckled a little at the otter's explanation. "Hey, so long as this is taken care of I don't care who does it," he said before entering the room.

The first thing Falk noticed was the table, and then he noticed the horse sitting on the table reading a book. The horse was black with white spots, and looked a bit taller than Falk. The horse was dressed in white shirt and pants, Falk guessed it was a uniform as it had what he assumed to be the horse's name on it, which looked like Lou but he couldn't read the last name. The horse had a blonde mane, which was kept out of his face with a bandanna.

The otter began to speak to the horse, who jumped at the sudden noise. Falk felt a little left out as they were speaking in a foreign language. He has heard the language before but never learned it's name or how to speak it. The otter looked slightly irritated at the horse, Falk assumed it was for reading on the job. After a brief conversation the otter let out a sigh.

"This is Lou and he'll be your masseuse," the otter said before leaving.

Falk was a little lost as what to do. Lou smiled as he put his book on a nearby shelf and spoke in a language Falk can understand. "Lay down on the table. Face down please," he said.

Falk nodded before doing as he was told, having some issues getting on the table. Once he was settled down, Falk felt Lou's hands on his calves. The massage felt similar to the one Evaline did earlier, but deeper and overall better. Lou didn't just do the calves, like Evaline, but also did his thighs and back.

"Your mane is quite nice. Is one of your parents a horse?" Lou asked, breaking the silence.

"No. Both are dragons. I'm the only one in the family who has it. Then again I'm also the only one in the family without wings," Falk explained, almost cooing as his muscles were relaxing.

"That is odd. Do you get teased about it?" Lou asked, and was responded to with a laugh.

"Well I was at first, but my parents have always treated me like I was some kind of treasure, and that confused me and my siblings," Falk said with his eyes half open.

"Like a treasure? What do you mean?" Lou asked out of curiosity.

"Well, my parents had me work out in the field less than my siblings. Whenever I wasn't in the field and my siblings were, I was being taught," Falk said.

"That does sound like being treated as a treasure. What were you taught?" Lou asked curiously as he went back to Falk's legs.

"Well my father taught me how to fight, broke my arm a couple times," he said with a chuckle. "And my mother taught me skills. She taught me basic blacksmithing, cooking, cleaning, hunting and various other skills," he explained before he raised an eyebrow at the feeling of Lou's hand on his tail.

Lou whistled for a second. "Wow, so you're quite educated huh?" He asked as he began to work on Falk's tail.

"Not really. The combat didn't stick with me and half of what my mother taught me I've forgotten. The only things that has stuck with me is blacksmithing, hunting and masonry. Even then it's only basic stuff. She also taught me a bunch of other things," Falk stated before letting out a snort of surprise as he felt Lou's hand groping his rear.

"Sorry," Lou said as Falk stared back at him. Lou went quiet as he checked if there were other muscles were still hard. "So tell me. What brings you here?" Lou asked curiously.

"Well," Falk started as he lay back down. "My old man told me to come here to start my life. He had an old friend of his give me a place to stay and a job," he said.

"Really? Interesting, well I'm done," Lou said before taking a step back.

Falk sat up and rubbed his legs for a second. They felt much better than earlier. "Thanks. That feels better," Mayfield said before getting off of the table. There was a bit of pain, but not like before. This was manageable, so long as he didn't run.

"Thank you. You may now return to the changing room and grab your clothes," Lou said with a smile. "Also, I get off at sunset. If you need someone to show you around, I'd be more than happy," he added.

Falk had mixed feelings about Lou's offer. He definitely wouldn't mind such an offer from a female, but a guy? He didn't know how he felt. "Ok. I still need to get to my job today. If I'm not out front by sunset don't wait for me. I'll should be waiting tomorrow," he said, making Lou quite happy. Falk knew Lou was happy by the large grin plastered on his face and the quick nodding.

With nothing left to do in the room Falk left to go get his clothes, and then return to the inn. He was surprised by how little his legs hurt at this point. He had heard that a lot of times when people have very sore muscles they just use magic, but since he doesn't have any he has to deal with it. He has had magic be used on him once and that's what surprised him. The massage made him feel almost like magic was used on him to heal.

Just Like Evaline said, she had left some clothes on his bed. A thin green wool shirt and matching pants. He took his first look around the room as he looked for a place to leave his old clothes. The room was fairly simple. It was big enough for two, but one bed was taken out and replaced with a desk, and there is a dresser next to the that. A chest lay at the foot of the bed and a night table next to the head of the bed. He ended up putting the old clothes on the night table.

He was surprised to see a note on the night table as he put his clothes down. It was from Evaline and it was directions to his place of possible work. What surprised him wasn't so much that she had left him a note, as it was that she knew how to read and write. That wasn't a very well known skill, and he only knew how because his mother taught him. He wished that SOMEONE would let him know what job he was going in for. He only remembered because of Lou. With a shrug he made his way to the shop, his legs still hurting a bit so he was a bit slow.

He was again surprised today as the shop he had to go to was a blacksmith's shop. He reread the directions, and it was the place. He was just happy that the job was something he liked. The reason he knew it was a blacksmith's shop was because of the sign that was a hammer and an anvil, that was hanging out front.

He smiled widely as he entered the shop. There were several swords on display, as well as several axes, lances, halberds, spears, a couple two handed swords and even one fauchard. He even noticed several hammers, knives and even a small box of nails. While the room was undecorated the sleeping wolf behind the counter gave the room slight character. The only thing that bothered him was lack of sound.

"Welcome!" The wolf nearly shouted, startling Falk. "If you're here for a purchase I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to wait. We're out of metals right now, and our boss is right now picking some up," he finished, not moving from his current position.

"Ok, first off, aren't these weapons for sale?" Falk asked as he pointed to the items on the wall.

His question must have been weird as the wolf moved so he could give Falk an odd look. "Technically, yes. However they are faulty in one way or another, except the nails. They look well made so they are decorations," the wolf replied as he adjusted himself in the seat.

"Ok. Now, how long until your boss is back? Mr. Ingram told me to meet her for a potential job," Falk explained as he examined one of the swords, trying to see the fault.

His words seemed to have grabbed the wolf's attention, as he nearly jumped over the counter to approach Falk. "Ahhh! So you're the new guy!" He said with a beaming smile.

It was now that Falk was able to get a clear look at the wolf. The wolf was slightly shorter than him, he had grey fur and his hair came down to his jaw line. What really grabbed Falk's attention was the cast on the wolf's right arm. The wolf must've known what Falk was looking at as he knocked on the cast with a few of his knuckles.

"Yeah, I broke my arm a couple days ago. Anyways, I'm Aaron. The boss, Ms. Beringer, should be back soon. Why don't you acquaint yourself with her daughter Kaylyn? She's in the back. She's the only other person working here," The wolf said as he grinned widely.

Falk didn't know if he would be allowed in the back as he wasn't an employee yet. Then again it couldn't hurt as they weren't working. Falk gave the wolf a nod before heading through the back door. The forge was quite impressive. There were six small furnaces, and one large furnace. Each furnace had an anvil and tools right in front of them, along with a bucket of water. Only three of the stations showed use as the other furnaces were empty, the buckets were dry and the tools had dust covering them. There were also shelves, but he didn't know what they were for.

"You are not supposed to be back here," said a feminine voice from right beside him.

When he looked to his left and saw a young girl. She must have been a few years younger than him. Her hair was dirt brown and came down to her shoulders. The lioness didn't have big breasts, maybe C-cup, but she had time to grow. She was also a bit shorter than him.

"Aaron said that I should acquaint myself with Ms. Beringer's daughter. I'm guessing that would be you?" He said trying to deflect her statement.

"Yes, I am Kaylyn, and if I have to hazard a guess then you're Falk Summers. He that as it may, you are still not allowed back her at the moment. Now leave," she said sternly.

She may have been younger than him, but he felt like he was talking to someone older than him, and the amount of authority in her voice helped in that regard. Not wanting to piss her off he put his claws up and backed off a bit. "Ok, OK. I'm leaving," he said before turning to leave, only finding the door locked.

"What are you waiting for? Leave already," she said getting quite impatient.

"Well, I would if I could, but it's locked," he said as he tried to open the door a couple more times to prove his point.

Kaylyn seemed to get activated by this. Her bad mood seemed to not be directed at him as she walked over and placed a hand on the door. There was a sudden surge of some kind and then the door blew off it's hinges and into the storefront, landing on Aaron.

"Do that again Aaron and I'll crush you," she said bluntly as Aaron moaned from underneath the door.

"Spend much time under doors?" Falk asked as he helped Aaron get the door off of him. The only reply he got from Aaron was when Aaron flipped him off. Falk was somewhat expecting that response.

"You dragons are mutants," Aaron remarked as Falk lifted the heavy wood door with relative ease.

"You think so?" Falk said sarcastically as he began to lift the door like he was lifting weights, which made Aaron laugh.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?" Came a booming voice from the front of the shop.

The sudden outburst made Falk drop the door as he was startled. Aaron was able to get out from underneath the door most of the way, but still got an arm trapped underneath it. When Falk looked over he saw a lioness at the doorway. She looked a lot like Kaylyn, except older and more muscled. She was taller than him and her hair wasn't very long. Her breasts seemed to be DD-cups, which almost immediately caught his attention. She looked to be bringing in a wheelbarrow full of metal ingots.

"You're not doing your kind any good Mr. Summers. First you're late and then you destroy part of my business!?" She exclaimed as she nearly toppled the wheelbarrow as she almost charged him.

"The door isn't his fault Ms. Beringer. Your daughter got pissed that I locked her in the forge and she blasted. He's also not late. If you remember Mr. Ingram said he should be in around noon. If anything he's early, don't you remember saying that you wanted to get the metal before he came here?" Aaron said as he removed his arm from underneath the door.

His explanation made her stop in her tracks, not far from Falk's face. The sound of her daughter humming from the forge caught her attention for a moment, then her eyes widened as a slight blush spread across her cheeks. She took a step back and cleared her throat.

"Sorry about that," she said before turning her attention to the other two. "As for you two, I'll have to discipline you later," she said, eliciting a small whine from her daughter. "Mr. Ingram put in a good word for you. He said that you had basic blacksmithing skills. Is that true?" She asked.

Falk nodded at her question. "Yes. I know the basics of blacksmithing," Falk said somewhat proudly.

"Good. What have you made?" She asked as she closed her arms, making her breasts bulge a bit.

"Um, I've made nails, hammers, scythes, hoes, plows, some gears and an axe," Falk said as he used a finger to count each item.

"No armor, swords or arrows?" Ms. Beringer asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I kept breaking the arrows during construction. As for sword and armor, there's no need for such things on a farm,"

She was about to nod until something off occurred to her. "Wait a minute. That bastard Nikolas said that you were from the city Shalen! That's the whole reason I agreed to it," she said getting rather mad. She convulsed a little out of anger, at which Aaron ran into the forge to hide. She made an effort to calm down as she began to pace around the room. "Ok, tell me this. Why did you make gears when you live on a farm?"

"Oh, that's easy. The clock tower in the church in Chide hasn't worked in years because no one could make or afford gears for it. So I made some for it and got it up and running," he said rather proudly.

His claim seemed to calm her down a bit as she stopped her pacing and her expression softened. "Wait... that does sound right. Ok, I'm going to make some inquiries about that story of yours. In the meantime you can work here, and if your story is true then I'll officially hire you. I don't need to explain to you what will happen if it's a lie," she said as she pointed to the front door.

This made Falk happy as he did indeed fix the clock tower in his hometown. His mood was apparent as his tail waved side to side slightly, eliciting a chuckle from Kaylyn in the other room. "Yes ma'am! What's my first job?!" Falk asked quite eagerly.

Ms. Beringer was taken aback by his sudden eagerness. "Take the iron ingots I acquired and place them on the shelves opposite of the forges," she said before heading Into the back room.

He picked up some of the ingots as the wheelbarrow wouldn't fit through the back door, before he heard her yelling. The only thing he could pick up in her yelling was Kaylyn and Aaron. When he went back to stock the shelf both Aaron and Kaylyn were sitting on the ground getting scolded. He smiled a bit to himself before focusing on finishing his minor task.

"Alright everybody," Ms. Beringer said as she clapped her hands, once Falk was finished. "We may have a huge order coming up. So Aaron, try not to get into any more accidents. Other than that you know the drill," she said as Kaylyn went to work and Aaron returned to the front. Before Falk could ask what to do she had already grabbed his arm and led him to one of the forges that hadn't been used in some time.

"Ok, this forge is yours. I do give you a set of tools to start with, along with a journal. Now, if you can't read or write that's fine, but you should understand numbers. The journal is to keep track of orders you have yet to complete. We usually have a good amount of orders waiting around, so there usually isn't a shortage of work, but that doesn't mean take your time. I'll give you your first order after you set up your forge," she said before leaving him to go work on her own orders.

Falk smiled as he began to set up his forge. It took him a bit to get everything set up. He wasn't surprised to find a surplus of coal and fire wood in the shop. He was surprised to see that the tools she gave him weren't of poor quality. He expected his boss to do that, if given a set to start. He was even more surprised to find that the shop had plumbing and sinks. That was something he had only heard about on the farm. He was already getting the feeling that money was second for her, and her store's reputation was first.

When it came time for him to ask Ms. Beringer about his first job he couldn't find her. Noticing his current predicament Aaron approached him.

"Hey Falk. The boss stepped out a bit ago. She'll be back soon with lunch," he said before returning to the front.

Seeing as he had some downtime he decided to become better acquainted with Aaron. "Hey, how does things work here?" He said noting the odd layout of the shop.

Aaron smiled and chuckled slightly. "Well, as you can see we don't have a surplus of weapons hanging around for sale. Ms. Beringer doesn't like wasting metal on weapons that will do nothing but sit around when she wants to sell them. Now, the weapons hanging around right now she doesn't mind as the metal was impure from poor smelting, and doesn't want to bother removing the impurities herself as we do have a surplus of orders.," he explained with a hint of pride in his voice.

"Ok, so does this shop only do custom orders?" Falk asked curiously.

"Yes," Aaron said with a small sigh. "That's why we must have a basic understanding of numbers to work here, including how to read and write them," he added.

Falk nodded as he listened to everything the wolf said. Two things still bugged him, however. "Ok, last two questions. What's with the huge forge and why is Ms. Beringer a Ms. and not a Mrs.? She has a child, isn't she married?"

At this Aaron got a slightly depressed look. "Well first off the large forge is used for specialty items. Such as two handed swords, plate armor for mounts and so on. They don't talk much about the father. It's obvious he wasn't a bad guy by how they talk about him, on the very rare occasions they do talk about him. It sounds like one of those at the wrong place at the wrong time occasions," Aaron finished, leaving Falk to feels bit guilty for asking. "Whatever you do, do not say anything about it to either of them. The last time I said anything about the father, I was almost killed by them, and I'm not exaggerating," he added as a warning.

Falk nodded as he took note to not bring up such in future discussions with those two. He knew he wasn't fully employed here, yet, and he knew better than to piss off his future employer. He would be lying if he wasn't curious as to what happened to the father. Before he could ask Aaron anything else, Ms. Beringer entered the store carrying a bag, presumably filled with lunch.

"Ok everyone, I've got lunch," the older lioness said as she placed the bag on the front counter and began to unpack it. It may have been just sandwiches but the second the smell hit his nose he was reminded that he hadn't had anything to eat since around noon yesterday. His stomach growled loudly as Ms. Beringer handed him a couple sandwiches, which made her raise an eyebrow and made Kaylyn giggle.

No one really said anything as they ate, so a silence hung around, which felt uncomfortable to Falk as he normally ate lunch with family or alone. whenever his family ate together there was definitely noise, as someone was always talking. The uncomfortable silence didn't last long as everyone soon finished their lunch.

Before he could ask Ms. Beringer for his first assignment she held a finger up to stop him. "This should be right up your alley. We have a request from a regular and she wants some gears," she said as she handed him a piece of paper. "I don't want her to be disappointed, got it?" she asked almost threateningly.

Falk was quick to get the message as he was genuinely intimidated by her. He wasn't easily scared, but she managed to do so easily and he didn't know why. After a quick nod he headed to his forge as he looked the paper over. He was quite impressed with the directions on it. No words were used, but there was enough information on it to understand what the finished product should look like. He was curious as to why someone needed fifteen rather large gears.

It took him several hours to make over half of them. He took a small break after cooling off the eighth gear. He stretched out his legs and arms while watching the others work. Kaylyn looked to be making a shield of some type, while her mother was busy making a long sword. He looked out the window and already saw that the sun was getting quite low. After taking a deep breath he went back into work.

Falk let out a sigh as he finished the last gear. It had been quite some time since he had last done some blacksmithing. His legs had began to feel heavy like this morning, but they didn't hurt nearly as bad. He began to wonder just what he should do now. Kaylyn looked to be finishing up the shield from earlier, which now looked like a kite shield. Ms. Beringer was already putting out her forge as her previous weapon had been finished.

"Ok, put out your forge Falk. I'll package up the gears later so you go home," Ms. Beringer ordered without even looking over at Falk. He nodded before going about what he was told.

Falk stretched as he walked outside. It was nighttime and the crisp air helped him to relax. Today was much more relaxing than he had thought it would be when he was travelling here. He cleared his mind of thoughts as he began his walk back to the tavern.

Compared to his home town, the streets here were still alive when when the sun went down. Saying he was amazed was an understatement. As much as he would like to explore the night life, however, his body was refusing to stay up for much longer. It would seem that his body hadn't fully recovered from walking all he way to this city.

Once he arrived back at the tavern he was greeted by a room full of people dining on food, no doubt made by Syd as Evaline was going around handing drinks to patrons. He was quite tired, but not too tired to noticed the odd looks he was getting from some of the patrons who spotted him. He did his best to ignore it as he made his way to the stairs so he could get some sleep. When he was half way through the room he noticed that the room had gotten very quiet and he could feel the gazes of the patrons on him. He made a quick look around and nearly all of the patrons were looking at him, but when they saw him look around they quickly turned around and restarted their conversations.

"So, Falk, what do you want for dinner?" Syd asked with a big smile, as he stopped Falk as he reached the stairs.

"Nothing. Too tired," Falk said, noticing how the talking had died down a bit again. Sure enough when he climbed the stairs the talking started back up, taking a lit lantern with him.

Falk flopped into his bed and let out a groan of pleasure, after he placed the lantern on the bedside table. He could feel his muscles dance as he relaxed into the bed. In reality the bed may not have been too soft, but right now it felt like he was laying on a cloud. He couldn't enjoy the feeling too much, however, as how the bar patrons acted around him made him feel unwelcome. He ended up taking a deep breath to calm down. Tomorrow was a new day and he shouldn't dwell on the past, especially if it was something small that was bugging him. With that he blew out the candle, closed his eyes and fell asleep.

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