GOT AN ANGEL ON MY SHOULDER
But the devil always won...
He smiled as she tried to bargain by mentioning about the hot rocks.
"Ah but this is the sort of hot that can cause grass to catch on fire." He regretted the words the moment they were out of his mouth. Hopefully the girl wasn't going to ask about a demonstration. Thankfully she moved right onto bargaining and he was pleased to see her working on her skills at negotiation.
"Of course! We will get started on another right away. I believe we still have some metal left?" Ari held up what was left of the rod and stared at Harbringr as if to ask if he was serious about making another knife. Did he really want to give a knife to a child? Surely the empress would have something to say about this. Harbringr just stared back until the macaque knew the other man was serious. Ari sighed and stuck the metal rod back into the opening of the kiln before stirring the coals and throwing in a bit more wood.
Hari resisted the urge to chuckle at the mention of the eyepatch.
"Certainly! That is something we can manage. I have a selection of fine leathers." He started to move back over toward the deer hide bundle that held a number of his trinkets when suddenly the earth began to shake. Harbringr stumbled but managed to keep his balance, he whipped around and raced over to his niece. Thankfully the tremors stopped soon after he reached her.
"Are you ok?"
He heard a frustrated shriek and turned to see Ari frowning deeply at the kiln.
"It has a crack in it Harbringr, I don't dare heat it up again. This is your fault, I hope you know."
Harbringr scowled and moved over to the monkey, he could see the crack clearly and knew the kiln was a bust. They'd have to rebuild a new one from scratch.
"I fail to see how this is my fault. I didn't make the earth shake." The monkey bore his teeth and lowered his voice.
"No, but I know you've been dealing with spirits and their ilk in the night when the moon goes dark. Accept it. They will not be turning Costanza back into a wolf."
"Like you would know," Hari said airily before turning back to his niece.
"Alas, brave bandit, it seems we can't make you a knife. I will still make your eye patch and with the permission of the Empress of Ashen I will give you my knife."
