[center][h3]--- [i]Northwestern Village (Smithy)[/i] ---[/h3][h2][i][b]Akitsugu[/b][/i][/h2]Early Afternoon
[@Xaltwind][/center][hr][hr]

"Your outburst was unnecessary." Akitsugu picked through the fragments of wood and tile left behind in the wake of all the looting. The problem was not as bad as he had feared---but in addition to having only three walls, the interior area that should have been the smith's actual [i]house[/i] now had a gaping hole in the roof, under which seemed to be a fallen bookcase. All in all it took up an entire corner of the space, which was cramped enough to begin with. Akitsugu prayed that it wouldn't rain before he could patch it, otherwise the building's interior likely would not be repairable afterward. 

But, though bereft of tools now, at least the furnace was intact.

"So was cutting off that little trollop's head!" Miyusahime's hilt clicked against the scabbard like someone clicking their tongue. "Maybe if you'd just slapped her, I wouldn't have said anything! But what if all those other people turned on you, huh!?"

"...So be it. I was in the right. She is a thief." The redhead spat the words, and tossed a broken and splintered plank back into the corner. "And if she does not return my tools, it will not end here." 

"What are you going to do now?" 

"I had [i]intended[/i] to cut more firewood before dark fell. But now I fear leaving my [i]claim[/i]," the blacksmith snorted, "unattended." He picked up another plank of wood, noting that this one had split in such a way that one end of it was quite sharp. Holding it over one shoulder, he headed back outside...and then slammed it down, pointy-end first, into the dirt right at the edge of the road in front of the smithy. Standing in front of it, he took a deep breath, then put his hand to his sword once more.

"Hey! I'm not a whittling knife!" He ignored her protest, and for the first time drew the gleaming blade. The afternoon sun cast ripples across the steel, revealing a pattern in the curvature like dunes in the desert. "Do NOT swing me at that rotten piece of lumber!"

"I won't." Akitsugu answered, instead placing his palm against the back of the blade just a few inches from its tip. Carefully closing his hand, so as not to get too many fingerprints on her otherwise immaculate surface, the smith placed Miyusahime's point against the wood. "Just bear with me."

"Hmph!" replied the sword as the scratching sounds began. "You couldn't just use that hatchet of yours for this!? I know the phrase goes "Master of Sword and Brush," but that doesn't mean we're interchangeable!"

"I have neither brush nor ink. Besides," Akitsugu tilted the sword at a different angle as he continued to mark the piece of wood, "I think the carving leaves a better impression than plain words." Finally, he withdrew Miyusahime and examined her point, blowing away a bit of sawdust. "Moreover, there's no danger of rolling your tip when it's already this soft."

The plank of wood, marking the property like a gravestone, now read:

[h3]KEEP OUT[/h3]

"There. Now she has [i]no excuse[/i]." the redhead growled as he sheathed his pouting blade. "And neither does anyone else."

"I still don't know why you're choosing to stay here." Miyusahime grumbled. "We don't know if we can trust [i]any[/i] of these...these [i]weirdoes[/i]!"

"I feel that Yingmei, Myrr, and Brom mean no harm, at the least. And Master Darryl, along with his wife, seems to be willing to go quite far out of their way for others...even if they don't deserve it."

"Even though he pushed you around to protect that thief?"

"My hope is that he only wished to preserve the peace." The smith tugged his mantle closer around his shoulders as he turned away from the house, and headed towards the workshop. "At least he didn't make a long winded lecture like the old man." He frowned, because thinking about the elder reminded him of the man's granddaughter. He hadn't even realized she was standing behind MacKinnon's leg when he'd started arguing with the woman. It had not been his intention to scare the girl at all---nor for her to even be involved in the matter. She had nothing to do with it. The young smith sighed.

He cleared away a few crumbling pieces of brick from the furnace's mouth, and looked closely to be sure there wasn't a rat's nest or something else waiting to bite him. Then, he carefully placed his foot on the brick body and chimney, lightly applying pressure to be sure there weren't any remaining weak points that would bring the whole thing down. Once satisfied with that, he set his shoulder to the large, cracked anvil and pushed it into a position from which he could climb atop it and peer down the short, stout chimney of the furnace. Like the mouth, he was careful in case any little critters happened to be waiting in the dark, hollow tunnel. 

"[sub]Most of the detritus that's gathered should burn away fairly easily...but, I need to patch a few holes in it to avoid pressure pockets.[/sub]" Thinking aloud, he ran his fingers over the bricks and mortar of the structure. "[sub]They probably used a slaked lime mortar. Either there's a limestone deposit somewhere around here, or maybe...skeletal remains from animals or monsters?[/sub]" Bricks would be easy enough to make with fired clay, but for that he would need a separate kiln, and of course more wood to use as fuel. Not actually all that difficult, but a very time consuming process. Again he sighed.

"And on top of this, I now have [i]more[/i] repairs to do." He hopped off the anvil, and used his frustration to help him shove it, in starts and stops, back to its original position. "Miyusahime, I'm going to return to the others, if for nothing more than a meal and a cot. You shouldn't speak any more unless it's an emergency."

"Like, if you're about to run someone through again?" Akitsugu did not answer her, but his eyebrow twitched.