And then there was Fire [DragonSong]

[Goldie]

"But it kind of is, isn't it? My fault I mean. I should have known better. It's not like a noble marries a smith or even so much as date them. I don't know what I was thinking and then that...."

A man off in the distance could be seen making his way down the path to the forge. Even from a distance his clothes were clearly well tailored and the way he held himself reeked of entitlement. She hadn't given him much time, had she?

"Don't let him see that." Idris murmured to Adri, indicating for her to hide the bracelet around her wrist.

[DragonSong]

She had just opened her mouth to protest again that it most certainly wasn't his fault, but then they seemed to have more pressing issues on their hands. Adri nodded quickly and rolled her sleeve down over the bracelet--she couldn't think of anything else before the man was practically at the door to the forge--and clasped both hands behind her back.

"Maybe I should...make myself scarce?" she muttered to Idris out of the corner of her mouth. "Or--I don't know, I could pretend to be here for a commission of my own?"

[Goldie]

Idris shook his head. She had just a much right to be here as Marigold's man; more in fact because she had been invited.

"Hail from the house of Devereaux!" The man proclaimed from the front, "I am here on behalf of My Lady Marigold for a commission from Master Herald. I have come to collect."

Idris' eyebrows shot up in surprise and he couldn't stop himself from glancing over at Adri. Had she noticed it, too? Marigold must have expected this to hurt him even more by claiming the work had been completed by Herald and not the apprentice. But....this could very well work in his favor.

"I'm not sure what work she commissioned." Idris said, slowly, trying to calm his breathing and slow his heart, "Master Herald isn't here. Perhaps you should come back later....?"

[DragonSong]

Adri sidled up just behind Idris as he spoke, keeping her expression curious rather than annoyed—or frankly disgusted—at Marigold's not-so-subtle last dig.

"Maybe we could look around for your lady's commission?" she offered the manservant. "Like my friend said, Master Herald is out at the moment, but if you tell us what the piece looks like I bet we could find it?"

She smiled cheerfully, eyes wide and utterly guileless.

[Goldie]

The servant sniffed pompously as if he was somehow above them. But he was just a servant; a slave to the upper crust just like the rest of them. Just because he got to wear fancier shackles didn't make him any less of a tool.

"I believe that would be well advised." He shot back.

Idris dipped his head in acknowledgment and began the charade. He pulled out drawers, overturned little boxes of trinkets and pieces of metal that had both been shaped and were raw. He made sure that each search was loud and obnoxiously dramatic. It wouldn't do for the man to return with stories of how they were u helpful.

"I don't know!" Idris cried with fake frustration, "I'm not sure where the Master would keep such a commission!"

The servant looked at the velvet cloth that had once held the bracelet now on Adri's wrist. In the shuffle, the clunker had managed to get folded into it and the clasp peeked out.

He sneered, "Is this it?"

Idris looked over and his palms began to sweat. He wasn't a good liar. He wore his emotions too much on his sleeve and he struggled to suppress his nervousness.

He wiped his hands on his pants, "er...uh...maybe?"

The servant surveyed the apprentice, "Are you quite alright?"

[DragonSong]

For her part, Adri was a fantastic liar, and she was observant enough to know when her skills might be required.

Flashing a quick, apologetic look in Idris' direction, she took a step forward and smiled brightly at Marigold's servant before saying, "Apologies, serrah. My friend has had a...trying day. I'm afraid we were a bit, ah..." She cleared her throat and glanced away like a bashful maiden, willing herself to blush to add to the bit. "Distracted, upon your arrival."

Let's see how Little Lady Marigold feels about that.

"But surely this must be the piece?" She continued hurriedly, as though trying to move on from an uncomfortable topic. She added another look around--perhaps a bit theatrically--before looking back to the servant with a shrug and a smile as she held the box out. "There's nothing else here that seems so well-packaged. Here. Take it. With Master Herald's regards."

[Goldie]

The servant's face was a mask of disgust and horror that he tried, poorly, to hide, but he didn't want to stay after that performance. He grabbed the wrapped dud of a bracelet and left them so quickly it made Idris' head spin.

He hadn't even been able to figure himself out before it was all over. Now here they were, alone in the forge, with a truly awful looking bracelet on the way to Marigold. His jaw was practically on the floor as he turned to survey Adri.

"What....that....." he stuttered, trying to find something coherent to say, "Did you just imply....?"

[DragonSong]

Adrianna winced and glanced at him guiltily. "Errr...yeah," she sighed. "In my defense, I knew it would get him out of here! Folks who want to be toffs as desperately as that guy did always try to act like they've got a toff's delicate sensibilities, too."

She rubbed at the back of her neck, eyes slightly downcast. "Sorry. But, I mean, it's not like it'll give you a reputation or anything! Who's he gonna tell?"

Besides maybe Marigold. But she'd rather assumed Idris wouldn't care so much what she might think.

[Goldie]

"Oh...no no...I'm not offended...It's just like...how do you come up with this? Just on the spot? Without needing days to plan it out and run through every scenario that could go wrong? You just do it?" He gave a nervous chuckle and a smile started to grow across his face.

"I mean it, Adri....you're incredible. No way around it."

[DragonSong]

"I'm incredible because I'm a good liar?" Adrianna asked wryly, arching one eyebrow. "I think maybe you need to raise your standards."

She shrugged and glanced away, reaching up with one hand to rub absently at the back of her shoulder. "Besides, you've got me on a good day. It's a lot harder to think quick like that when I'm hungry—"

She cut herself off sharply, snapping her mouth shut, and shot him a wary glance. Okay. It was okay, this was fine—"hungry" could mean something entirely normal. She hadn't said anything yet that should make him think it was related to her more "abnormal" ability.

[Goldie]

Idris just laughed, that full belly laugh that is infectious to all who are around to hear it.

"Oh I get that!" He exclaimed when he got himself under control, "There are times I'm so engrossed in my work I forget to eat for hours and then someone asks a simple question and...let's just say it's not pretty."

He grinned down at Adri, adrenaline kicking in and making him feel a bit giddy. Had they actually figured out how to get around Marigold's little tricks?

He chuckled nervously and ran a hand over his face, "Oh Herald is going to kill me.....I might have saved my reputation - maybe - but I sacrificed his, didn't I? Oh Kia, help me..."

[DragonSong]

"Oh, I don't know about that." Adri flashed him a quick grin. "In order for her to complain about the piece, she'd have to bring it back here, yeah? And he certainly knows he didn't make that. Which means she'd have to admit to Herald's face that she went to you and not him when she wanted something beautiful made."

She leaned her hip back against the work table and cocked her head. "She might still do it, I suppose, but it's a risk to her if she does."

[Goldie]

He frowned and went back to his nervous tick - chewing on his cheek.

"Y....ya think?" his voice betrayed his doubts.

[DragonSong]

She shrugged. "I mean, I can't say I know the woman well after a thirty-second observation and even shorter interaction, but I know her type. If she does decide it's worth coming down her to bitch about a clunky bracelet, all you have to do is make yourself scarce. Herald will be so offended she went to the apprentice that he likely won't care about the shoddy work itself."

[Goldie]

A nervous smile spread across his face, "What's your favorite flower?"

He'd start there.

[DragonSong]

Adrianna blinked at him for a moment, struck dumb.

For all her years selling the things, no one had ever actually asked her that before.

"...Hydrangeas," she replied quietly, with a small smile. "I like hydrangeas." Her smile turned a little crooked. "Do you know any of the language of flowers? They symbolize frigidity. Heartlessness. But they're still beautiful."

She shrugged. With an abrupt, dry chuckle, she added, "For what it's worth, marigolds are suppose to mean cruelty, grief, and jealousy. So. There's that."

[Goldie]

Idris blinked in surprise, "Oh. Wow. I didn't know that flowers meant anything like that. I just thought they were meant to be, I dunno, just pretty and stuff?"

He leaned down and pulled up a stick of charcole and a sheet of paper, "Think you can sketch one for me? I know I've heard of it before, but I can't say I know what it looks like."

[DragonSong]

"Oh, you can say all kinds of things with flowers," Adri chuckled as she accepted the paper and charcoal. "Could have a whole conversation, if you wanted to." She began sketching the outline of a hydrangea bunch, lavender hair falling forward to shade her face as she bent over the work table.

"I don't expect they'd be easy to make," she noted with a wry little smile flashed up at him. "They're tiny, and they come in clusters. Like this, see?" She finished sketching in some details and stood back.

She wasn't a bad artist, all things considered; the hydrangeas looked like hydrangeas. She shrugged and glanced back at Idris.

"A lily or sommat would probably be a better start--not that I know anything about metalworking, mind, that's just a guess."

[Goldie]

Idris accepted the drawing and his brain immediately went to work. If he was truly being honest with himself, he wanted to make all of those tiny petals out of clear crystal, but that would be a much longer project and he didn't have the tools yet to carve the crystals properly. He had smaller tools for individual stones, but that would require time that he didn't care to spend just now.

He muttered to himself; calculating, determining metals that would work best. Determining costs compared to what he was allowed to use for free and what would cost him extra.

"No. I want to start with this one." He gave her a warm smile, "for luck."

And then he got to work.

"You can stay, if you want." He said after a time, "There's some bread and cheese in there and maybe some dried fruits. If I'm being honest I haven't checked today so I might be wrong."

[DragonSong]

Adri shook her head with another little chuckle. "You'd know best--you're the master here, not me," she murmured, only slightly teasing.

At the offer of food, she perked up, though she tried her best to hide it. Enough strength of emotion to keep her sustained for days and a free meal? This just got better and better.

"I mean...if you're sure that's alright?" She smiled a little sheepishly. "I don't want to get you in trouble with Herald, when he gets back."