Zed slid off of Sepia's back, landing on his feet as he looked around the iron mine. It was pretty big and full of workers from various places, most older than he was. He gave a half-hearted nod to George as he was addressed by Tal. He felt a bit out of place, not being a miner or have that much experience with extreme manual labor. He shrugged though, paying little attention to what Tal had said.

"Alright Kid," she said, putting her hand on her partner's shoulder, "Time to get to work. Now like I said, all you gotta do is take the Iron Ore I extract and put it in the baskets. Its not too hard. Now I'm going to get to work." she said, walking away to a pile of very large rocks. Approaching them, she ran her hands over them feeling the crevices. Positioning her hands straight in front of her, with her palms flat on the rock's surface, she began to move them back and forth, like she was shaking a strainer. Slowly, shiny metal began to appear on the rock's surface, collecting into large lumps before falling to the ground in a pile. With a sigh, Tal wiped the sweat off her face and looked at Zed grinning. "See not too bad. Now just take this to the baskets. Make sure they are evenly distributed between all the baskets, otherwise Sepia won't be able to fly well." she said before moving to the next rock and doing the process all over again.

Zed nodded, feeling her arm on his shoulder. "Got it Tal." Part of him felt that "kid" was a bit condescending, but of course she didn't know his name so it couldn't be helped. He watched as she began to move the rocks, his eyes following the lumps until they were in a big pile. He nodded to her, taking a few in his arms and dropping them in the correct baskets before going back for more. It seemed like a tedious job, but then again all work tended to be like that.

"I'm going out, mother," Serenity called as she walked out the door with her bow and arrows strapped around her. She paused and closed her eyes as she said, "Sage." In a few moments Sage came swooping down and landed right in front of her. She never really knew where sage went off to, but as long as he came back it was fine with her. Where to today, Serenity? Sage asked. "Not quite sure. How about we just fly?" she suggested. Then, with a simple push of her hand, she jumped - high. She landed right on Sage's back and off he flew. She felt the wind blowing through her hair and she smiled. It was the best feeling ever.

A few moments later they were flying over some large hills. "Hm, I wonder what those people are working on." Serenity said to herself. I'm not sure, I haven't explored down there yet. Sage responded. "Oh. Well I don't want to interrupt whatever they're doing," Serenity started. But while repositioning herself, she accidentally made her arrows plummet very near where the people were working. Sage rolled his eyes as he flew down to get them back.

Zed kept collecting the lumps of crude iron and dropping them in the correct baskets. He looked at the baskets and then and Sepia who seemed used to doing this. How long had Tal been a blacksmith? He shrugged as he went to get more, but jumped back when an arrow dropped down near him. The amount of irony in this is uncanny. He sighed, picking up the arrow and looking around to see who dropped it.
((I gtg for maybe an hour))

Sage screeched and landed gracefully in front of the man that picked up one of Serenity's arrows. She jumped off Sage's back and landed softly on her feet. "Thank you," Serenity said, taking the arrow from him. "Sorry for interrupting, please don't let me distract you." With that, she began looking around and gathering the rest of them. You know, it was really clumsy of you to spill those arrows like that, Sage scolded. "Yes, yes I know." she responded, quietly so that the others wouldn't hear and think that she was talking to herself. Then she quickly searched for the last of the arrows.

"No problem" Zed nodded to her, going to pick up more of the crude iron. He hadn't checked on how much they had already, but he doubted that they were full, maybe half way done. He saw a few arrows to the left of him being picked up by the girl and then turned back to dropping the pieces in the baskets. He sighed, wiping his brow. It was really becoming tedious.

Tal finished extracting Iron ore from a particularly large rock and she began to move away, but something restricted her movement. Looking down, she was surprised to see an arrow had pined her pant leg to the ground. Grabbing the shaft, she pulled and looked for the owner. Spotting a girl walking around with arrows, she decided that she had found the owner. Walking up to her, she held out the arrow, "Lose something? You should be more careful with these, they are made to kill." she said, flipping the arrow around so that she could examine the arrowhead closely. "But not by me." she added

"Thank you, so much," she said, taking the arrow from the woman's hands. "And yes, I know. My mount already scolded me for it," she paused to glance at Sage. Serenity didn't know if griffins smirked or not, but if they did, it would look like the expression on his face at that moment. "I'm Serenity," she said, extending her hand to shake.

Tal took the girl's hand and, being a blacksmith and not exactly knowing her own strength, might have squeezed too hard. "Talina Cornerstone is my name." she said, looking the girl in the eye. "What exactly are you doing here, you know this isn't exactly tourist area." she said not smiling, but not frowning either.

Sage stepped closer to Serenity when she flinched when her hand was squeezed instead of shaken. Are you alright? he asked. "I'm fine, I'm fine," she whispered back. She loved Sage, but sometimes he was just a little too protective. She turned her attention back on the woman. "Pleasure to meet you, Talina," she said, releasing her hand. Serenity had the urge to break away from her eye contact, but she held it. "I was just riding around with Sage," she explained, petting his blue feathers. She always thought it was funny how his "hair" matched hers.

Tal held Serenity's eyes a moment longer before blinking and turning to examine her mount. He was a fantastic creature, and the two seemed to care for eachother greatly. Admiring his feathers, "Your mount is beautiful, very handsome. He must have cost you a pretty penny to get him." she said as she walked slightly closer, taking a closer look. "How fortunate you are to have bought one that matches you so well." she said, recalling some very bad matches that she had seen between masters and mounts.

Sage held his head up high and proud. I am quite good looking, aren't I? Sage boasted. Serenity giggled. It wasn't too often when he complimented himself. "He said thank you. And actually, it was very strange how I got him. A man with hypnotizing blue eyes cornered me and simply gave me the egg." she explained. "It was one of the luckiest things to ever happen to me." At that, Sage came and knelt down next to her and nuzzled her face. Serenity hugged his neck in response. Sage was part of the family.

Kat blinked in surprise. "He just gave it over? Without any cost? How strange." she said, pondering Serenity's story. Looking at the sky, she saw that the sun was starting to make its decent. "I do believe that I am done with gathering iron today. I say its time to eat. Serenity, would you like to join us?" she asked as she walked over to Sepia, taking off a small basket that was tied to her back. "This is Sepia, by the way, she and I have been together our entire lives. I don't remember a day without her." she said as she started laying out the food items for the meal. "Come on kid, enough work for now, time to eat!" she called to Zed.

Zed turned his head to see Tal and nodded. "Good, gathering iron is kind of boring." He dropped the iron rocks and walked over to where she and the girl from earlier was. He raised an eyebrow, noting the colors more closely between the human girl and the griffin.

Kat grinned at the boy's comment. "It is dull work, but its needed and it helps you be strong. But not to worry, I'll get the rest of it into the baskets. There's not much left and you did a good job." she said gruffly. "Now, lets eat before these creatures devour our dinner." she said, motioning to Sepia and Sage. "Now, Serenity, where do you come from?"

"Much thanks." Zed nodded, feeling a bit hungry himself as he faced Serenity. So that was her name. He was rather interested in her mount, wondering about the personality first of all. His own mount was the sort of observer that would only sometimes comment, but it usually wouldn't be helpful. His eyes then trailed to Sepia, noting the difference between her dragon and wolf form.

"Yes, he did, and yes! We would love to stay and eat with you," she accepted. She turned to look at Sepia. She was a beautiful shade of blue. And, "Her eyes are breathtaking," she complimented. She noticed that they were a lot like Talia's eyes, too. Icy blue.

"Below," she replied to Talia's next question, looking away. It indeed was very different from Silverwing City. She was happy to be up here and safe where it would always be. At least, she hoped it would be. She rubbed her arm for warmth then turned to the man. "So, what's you're name?"

Zed took his eyes off of Sepia, agreeing with Serenity about Sepia's eyes. They were an icy blue that seemed to reflect knowledge. He was intrigued that Serenity was from below too, remembering the days that he was there. War-torn was one word he would use to describe it, but desolate would sometimes work too. If he ever did have to leave Silverwing it would be hard. "Zed." He answered casually.

"Well, pleasure to meet you Zed," she said, not wanting really wanting to shake hands. Not that she had anything against him, but getting her hand squeezed hard once is enough for her. Instead she just smiled and gave him a slight nod. She wanted to avoid silent moments, but she didn't want to end up starting a long conversation. Both were uncomfortable for her. She ended up asking, "Do you have a mount?" It was a simple yes or no question.

"Same to you." Zed had his hands in his pockets, observing Serenity's features. She looked pretty lithe, having a good body for an archer. He didn't feel all that social with Serenity, not talking for the moment. "Yeah, too bad she's probably trying to hunt a squirrel right now."

Kat grinned as Zed introduced himself. "About time you told somebody. You mount catching mice? You don't mean Silverwind do you? She doesn't seem big enough to hold you, but it would explain your relationship." she commented, quite curious.

Zed shrugged. "Well it's not like I have another mount. And she tends to like staying in her hawk form until I actually need a ride from her." He wondered where Silverwind was at the moment, but most likely on the outskirts of the town since she never wandered too far from him.

Tal was watching Zed. So Silverwind had another form, much like Sepia. "So Silverwind is your mount. She is a very beautiful bird, you were lucky to pick her out." she said softly. Some movement caught her eye as she saw George, the owner of these mines walking toward them. "Tal, are you all done with yer refineing now? Could I ask ye for yer payment?" he asked. Tal got up, "Alright George, alright. I'll be back in a few minutes." she said walking away to a line of mining tools that had been lined up for her to examine.

Starting at one end, she walked slowly down the line, probeing each tool for flaws and weaknesses. As she examined every tool, she poured some of her magic inside them, making them stronger and harder. If she found a flaw, she filled in the cracks and weaknesses with her magic, making them whole. After about ten minutes, Tal looked up at George, "Alright George, it looks like our business is concluded. Till next time old friend."

Zed nodded, turning his head when he saw George walk over and ask for the "payment". He couldn't see that much, but it looked like she was "healing" the tools. If that was some sort of ability he didn't know about it certainly fit Tal. She was a black smith after all. He waited for her to finish, looking up at the sky, trying to think of where Silverwind was. It was true that both of them were independent people, but when it came down to it, he seemed need her as much as she needed him, not that he would admit it.