Robyn couldn't help but blush at what the blacksmith was implicating. Her and Kazan? No way, never!

"Bear!" Robyn protested. She scrambled for an excuse. "He was visiting and got caught in the raid, I just brought him in to patch him up. I never met him before today." Hell, technically it was all true. "Honestly, Bear... I'm just making sure he doesn't die or anything." Someone called her name from across the square, and Robyn immediately turned to see who it was. She recognized the merchant right away. His delivery truck had been making odd noises lately that Robyn had noticed, so apparently it had finally given out. "I'll be right back," she said. "I think Mr. Greene finally decided his truck needs work..." Turning, she jogged over to the grocer to see what was going on. It was better than letting Bear tease her any more and potentially figure out who Kazan really was. If Kazan was found out, then Robyn would be ostracized too, at the very least. After all, she'd taken him in and patched him up.

"Ah wheres me mind goin! Yer injured! Fergive me laddy!" The large oaf chuckled, patting Kazan a few more time son the back.. That really didn't help, but he instead looked up at the smith and put his thumb up with a mild grin,
"I-it's okay.. Just please stop hitting me..?" He asked, the Smith guffawing out loud once again, hands rested on his belt, if anyone could laugh out loud and attract attention, it was Bear.
Kazan noticed Robyn moving away, so, after taken one more moment to breath, he prepared to follow after her, but stopped, looking over his shoulder at Bear. He was a nice guy.. It was weird to look at the folk of an enemy city and consider them so normal.. But here one of them was, loud and proud..
"Hey.. Uh Bear..?"
"Yeah Laddy?" The man grunted back with a wide smile,
".. You're a strange fellow."

The smith found himself stunned for a second, but he could see the wry smile on Kazan's face, which resulted in him laughing out even louder, having to half bend over himself as he slapped his knee. The soldier smiled and finally followed on after Robyn, nursing his bandaged wounds as he did so. The laughter behind him faded, but only because Bear had gone back into his smithy, though he could still be heard laughing clearly down the street.
Kazan meanwhile stopped not far behind Robyn to watch the girl at work. In a country full of technology like his own, maybe he could help her out. He wasn't a technosage but when you lived in an empire dependant on machinery things like this became a day-to-day thing.

Robyn had already broken out her tools and popped the hood on the delivery truck. She'd only been alone with the truck for five minutes, but was already up to her elbows in grease and parts. And clearly, she loved it.

"Come on, you," she murmured, reaching way down to nudge a stray piece back into place. The whole thing needed work, but without the rest of the workshop, she could only take care of the most important problems. "Get back in there..." She could just barely reach it... Calling on the tiniest drop of her magic, she made the loose bit slide neatly back into place. "There we go..." One problem down, a dozen more to go.

She barely glanced up as Kazan approached. Instead, she shut the hood of the truck, and then got down on the ground to scurry underneath to check out the rest of the innards. Every so often, a grease-smeared hand would flash back down to her tool belt and grab something, and then disappear back under the truck again. Robyn would admit to herself that the truck was a more difficult project than she would normally have taken on, but she'd felt the need to stretch her magic lately, so she was having fun with it.

Kazan knelt down by the truck as Robyn was working, eventually lowering himself so he could look under it and at the girl as she worked. She certainly seemed quite at home under there, he even considered not making a nuisance of himself, but what fun would that be..? He lowered himself onto his back, grabbing the underside of the truck and used his feet for leverage, pulling himself underneath it quite fluidly and resting on his back next to the mechanic, smirking aside to her,
"So.. That bear is quite a character.." He mentioned calmly, looking up at the underside of the vehicle. It was old, definitely as old as he expected, he was surprised things like this ran at all. Up close the machinery always looked so much more complex, but he could spot a few problems from where he was.

He reached his hands up, fingers softly seeking in-between a few pipes, trying to find a missing piece that may have been wedged.. Ah there it was, caught firmly between a separator and a pipe. On top of making a nasty rattle, it made part of the fuel tank liable to break off entirely, causing an avalanche effect that would probably destroy the entire under-carriage, like a rosetta-stone removed from a bridge.
After re-angling his hand he pulled the stuck nut from its place, shifting his head so he could see where it belonged. After a moment he'd affixed it properly and spun it up, back into place, but it wasn't tight enough and the awkward positioning made it difficult to keep turning it, so he turned his head to look at Robyn again,
"Mind if I borrow a wrench?" He asked, waiting for it, though glanced up at the machine above their heads again, "And while you're at it.. Tell me.. How many people like Mr O'brien and Bear.. How many of them have died since this all started..?"

"Tradesman, you mean?" Robyn asked as she handed him her wrench. Hey, if he wanted to help, she wasn't going to stop him. It was a big project. "A few," she admitted quietly after a moment. More than a few, really, but she didn't know many of them. "A lot of others closed down shop, left town... They never came back." And she wasn't sure what was worse: standing your ground and being killed, or leaving town and probably being killed on the outside anyways. "I think a few others might have taken the 'offers' to work for the other side, but I'm not entirely sure."

She worked as she spoke, more to keep her hands busy than anything else. Now that she'd had a chance to stretch her magic, so to speak, she didn't feel as restless and twitchy as she had before. She scrubbed at a stray itch on her nose with a knuckle, smearing a little grease there, but she didn't notice. She shook her head slightly to clear it. Off this depressing subject for a moment. "Really, Bear is a sweetheart," she added. "He's very nice, even if he does tease everyone."

"Well I didn't just mean tradesmen.." Kazan replied, reaching up with the newly acquired tool and putting it to the still-loose nut, occasionally applying pressure tot he steel part itself to see how far it had to go. After a while each turn began to produce a tell-tale creaking, after one or two more he could feel it tightening a great deal more and so he stopped, reversing only slightly. Too much pressure could be just as bad as none at all,
"Bear reminds me of my uncle Volstagg.." He added with a slight grin on his face, "You know how some people laugh..?" He shifted his grip with the wrench, "That weird little.. Fake laugh from the back of their throat..?" He mused, shifting on his back a little to look for other faults,
"Uncle Volstagg laughs from the bottom of his shoes, all the way up.. I was just imagining the two together.. They could bowl an entire town over.. One would laugh-" he tightened another nut, "Then the other," Another tightening, "And they would laugh at each-other," two more, "Then at themselves.. And they'd just get into a.. A cycle.." He smirked to himself, "Although.. Uncle Volstagg couldn't crush me with one arm.. He's not very tall.. But he can laugh."

He placed the wrench back next to her as he looked further up along the undercarriage,
"And then I think of what it would be like if he wasn't laughing any more.. If I was home, I dont think I could stand it.." He had to pull himself a little closer, grunting with slight pain, but it at least allowed him to see closer to something, a broken seal along the exhaust, plus something else pinned just behind it "Well that's no good.. Looks like there's something wedged in there.." He muttered to himself, turning his head down to Robyn, a droplet of oil hit his cheek but he barely reacted, only looking up at it a moment before turning back to Robyn again,
"Got some pliers handy?"

"Move over, let me see..." Robyn said, leaning up slightly to get a better look. She could see the little thing wedged in there pretty well, and reached for it with her pliers. "A lot of these things need to be taken care of right away, but I can't do a lot of it right now. I need the things in the workshop," she said as she poked at the piece experimentally. When it didn't budge, she gripped it with the pliers and tugged. It was still stuck. "Oh come on, don't make me force you out of there," she murmured to the little stuck thing. "You know I will." The piece wiggled slightly, but otherwise didn't come free. Growling under her breath, Robyn forced some of her magic into it. She forced a little more into it than she really wanted to, though, and it sparked a little as the piece suddenly popped free. She prayed that Kazan didn't notice the little spark. "There, got it out. Stubborn little bugger..." It looked like a little bit of shrapnel, probably kicked up by one of the tires, and it had lodged itself into the undercarriage really well. At least it had come out.

"Stubborn little bugger indeed.." Kazan replied looking at it more closely, at first it really did look like a bent-out-of-shape piece of metal. But it wasn't what he considered a natural shape, in fact it seemed bent, but the other side of it remained smooth while the centre of the the side dipped in. He grasped it, holding it above himself and looking at it more closely,
"Well I'll be damned.." He muttered to himself, clearning dirt from the shell, his fingers carefully unscrewing what appeared to be a 'top'. It was a converted bullet casing, he'd seen a couple of these in his time, they were long enough to hid small messages in, and much to his surprise this one did the same job.
".. You told me some of the tradesmen took offers to work for the other side, right..?" He replied, unrolling what looked like a filter-sized piece of paper. He couldn't read it properly in this light but the fonts were definitely similar to those typed up by Varstradt messengers.

He turned slightly, adjusting it so that the light caught it better. Yep, just as he thought.. What were the odds really?
"Colonel Dross Hart of the Varstradt Empire, First Legion, confirms payment to one Alfred Greene, Merchant Trader of Lastdvell for information pertaining resistance forces. One thousand silver coins as agreed under previously contracted terms." He read out in a hushed tone, the code to translate was the most recent one he'd learned, it was genuine,
"Your Mr Greene endangered civilian lives last night, for a thousand extra silver coins in his pocket.."

Kazan's face had changed from the relaxed look he seemed to take, to something that portrayed personal anger. Maybe because it was this Mr Greene who led his troops into a trap, perhaps because of the civilians, he'd been so hung up on that that he almost forgot his men, or was it the greed that disgusted him more..? Whatever the reason, Kazan hadn't taken long to pull himself from under the truck and pull himself to a stand, trying to locate the suspect himself, this Mr. Greene.. His hand grasped the bent casing and paper tightly.

Robyn's blood ran cold as she listened to Kazan read the coded message.

"It can't be..." she breathed. Mr. Greene was a traitor? It couldn't be the same Mr. Greene that helped Robyn with her groceries when she didn't have enough to make ends meet for the week. It just couldn't be. She scrambled out from under the truck, not caring that she was covered in dirt and grease. She didn't get the chance to do anything else, though, because Alfred Greene came out of the small shop.

"How's the truck lookin', darlin'?" he asked, kneeling down and looking underneath the carriage. His eyebrows furrowed for a split second before his expression cleared again and he stood up. "She's not giving you any problems, is she? Troublesome old lady," he added affectionately, patting the side of the truck.

"N-no, no problems, Mr. Greene," Robyn replied, trying to force her voice to stop shaking. Greene looked at her oddly.

"Are you feelin' alright, darlin'?" he asked. He looked from her to Kazan. "Who's this young fella? He a friend of yours, darlin'?"

Kazan looked at the casual-acting merchant with a rather cold-stare of his own, the soldier stepping between Alfred and Robyn before the hand holding the casing shifted slightly. He couldn't believe the man was acting so calmly.. He supposed a proper spy would be a poor one if he couldn't act casual. But he played tow sides against the middle, put civilian lives on the line, cost him good soldier sand probably caused civilian casualties at best, fatalities at worst..
The hand witht he casing gripped a little tighter before he slammed it, knuckles first, into the hood of the truck.

This alone would have caused alarm and surprise, but revealed neatly under his hand was a dent that clearly wasn't there before, his fingers trembled slightly but he open his hand to drop the casing and the roll of paper, staring dead-on at the merchant,
"I guess you could say we ran into a little trouble.. A bent screw that was looking to shaft everything else.." He snarled through gritted teeth, his fingers slightly red fromt he impact, but it did nothing for the soft pulse at his temple.

If there was anything to be frightened of in the world at that exact time, it was Kazan, the coldness in his voice as he closed his other hands fist, the knuckles audibly popping of their own accord,
"I'll give you one, single word of advice..." He added. Malice dripped from his tongue, a piercing stare homed in on the dark-skinned man, "Run.."
It was odd, almost. He'd never felt this kind of anger before. So many things about it seemed ot upset him all at once, and a feeling int he back of his mind, like something more uncontrollable was well on its way to awakening. A blood rage of sorts, a berserk anger that threatened to consume Kazan, he could push it down, but it lurked there, deep in the back of his mind, skulking, waiting, just begging for a reason to jump out..

Greene jumped when Kazan dented the hood of the truck, and stared at the message that he had been looking for. He hadn't planned on getting caught. Robyn jumped as well, but her nerves were pretty much shot regardless.

"Why?" she asked softly. Greene slowly backed into his shop again, away from Robyn and the young man. He wasn't sure exactly how the young man could read the coded message, but-- Wait. He could read the coded message. That meant that the young man was either an informant as well, or someone from the other side! He could still salvage the situation!

"Well, now," he said, "I don't see how my going anywhere benefits either of us, boy." Robyn gasped slightly, but Greene ignored her. He wasn't afraid of some apprentice. "You and I both know which side will end up winning this war. What harm is there in being on the right one?" He glanced over at Robyn. "And you, darlin', I think you'll want to be moving along now. I appreciate the help on my truck."

Robyn's eyes narrowed. Clearly, Greene didn't think she was good for anything but fixing the truck. Gently, oh so gently, she laid a hand on the hood of the truck. Through her magic, she could feel every nook and cranny of the engine. She forced her magic down through the hood, disengaging every plug, wire, and line. Fluids started to trickle down through the bottom of the carriage, and Robyn didn't even care that her magic sparked a bit again. In the light, copper sparks were barely visible anyways.

"I think you should leave, Mr. Greene," she said softly as the truck kept leaking. Greene paused for a moment, and then reached for the door handle of the truck's driver-side. "I wouldn't bother with the truck..." Robyn added. "She's not going anywhere."

Kazan's face contorted a bit when Mr. Greene acted so casual regarding his current predicament. It wasn't safeto assume he knew anything about Kazan because he could have been any number of things, from informant to Varstradt citizen or better yet.. It wasn't hard to come up with it,
"Well if that wasn't confirmation that you're a traitor.. Do you actually think I'd turn on Lastdvell?" He grasped Mr. Green by the shirt, standing closer, "Cracking codes like that? Easy.. Cracking your skull? A pleasure." He commented darkly, not even waiting for a retaliation as he thrust his other hand low, angling it just below the sternum. He didn't care that hitting the man made his own body scream with pain, frankly it only filled him with more anger as the force no doubt caused the man to double over so that he could receive a second blow to the gut from a rising knee. The icing on the cake was the dropping his arms elbow to the back of the neck to plant the man face down on the ground, out cold.

"What in tarnation's goin' on here?!" Came the familiar booming voice of Bear, though he didn't sound as happy as before. As he could have seen, that new boy Kazan had just given Mr. Greene a serious pounding, right after putting a fist shaped dent in the truck.
"Waddya think yer doin' boy?!" He added as he got closer, staring at the now beaten man on the ground and at Kazan, Robyn certainly wasn't doing anything about it so there must have been something going on. His eyes shifted to the bonnet of the car, which he could see more clearly, and found himself staring at the shell and the piece of paper,
"Oh no.. No-no-no.." Bear got closer, picking up the small scrap and frowning to himself,
"Robyn lass.. Whats goin' on?" He asked again, a little calmer seeming as he fiddled with the tiny piece of paper, his oaf-like hands did make it difficult, but he was surprisingly gentle. He knew about these things, they were commonly used by Varstradt spies, messages in spent shells, to post others it would look like some silly souvenier, "Who does this wretched lil thing belong to?"

"I... I was just working on the truck," Robyn started. Her voice still shook a little, most likely out of shock. "Kazan was helping me a bit, and he found that thing crammed into a little corner of the undercarriage, and I managed to get it loose... I can't read it, but Mr. Greene came out of the shop, and I think he was looking for it, and then he practically admitted it..." She trailed off and bit her lip. "He's a traitor, Bear. Mr. Greene was giving over information." She wrapped her arms around herself. She still didn't want to believe it herself.

She tried to explain what had happened without implicating Kazan in any way. She didn't know why, but she wanted to protect him, somehow. Everything she told Bear was true, technically. She couldn't read the coded message, but she didn't mention that Kazan could.

"I made sure the truck can't go anywhere, though," she offered after a moment. "I... I didn't want Mr. Greene going anywhere until things were sorted out. I'll fix it again later, I promise."

"Oh lassy..!" Bear replied calmly, placing his hands on Robyn's shoulders, "T'were to be expected o'some people, come on now," He responded, looking over at Kazan. Wasn't the boy meant to be injured? He'd clearly cleaned Greene's clock, the man's face grew a little harder. Robyn knew it was a code, so either Greene had said something or Kazan did. Either way he was still a little suspicious of the unusual companion Robyn had garnered,
"Ey! Guards!" Bear yelled down one street, he'd seen a couple not long ago, it wasn't long before two poorly armed soldier-types came along, looking about at the strange scene. There were shocked onlookers staring at Kazan and the downed Mr. Greene,
"Arrest that idiot!" Bear yelled and for a moment the soldiers went for the brown-haired fellow until Bear interrupted, "No you dummies, the lad on the ground, he's a traiter t'the town,"

The two soldiers grasped the fallen Mr Greene and looked up at Kazan, one freezing still,
"Uh sir.. Do you need help?" The one questioned, but Kazan turned away form them,
"I'm fine..!" He responded stubbornly, though looked down at his shoulder, a stain of red had begun to spread its way across the cloth from about shoulder height, where the bullet wound was, all the same, he reached to the car bonnet, grasping the shell-casing and the message before half-limping his way back to Bear and Robyn.
"Ye've overdone yourself lad, yer wounds opened up." Bear stated, looking down to Robyn,
"Les' get yer friend some better treatment eh? We'll talk abou' this all later, Mr Greene can spend some time in a cell t'think bout what he's gone an' done. Come on, off to me house, eh?"

Robyn was immediately concerned when she saw that Kazan had reopened his wounds. Her attention was drawn right to him, and away from the fact that Greene was a traitor, and she was oddly grateful for the distraction. And odder still, she didn't mind that it was one of her late master's shirts that Kazan was currently bleeding on.

"Come on," she said, steering him towards the forge, "Let's get you to Bear's place, he probably has better medical supplies than I do." She'd been to Bear's house before. Like most of the tradesman, his house was attached to the shop, so he was never far if anyone needed anything. Even Robyn herself lived in such a building; the mechanics' shop was attached to the late O'Brien's place, which Robyn technically inherited, as his apprentice.

Robyn stayed close to Kazan, in case he needed any help at all. She noticed he was limping, and she was annoyed that she hadn't thought to bring any extra rags just in case, but he didn't seem to be in any immediate danger of dying.

Kazan allowed Robyn to lead him on, head hung a little low as he used the mechanic apprentice for balance, Bear meanwhile ushered them on in, leading them through the smithy into a back door that lead to the large man's home. It was spacious, as you'd expect such a big guy to have, things were kept relatively out of the way, however the doorways still required that the beefy man ducked carefully. He'd gotten so used to it that he barely noticed when he did it. There was a large couch in the main room, the first they'd entered, though a deep impression in it suggested this was where Bear often relaxed, however he motioned to the couch anyway,
"Set'em down there, Robyn lass." Clay instructed, motioning towards it calmly and pointed a large stubby finger at it, "Let'em sit an' we'll go git my medicine box, aye?" Bear stated, waiting for Robyn to follow after him tot he kitchen where he stored it just inside a stockroom. If anyone knew his home almost as well as him, it was Robyn, mostly because she would look after his adoptive son on occasion, a service he was thankful for. Robyn was a kind girl, it was why he'd also unofficially adopted her almost like a daughter, but she was already too independent. He'd always say to himself if he'd had a daughter she would have been like Robyn.

Once the two had left Kazan alone, the man leant back against the chair. It was surprisingly comfy, but he supposed it needed all that extra padding for the smith to sit down on it without breaking it entirely. A noise to his right caught his attention and he looked at a doorway that lead directly to some stairs.
There, hiding behind the frame, was a young boy. The child seemed too frozen to budge as he stared across the room at the injured soldier. Kazan made no attempt to speak yet, instead looking ahead of himself and adjusting the way he was sat to make it appear as if everything was fine, however that only made it hurt more and he groaned.
Small footsteps could be heard again getting ever closer, until he looked again, seeing the boy no more than a meter or so away.
"Uh-uhmm.." The child started, soft, ice-blue eyes focused on Kazan, but he never finished even a single word, instead turning sharply on his heel and scrambling back to the door-frame, where he hid once more, a hand gripping it as he quietly watched the stranger. He'd just remembered then that Papa Bear had told him not to talk to strangers.

Robyn carefully maneuvered Kazan onto the couch. The room itself seemed a little sparse, but Robyn knew better. Bear was very organized, a habit that clearly came from working near the forge, where a person could get hurt if the place was cluttered, and that carried over into his home. "Just hold still and let Bear patch you up," she said to Kazan. "I can guarantee he'll do a better job than I did."

She glanced around, looking for Bear's son. Finally, she spotted him near the stairs. She watched as he came closer, and then darted away again. That wasn't unusual. The boy was shy, a lot of times, but she'd looked after him enough times that he was comfortable around her. She went over to where he was hiding behind the doorframe, and knelt down in front of him.

"Heya, kiddo," she said, smiling at him. "How have you been? Don't I get a hug?" She wasn't necessarily great with kids, but Bear's adopted son was practically a little brother to her by now. "Does that little mousie I made for you still work?" Alright, so she did spoil him a little bit. She'd made him a couple of little clockwork toys once, while she was babysitting him. Bear had dropped him off at her workshop, so she made a couple of toys to keep the boy entertained, and he ended up taking them home again.

When Robyn got closer the small boy smiled a little, he couldn't refuse Robyn a hug, he knew her well enough and she was always so nice to him. He gladly flung his arms around her neck to squeeze as tight as he could, which frankly wasn't a great deal considering he was such a meager little thing. The boy eventually let go, but at the same to kept a hold of her. To her question the boy nodded softly, he was gentle with the toys, things were precious, small things, big things, Robyn and Papa Bear.
The boy leant just a little past her shoulder, staring at Kazan quietly. He eventually turned his gaze to Robyn again,
"Who is that..? He looks.. Like he's got a tummy-ache.." The boy wasn't sure if it was right really, when he got a tummy-ache he didn't bleed.. He knew what bleeding was..

Bear brought back the medical kit and placed it calmly on the seat next to Kazan, kneeling his large form down. Even kneeling he was a bit tall, he was on an even level with the Varstradt soldier. Kazan shifted again, pulling the shirt off, though he even required a little assistance with that, not that it took much for Bear to lift it the rest of the way before he inspected the bandaging job. All three major wounds had reopened but the shoulder was the worst one.
He grasped a pair of scissors calmly, they were large, fitting for him, though he also put on a pair of spectacles that allowed him to see smaller things more clearly, after all he didn't want to be cutting Kazan, however he looked over at Robyn,
"If ye wouldn't mind, take the lad upstairs, Robyn, there's a good lass, aye? This won' be entirely pleasant."

Robyn nodded.

"Of course," she said to Bear. She stood up and picked up Ridley so he wouldn't have to let go of her. "C'mon, kiddo," she said to him. "Let's head upstairs while Papa Bear is busy, and we'll see if any of your toys need work." Turning, she took Ridley upstairs, leaving Bear to take care of Kazan.

She knew where Ridley's room was by heart, and nudged open the door with her foot. The boy kept his room neat and tidy, which didn't surprise her at all. Ridley took after Bear in his tidiness. She smiled when she saw his mousie and the little clockwork birdie she made for him on his dresser, along with a few other toys. Gently, she set him on his feet.

"I'm glad you're taking care of those clockworks I made you," she said. "You know, I think I might have enough pieces to make something else, back in my workshop. Maybe next time I see you, I'll have something new for you." She didn't mind making the toys for Ridley. She always had odds and ends left over from projects, so she saved them up to make little windup toys. Springs, gears, bearings, anything she could find would go into them, and somehow, she always made them work. Sitting down on the floor, she let Ridley do what he wanted.

Ridley was a little surprised at the pick-up, but he simply balanced himself, holding on to Robyn as he looked past her at Bear and the strange man. It was odd but he felt like the man was.. Different somehow.. He couldn't really tell what it was, but it was still there, it was why he was so curious. Once they'd reached his room he made his way to the clockwork mouse first, it was his favourite of the two.
He wound it softly until he felt it tightening, any further and it might break, he'd learned that after breaking it a few times, never sure back then how far to go. The toy was propped on the ground and he sat on his ankles, hands on his knees as he watched it skitter along the ground, tail waggling mechanically behind it. Robyn's offer of making him another toy, however, made the child smile as he looked up at her,
"Really..?" He asked, sitting down on his behind and looking up at the currently still bird clockwork, he was actually mulling over in his head the kind he wanted but he wasn't even sure he could ask.

Downstairs was a slightly different scene altogether, Bear had cut away the bandages and was examining the bullet wounds. He was surprised the boy was even up and about, he had a strong constitution, far beyond the ordinary human, like a trained soldier.. And frankly he'd seen few as well-trained physically as Kazan,
"So'en laddy.. She plucked y'right up off the street like a stray dog, eh..?" He muttered, he didn't want to talk too loud, however Kazan stared at him, a little too mortified to respond, "Oh keep yer britches on, that lass has herself good reasons fer doin' the things she does so I ain' sayin' nothing so long as you ain' causing trouble." He added, smirking at the fear of the soldier,
"But still.. findin' that Greene out like that.. what made y'do it..?" Bear wondered, having cleaned the wounds with some sanitized water, next taking a cloth and pouring some alcohol on it, "Mind yerself, this'll hurt a hell of a lot, lad." he added,
"I don't know why.. I have so many reasons I could barely count.." Kazan replied, feeling the tremendously sharp sting as the alcohol-covered cloth was pressed against the shoulder wound first, this caused him to writhe, but he didn't cry out, he gasped though, almost breathless from the shock before chuckling, "That was woefully understated...!" He hissed slightly, Bear only chuckled in response, taking car eof the other wounds, similar reactions were expected, and received.
"What're ye fightin' for, lad?" Bear questioned then. Kazan's face became something of a blank, he wasn't even sure he knew himself.. The Empire certainly werent under threat, they had enough resources and materials, they wanted land, that was about it.. And him himself as a soldier.. He guessed just working as a soldier wasn't good enough.. It seemed too simple..
He barely enough noticed as proper gauze pads were smeared with healing salves that were then placed over the wound, however the cold burn soon alerted him as he looked at the pads, what a strange sensation, it felt like a cold flame, it was the only way he could explain it.
With this done Bear finally taped some thicker bandages over the wounds,
"Whatever's goin' through yer head lad.. You just don' hurt my lil Robyn, or there'll be hell t'pay, aye?"
Kazan nodded quietly, looking down at the new bandages,
"She's.. Well.. Probably the nicest girl I've met in a long time.. I owe her my life.. So I'll repay her somehow, sometime.."

Robyn stayed sitting on the floor near the doorway, listening for when Bear said the coast was clear. She could hear the two talking, but she couldn't make out what they were actually saying. For having such a big voice, Bear could certainly be quiet when he wanted to be. Until she got the okay, though, Robyn could keep Ridley amused. Reaching over, she picked up the clockwork mouse.

"Watch this," she said, grinning a little. Cradling the mouse in her hands, she used her magic to delicately wind the springs inside. "Come on," she whispered to it. The spring wound just a little further, and she set it down on the floor. The mouse shuddered for a moment, and then skittered along the floorboards, circling around Ridley before spinning a couple of times in front of him and coming to a stop. It was different than how the mouse behaved before. The mechanisms inside should have only let it go in a straight line until it bumped into something that changed its path. Robyn didn't mind Ridley seeing her use magic. He was just a boy, he wouldn't turn her in to the other side for it. Adults, though... She wasn't sure who would turn her in and who wouldn't. The events of the day had proven that.

"Well lad, yer old shirts gonna need a washin'.." Bear chuckled, holding up O'brien's old grey shirt, he recognised it, however he folded it up and placed it next to Kazan. That would would always be stained now.. He didn't have any in his own size for Kazan, but there was still a few things in the store-room as he rustled about, eventually finding something similar to what Kazan had already been wearing however it was much cleaner, white, roughly the same size, perhaps a bit larger,
"O'brien left this lyin' around when he were younger, bituva freeloader a'the time, but he was a fun lad to have around. I ne'er did return this to'em." Bear sighed, passing the shirt to Kazan, who slowly pulled it on and looked down at it, it felt a little odd this time, to be wearing that man's things.. Robyn had complete respect for O'brien, but him? probably nowhere near as much, if not a great deal of animosity that she was disguising so well,
"You wont tell anyone..?"
"Not a soul, lad."

Bear had cleaned up the medical kit and the cloths he'd used, some of it would need throwing away. Kazan meanwhile stood, fingers touching lightly through the shirt at where the bandaged pads were, he definitely felt better, the cold burning sensation was gone too.
Once Bear was done he made his way to the bottom of the stairs to holler up.


Ridley watched her curiously as she began to adjust the mouse, he was curious at what she did, knowing he'd find out soon enough. As the mouse rounded itself about him, he giggled, rather enjoying the odd little show. Robyn always knew the best tricks, no-one could do things the way she could It was why he was so comfortable being around her.
He turned his head though when Bears voice could be heard,
"C'mon you two, y'can come back down."

Robyn got up when she heard Bear yelling up the stairs.

"Come on," she said, holding out a hand to help Ridley to his feet. "Papa Bear is done with our friend downstairs." Opening the door, she let Ridley go first, and went with him down the stairs. She knew he would be too shy to go into the room first, but she didn't mind.

"You look a bit better," she commented to Kazan. "I told you Bear would patch you up better than I could." She didn't say anything about the clockworks she made for Ridley, or the fact that she used magic to do it. As far as she knew, nobody knew she had magic, and she wanted it to stay that way. "That's a different shirt, though." She'd never seen it before, but she knew it couldn't be one of Bear's. It was much to small, and wasn't permanently darkened by soot or anything else that might be in the forge. Either way, though, it fit decently and wasn't stained by blood, so it worked well enough.

Kazan nodded when Robyn mentioned he looked better, he was oddly quiet, though he looked to Bear, almost as if sizing the man up before returning to Robyn and smiling a little, adjusting the shirt a tad when she mentioned it, but he didn't pipe up just yet. His gaze shifted to the boy that had come down the stairs with Robyn, but he hid once again at the door frame. The soldier once again didn't approach or speak to the boy, thinking it best not to bother the boy.
After a moment Kazan then looked at Bear again, he nodded once and the soldier looked at Robyn a little more seriously,
"Bear knows, about me that is.." He explained simply, Bear nodding in the background but approached Robyn, placing a hand on her shoulder and patting his own chest with his hand,
"Lock'n'key, the secrets safe with me, eh?" The smith winked, but then he looked back to Ridley,
"Come on out lad, it's okay. This'ere's Kazan, he's a friend o'Robyn's." Bear introduced the man, who smiled a little, raising a hand to meekly wave at the boy, who slowly encroached on the adults, but hid behind Papa Bear,
"Uh-uhmm.. Hi.. I'm Ridley.." The boy introduced himself, clinging to the apron that the smith wore.

Kazan smiled at the boy, bowing his head politely but then sighed softly, looking in his hand where the shell-casing and message were, once again frowning over it before he held it out to Bear, dropping it in the burly man's palm,
"You'll have better use of this than me." The soldier stated, turning towards the door, though he wasn't sure if it was such a good idea to be going out again after that little commotion he'd caused.. Sure he'd caught a crook but the guilt was overwhelming.
Was he no better? Did he just betray his people by catching one of their own spies? Sure he could reaosn that the man had purposefully tried to get a squadron of Varstradt soldiers killed and therefore could be considered hostile.. But this was an afterthought, he hadn't considered it at the time. It wasn't right or fair to pretend that was the real reason..
"Can we go to your home Robyn..? I'm a little tired.." Kazan mentioned, having stopped before he passed the first doorway. His head hung low, shame quite clear on his face. What a mess.. He'd alreayd screwed up last night.. What was he doing now? Making it worse, that was what.. Maybe after a nap he could think a little more clearly.

Robyn wasn't surprised at all that Bear had figured out that Kazan was an Imperial soldier. Bear wasn't an idiot. He wouldn't be the most respected man in town if he was. When Kazan asked to go back, Robyn nodded. She'd honestly thought he would have passed out by now, with those wounds. She was amazed he was still up and about.

"Yeah, sure," she said. She turned back to Bear. "Thanks for all your help, Bear. Let me know how I can make it up to you, alright?" It was only fair, after all. He'd helped Kazan, and then agreed not to turn him in. There had to be something that Robyn could do in return, even if it was just fixing the scale in the forge for the rest of time. Before she turned again, she knelt down to look at Ridley. "Think about what kind of toy you want, okay? I think I have an idea of what to make, but I want your opinion too." She'd actually gotten the idea from looking at the shell-casing. It wouldn't be too hard to make a clockwork snake. If she used segments and put the windup motor in the first segment, it would go on its own and still bend. Maybe she could even make it go back and forth like a real snake... She would have to experiment with it. Standing up, she turned back to Kazan. "Come on, let's go back. You can get some sleep there."