It was time to do their part in this war, Akuko had considered going to the fights herself but in some manner she was unsure how entirely she was fair with these foes, Something itched in the back of her mind that trying to fight right way would only result in what made her ending up like she did last time with how she became a daemon, in some manner that horrible part of her was removed, yet still seemingly that daemon part was still there and existed, Just less draining on the life with in. some what use to it while dealing with the possible soon to come changes that she had going on with her.

But lingering thoughts of the past going into the possible future aside there was other things to be done now. She did not feel powerful enough to do a lot of things head to head with other foes at this time. So she figured there was some better options she could do at the time. So she figured it would be good to do other things. In which she would have it all piece together shortly. But looking around generally. She was over all distracted for mentally for a moment.

But before she went off to do anything else, she really needed to be sure some one else had settled into Joya and was prepared to do things he also needed too at this time, If he remembered anyway. everyone was forgetful at times and there was no reason to blame him for that at all. It was just about finding where he was and asking. It should no be so hard. Only just a bit pain when you barely remember your own way around the place. hopefully some she knew did not learn of that part.

But Akuko would thus start her search but just some times pop out as she normally did and looking around before sinking back and continuing to looking about until she found him, but no words would really be spoken from her until she did. it was important that Ragnar had not gone and fought a few people already when it was not time yet and there was a fair amount of other things to do to be prepared for things to come. Just first she really needed to find him with no sense of where to go.

WC:401

Ragnar woke up today and it appeared that what they had done previously are now taking into effect as the war was beginning to start. There were even some rumors that people have broken in and are attempting to fight various more powerful members of the Joya group, ones that Ragnar and Akuko never had the chance to see or even deal with but it should be interesting to say the least. The Lord of the North was one of them that Ragnar was personally interested in but that was to be dealt with later, right now he apparently needed to help with the war effect by helping make billets for swords so that the real smiths can make swords out of them.

Ragnar showed up to the location where he should, only to instantly start getting yelled at by a dwarf about something. Ragnar had zero idea what the dwarf was saying, maybe it was a different dialic of dwarf or something but Ragnar had spent time with other dwarves and learn their language. Never the less, Ragnar stood there, looking like an idiot as the dwarf realized what was going on before sighing and waved Ragnar over. First thing Ragnar got was a pair of fire resistant gloves and apron, which Ragnar put on without much question. Ragnar had never forged a weapon before, he normally left that to the experts and Ragnar, while a proud man, wasn't so proud to claim to be an expert at something he isn't.

Without much thought the Dwarf brought him over to a furnace where a bar of iron was being made from ore, the dwarf then handed Ragnar a hammer, before taking it away from him and then handing him a bigger hammer. The dwarf began to say something, most likely explaining what they would be doing before making an angry noise before throwing his hands up and then grabbing a pair of tongs and pulling this oddly shaped extremely hot piece of metal out of the furnace and placed it on an anvil nearby. Ragnar then saw the dwarf make a motion like swinging a hammer down and Ragnar figured it out. Walking over to the anvil, Ragnar began to swing his hammer down. With a single hit the Dwarf made another noise before running to grab something from the back, and he brought back a two handed sledge hammer. Ragnar took the bigger hammer and began to hit the block of iron like he was cutting wood, the dwarf moving it as required to get Ragnar to hit the right spot on the metal.

Ragnar was effectively acting as a modern day power hammer, but made of muscle and bone then steel and pistons. Ragnar did this, over and over, only stopping when the dwarf made a noise and Ragnar stopped. This wasn't the right thing to do apparently as the Dwarf began to yell at him before eventually figuring something out. The Dwarf went to get a hammer and swung the hammer down on the steel bar, and said a word. The Dwarf then swung the hammer again, this time softer then before and said another word. This process repeated for stop and swing harder.

The Dwarf then put the steel bar back into the furnace to heat up because that took too long and the bar had gotten cold during that lesson.

566 WC

In some manner Akuko should be off doing spy work, as always in some manner there was so many other things that could be done. Just slightly in her own way of defying the minor things she could. Before she entirely did sneak away to spy on other people she would end up kind of just show up up in the smiting area in which she had a feeling he would be at. It was the best area in which he would be at while making it easier to kind of just find him before she went off to spy.

When there was a spot that was dark enough for her to slowly sneak out of with out bugging any one else Akuko did as Ragnar would most likely expect her to. Pop out of the shadows and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.


After all she wanted to be sure to see him, because Akuko still had some yet to be managed inner paranoia about possible dying on a battle field again after experiencing it once before."I am use to you towering over most people....but this seems....almost beyond parody..."Akuko said in her attempts at dry and blunt humour. But then she merely motion for him to kind of walk away from what he was doing."five minutes I promise I won't keep you away from what you need to do too long."In which she already assume Ragnar would not refuse time with Akuko, it was not going to be anything too indecent either. Making sure there was a wall between them and the dwarfs then she took a moment to put her mind at ease and smile for a moment."At least you did not volunteer for healing or brain work."

She left out spy work because it was one they she did not want anyone to think about doing for how risky and touchy it could be for some one to do, it was easy to mess up. Then she took a moment to make sure to hug him. Over all even if most people who look at Akuko would never have looked at her as much as the affectionate type, Between the bright pink hair, with it sometimes being white, the outfits being some what questionable and showy, the humour. Most people would have thought Akuko a horrible partner. But it was entirely a story of not everyone was as they seemed.

But lingering upon the wonders,stories and theories of other people. If they went off of Joyan's alone, Akuko in some manner was if anything a forgotten face who never really blossomed into how her parents wanted her too."Do remember to make sure to drink some water when working,Also do not let these dwarfs work you too much."Already thinking about things she should really not be think about rather then focusing on her own things yet to come."I will be back later for you when the work's all done....just when I do not know."

It was far to say she did not know when because spy work was always questionable for how much time it was needed to finish."Also don't hit your head off of anything."She seemed to remark that even if Akuko was just doing all of this to distract herself so she did not think about how many actions at once she needed to take and how many risky she might have to take as well. Just before however the moment got too long and they risky Ragnar having the dwarfs be made at him. She left go of him. Look at him for let out a sigh."I will see you when this is all over...I love you."Akuko did not intended this to be all sappy and emotional. But she was nervous and some would not doubt it was stressful for her at the same time. Then she would almost begrudgingly let Ragnar go back to work. Even if Akuko in some manner was an adult she still had some things at times that made her slightly childish or dramatic. But after walking with Ragnar back to smiting Akuko just continued walking forward into she walked into a shadow and seemingly was gone.

WC:722

Total:1123

Ragnar stood there, resting against his sledgehammer as he waited for the bar to heat back up as his mind started to wonder towards food and eventually wondered towards Akuko. He wondered what she was up to, and as if he had summoned him Akuko appeared behind him with a tap. Ragnar will have to test later to see if this super power worked again. " Yes well.. it isn't his fault he is barely to my knee. " The Dwarf made a rude motion at Ragnar, so apparently the man could understand the language but not speak it, or at least choose not to speak it in front of Ragnar at least. Ragnar left the hammer behind as he followed his lover to behind a wall, Ragnar was going to make a joke before he thought better about it as Akuko made another joke. " Yes, as it turns out I am only good for the muscles on my body and not in my skull. "

Akuko then leaned in and gave Ragnar a hug, which Ragnar happily returned but he noticed something about Akuko, she was far more tense in her shoulders and back then she normally would be. Was she stressed out? Was she worried? Or did she just sleep poorly last night? Ragnar began to think about this before focused on what Akuko was saying to him and said " Yea. I will be sure to drink water, and that dwarf can't make me work any more then I want to. Listen, there is a bunch of work to do for both of us, you do the best you possibly can and just do your best to get back safe.. and keep the damage you do to a minimum to the poor saps that are unlucky enough to spot you. " Ragnar had seen his once fragile pink and sometimes white haired princess into a person that was physically stronger then Ragnar himself outside of his armor, and Ragnar knew what he was capable of doing to someone's body with just his bare fists.

Ragnar laughed at her joke about not letting anything hit him in the head before looking down at Akuko and his heart skipped a single beat when Akuko said that she loved him. Love was a stupid emotion and could cause even someone capable of murdering an entire city into a mush, and Ragnar both loved and hated this feeling that Akuko does to him. It makes him lose focus and turns him into an idiot around her, or at least more of one. " I love you too. " Akuko walked him back to the dwarf before walking off into a shadow and vanishing.

Ragnar picked back up the sledgehammer, as the Dwarf was ready for him to continue working like a machine. It only took a couple of minutes for them to form the rough outline of a blade, which was good enough for someone else to sharpen and add a handle to. Another bar of raw steel was placed in front of Ragnar and he began to get back into a rhythm of hitting the steel, and just half listened to what the dwarf was saying and eventually did it without thinking much. That is when Ragnar started to think and he began to worry, if only because Akuko seemed like she was worried.

Ragnar's thought process went from trying to figure out why Akuko was worried, clearly she wasn't worried about what he was doing. He was basically in the least amount of danger he has been from the moment they entered this nation. Then what could she be worried about? The only option was that she was worried about her own well being, she had died before and while Ragnar first threw this idea out of his mind it eventually came back, like a dog you threw a ball too and it would bring it back when you just wanted it to leave you alone. The thought of what would Ragnar feel if Akuko died entered his mind, and all he could see in his mind is Joya would burn, everyone would die for taking away Akuko from him. Only a God of Death and Blood could stop him, and before he could think about this anymore something very hot and heavy slammed directly into his face. He felt his nose break under the weight of whatever hit him as he dropped the handle of the sledgehammer to grab his face.

After cursing about getting sucker punched, he looked around to see who threw that, only to see the head of a sledgehammer on the floor on the other side room. Ragnar not understanding what happened, looked around to still see if someone threw that at him before looking down at the handle he had just thrown on the ground. It had a distinct lack of a head. Ragnar then quickly pieced together what happened, when he had thought about Akuko dying, he no longer held back his blow on the anvil and the steel and hit it so hard he snapped the handle off the head of it and the remaining force bounced it back into his face and broke his nose.

Well shit, how was he supposed to tell Akuko that he didn't hit his head on anything! Ragnar reset his nose, something he had done a time or two in the past and placed one finger against a nostril and blew out the other one, clearing it of all the blood as it ended up on the forge's dirt floor. He did this with the other nostril, and he was pleased to see he could still breath from his nose. So he didn't break it too bad this time around, as he licked the blood off his upper lip before spitting it out on the ground in front of him.

Ragnar went and picked up the hammer head and the handle and put them on a bench and when he turned back around there was another sledge hammer waiting for him, one with a metal handle this time. The dwarf said something to him, that Ragnar still couldn't understand, before he began to get back to work.

WC 1,034

Total: 1600

In some manner maybe Akuko needed to pay him a few compliments, maybe that would do him some good. Over all maybe it was just her thinking other things at the time as well."I might need to see if they are useful for other things for sneaking around." they could be useful spies depending on how they where able to handle themselves. But she was over all slightly distracting herself with the matter at hand so maybe she needed to focus again."But surely you are more then that, you just keep thinking it as such for no reason."It was not the best answer and in some manner Akuko could have thought up better.

But there was other things on her mind at the time so maybe the words where intended to be good just did not work out. Most likely adding more like she was about to do now."You carry yourself well, you are handsome, Not the brightest but you are smart in you own way..."Then she kind of stopped because she felt as if she might be bordering upon saying too much in the end. But she seemed to almost be some what at peace with the moment they had at the time, It with out being stated seemed to meet a lot more to her at this time then he might have thought while she was there.

After mentally preparing herself, the only thing of herself she would leave behind maybe just in case was her sunglasses, the pink shaded sunglasses she use to wear all of the time. Then she put them on his head made sure they fit and then finally left. She knew she had dragged it on intentionally but it seemed to make her feel better in the end.


Akuko did not know that Ragnar got it after she had left but he did, Akuko feared dying, She experienced it once, Mishiko died once. But it was something about her own death that never stopped haunting her. The black empty sea you where forever submerged into, floating away in it where you never knew what was up or down. Going left or right was pointless. It was empty all you could do is float, Things where changing quickly for Akuko she came back to life, she became a daemon for a while, Now it was changing again where she is at a nation she wore almost never to come back to.

But if anyone was going to be good at spying it was Akuko, it was simple as long as she kept that focused worked mind set she had now. After all who was checking mirror's, water reflections and window reflections right? Akuko doubted the most basic ones she did sneak around upon would check it would not be unless she really need to move to a different position quickly. But her spying as going as just as well as it should be at the time, not problems yet to be shown.

WC:504

Total:1627

Ragnar had continued his work for awhile, only getting better and better at it as time goes on. Eventually he managed to figure out how hard he needed to swing before the dwarf said the word that he needed to do. It was just getting easier and easier as time went on and Ragnar was left with more time to think about what he was going to do. Why did Ragnar become like this? The Ragnar of old would have never cared about a person enough to burn the a country for, though old Ragnar would have burned down a country for no other reason than to feel the warmth of the blood of warriors on his body, that was the only thing that Ragnar used to care about. The heat and passion of war, the ever vigilance and the work to know that any mistake might cost you everything you have ever done and everything you will ever be. Most people in this world would never understand that need to constantly be at war, like once your body was attuned to war it was very difficult to ever go back to being in peace.

In war, aggression and cunning was rewarded with the death of your enemy and your life along with your comrades lives. Those same qualities are extremely frowned on in the world of peace, as the same aggression used to cut someone's stomach open was rarely the same aggression that could be used to do something else productive unless you were training soldiers. Ragnar had considered that path for himself, but Icebergia doesn't exactly have a formal military as much as if someone comes walking into Icebergia to take over the country they simply have an army of tribals who have been fighting for their lives every day of their lives. So they are normally going to be just better than your average solider from other countries because they don't stop training. But they could be unorganized and could be cut down by a superior planner on a large scale battle, which Ragnar was not very good at large scale battle planning. He could never lead a war like his guildmaster, that kind of thought was beyond Ragnar's capabilities as a person.

Well, maybe not. Ragnar had just never been taught or had to think about how to run a war before though he felt that he was smart enough that he was capable of running one well enough to not be instantly defeated against your average other general. What Ragnar was much better at was one vs one fights, and counter playing against the enemies he is fighting at the time. Attempting to get as much information as possible, and killing those who allowed him to before retreating and relaying that information to others who are better suited for removing those threats later.

Ragnar at that moment looked over, as a break for the dwarf was called as he needed to get another bar ready, Ragnar saw that the sword blanks that he had made so far was already getting turned into swords on a grinding wheel. They would work quite well in the hands of a trained solider even though they were basic in shape, though they would have an edge and that is all you needed sometimes to kill someone.

WC 557

WC Total: 2157

With all of things over all going as it did Akuko was for sure prepared getting her current worries out of the way in which most likely was never going to effect the in things. It would just make it more clear for her to not really think about much else. After all it had been her entire problem all this time was her thinking and worrying about so many things rather then just going the job she imposed on herself. Sometimes she felt better offer considering a different task. Healing or maybe even trying to be her hand at what Ragnar was doing too

Maybe just with out offending the dwarfs in which she had not figured out how not to do because Akuko had not really met them at all. Even if she had thought about it before. She was thinking about it again while she was looking around through the varying shadows with her eyes looking upon the varying people either on or not on the side she was currently on. Akuko seemed to be seeking out if any other spies would be here with her or against her. But spying about as she did so far at this time, Left her with very little to note of.

At least so far very little things where of to note. But she would continue on to whatever next area she could sneak into or see through. But if there was anything that she need was going to be sure was something of note around here. It was going smoothly and with out much to note. But Akuko kind of expected things to be a bit slower at this time. The complex part of spying was in fact trying to pick up the pieces of what some could be hinting or hiding right in front of everyone. Some one just needed to know what they where looking for.

Surely something was bound to show up, Her mind was telling her something would come form her spying. But also having to remember to keep herself focus so that she did not mess up her movements. For at times she needed to seemingly never leave the shadows she lingered in. Sticking her head out for a moment she realized with this part she was sneaking around it was not safe quiet yet to leave, So going back in was better at this time. Then she would walk out of hiding and walk to the next shadow and continue her spying.

In some manner she would hope something would finally be of interest to report, After all she did not expect everyone to be so settled and calm all of the time. If anything it made Akuko paranoid this was building up to a time of war and conflict, if anything much like the previous war she was in, they could strike at any moment. Or she needed to not focus on this and continue on her way just to remain a bit more stable.


Doubt was over all a problem Akuko still faces because she knew there was that flaw she had at the time. But at least after her worries where gone now. She could focus on who she was peering at through the various walls she was hiding in via her normal ways. But she saw a few things that where interesting to her lingering signs of what spying was used for. But so far it was just a conversation. But it was what that conversation was about that was important to listen to at the time, No doubt passing it on would be useful.

She would wrap up her spying tasks not too long after. After making sure to follow a few people long enough to keep their faces to memory. After all that would be good to pass on to other people who might need to know who they where to look into them. After all they might pose a risk to the mission and she did not want it all ruined if she could help it. This would just mean Akuko would make sure she did a rather good job at this spying thing like she hoped.

After getting done her task of spying and learning the few things she did, she would return to the exact spot Ragnar would have saw her last. Only because then she could see if he was still around and had no problems still. Or if he had left already. Over all if anything Akuko was making sure everything was okay, when it was needlessly done and most likely there was nothing to worry about. it was more assured that they where in fact going to get through this and everything was going to be fine. She just needed to believe it all that way.

But the task was done and Akuko felt like she would maybe see about doing something else to keep her head straight. Which most likely would not be that hard to do, just over all was finding something to commit to. Maybe more work in the future. One step at a time was important and she realized that, she was not keeping that stride in mind as they moved towards the future.

WC:877

Total:2504

{Exit}

Ragnar eventually managed to finish up what he was required to do to help the war effort, and more. Ragnar had eventually gotten into a rythmn of hitting the steel and the Dwarf that was directing Ragnar just seemed to be happy to have a power hammer on his side when making these. He could have easily done what Ragnar was doing but it was nice to not have to do the work yourself if you could get away with it. Eventually another steel bar didn't show up on the anvil like it should have, and Ragnar looked up from his trance and the head dwarf just shrugged at him and pointed behind him. At the start of the day there was a pile of iron ore over in the corner along with coal, and both of them were completely empty at this point. Ragnar took that to mean there was no more work to be done, and Ragnar handed his metal sledgehammer back to the dwarf and began to move.

Ragnar's legs were stiff from doing so little motion for, well Ragnar didn't really know how long but the sun was down at this point, so it must have been awhile. His arms and back were also sore but he only started to notice that once he started to move. He had felt like this before, thought it was normally after a battle. Sometimes you would just get lost in the combat and you would regain your senses after the battle was over, your wounds now starting to hurt and your muscles screaming at you. This time it happened without a battle, and only while thinking about his life and Akuko.

Looking ahead, he saw Akuko standing there waiting for him. With a smile on his face he walked over to her before realizing that every inch of his body was covered in sweat, grease, soot and dirt from hitting a hammer all day, at which point he simply said " Yea.. I think I am going to need a bath or a shower.. Maybe you can help me get my back? " Ragnar said with a wink

WC 343

[Exit}