Zain's Therapy

Everyone who was in the shop before Sophia walked in stood there looking at her surprised, she could sneak in undetected. Zain's mother spoke up first about that fact. "Zain why don't you have an alert system or something at the door?"

Zain never being the meek type around the voiced up. "Well, I am normally looking at the door, Dad just took me by surprise there. Also, there are not normally this many people that enter the shop at once with this being a smaller outskirts town."

"So does that mean you were careless in your own shop?" Damascus chimed in, not one to pass up an opportunity to talk a little smack.

"Hardly, it means you three are like kids receiving presents when you get to test out new items I make." Zain spat back in a joking manner.

The four of them were laughing still as Zain turned around to Sophia and finally spoke to her directly. "Was there something I could help out with?"

"Umm actually this was about the business we discussed the last time I was in town." She replied mawkishly.

"Ah would you like to discuss this a little more privately?" Zain asked, looking at the three people that raised him like the commotion caused would have deterred otherwise.

"Not really I'm just curious how no one knew the three flood suppressers raised a kid." Sophia looked like she was stern but confused on the matter.

Zain's father was the one that spoke directly next. "You see as we are rarely called upon, we had back up professions so, as far as anyone was concerned, we were working on those. However, we also did not want to let anyone know that there was a kid involved for obvious reasons like kidnappings or quick routes up chains or easier quests in the guild. Only three people know of who Zain's parents are outside of us. That is the official with us, the head of the guild syndicate, and the king himself."

Sophia was shocked, Zain was confused, and Gabbriel was standing there in awe that now outside of the aforementioned people, him and Sophia were among the five. Sophia, seeming satisfied with the explanation, then went back to speaking with Zain. "So, as far as the proposal we talked about last is concerned, General Stargrave was talking about it with the other generals when we embarked back for here. If you are not back by the time she arrives, we have arranged for the Guild official with us to coordinate the relay of information. I'm sure this information would have been helpful with your nomination that was proposed but after hearing the reasonings they have for not divulging the information I can presume that it would have been against your parents' wishes."

Zain nodded and then replied. "Alright, I don't know how it will fair with everyone, so my hopes were never high in that regard, but I do thank you for the update." After speaking to Sophia, he then turned and faced everyone. "Also, just so everyone is tracking I was going to start preparing for the venture into the dungeon tomorrow so I will be working with alchemy. Also, I will have some munitions to craft after taking inventory of my supplies if you wish to buy or use the forge, please be respectful and don't disturb me too much." With that Zain turned and walked into a side room not in the loop that the three people that raised him and Sophia would be tagging along.

After Zain was out of earshot Gabbriel put down the Katana he was still holding and walked over to Sophia then whispered. "He is every bit as good as the rumors say, but if you don't try to shoot your shot, someone else will." Then walked over, picked up the Katana and went outside to try it.

Damascus went to the forge, Zain's father then put down the crossbow Zain had lent him and took a seat waiting. Sophia looked confused at their actions and asked him, "What's going on?"

Zain's father kind of rolled his head as if he had a creak in his neck then spoke, "Zain's true passion is weapon making, when he goes to do alchemy its usually after an outburst of attention and people when it dies down. It's therapeutic to him but its also dangerous so he tells people what he's doing. Munitions crafting is also therapeutic to him but if it's for what I think it is then he will leave town to ensure it works fine."

Sophia even more confused looked at him and asked, "Why does he utilize three different trades for a single weapon of choice?"

"Because he can't use magic. He compensates for his inability by using the most unconventional weapon and makes it as perfect as possible. It's a weapon most people who see never want to be on the receiving end of. It also requires special protection when used in confined spaces due to the noise produced. What he is making right now is probably what we refer to as the 'Boom Powder' it is highly explosive and very versatile." Zain's mother spoke as if it was an everyday occurrence for them. But Sophia could tell that it was also serious.

Zain's mother left the area and went to the room with Zain leaving Sophia and Zain's father out there and he looked at the seat beside him and spoke again, "If you're waiting on him to emerge take a seat it could be a while."

After about two hours Zain emerged with a massive sack of something that could only be described as potent smelling and went to another room and Zain's mother emerged shooting his father a look and motioning to follow Zain. He did and the Sophia looked at her confused before asking a simple question, "why are you so protective over him? I'm simply asking as you go while he is doing alchemy, and he goes for the assembling of munitions."

"Well, you see I myself am an alchemist and my husband, Zain's father, is a munitions crafter. If anything goes wrong in the process our magic can help save the situation from becoming worse. Zain swears it is safe, but I still have my doubts." Was Zain's mother's reply with a weary look.

After a few hours of idle chit chat between Sophia and Zain's mother Zain and his father return with a new type of munition. Zain's mother's eyes widen. Zain and his father share a smirk and say to her, "don't ask questions you don't want answers to."

Shortly after, Gabbriel returned with the Katana that he had been trying out and Zain places it in it's scabbard. Looks at the young knight and asked "Did you like it?"

"Yes, it was light and flowed easily with one hand fighting leaving the other open for magic." Gabbriel spoke as if he was a kid speaking of their favorite candy.

"This type of sword will be very hard to find elsewhere so I will teach you how to care for it as a bonus. But the price is a little hefty due to layering the steel and then the recurve to it too. It's a forty-five-gold sword for total cost." Zain spoke informatively not trying to put off Gabbriel who seemed to have his heart set on it. "Tell you what though, I will hold it for you if you need time to gather the funds."

Gabbriel left after Zain had finished speaking and soon Damascus emerged and then the three flood suppressors left. Sophia who had been waiting for them all to leave then looked at Zain and spoke finally, "Well now we can have a one on one conversation."