A sound came from behind. Karp rounded a work table, where a child no older than ten sobbed into the sleeve of an adult’s tunic. His other arm clutched something across his chest. Karp saw a pair of brown eyes peek out from under the forearm, and the child bawled and cried out when he saw her. Karp couldn’t find any indication of the man so she decided to get what she came for and leave. 

She reached inside a cabinet and removed two sharpened long swords, a polished steel maul, two steel helms, and a small iron toolkit with a few steel tools. She grabbed everything at once and shifted back to her room in the inn. 

how am i going to bring everything to the store?

Footsteps approached from beyond her door as she stood thinking. The steps began near the wall, passed her door, and stopped at her neighbor’s room. A moment later, a door opened and closed.

he must have walked past my room without me noticing. when? while i was warming up? why though?

Karp somehow managed to balance everything well enough to go down the hallway, descend the stairs, exit the Traitor’s Tavern Inn’s side door, cross the alley, and arrive at the general store. Carrying close to eighty pounds of metal, the tired Karp started losing control of what was in her arms. and the metal started slipping by the time she entered the store's side door. Slart saw her friend coming toward the counter and decided to help by cheering her on.

˝Go! Go! Go!”

Slart pumped her fist in the air just as Karp tripped on the leg of a table she couldn’t see and stumbled forward. She overcompensated by pulling her weight back. One of the helms started falling forward off the large bundle.

˝Woooooo! Yeah!”

Karp jerked forward to prevent everything from tumbling off, and she walked faster and faster to stay under the falling goods.

˝Karp! Karp! Karp! Gooooooooooooo...”

Karp was almost at full stride when she ran out of steam and smashed into the far wall. The sudden shock of hitting solid wood caused everything crashed to the ground. A helm flew loose and cracked her shin. Slart almost died laughing as her friend hopped around the store on one foot with a dark red face, cursing up a storm. Workers charged to the storefront with weapons taken from displays. They gaped as Karp put their manager in a headlock, and Slart wiped away tears as she waved the workers off.

Karp released Slart, walked to the bundle on the ground, and picked up the weapons and armor.

˝BRING THE DAGGER!”

Karp circled her arms and stretched her sore back until Slart returned with the dagger, still giggling. Slart opened the case and handed the blade to Karp.

it’s amazing how light this is. it feels like it would just break in a fight.

Karp removed her steel dagger from its sheath and slipped in the new one. She stared at the weapon she had carried all these years and felt a pang of nostalgia when she thought about how it had saved her life once.

˝people don’t really know the value of things.”