With Rou lost in thoughts as to how to actually approach anything related to Celia, various methods had certainly come and gone in his mind, idly looking at the piece of parchment that showed the countdown. It was only as Rou had nearly returned home that he heard a familiar noise.

  "Ya fluffy fuckwit, you been up and about for a while now and you haven't come to say a fuckin thing to me!"

  The ever-crass gopher blacksmiths word choices, even if Rou hadn't seen him yet, caused the red panda to smile and turn as he looked for the owner. Naturally he looked down as he did such and 'finally' noticed him, causing the gopher to lob a stone at his head. "Peckerhead, I ain't that short!"

  Of course, both got a good laugh out of that, Rou walking over and leaning to give the fellow a hug and even a gentle kiss atop the head, "Stop that damnit, I ain't one of your girlies." Though secretly the gopher clearly enjoyed the greeting in his own way.

  "So what brought you all the way out here? I can't imagine it was a fast trip for you with those stubby legs of yours. And without a dress too! You must be exhausted, not having any air at all in you."

  "Aaah shaddup, ain't that long of a trip and I'm not old enough yet that I'm gonna give up it up over something like this. Just… came to see how you were doing, fluffy. Been years since I'd a heard of ya and suddenly the new queen is off telling everyone if we bother you too much she'll string us up by our nethers and do all kinds of untoward things to make us regret it."

  Of course, Penelope's warning wasn't /quite/ that crass but the intentions were there. Especially as everyone knew that their new Queen was not as jolly and pleasant as their previous King. She had clearly gotten a bit frustrated with things and was not at all shy about doling out punishments for those that either ignored her or pissed her off.

  That said, it /had/ gotten better since she'd shared her blanket with Rou finally and a lot of her built up stress was gone.

  –

  "Rou?"

  "Yes?"

  "You haven't noticed, have you?"

  "Noticed what?"

  –

  Years earlier, immediately after the unrest and rioting from the assault and seemingly 'killing' of the Sage of Fluff, an angry sound could be heard from a bar in the smithing district of the capital.

  "Boss, please, you're gonna kill yourself! There's more alcohol in you than blood!"

  One of the gopher blacksmith's apprentices was begging him to stop only for the apprentice to get smacked across the snout, knocked back and looking like he was gonna cry. It was only after that the blacksmith, in his frustration and rage at the world, saw the tearing-up apprentice and wilted a bit.

  "Fuck, sorry kid, I'm… I'm done…" and he sat the mug down before crawling off the chair and wandering out of the doorway. The bartender didn't even hassle the man for the cost of the drinks, knowing well enough where he worked, intending to go simply get it from him the next day as he knew the gopher was good for it.

  "Fucking gone and went and got yourself… hadn't even left the city yet. How in the fuck did you…"

  The blacksmith couldn't even imagine it. It wasn't even that long ago that he'd spoken to the Sage of Fluff and asked him to be safe and not get hurt and his grandmother, Archmage Dana of all damned people in the capital, went insane and tried to kill his family and…

  It was all a bit much.

  Really difficult for him to process. He'd went and tried his best to support the kid during the process but none of it mattered. "Fucking Chancellor… I'd kill him if he wasn't already dead."

  –

  Only as the bartender came to find out, the old smith wasn't back in his forge the next day. Neither were his apprentices. Eventually tracking one down, the bartender came to realize that the desire to forge had just fell right out of the smith and he'd basically hung up his hat, declaring he'd never make another piece. Wouldn't even allow his apprentices to continue either, simply shut everything down and vanished into the night.

  –

  It wasn't until the blacksmith went to try and find out where the memorial for the Sage of Fluff was going to be so he could maybe pay respects that fury and fire ran through him.

  "NO FUCKING MONUMENT, HAVE YOU BASTARDS LOST YOUR FUCKIN WITS?!"

  The government officials that had set up outside of the castle gates didn't have a chance to respond before the short, angry gopher leapt over the table like a kid a fifth of his age and promptly began to beat the ever living hell out of both of them.

  It wasn't long before he was arrested and thrown into a jail cell in the castle's prison.

  Word actually got out that the blacksmith had lost his mind and was trying a one-man assault on the castle in memory of the Sage of Fluff, but eventually those rumors were quelled and it simply passed that the man had lost himself in his cups and couldn't quite process everything that was going on.

  –

  "So you knew Rou?"

  A soft voice spoke, startling the old, broken blacksmith awake from his cell. He'd been sitting in the corner, several days after his rage and arrest, looking up and seeing… a beautiful young rabbit who was simply looking at him curiously through the bars. Some noblewoman? No, wait…

  "Queen Penelope?"

  "That would be me, yes. Please answer my question. You knew Rou?"

  "''course I…" he ahem'd softly and looked embarrassed, "Sorry Queen, I ain't used to talking to anyone half as pretty as that brat was and most of my life was spent around fellas like me. I ain't trying to offend you, so if I say something out of line, I apologize. But yes, I knew him… well enough I'd like to think, fluffy twit was in and out of my smithy two, three times a week trying to talk me into making him some stupid fuckin' swords he dreamt up."

  What surprised him though was that the Queen didn't seem offended, instead she looked at the blacksmith with the eyes of a child who was hearing an interesting story from an elder.

  Pure, simple anticipation.

  "...don't tell me you went and had a crush on him or something, Queen?"

  "Was it that obvious?" her amusement was soft, understated, sad as she added, "My parents tried many times to coax him into accepting a betrothal with me. He never would though."

  "HAH!" The blacksmith began to laugh and cackle, surprising the Queen who looked offended only to realize what he was laughing at as he finally wiped his eyes, "That fluffy fuckwit the King? His mind would be on anything else but ruling. Hah… damn… he… he would have made a nice King wouldn't he?"

  As she saw the sadness in the smiths eyes, Penelope's frustration melted away and she nodded towards a nearby guard.

  "Queen, I cannot let you around–"

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  CRACK

  Without hesitation, the young Queen slapped the guard senseless, ignoring the pain in her left hand from having hit the metal of his helmet, "OPEN THE DAMN DOOR NOW BEFORE I HAVE YOUR HEAD!"

  That legendary temper of hers immediately had the guard terrified as he fumbled to open the door only to do so and bow, letting her enter. She looked at the smith who was howling with laughter, "Ah, yeah, you'd have… if I knew he was hesitating on you Queen, I'd have convinced him myself. You'd have held his tail and kept him from getting in trouble well from the looks of it."

  Incidentally the Queen, as angry as she was a moment ago, looked quite embarrassed and happy to hear such, sitting on the bed of the prisoner and looking at him on the floor nearby.

  –

  The two shared stories and tales of Rou, smiles and pleasant as if they were old friends. She had food and drinks brought to them in the cell, not at all bothered by the idea of having dinner with the smith. It was only when the Smith finally sighed and looked like the last of his life might have left him that he looked at the Queen and asked, bluntly, "Why ain't y'all setup a spot for a monument for him? We all know he ain't… ain't coming back from that. Fucking Black Slime… why'd it even have to really exist. If he just got fucking killed it'd hurt like shit but I could accept it, bad shit happens, but that?"

  "That… that was my choice. He's lost, but not… not dead yet. I felt it was in poor taste to bury him before he's gone so to speak. Do you disagree?"

  "YES I FUCKIN' DISAGREE!"

  The old blacksmith jumped up and yelled at the queen, the guards swarming before she waved them off.

  "That brat was the best thing that happened to this stuffy-ass capital in my whole life, I ain't seen the world-a-smilin like it has been ever. Like some fuckin fairy tale done come and passed and everyone's just happier. Ain't you never been outside girl?"

  "...no, I haven't." Penelope admitted softly, realizing one of her failings.

  The smith relented and sighed, "Sorry, shouldn't have yelled at you, yer parents fault there. Look… if you have time, go out in the capital and ask anyone you meet what they thought of the Sage. What he did for them. It might not seem like much, just bringing back that magic, but he started a new age lass. Even if he only opened the doorway and others carried on… it's a fucking shame that there ain't already a statue of the fluffy fuck, let alone… a monument in his memory. Ain't gotta bury him yet, but if you loved him half as much as I did, then that alone should be enough to convince you."

  Penelope was quiet and after a moment, that iron visage of the 'terror Queen' broke and she spent a moment crying into her palms.

  "You are a smith, yes? Would you… want to have the pleasure?"

  That caught him by surprise, but after a moment, looking down at his own hands, he smiled a little for the first time in a while. "Yeah, yeah think I would. Besides, before he went and got himself fucked up, he'd asked me to make him a pair of swords. Only… even with Soil's blessing I ain't got the stuff to do it with. See, fluffy turd wanted to go and see the world. Was gonna talk him into seeing if he couldn't find the stuff to make his own swords with, but… he can't no more, and I'm too old for that."

  Penelope perked up slightly as an idea came to mind.

  "Soil's Blessing you say? So you're a legendary Blacksmith?"

  "HAH! I ain't forged shit more'n'a kettle since that boy somehow sweet talked Soil into blessing me. Been too fucking shaky and obsessive to start. Every time I begin I get to thinking it ain't good enough and quit again. Why'n ya ask girlie?"

  "Well, when Rou was a child, he managed to solve an ancient riddle and obtain a legacy from a dragon. It's… it's why he was so strong and… well, the dragon heart wasn't the only thing my ancestors found."

  "..."

  –

  "WHAT'N THE *whistle* SHIT?!"

  The old Gopher had followed the young Queen and found himself in a sub-treasury that was built specifically for things that weren't reasonable to keep in the main one. In this case, parts of the skeleton of a dragon, as well as the chains of that magical metal that had been binding the crystalized heart beneath the castle. Naturally there was an assortment of other things there too.

  "If I gave you free rein, do you think… anything here would qualify as good enough for his weapons?" Penelope genuinely asked, a bit of naivety showing.

  "Lass, I doubt Soil himself could ask for better materials. I know you're sheltered but damn."

  She giggled slightly at her own failing, not disagreeing with him in the least. She was very much sheltered. "I shall have to work on being less sheltered. Thank you for reminding me. But yes, as the Queen, everything in this nation is mine. Including these. And now… I am giving it all to you to use as you see fit. If you need more, ask, if something is not here, ask. Rou deserves the best."

  –

  The fires of the smithy roared back to life one day, and the bartender came to collect. The old gopher laughed and threw him a handsome sum and added, "Don't think I'll be drinking anymore. Thanks for the fun times."

  It had been many, many years since the bartender had seen the gopher look so energized.

  –

  Months passed, and the blacksmith continued his work. The apprentices eventually returned but were chased away. This was something personal to him. The gopher wouldn't accept anyone else having a hand in it outside perhaps the Queen herself.

  Which… incidentally came to pass. One day the Queen showed up in disguise, wearing more traditional work clothes and surprised him, wanting to try and help in some token way. At first he thought about telling Penelope to leave, but relented before long as he knew full well how much Rou meant to her. Shit, she wanted to marry him. Who was he to tell her no?

  –

  It wasn't until nearly a year and a half in, the old smith slowly losing himself to his work, scraggly, unkempt, thinning from forgetting to eat, even his assistant in Penelope having left to go back to her duties as she couldn't devote the time to this as she would have liked, left him to his task.

  His life's work.

  The only thing that interrupted his cycle of eating, sleeping and working, with the occasional shower to wash away the grime, was a voice.

  A voice that actually caused the old gopher to look up and stare in disbelief.

  "You, what're you… thought you ran off 'n…"

  "Yeah, I did."

  It was the very same man from the portrait in his office that had as of the past year and more he'd been working had finally gone to the wayside. No longer being dusted as it was, just left to accumulate as he was focused on something else.

  It was the first time since Penelope first appeared that the gopher had been at a loss.

  "Uh, watcha need?"

  They both laughed at his own awkwardness before his old friend pulled up a stool and sat. "Just thought you should be in the know. I ain't got long left. Some sickness took me and I haven't been able to carry on with my forge."

  "Ah fuck…" The gopher walked over and sat next to his old friend, his old lover, whom he hadn't seen in nearly his whole life since they had their difference as to where to set up shop.

  "You?" his old friend asked curiously.

  "Guess you wouldn't know. Sage of Fluff, you've probably heard'a him yeah?"

  "Well yes… I imagine the whole world has. Why?"

  "...Fluffy fuck went and got himself in trouble and he ain't never coming back, as you probably know too. But… afore he went and did that, he used to be a regular here. Came and bothered me often, wanting me to make him swords that he was dreaming up like some fuckin' four year old. Swords didn't make a bit o' damn sense and were about as useful as a floppy cock to make babies with."

  His old friend couldn't help but seem amused at how nostalgic this all was. Especially as it had been so long.

  "Turns out ain't no one made a monument for him yet though. Queen asked me to be the one and I couldn't think of a better monument to his stupid ass than finally making him a pair o'swords, just like he wanted."

  "Mind if I help?"

  "Ain't you fuckin' dying?"

  "I am, but… at least I'll die here with you."

  "...bah. Ain't cried since that fuckwit went and got hurt and now you're gonna make me cry again. But ain't no use you workin' on this without… …actually, can ya walk?"

  "Mm? Yes, I'm not dead yet, my legs work just fine for now. Why?"

  –

  "You, sir, are filthy. Go clean yourself up first if you want to pray." a priest chided the shorter of the two smiths.

  "Aaah fuck off outta the way, we'll be gone and back, just need to say something."

  The gopher pushed the priest out of the way, who grunted and tried to rub the soot off his smock before the old gopher walked up to the shrine at the front of the main church in the capital and shouted, "EY, SOIL, YOU HEARIN' ME?"

  Everyone around freaked out, expecting someone to get smited, but instead, a small statuette of Soil floated up onto the shrine.

  The dying smith nearby was shocked as the foulmouthed blacksmith laughed, "Good on ya. Look, you probably know what I've been workin' on, but this shitstain here next to me came and crawled back after thirty years, and now that he's dyin', he wants to help out one last time. What you say about letting him share in my wealth that the brat gave me? Besides… can't imagine y'all are too happy with what happened with the brat. Least he deserves is a finished product, yeah?"

  The statuette shook before floating up and smacking the terminally ill smith on the head, leaving him shocked as he saw notifications pop up.

  –

  The smithy which had housed the surly gopher blacksmith soon rung out not with the sound of one hammer, but two. Even a light from the heavens shone down on the blacksmith until it was all done. Until one of the two smiths collapsed one day, his body having given out.

  But out of respect, the old gopher didn't stop except to bury his old love outside the back of his shop, continuing on with their lifes work.

  –

  "..."

  Rou had walked through the capital to someplace he hadn't been in forever. In the center of the capital was a park that had been created, sewn with cottonfluff grass, with lots of families just enjoying the area. There were all kinds of seats and toys here enchanted with anti-gravity magic, letting everyone practically fly around and enjoy life even if they couldn't afford it elsewhere.

  And in the center of the park? Was an anvil with two swords sticking out of it, two very familiar swords.

  "But why are you showing me this now, Affection? And… where'd he go anyways? I lost track of him on the way here, surely he wanted to give them to me himself, right? Unless he got shy?"

  "Rou… so you really didn't notice."

  "...what's wrong? Why do you sound so sad?"

  "...he's been in front of you the whole time. His soul anyways. His soul's in the green-hilted one, and the soul of his past love, the one you saw in that picture in his office? Is in the brown-hilted one. They got back in touch while you were thought lost, and… he wanted to make these for you and leave them as a monument, since he'd never be able to give them to you himself."

  "But by the time he was finished, his body was giving out as well. He put his life into these swords. Soil… let him know that there was a chance you could recover one day, but by the time you did, there's no telling how long would have passed. He was so angry that he wouldn't be able to give it to you himself, but so happy that you had a chance, that he asked us to take his soul when he died and place it in one of the swords. His friend felt the same, and secretly asked us the exact same thing before his end."

  "When you spoke to him earlier? That was his soul coming to see you off. To bring you here."

  Of course, Rou, despite being reincarnated, was not one who could handle such things well. Everyone in the park was quite confused as the very Sage of Fluff for whom the park was dedicated was on his knees, crying his eyes out while leaning against the anvil monument.

  At the end of the day, what hurt him the most? He didn't even remember the old gophers name.

  He'd never thought to ask.

  –

  Beneath the Swords on the monument, a simple plaque.

  The Lord and the Lady

  –

  "Was that always there?" a passing boy asked, someone noticing a new addition to the monument. Sure, the swords had been taken by the Sage weeks ago, but… now there was a framed charcoal sketch embedded into the monument, as well as a pair of forging hammers left beneath.

  And a patch of cottonfluff stalks planted on a pair of graves behind a now-shuttered smithy.