A Birth day

Aria looked to Angus as he mentioned Minos and at that and Marcus heading out to talk to them a platoon of fae few in she smiled and looked to Edward as he spoke " okay then, I'm ready" she said standing and moving to Edward " lets go, I'm intrigued by where we're going" she said drawing her own wand." she held to Edward .

Ruby looked at Angus as he spoke " where are they going?" she asked him " or don't you even know" she asked as she tried to sooth Abby as she held on to Kate.still. Jess looked at Kate and Khaat as she glanced back at the main house.

"I should get back to beau, the nurse I left can cope but isn't experienced in what we need ." she said and ported back to the med bay reliving the nurse to continue her tending of Beau. Ruby stood up leaving Abby with Kate and Khaat heading to the kitchen to make fresh coffee and tea " I can tell this is going to be along night" she said looking over at Angus a she set the coffee pot to heat back up.

"Then we'll be off," Edward said, drawing a portkey out of his pocket. He ported Aria and himself out.

"We can take Abbey back home with us if you like," Kate said. "Poppy's had a long enough day, I think, so I let her go home. She's done well but she's tired."

"Thank you, Kate," Marcus said.

"Come on, Pet. Let's go home. You can visit Aggie and Ruby any time you like, but Nicky is going to need your help with supper," Kate picked her up, and Khaat picked up Abbey's bag.

"Thank you, Angus. I'm always glad when she gets to spend time over here. It makes her so happy," Khaat said.

"She's welcome here anytime," Angus said. "She makes me happy too." They said their goodbyes and took Abbey home.

"Edward's going to Italy. He has a friend who is, well, a specialist in making enchanted weapons. His grandfather made Edward's axe, and Edward's bought quite a few weapons from them through the years. I'm not sure what he's looking for but he's looking for something in particular, I think," Angus told Ruby.

"It's nice to know there are at least one or two of those kinds of craftsmen that I don't know about," Marcus smiled.

Ruby watched as Aria and Edward ported out, she also watched as Kate suggested taking Abby back to the main house then nodded as Angus said she was welcome in their home any time. " she's been a great help and I second Angus , shes welcome her any time" she said smiling as she handed Khaat booboo kitty and watched them carry Abby back to the main house. Moving to sit with Angus she listened as he spoke of where he thought Edward and Aria had gone to.

"oh, why do you say that, do you know a lot of enchanted weapons smiths?" she asked out of curiosity as she saw two guards sit on the chairback behind him and she chuckled. motioning to Angus he had an audience to his words she smiled.

Now Joseph had finished the barn stalls and now was feeding the animals finding the Thestral's the easiest to feed. Jack walked in and inspected the stalls and nodded " there might be trouble tonight , be on your guard and let the others know to watch for anything out of the ordinary" he said to Joseph, " go get food and return, make sure your wand is at you hip and with in reach" he said simply..

Joseph put down the bag of feed and headed to the door , he left the barn and walked to the tower where he informed the others who nodded and gathered their things ready in case of a fight. Joseph grabbed his wand holster and tied it to his waist slipping his wand into it he then slipped on a knee length jacket and returned to the barn. " I'm back, every ones notified and will be ready." he said and Jack looked at him up and down then nodded.

"good you'll do, now back to work" he told him as he then headed aback to the main house to find any one who wasn't aware of the the possible fight he could feel hanging in the air already.

"I don't," Angus said.

"I do," Marcus replied. "In my line of work, I have had occasion to need some special things from time to time, so it has behooved me to know who I can count on in various cities. People who design things like this are true artists, alchemists and wizards all rolled into one, so there aren't many of them to begin with. The pool of them is small, but I do know several in various places in the world. I'm not exactly sure what Edward's after but he tends to like a certain style of weaponry, so I am always interested in what he chooses."

Edward had ported himself and Aria to a small, old village at the foothills of the Italian Alps. He walked through a couple very narrow little winding streets to an even smaller, narrower back alley, through a medieval arched tunnel of sorts, to an old wooden door. 

"This is the place. It is very well hidden from muggles for a reason," he told her. "Its been here for generations." He opened the door and went in. The place was a tiny little shop for magical weapons. There were knives, daggers, swords, staffs, crossbows. bolts, arrows, bows, axes, hammers and more. Smaller weapons were in display cases, and bigger weapons were crowded together on the walls.

A very young blonde woman sat at a footpedal operated grinder sat, honing an edge on a shortsword, and when the breeze hit the side of her face, she looked and saw Edward and Aria there. 

"Edward?" she broke into a wide smile. "I didn't expect to see you today. What a nice surprise." She took off her safety glasses and laid them aside and stood up. It was when she stood up that Edward couldn't help noticing she was very, very pregnant.

"I see you have news. My goodness. How is this possible? Are you even graduated yet?" he asked.

"Flatterer. I'm 23 now," she laughed.

"Your first?"

"Our third," she corrected. We had twins last Christmas. They're going to be two this Christmas."

"That just doesn't seem possible," he said. "How is your dad and your mum?"

"Dad's in the back. Mum and Gran are canning tomato sauce today," she said. "How is that famous axe? Need sharpening yet?"

"It's in fine shape. Maureen, this is Aria. She's a friend of mine. Aria, this is Maureen. She's the next generation of weapons makers in this family."

"Pleasure," Maureen said. "Any friend of Edward's is a friend of ours. So what can I help you with today?"

"This is important this time. I'm not sure what we're going to be up against, but we need some diverse weaponry, just in case."

"Of course," she said. "Ranged or melee?"

"We don't know. Could be anything."

"Well, if you have any slingers, a sling is always a good choice for a quick range weapon, if you think your spells might have trouble going the distance. Or bows and arrows. Or perhaps a staff that can also be used as a spear or a club with a quick conversion spell," she told him. "We have a number of those staffs in stock with different woods and finished, of course. For melee weapons, there are countless styles of blades, or maces. The smaller things are in the cases. We have some magical capture nets, pouches for powders, belts for potions bombs or small weaponry. And I'm sure there are some other little toys around here too. What do you think?"

"Well, we tend to do more melee fighting, quite honestly. We don't do much ranged fighting. We need to be able to carry light and be flexible."

"Then let's go smaller," she said. "If it were me, I'd go with a blade. I like daggers, myself. I have a couple different lengths of them in my own collection, but my personal favorite is a mithril switchblade. I can tuck that into a boot. We have several of those, and they're very nice. It's light, strong, and we can enchant it to hone in on, for example, dark arts opponents, or to warn about certain magical beings. In your case, probably werewolves."

"Not this time. Sorceress, we believe."

"Dark then."

"Definitely."

"We can enchant to warn or to be drawn to strike home to improve aim for better chances of success."

"Might be useful," Edward nodded, perusing the display cases, and as he did, the gleem of mithril caught the sunlight, and it peaked his interest. It was a beautiful mithril axe hammer, a razor sharp axe on one side and a serious hammer on the other. It was sleek, beautiful, and very deadly.  "Now, that, I like," he said.

"That's one of our better pieces," she nodded. She got it out of the case and handed it to him. He examined it carefully, checked it for balance, weight, handling, checked the sharpness of the edge and the feel of the hammer head. She laid a belt on the counter.

"I like it," he said.

"This belt has a hatchet loop, and we have a loop and sheath for that axe in the matching black for the belt," she said, laying the loop and sheath out for him to examine as well. 

"I'll take the whole works," he told her, "Oh. And two full sets of the best mithril throwing knives you have, a mithril dagger, and an equipment belt for all that. I need to keep looking, though. Aria? You seeing anything?"

Ruby looked from Angus to Marcus as he spoke and she was amazed by how he knew about the metalsmiths who make enchanted weapons. " wow " she said simply.

Aria looked around the area then followed behind Edward into the shop seeing a young woman at a grinding wheel. When she stood up Aria saw her tummy and gasped but when she spoke she smiled and let them continue while she looked around the room at the weapons hung on the walls and laid in display cases. A pair of enchanted daggers caught her eye but she left them as she heard Edward talking to the woman.

" yeah shes particularly slippery" she said " i'm Aria by the way" she mentioned as she looked at the woman as she spoke of the variety of weapons they could use she stayed quiet knowing this was Edwards show. She watched as Edward placed down the a beautiful mithril axe hammer on the counter before asking her if there was anything that had caught her eye. " yes , that pair of daggers you have hung on that wall" she aid and walked over to them. " perpetually sharp, and charmed to enhance a users natural magic." she said then looked back at the woman " may I take a look at those" she asked and waited till she had taken them down. Picking them up she held them " balance well" she said softly then saw a target in the corner of the room taking one she quickly threw it at the target hitting it dead center " fly's straight, I'll take these" she said smiling " can I ask if you could you put a protection charm on them please ?" she asked and showed her what she needed.

"We can do different protection charms," Maureen said. "What sort of protection charm are you looking for, specifically?"

Edward continued to browse, laying other items on the counter."

"Edward!" A man's voice with a strong Australian accent called as a huge, stocky and muscled man came in from the workshop. "I thought I heard a man's voice." He came around the counter.

"Baylen," Edward smiled as they greeted each other with a hug. "Good to see you. How's business?"

"Steady enough," Baylen said. "You look like you're ready to mount a war by yourself."

"Nah. Just defense," Edward said. "This is Aria. She's a friend of Angus's."

"Nice to meet you," Baylen said to Aria.

"Baylen is Maureen's dad," Edward told her.

Aria listened and thought for a moment "one that would protect the carrier but only the person owning it, and won't let them,the person hit, remove it " she said "I know that's a difficult one" she added  " we not sure what this nut case women will do so I'm wanting something that if it lands will stay and we can trace it back to where ever shes hiding" she added then heard a male voice other than Edwards. Turning to face the man she smiled " pleasure" she said to him and shook his hand before looking back to Maureen.

Aria looked around the room then back to Maureen and smiled " that's all , I have my own dagger holders so don't need any" she moved her coat and showed her them , black alligator leather embossed with a dove on it.

"So you're not looking for a protection charm as such. You're looking for a location charm so you can trace it after you've thrown it," she said. She looked at Braylen.

"I suppose it would be easy enough to cast a spell like that," Braylen shrugged. 

"You might want to ask Michael to do that," Edward suggested to her.

"Oh, she knows Michael, then. Yes, Michael certainly would know how to do that," Braylen nodded. "I'd have to design a spell like that, but Michael would know that in his sleep. If he can't, you can bring the blades back if they won't work for you." 

Braylen turned to look at Edward. "Who are you arming? Yourself?"

"Primarily? Angus," Edward said. "I just have a feeling he's going to need all the lightweight ammunition he can get."

"Come with me. I have something that you might like. It didn't sell, so I took it out of the display and put it back on the workshop shelves," Braylen motioned to him. "I haven't had anyone who could handle this thing, but I still think it has potential." Maureen rolled her eyes, thinking that her dad was still trying to sell a special design of his that no one wanted.

Edward followed Braylen into the back.

"He's got the metallurgy shop back there," Maureen told Aria. "He's got some great designs, but every so often, he comes up with a dud. And this one is a dud. He still likes it, though. Anyway, you can certainly buy those daggers if you like them, but let me show you one more pair." She reached back behind her on a shelf that was up above the grinding wheel, and she got down a cardboard box. She set it on the counter, opened the box and pulled back some plain red velvet that someone had used to wrap the daggers in. These were beautiful feminine daggers with floral vines running the length of the silver scabbards, and when Maureen pulled a dagger out of the scabbard, the same floral scrolling ran the length of the blade. "They're an identical pair," she told her. "What do you think?"

Aria heard Maureen and nodded " I guess I am" she said then listened to Edward and Moreens dad talking when Maureen moved behind the grinding wheel and brought a box she expected nothing much but as Maureen opened it her eyes lit up " wow those are perfect" she said and glanced at her first choice seeing the intimidate difference she nodded " I'll take those, those are exactly my style" she said and smiled " oh and yes I'll ask Michael to do juts that." she told hr as she ran her finger over the flat side of the blade . taking the second she did hr checks and smiled " as expected perfect" she chuckled.

she watched where Braylen had gone and looked to Edward knowing now what ever it was he was retrieving would be good for Angus. Turning back she paid for the daggers and slid them into her holder seeing how light against her leg but how perfect they looked as she moved around the room. " I defiantly will be coming back next time Edward comes " she said smiling a she shrank the box with her old daggers in and slipped it into her pocket as they waited.

Edward came back a moment later, and he had, in his hand what looked like a green dagger scabbard made of beautiful malachite and an ornate dagger in the scabbard. 

"I know it's extravagant, but I think I know the person that is supposed to wield this," he told Aria. "Look at this." He stepped back away from her a few steps and drew the blade from the scabbard in one quick movement. It was not a dagger at all. This was an enchanted rapier that grew to its full length as Edward drew it from the scabbard. Silver ivy coiled itself gracefully around Edward's hand as the blade grew to full length. "It's an Elvish blade. Baylen just repaired it and restored it and the scabbard. I think we know a certain swashbuckler that could use an enchanted blade that grows to full length."