With Love

"Ouch-!"

Seik brought her finger to her mouth again, sewing was so much easier than this. Lures were strange and difficult to make, and the bat fang hook on them weren't making things any more pleasant for her fingers. She looked over at a folded Heko Obi by her side on the bed, then to her other side at a box with her materials in it. The guild had said, when she could make a decent lure then they would look at her other work and see if she could advance in ranks within the guild. The small bat fangs were very sharp and hard to work with and she had nearly had one of the edges go straight through her thumb earlier when Mel had come home unexpectedly.

But to her this was all worth it. It didn't matter to her how many times she jabbed her fingers making theses things, or how many other things after these she had to make. Sparhawk had made something special for her and she wanted to show the same drive for him. To make something worthy for him, something special, something she worked hard at. Seik examined her work on the current lure, this one was better than her last one but wasn't quite right. She sighed and dropped it into a small pile by the book shelf, the lures seemed to progress in look the closer they were to the top of the pile. She fished through her material box again and started to work on the next lure.

"Put that stuff down for a while and have something to eat, Kupo. You've been at it for hours."

Mel looked over at her from the small table while setting two bowls of soup down. She seemed annoyed, normally she would only make a late afternoon lunch for herself because Seik was out of the house most of the time. Seik looked over her shoulder a moment.

"Sorry Mel, I'll be right there. Just gonna finish this last one."

She carefully finished binding the small hook to the frayed Chocobo feather pieces, then stared at her work for a long moment. This one seemed a lot better, more like the ones she had seen on the Auction House. Maybe if they saw this one they would look at the Obi she made now. She took a piece of cloth, wrapping the lure up in it carefully, and put it in her pocket, then used the mostly empty material box to pick up the pile of malformed lures. After making sure there were no stray bat fangs or hooks on the ground, she put the box near the door to take out later, then went over to the table to join Mel. Seik stared down at her food, wondering if she was going to have to make more lures later. Mel looked up, a spoon sticking out of her mouth and an irked expression on her face.

"Quit thinking about it and just eat your soup before it gets cold, Kupo."

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She finally finished wrapping the tips of some of her fingers in small bandages. The guild had promoted her and now she finally had access to the special items. Her fingers were still stinging, but she made a Cloak to turn in and was able to get the crystal she needed. Her eyes went from her fingertips to her left ring finger. It was worth it. Seik smiled to herself, the ring on her finger making her feel happy and warm. The stinging in her fingers all but seemed to disappear. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the Cyclone crystal and a small ring, which several days before she thought she would never be able to get. She sat down on the floor and set the ring in front of her to make sure she had a steady surface to work with and carefully began to etch her name into its surface.

Mel had left a while ago and the house was quiet, save the sound of the fountain in the back of the room. She held up the ring, checking the carving, placing it back on the floor and making some adjustments. Would he like it? She was pretty sure the size was right, she could still feel his hands on hers, even still see them, and remember how battered they looked. Something else to think about was when she would give him this ring and where she could keep it till then.

Seik pulled a small pocket watch out of her bag and checked the time, it was getting late. She stood up and went over to one of her book shelves and began pushing some of the books aside and checking the spaces between them. Eventually she found what she was looking for which was a small, violet, pull string bag. She carefully put the ring inside it, then looked around the room for a place to put it. There was a box on the small shelf behind the curtain of the bed that would work fine. She climbed on top of the mattress and carefully put the little bag inside the box, but once it was safely inside she stopped a moment.

The bed had always been a sort of giant shelf, or a place to sit. Mel would sleep in it on occasion, but Mel was never home at night nowadays. Seik stared for a long moment at it, then out towards the center of the room where she normally slept. She had always slept on the ground, ever since she was young, but perhaps now it was time for a change. She stepped down from the mattress and began picking up the clutter that covered the sheets. There were a lot of old papers and some books which she set aside, it looked much different when it was clean. Seik pulled out the blanket she and Sparhawk usually slept under from her dresser and draped it over the bed before crawling underneath it.

It was different, but it wasn't bad. Though she wasn't quite used to the softness, it was still pleasant, and there was still plenty of room for Sparhawk. She rolled over to stare at the door, toying with the ring on her finger, her eyes getting heavy. When he got home what would he think when he saw her fingers? If he asked she would show him the ring, she didn't want to make him worry. She honestly couldn't wait to show it to him, though she was still a nervous if it was good enough or not. Seik turned her head to look up where the box was before laying it back down on the pillow, a bit of her hair falling in front of her eyes. She wondered if he would be home soon or in a few hours, but before she could wonder or worry any more, she drifted quietly off to sleep.

There was still so much to think about and do...