[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]It had been some time since the Slateport Splashfest festival had ended, yet Aurelie still found herself both missing the bustle and excitement of the summer festival and also thankful that it was over. Since she'd first set up her business in Lilycove City, she'd never been away from her forge for more than a day, but for Splashfest, she'd closed up shop and stayed in a hotel near Slateport's beach for the entire duration of the festival. It'd certainly made it easier for Aurelie to enjoy the events and try to drum up business as a festival sponsor, and she definitely didn't regret the opportunity to meet new people and collect a veritable trove of various valuables—not least of which was the precious Galladite stone that she'd found while diving in the ocean, searching for treasures along the sea floor.

But now, she was happy to be back in familiar surroundings. Upon her return, Aurelie had been deeply relieved to find that everything seemed to have stayed where she'd left it. A fine layer of dust had settled on some furniture and equipment, but nothing appeared to have been broken into, stolen, or damaged. There hadn't even been too many angry emails or voicemails about her shop being closed or orders being late. Aurelie had counted herself lucky and threw herself back into taking care of her shop and forge, trying to make up for spending over a week elsewhere not running her business.

For today's project, she decided to touch up the sign that hung over the entrance to her shop and maybe sweep up the front steps while she was at it. The last thing she wanted was to deter potential customers with a dirty-looking entrance or dingy sign. Armed with cleaning solution, paper towels, broom, trash bag, and a step-stool, Aurelie checked that her eyepatch was firmly secured, with the strap buckled in place, before heading outside.

She'd chosen a good time to clean up; there wasn't too much foot traffic at this hour. As she swept up the front entrance, Aurelie heard a ruckus from around the corner and the sound of a door shutting forcefully. Is it the pawnshop again? she thought with a grin. The proprietor of the pawnshop one street over was a notorious haggler, and people coming to sell or buy often left in a temper after dealing with his quibbling, arguing, and general obstinacy.

Under her breath, Aurelie counted the seconds until an angry or annoyed-looking figure showed up at the corner. Forty-seven, forty-eight, forty-nine... At around sixty-six seconds, someone did come marching around the corner, scowling at something on their arm or wrist and definitely looking indignant. To Aurelie's surprise, it was actually someone that she recognized.

"Is it...uh, what's his name...that guy from Mt. Pyre?" she faltered, her mouth falling open as she tried to recall the young man she'd run into weeks ago at the mountainside shrine to Heatran.

No, it couldn't be him, could it? she thought, her broom falling still. Aurelie had never expected to see him again, let alone encounter him here in Lilycove City where she lived and worked. Never good with names, she struggled now to put one to the familiar-looking young man walking along the street. Finally, after several seconds of internal debate, she finally burst out, "Isaac! Aha!"

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]"Isaac! So it is you!" Aurelie exclaimed, her expression brightening with recognition and friendliness. If he still fondly remembered how she'd gone after the would-be vandals at the shrine to Heatran, she still recalled how he had backed her up with a clever attack and then a sharp talking-to that had shamed the vandals into backing off. "Nice to see you again! And this time, not on a misty mountaintop full of memorials, shrines, and apparently, thugs."

She broke into a wide grin when he asked what brought her here. "Well, that's a long story, but the short answer is...I live here!" she answered laughingly. Still holding her broom in one hand, Aurelie swept her free arm about to encompass the shop entrance, the sign above the door, and the shopping center in general. "This is my shop and forge, the Iron Lady Forge. Here for all your hand-forged bladesmithing and metalworking needs, from kitchen cutlery to survival knives and everyday tools."

At the sound of her own sales pitch, she couldn't help but shake her head. "Ugh, that's never going to sound—or feel—natural saying all that. But yeah, I run a little bladesmithing business here in Lilycove. This morning..." She indicated her broom and paper towels with a self-deprecating chuckle. "I was just doing some cleaning up."

Tilting her head to one side, she eyed Isaac questioningly. "What about you? What brings you around here?" Remembering the brief commotion she'd heard earlier, she added, "Are you doing a little shopping around today, maybe?"

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Aurelie broke into a grin and gave a self-effacing little shrug when Isaac complimented her choice of not only residence but also career, somewhat unexpectedly. Not that people usually reacted negatively to hearing she was a bladesmith, but they did tend to be surprised that she was pursuing such an old-fashioned profession in an era of cell phones and air taxis. Or they looked at her like they'd expected her to be brawnier and more strapping, rather than a fairly average-sized woman. Isaac calling her job "awesome" and "badass" was quite refreshing.

Instead, when he mentioned his Mega Stone and showed her the bracelet it came with, Aurelie was the one who reacted with surprise. Her uncovered eye widened, and she couldn't help gaping in amazement at the heavy-looking stone bracelet he held up. It looked impressive, certainly, especially with the gleaming grey-and-white Aggronite set into it, though it did look a little unwieldy to wear.

"My God, that's a hell of an accessory," the red-haired smith marveled, shaking her head wonderingly at the stone bracelet. "It looks really old, like an antique or a historical relic. Where'd you even get something like that? Did you buy it from a museum? Raid an ancient temple for it?" She grinned mischievously at Isaac. "Either way, I can see why you might be shopping for something a bit...simpler."

She sucked in her breath thoughtfully when he suddenly asked to see her own handiwork, as if hoping that she might provide a reasonable alternative to the options at the pawnshop or other places where he'd been shopping around. "Well, I don't really make much jewelry. Mostly knives and blades, as you might expect," Aurelie temporized, remembering how strongly she'd insisted on being referred to as a bladesmith while growing up, not even a blacksmith, let alone a jeweler. Definitely not a jeweler. "So, you may not see much that you could even use, let alone anything that you'd be interested in. But..."

Aurelie hesitated, looking back toward the stone bracelet in Isaac's hand. It was one thing to identify herself primarily as a bladesmith, and quite another to say no to a friend, or at least a friendly acquaintance, who was in a minor predicament and might need some of her lesser-used metalworking skills and insights. Besides, he'd only asked to look around, not to commission some intricate custom-made masterpiece of platinum and diamonds. She shrugged and smiled softly.

"But I'm willing to be flexible," she declared. "Maybe we can figure something out. It's worth a try, right?"

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Aurelie's jaw dropped as she listened to Isaac's story of how he'd obtained his Aggronite and archaic-looking Mega Ring, which apparently had been raided from an ancient tomb. She definitely hadn't seen this coming! Her eye flicked toward his face, scanning his features as he described the hidden crypt in the desert, the traps and puzzles they'd encountered, and the battle against a giant statue. She saw only sincerity and excitement in his expression, which was enough to not only convince her but even get her swept up in his tale of adventure.

"You're kidding me!" she exclaimed, laughing with astonished delight. "That is the coolest thing I've ever heard. I can't believe that ancient tombs like that really exist in Hoenn and you actually raided one. And you made it out alive to tell the tale, too!"

Shaking her head in wonder, the red-haired smith declared, "Man, now I want to go looking for ancient tombs too! But," she added thoughtfully, "I probably need to brush up on my puzzle-solving and trap-dodging first. Maybe do some crosswords or logic puzzles, and play some dodgeball. Maybe then I'd be ready to be a bona fide badass tomb raider like you!" She exuberantly clenched her free hand into a fist in a gesture of resolve, tempered by an amused chuckle.

As he expressed his thanks for her help, Aurelie couldn't help eyeing his stone bracelet with more respect, knowing now that it was the Mega Ring for his keystone. With another little wondering shake of her head, she replied, "Hey, it's the least I can do after all the trials and tribulations you went through to get all that! Hearing the story alone makes it worth it to try. Come on in, and we'll see what we can do."

She beckoned him to follow her inside the entrance, holding open the door after her. The lighting inside was warm and soothing rather than intensely bright, and her steps made little noise on the soft, plush crimson carpeting that she'd insisted upon getting. Aurelie walked matter-of-factly past the locked glass cases showing various examples of different knives, from chef's knives to survival or hunting knives and even scissor or shear blades, not looking up at the display of eye-catchingly patterned Damascus steel bars. Instead, she turned right away toward the front desk, with its register and long wooden counter. Leaning her broom against the wall, she opened a desk drawer and pulled out a sheet of blue-lined grid paper.

"Well, here's my shop, in all its glory," Aurelie said wryly, waving her hand around to encompass the modest space. "Feel free to take a look around if you like! Whenever you're ready, pull up a chair," she added, gesturing toward one of the well-stuffed armchairs for customers in front of the desk, "and we can discuss what ideas you have for a new Mega Ring setting."

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Now it was Aurelie's turn to blush a little and grin as Isaac heaped effusive praises on the creations she had on display in her shop. It was definitely gratifying to see how much he admired and appreciated her work, not to mention just how excited he got about the knives and steel that he saw. It reminded her of the way she'd felt when she had first started forging too: the enthusiasm, the energy, the amazement that such a wonderful variety of things could be shaped and sculpted from plain bars of steel.

"Well, this is what I spend my time doing while you're gallivanting about the region robbing temples and researching legendary shrines," she replied with a grin. "And no, it doesn't take forever, but it does take a long time and a lot of careful, constant, precise work to make those patterns and forge out the knives."

A sudden snort of laughter burst out of her as she added, "And a lot of hoping and crossing your fingers and praying that everything works out the way you want. Which might not be too different from your adventures sometimes, for all I know!"

Aurelie shrugged and went on, "But honestly, anyone could be a bladesmith. You could certainly become one yourself, if you wanted to! All it really requires is good time management, hand-eye coordination, and problem-solving skills." Here, she paused for a moment, warming to her subject. "That, and the willingness to spend years, maybe even decades, studying the skills and techniques of smithing and gaining the fundamental knowledge of the metals and other materials involved."

She could have kept talking about forging blades for a lot longer, but the bracelet that Isaac was still holding, along with the jewel-like Mega Stone set into it, caught the light and recaptured her attention. Such power, such potential, in such a small and delicate-looking object! Its rarity and potency made even her beloved knives seem ordinary and commonplace.

The thought of crafting an accessory worthy of housing the Mega Stone spurred her imagination. She plopped down in the chair behind the front desk and reached for a pencil. With a flick of her other hand, she beckoned Isaac to sit in one of the armchairs in front.

"But you didn't come in here to listen to me ramble about knives," Aurelie said, "even though I'm sure you'd be a good listener if I did. So, let's melt this down and forge it." She tried to remember what Isaac had said about his stone bracelet. " You said you were thinking of getting something less…'a lot' and more you, is that right?"

With a few swift strokes, she sketched out an austere outline on the grid paper—a simple man's cuff bracelet, really just a wide open-ended circle to be worn around the wrist, with a large setting in the center to hold the Mega Stone. She added a few suggestions of either braids or twists in the metal or a twist Damascus pattern as decoration. The curves would complement the swirl of grey and white in the Aggronite, in her mind, though they certainly weren't compulsory.

"Something like this, maybe?" she inquired, turning the paper toward Isaac. "Or maybe something more angular and geometric? What do you think?"

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]"Being a wandering disaster magnet doesn't seem to have been a bad thing for you!" Aurelie chuckled, unconsciously echoing Isaac's own thoughts about the unlikely friendships, connections, and opportunities he'd gained from doing his own thing in life. "A Mega Stone, a cool research project into legendary Pokemon, and a friend like that Cygne girl...definitely not too disastrous, in my book. Life forges and tempers us all in different ways, heating us and shaping and honing us into all kinds of shapes and forms."

She beamed appreciatively at his insightful comment about smithing requiring a forging of the mind as well as the metal. Then she beamed again with pride when Isaac liked her initial design proposal. It'd been a long time since she last designed jewelry and accessories, but hopefully she hadn't entirely lost her touch.

However, Aurelie instinctively leaped to her feet when Isaac released his Aggron in the middle of her shop, startled and concerned for her display cases and other equipment as the huge, bipedal Pokemon emerged from Isaac's Poke Ball. When the Aggron made no sudden moves, though, but instead turned around slowly and even smiled at her, the red-haired smith forced herself to take a deep breath and calm down. She even managed to smile weakly back.

To her surprise, she somewhat recognized Isaac's Aggron from their meeting at the Heatran shrine, when he and his Pokemon had all paid their respects. Unfortunately, she'd just been too worn out from the trek up the mountainside and the confrontation with the vandalizing thugs to pay it much attention. This time, the red-haired smith took the time to look over the patient, proud-looking Aggron with an attentive eye and not a small tinge of admiring envy. The Aggron was truly an impressive Steel-type Pokemon, and she couldn't help marveling at its powerful metallic body and silver plates of armor.

That armor in particular drew her eye, making her think of the medieval armor that she and her father had crafted together when she was younger, some of which had even featured horned helms like the Aggron's. No longer alarmed, only absorbed in studying the Aggron and taking inspiration from it, Aurelie tapped the end of the pencil against her lips thoughtfully. "Hmmm, armor, armor..." she murmured under her breath, her one-eyed gaze turning distant with contemplation.

Suddenly and rapidly, she sat down and began drawing again on the grid paper. As if thinking aloud, she said to Isaac by way of explanation, "I used to help my father forge suits of armor for history buffs and museums when I was a teenager. Plate armor, scale armor, chain mail, the works. And now I'm thinking something like that, but in accessory form."

Taking a deep breath, she showed her new proposal to Isaac: another open metal cuff, but with a more pointed, gauntlet-like silhouette this time, particularly along the bottom. Again, it featured a large central setting for the Mega Stone, but the metal surface around the stone was engraved with rows of diamond-shaped scales in low relief, like the overlapping mail of a fish, a snake, or a man's suit of scale armor. Along the bottom, she added a line of fanciful decorative rivets to complete the armor-like look.



"This is what I'm thinking, see?" she said, tapping the paper. "Simple, but interesting-looking, while echoing the armor of your Aggron. It'll be stainless steel, maybe with acid-etched detailing. I can make it strong enough to deflect a light blow, though it won't exactly qualify as body armor. Do you like it?"

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]"You could say, 'Where do I sign?'" Aurelie laughed, delighted and relieved that Isaac liked her design so much. "Or maybe, 'How much do I owe you?' Those would be good words to say."

The red-haired smith beamed at Isaac's awestruck look and temporary speechlessness, especially since she'd gotten the impression that Isaac was the sort who rarely found himself at a loss for words and usually had a clever quip or comment ready for any situation. Giving her design one last inspection, she emphasized the open-ended cuff design with a few additional bold strokes and nodded to herself with satisfaction. Now that she had created her design and Isaac had seemingly given his approval, Aurelie couldn't help thinking about the next steps of the process—including, of course, the issue of payment.

"Well, if you like it, I can get started on this pretty soon," she told him, adding with a wince, "considering that I don't have any other custom projects at the moment. But first, I'm going to need measurements of everything: your arm or wrist, the stone, the weight of that stone bracelet for reference." She opened the desk drawer and pulled out a tape measure and a small electronic scale, gesturing that Isaac should present his arm and bracelet.

Aurelie continued, "For the cost, if I account for the materials and time that I estimate needing, it should be..." She paused for a moment to make the necessary calculations under her breath, scribbling a column of numbers at the bottom of the grid paper.

After a minute of this, Aurelie finally came back with a figure that was about half the price that the pawnshop owner had tried to demand from Isaac earlier for a Mega Accessory. "I think that should be a fair price," she said, pursing her lips thoughtfully.

As she took the measurements, the red-haired smith started thinking about how she would put together the cuff accessory. It had been so long since she'd made anything resembling jewelry or accessories... As she mentally laid out the process in her mind and thought about forging the stainless steel to shape and creating the setting for the stone, she couldn't help but remember watching her mother working on jewelry pieces, with her little brother quietly and competently assisting with the simpler aspects. And then Aurelie also remembered working on her own pieces—and how they'd never looked as beautiful and effortless as her mother's work, or her little brother's work later on. Her mother's ensuing disappointment had always been a heavy weight to bear over the years.

Her hands started to shake and tremble under the flood of memories, until Aurelie had to pause a moment in her measurements. She bent down to list her measurements on the grid paper until the feeling subsided. Then she forced herself to look back up at Isaac and to smile politely. "I can contact you when it's ready. It shouldn't take more than a few days. Is that okay with you?"

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT