CHAPTER 94: HOW DO YOU TELL SOMEONE YOU LIKE THEM?

Rust was busy putting an edge on a short sword with dedicated focus when his auntie walked in later that morning. The fox broke his concentration to look up at Stahl and frowned the slightest bit before he spoke.

"Sorry I didn’t come to the meeting... We heard right after the captain returned early this morning, and the chief asked us to prepare some extra weapons, so we’ve sort of been busy... I can guess why you’re here, though, and you don’t have to tell me, I don’t want to be anywhere near those things. I’ll stay hidden."

Stahl smiled at her nephew, impressed by how level-headed he was being considering the impending attack, not to mention the devotion to helping any way he could. The she-wolf walked a bit closer to the fox before she answered him with a grin.

"I’m glad to hear it... But... I actually came to help."

The fox gave his auntie a skeptical look and a short pause before he finally answered her.

"Uh... Thanks... But have you ever even worked in a forge?"

Stahl wasn’t sure if her nephew was being a little shit because he was nervous or if it was a genuine question. She raised an eyebrow, opting to answer like it was the latter.

"...It’s been a while, but yeah, I know what I’m doing. Seems like you’ve got plenty of touchups to do, need a hand? Or would it be too embarrassing to work with a rusty old wolf like me?"

Stahl finished by pointing to a bundle of weapons awaiting some love, some with visible dings and chips to be smoothed away. Rust looked at their workload once more with a grimace and turned back to Tan.

The orc stopped tending to his own stack of something small and pointed for just a moment to grunt out his approval.

"Welcome aboard. Grab a weapon, grab a stone. There’s going to be a steady flow of these for a while, and I expect even more will stop by shortly for tuning their edges. I’ll finish these needles soon and lend a hand. Many of ours have chosen their weapons already, but many have not. It may be a poor selection for the most part, but let’s offer them what we have."

Stahl gave a short bow in appreciation and did exactly that, opting to help finish out the swords first. The three worked on in mostly silence for a good while longer as the fox occasionally peeked over at Stahl’s work.

Rust was actually enjoying being proven wrong about his aunt’s ability, finding the she-wolf did seem to know what she was doing after all. Rust spoke his apology in what Stahl assumed was his best attempt at sounding like an adult.

"Sorry to doubt you... I just didn’t really remember seeing you in the forge much back home."

Stahl looked over to her nephew for a split second with a flash of a smug expression but spoke in understanding shortly after.

"Yeah, but in your defense, back then, YOU were the one who wasn’t forging very often yet... To be honest with you, I haven’t really wanted to make anything since I forged my swords with Silbern back when I first enlisted... And I sort of stopped nearly altogether a few years before that to focus on my swordplay. Sure, I have helped a bit with some things since, like Aster’s armor and such, but never really hands-on like I was then... It’s just... That was the last good memory I have with my brother, and I wanted to hold on to it a little longer."

Stahl took a second to pause herself, not meaning to dump all of that on her nephew like she had. Rust paused mid pass with his stone to glance back towards his auntie with a bit of a sad look before returning to his task. He spoke quietly.

"I miss him too... I miss all of our family... I’ll be glad to see them again soon, it’s been too long."

The she-wolf huffed out a bit, having some idea already as to what the fox really meant.

"Is someone missing a certain younger white wolf in particular? I guess it has been two years..."

Stahl flashed her antagonizing smile at the fox but let it quickly fade when she saw her nephew recoil and flinch while he looked away. The she-wolf started up an apology immediately, realizing she had struck a raw nerve a bit too harshly.

"Hey, sorry, Rust... I was trying to lighten up the mood a little... I know it’s been hard since they moved."

The fox stopped his work completely and placed his stone and his sword down on the workspace before him. He turned to his auntie then and looked her straight in the eyes while he finally asked what he had wanted to.

"If I ask you some questions, will you give me some answers? And I mean true ones..."

Stahl’s ears perked in shock, not expecting this to lead there of all places. She answered cautiously.

"I guess that depends on the questi-"

The fox cut her off before she even finished.

"No. I’ve been growing up. I know you’ve noticed... Look, I know where cubs come from, and I don’t need to talk to you about that... But there are other things I want to know about that my father wouldn’t ever tell me... Will you at least hear me out?"

Stahl was even more surprised, feeling uncomfortable being pressed to go against her brother’s judgment, but also awful about potentially going into battle while leaving things unsaid... The she-wolf gave it some thought and came up with a solution.

"You get three questions. I might not be able to answer them, but I won’t lie to you... HOWEVER, you have to agree to promise me something in return afterward. Do we have a deal?"

Stahl had placed her own tools down and reached out her larger hand to her nephew. Rust wasn’t one to not catch the fine print, though.

"What’s the promise?"

Stahl only flashed a smile before she replied.

"Is that the first question?"

Rust grunted in annoyance, his left ear twitching twice rapidly, knowing he wasn’t getting that answer. The fox reached out and shook the wolf’s hand.

"We have a deal." Rust squeezed his auntie’s hand tightly as he continued without missing a beat. "My first question: Who is my birth father?"

Stahl quickly pulled her hand away, answering swiftly and flatly as she turned a shoulder to her nephew.

"No... Not doing it, and you should know better than to even ask me. You talk to your father about that one when you’re A LOT older... Next question."

Rust groaned, expecting as much, but figured it was worth trying anyway. He did get a little information still. His auntie knew the real story also... The fox thought hard on the right wording for the next question but asked after a brief pause, his voice more quiet than before.

"How do you tell someone you like them? I know, I know, I’m young, and I don’t want to worry about anything too far along yet... But I want them to at least know how I feel, how I’ve always felt about them... How do you bring that up?"

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