The desert...
In the scorching hot sun of the desert, sand dunes are shaped by the little wind generated there. The skies are clear as day and a soft blue color. Miles upon miles of dry sand stretches across the landscape, suffocating all water from life. Interspersed every so often are cacti and shrubs. At this time of the year, mirages are in full swing. But our story is to the west of here, where the ground grows rocky and cracked. A gigantic kingdom juts out of the dirt.

The bustling kingdom of Demos would seem like a mirage at first, seemingly in the middle of no where. It is all too real for the desert. Beyond the large barricaded iron doors lies a beautiful place to live, to trade, to learn. There is a main road that splits the entirety of the entrance into two sides. Walking in and looking left, you can see a back alley. To the right is a stone wall divider that protects all of the livestock. Eventually the dirt road will split to the west and also continue to the north. If you keep going north, you will cut through the marketplace. Beyond that is the castle. Taking the west road goes immediately to all of the housing and inns. These are the basics that you will need to know when your time comes.

Today was like every other day. Nothing changed. Sparky rose out of bed indifferent and stepped into his workshop indifferent. He barely had time for breakfast before he came back to swinging is mallet at heated metal to appease his customers. Ever since his father up and left, he had to take up his job to sustain a living. Sparks flew repeatedly, and if it weren't for his leather apron, he'd be covered in burns by now. Honestly, he didn't quite mind his job. He just wanted something with a little more spice to it.
Afternoon rolled around-- quite sluggishly at that. He took a daily trip to the marketplace. Strangely, he's in relatively high spirits every day compared to a 'normal' person that would be in his position. Perhaps it was because you can't get work done when you feel dejected. Back to his chore- buying food. His job left him with enough money for plentiful food. But what he really came to the marketplace for was to look for his friend. His only friend, actually.

Lisbeth stood in the center of the marketplace, packing up her cart after making her last trade, happy that the day was finally over. It had been an extremely busy one, but looking at the now nearly empty cart, she realized that things worked out in her favor. She would have a much easier time getting her wares back home than she did getting them to the marketplace. A nice reward for such a long day, she thought to herself with a private smile.

She was just about ready to leave, looking up toward the path out of the marketplace that she traversed everyday. She smiled widely at the sight of the person walking up the path toward her.

"Hey, Sparky," she said enthusiastically. "So good to see you after work. How are you doing?"

Sparky had been looking around a bit in the marketplace, but finally fixated his sight on Lisbeth. It was nice seeing an old friend. Technically it hasn't been a long time since they'd met, but everything is old in the desert. "Oh, hey Lisbeth. " He made a small wave then let his arm fall to his side. "I'm doing fine," followed by a wishy-washy gesture. "Good as any day. How 'bout you?" He didn't move towards her or anything. He was a man of simple conversations.

Keikatz strolled through the marketplace, her arms crossed over her chest. Her eyes danced over everything, the green pearls scanning the bazzar for anything of interest to her. However, as a goblin, there was little that did that. As she made it through the marketplace, she waded against the crowds, towards the food vendors, a deep drifting scent of fresh foods wafting through the air. She grinned. At least she could finally get some breakfast. She made her way to one of the stands. She purchased a half-loaf of sweetbread, and turned to walk away. She took a bite out of the soft, moist bread grinning lightly to herself, as she made her way down the street.

She turned the corner sharply, and eyed a pair of people in front of a cart. She mentally shrugged, walking over to the pair of humans, looking them over, and standing behind them. She raised an eyebrow as she listened to them speaking, the pair blissfully unaware of the gobliness's presense.

"I'm fine, just a little tired," said Lisbeth. "Actually, I'm glad you came here. I have a favor to ask you." She lifted her sword out of the sheath on her back and held it flat in both of her hands. It was normally very peaceful in the kingdom of Demos, but every once in a while, a violent scuffle would break out in the marketplace, so it was very smart to carry a weapon.

"My blade has become very dull. I was wondering if you could temper it for me by tomorrow. I know this is such short notice, but I didn't have a chance to ask you before, and I can't be long without it. I would happily pay extra of course." Lisbeth was holding out her sword to Sparky for him to assess the damage when she noticed a short, green-skinned girl whom she didn't recognize looking at them.

"Oh...hi there," said Lisbeth to the green-skinned girl. "I don't think I've seen you around here before. What's your name?"

Sparky sighed, "Yeah, me too." His eyebrow shot up when he heard that she had a favor to ask, but then he actually heard the request. "Oh, nah it's fine. You don't have to pay anything." He nodded in agreement and gingerly took hold of her now rusted blade, judging exactly what would have to be done. He was half way through when the green person came into his sight. He took one step to the left and turned to this weird looking girl. All he could do was stare in awe while Lisbeth did all the talking. Of course, even then, he never forgot about the sword request.

Keikatz smirked as the two noticed her, the girl first to speak to her. Even being a tall goblin...she was still short to these humans. She offered a half-hearted wave to the pair, with a smile. Gulping down the rest of the bread in her mouth, she sighed lightly. "Aaahhh... Hello, hello, friends." She said, offering a light bow at the hip. "My name? Keikatzeliandra. And you?" She asked politely, looking over the girl, before switching to the male. He just seemed a little dumbfounded. Perhaps he'd never seen a goblin before. Her long, bushy-ended tail swished at the thought. First goblin ever seen? I must be such a queer looking creature to him.

"And you, sir, are...?" She started, offering a raised eyebrow to him.

"Ah..." Sparky shook his head. Try to focus, he thought. "My name is... Sparky." He hesitated at first, a bit uneasy with this stranger, but it didn't really matter at this point. Not wanting to look bad by staring so much, he looked down at the newly attained sword. What should he do with it? It's going to take some time for it to turn sharp again. He figured he could just squeeze in the favor during that time span.

His brain couldn't stop obsessing over the green girl he just met. Should he really trust her? What was she? Only time could tell.

Keikatz smiled as the man seemed stunned still. "Sparky? What a delightful name. Sparky. Cute too, huh?" She said out loud, crossing her arms, which still held the chunk of sweetbread. She couldn't help but giggle a little, as the man tried to piece togther what had just happened to him. "Well...you seem busy, Sparky." She said, winking at him. "I believe that I'll leave you to your business.... Unless you'd rather me stay..." She said teasingly.

Lisbeth looked between Sparky and Keikatz, unsure of how to respond. "Um...I suppose we're actually done here. I'm Lisbeth, by the way," she said to goblin girl. She looked a little mischievous, and Lisbeth wasn't sure what her intentions were, thought she didn't seem evil. I guess time will tell, thought Lisbeth, gripping the handles of her cart and turning to Sparky.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow? If you can't fix my sword by then, that's fine, but please, as soon as possible would be really appreciated."

Sparky diverted his attention to Lisbeth first. "All right. I'll get it done as soon as possible. See you later."
He took a deep breath and stepped towards this green girl now named Kei.. Kei-katze-e? Keikatzeliandra. That's a mouthful, he thought. "Can I just call you Kei or Kat? If it doesn't matter for you. A-anyway, I assume you can stay. Seeing as I don't have much else to do right now." That was a lie. And he tried ever so hard to ignore the slightly inappropriate connotations, but he was flattered by her comment 'That's a cute name.' Unless it was mockery.

"Lisbeth? I knew another woman with a simalar name. Wasn't human; but she was a very nice person. You also seem to have pretty good manners." She said, offering a hip bow to the girl, with a smile. She noted that she was a merchant by now; the cart behind her was a large hint. "I do hope to see you again, Lisbeth! A pretty face like yours probably lights up when you're making money." She said, offering a toothy grin, before turning back to Sparky. She nodded in his direction, her blonde ponytail bobbing up and down after the nod. "Of course. Kei, Kat, Keikatz...I'm a girl of many, many names." She said, patting his hip comfortingly, as she couldn't reach his shoulder. "If you want, I can help out. I'm no professional, but I've worked with metals before. Metals and gemstones, anyway." She said, taking another bite out of her on-the-go meal, chewing quietly, waiting for a response from the two.

Sparky ignored the slightly uncomfortable gestures by Kei entirely, since she seemed to be of use right now. She seemed nice enough to trust, anyway. "Sure, sure. I think we could arrange something." He said in compliance. Sparky was quickly thinking of the possible workloads Kei could help with. He was not about to let anyone temper the requested blade for him, since it was his friend's. But he would let Kei help him with his regular job. Maybe this is not what Kei was planning?

"Great. Just tell me what I need to do." Keikatz said, brushing her blonde hair from her face, looking up at Sparky. Her green eyes had no trace of mistrust or betrayal. "Like I said, I had an apprenticish at a jewelers, and I worked with precious metals for a while." She said, turning around and finishing her sweetbread with one large bite, and a gulp. With a sigh, she looked over Sparky again. "So! Sparky; lead the way!"

Sparky merely shrugged, turned and headed for his workshop. He kept the sword close to him as to not accidentally hit anyone with it. He took out a brass key and unlocked the back door with it. It's not as if anyone would want to steal his things, but it was a precaution nonetheless. Stepping inside gives you a big whiff of metals and burning coal. Definitely a 'workshop' feel. In the middle of the floor lay an anvil, next to it a bucket of water. There were stacks of metals, swords and tools against the wall. Aprons, gloves and goggles hung on the opposite wall.