Eir and Bellona walked down the street as they prepared for the day’s labour. They knew they couldn’t leave Inamura without repairing what was broken and so they prepared themselves to buckle down and volunteer to help.

“Ready to get more done today?” Bellona asked with a big smile.

“This was supposed to be our vacation,” Eir grumbled under her breath.

“Yeah well, blame it on that Eikon; everyone else is,” Bellona said proudly while patting Eir’s back.

Eir grumbled more as she looked around at the reconstruction effort. Men carrying large logs, blacksmiths hammering away at works, and masons hammering stones. Their determination to continue in the wake of an Eikon surprised Eir to say the least.

“Hey, how do you think they’re doing?” Eir asked in a shy voice.

“Oh, I’m sure they’re fine; they’re a resilient people,” Bellona said with a satisfied sigh. “If they survived generations of slavery and war from the Reig, they can handle an Eikon and Titan blowing a city to hell and back.”

“No, I mean Arylos and Iris,” Eir asked while rubbing her arms.

Bellona’s smile slowly faded as she thought about the two. “I don’t know; I haven’t seen them since earlier in the week and they honestly looked like shit.”

Eir rubbed her arms together as she felt sorry for them before Bellona rubbed Eir’s back. “Don’t worry about them,” Bellona reassured. “One way or another, everything will be fine. The last thing we should do is spend our time worrying about them. Plus, Iris is a strong girl; if anyone can keep Arylos under control, it’s her.”

“I’d appreciate it if you don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” Iris’s familiar voice said from behind Bellona. Bellona and Eir jumped back as they saw Iris was right behind them, wearing loose work clothing and her hair in a tight ponytail and a big smile on her face and several gourds full of liquid in her arms.

“Fuck, don’t scare me like that,” Bellona said while gripping her chest and trying to catch her breath.

“Don’t leave yourself so open to sneaking up on,” Iris said with an entertained chuckle. “And while you ladies aren’t doing anything, would you mind giving me a hand?”

“Oh yes!” Eir immediately said as she and Bellona relieved Iris of a few of the gourds. “Where are we taking these?” Eir asked while examining the gourd and hearing the liquid slosh around inside..

“Follow me,” Iris said as she walked ahead of the Templarians.

Bellona and Eir followed slowly as Bellona tried to work up the courage to ask her burning question. “So, how are the two of you doing?”

Iris chuckled softly as she maintained her smile. “Quite honestly, if another person asks me that, I might just hit them with my shoe.”

“We’re worried about you, that’s all,” Bellona defended in a shy voice.

“I think the people living here need your concern more than us,” Iris said in a soft voice. “They suffered a lot more than we did.”

“But you and Arylos were really thrown around; we can’t help but be concerned,” Eir said while coming up next to Iris.

Iris stopped in her tracks as she lowered her head, deep in thought. As she looked back up at Bellona and Eir, she knew what she wanted to say. “Do you want the honest truth? It was an Eikon that resulted in my village’s destruction. It was the Eikons that broke Arylos’s spirit. And now another Eikon has come to us and threatened our home. Once more, they attacked my home and the ones I love and had things been different this time, it would have been Nageki all over again.”

Iris turned away as she gritted her teeth, unable to form tears as blood vessels in her arm popped. “So if you want to know how we’re doing, we’re angry. In fact, we’re fucking pissed. We just want to be left alone and yet those things keep dragging us back. Part of me should feel bad for Nerseis but once I saw what he had become, there was no forgiving him.”

“Vengeance isn’t healthy, Iris,” Bellona said softly while wanting to comfort Iris.

“This has nothing to do with vengeance anymore,” Iris said while shaking her head. “Would I like to kick Odin’s ass? Absolutely, but I can’t lose what I have now. If they decide to come back to finish the job though, that’s on them; they signed their suicide notes in that case. Now I have to protect my home and that must remain my priority, do you understand?”

Bellona fought back any urge she had to say anything. She couldn’t help but feel afraid of Iris as she wondered just how far Iris would go now. She cast a glance at Eir who was visibly afraid of Iris now, wondering if this Iris was the result of her relationship to Arylos or something else.

“I’m sorry,” Bellona said softly.

“It’s fine; I know you guys are trying to help but it still irritates me,” Iris said as her smile slowly came back to her. “But if either of the two of you even think about turning into Eikons, I’ll kick your ass into next week, do you understand?”

“Yes ma’am,” Eir and Bellona said in unison without hesitation, knowing that Iris was not joking with them.

“Good, come on then,” Iris said with a smile as she continued forward down the street. Bellona and Eir followed closely behind as they wondered just what happened to Iris; how she changed over the past year. The group walked in silence as Bellona and Eir secretly worried more about Iris.

Before they knew it, they had arrived at a large forge with dozens of smiths working in unison; hollering orders and dancing around each other as they worked like a well-tuned machine. As the machine of smiths roared, they churned out various metal works from nails to supports and cross beams that flowed like a river towards construction workers who struggled to keep up with the pace of the men of steel. Iris cracked a smile as she approached and some of the smiths recognised her and greeted her with hearty shouts.

“Aye, it’s Arylos’s lass!” one of the burly men called out with outstretched arms.

“Did you really think I would forget you boys?” Iris said with a smile as she hugged the blacksmith. “I promised you a treat for your hard work anyway.” Iris gestured for Bellona and Eir to bring the gourds to a table nearby as the men cheered.

“You boys needed a refill after your breakfast,” Iris giggled as she opened the gourds as the men placed tankards on the table and she began filling them with a bright yellow liquid. The men cheered and clanked their tankards together as they sat down and drank the refreshing liquid.

“What is that?” Eir asked softly.

Bellona smiled as she poured a couple of cups for Eir and Bellona and handed it to them. “It’s a lemon juice drink my mom used to make. The guys here drink it faster than I can make it.”

Bellona looked at the drink and took a sip. She could taste the refreshing lemon flavour and the familiar acidity, but the sourness was complimented with a sweetness unfamiliar to Bellona. She felt as though it was the essence of lemon without the sour acid that bit at her teeth; a nice contrast between sour and sweet that refreshed her.

“Okay, I see why they’re so excited,” Bellona said with a satisfied nod.

“I figured you would be helping rebuild like when Reyz first attacked Sentoraya,” Eir said as she took a drink.

Iris giggled as she continued pouring glasses for the workers. “I was, but then I made this for Arylos and then he mentioned while he was working, talking about how he could go for some more. Since then, I’ve been doing nothing but making barrels for these guys. Which reminds me, where is the big idiot?”

“Speak of the devil, and he shall appear,” a familiar growling voice said. The big and shirtless tattooed Titan with burning red eyes stepped out from the shadows of the deeper sections of the forge and approached Iris with a wicked smile.

“There you are, darling,” Iris said with a smile as she brought one of the tankards to Arylos. “I hope you’ve been at least leaving some work for the other guys.”

“Do you really expect me to slow down?” Arylos asked with a seductive smile as he took the tankard from Iris.

“Well, sometimes slower is better,” Iris said while tapping Arylos’s chest with a laugh.

“Get a room, you two!” Bellona shouted as she looked at them with disgust.

“Perverts,” Eir grumbled as she hid her face behind her glass with judgemental eyes.

Arylos and Iris looked at the Templarians before laughing in unison, entertained by the Templarian women.

“You got yourself a mighty fine woman there, Arylos,” one of the smiths said while slapping Arylos’s shoulder. The big man with a thick beard laughed heartily as he drank Iris’s lemonade. “You should really tell my wife the recipe you use for this.”

“Is it too late to say it’s a family secret?” Iris said with a giggle as she took in the affection.

Arylos laughed as he rubbed Iris’s head, laughing to himself as he remembered how small and cute she was compared to him. “What about your cookies? Those are fair game, right?”

“COOKIES?!” the men of the forge all asked as one while turning to face Iris. Iris could see an animalistic glow in their eyes at the prospect of food.

Iris blushed and hid her face for a moment, too embarrassed of what Arylos had done. She looked up to him and yet he gave her a hungry and wicked smile, showing that he intended to expose her like that. A part of Iris hated him as her heart couldn’t handle him anymore.

“Fine, I’ll make cookies when I get back,” she said in a defeated yet happy voice as the men cheered. Bellona couldn’t help but laugh as she looked at the duo, feeling happy that they were slowly returning to normal. She knew their anger deep down but for now, they could forget that anger and let go of their worries for at least this brief moment.

Bellona decided to let her worries go as well, choosing to have faith in them.