Submission (#7540) Approved

All her life, Shiva had considered Strynhalde her home. A “winter wonderland” most would call it, and she would surely agree. Surrounded by the abundance of pure white snow as far as the eye could see, the cool winds caressing your face as you pranced about, everything shimmering and glittering like crystals, and not to mention the breathtaking view of the northern lights, illuminating the sky with a beautiful cascade of colours.

And so… the very thought of her having to leave this haven and venture into this… this barren wasteland  very much made her upset, and she made no attempt to hide her disdain. It was quite depressing that she wasn’t able to procure actual gemstones in Strynhalde, and while the ice crystals there were certainly beautiful and could probably rival actual gemstones in terms of their facet structure, they sadly would not hold up well outside of anywhere but there.

Her traveling companion was certainly enjoying her predicament, seemingly reveling in her soured expression by letting out a most unrefined guffaw.

“Hey Vi, keep making that expression and it might just stick, haha. You’re making this seem like an execution or something.”

The red djinnin raised a claw and poked playfully at her face, which she swatted away with a huff.

“Had this been anywhere BUT here, I would not have required your presence, so kindly make yourself useful and only open that mouth of yours if you have something useful to say.”

Shiva’s cutting remark only made Ifrit grin wider, seemingly impervious to her sharp tongue. He leaned closer, rubbing his cheek against hers as she let out a displeased shriek.

“Aww, don’t say that. I’m sure you’ll come to love Zevija. It’s warm, it’s bright. The hot springs are great, and you won’t find better quality gemstones anywhere else. Maybe you’ll end up liking it so much you decide to stay, huh? Then I can see you a lot more. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

Shiva’s response was to turn and glare at him.

“Ehh I know what you’re gonna say, but the gemstone part is true. Heck, if you weren’t so opposed to hitting up the mines, we could find a real nice one to get polished up. Would be cheaper too, I reckon.”

Sadly, Shiva wasn’t able to refute Ifrit’s remark about the gemstones found in Zevija being a cut above the rest compared to others, but she absolutely drew the line in venturing into the mines in dingy, dusty darkness, scouring for possibly hours in the chance of finding something decent, only to go through the whole process of finding a skilled artisan to refine said stone. It wasn’t a hassle she was willing to put up with, especially when she could just find an already refined gemstone and save herself the trouble.

“I’m offended to think that you assume I lack the funds to pay for a perfectly good gemstone at market price. I didn’t think you’d have so little faith in your own vendors selling quality products.”

Ifrit merely shrugged.

“Hey, just sayin’. Knowing how picky you are, I’m just trying to save those poor vendors the trouble of you nit-picking them to death over facet structure and quality.”

“Hmph.”

It wasn’t her fault that they completely lacked an eye for detail and the inability to meet her impeccable standards. After having to needle them to provide exactly what she sought, they had the gall to demand an absurd amount of compensation, attributing it to an “inconvenience” tax  or some nonsense like that, as if the very act of performing their job for someone that had any sense of standard for quality control was beyond them. Service these days…

“Well, that’s their fault for not providing their best wares from the very beginning. If they did that, we wouldn’t need to go through all this trouble in the first place.”

She huffed, already weary with the thought of having to deal with getting into heated debates with the vendors again, and it seemed Ifrit noticed, as he was already starting to turn around.

“Alright, how ‘bout this. You just tell me what you’re looking for, and I’ll do the digging? I’m sure I can tolerate your ‘impeccable’ standards a bit better, you get exactly what you want and don’t need to get your claws dirty, and you can save some money for the refining process?”

Shiva opened her mouth, wanting to object, but then decided to ponder his offer instead. True… though she was loath to admit it, Ifrit was a bit more patient than the standard nin. His general jovial demeanor was borderline infuriating sometimes, and it seemed like rarely anything could get him riled up. It was almost ironic, with how cool-headed he could remain sometimes, while her own temper flared at the simplest things.

“... Fine.”

She turned her head, not wanting to see him beam in victory.

“But! It has to meet my standards. I won’t let you leave until you find EXACTLY what I want.”

Ifrit saluted, still grinning as the two made their way to the mines. Having spent quite some time with Shiva, he had a fairly good understanding of her likes and dislikes, so this shouldn’t take too long, right? And though she did have high standards, she would surely go easy on him.

… 3 hours later, Ifrit finally managed to salvage a small handful of gems that seemingly satisfied Shiva.