“Bout time you got here,” the voice was the same as he remembered it, one part laughter the other part scorn. When Logan found the face that was making the noise he held out his arm to the Farrier, a smile on his own lips as the man took his forearm and held it tight. They grinned at each other for a moment while squeezing the other man's arm, a friendly test of strength, one that had the Farrier laughing even louder as he let go of Logan's arm. “Still got your metal then!”
“Wouldn't be without it,” the Farrier quirked an eyebrow at those words and began packing his forge away.
“There was a time not too long ago you'd have wanted that burden taken away from you, I remember the conversation well enough. What's changed?” Logan looked deep into the old/young eyes in front of him.
“I have,” The Farrier nodded and pulled the last piece of his kit back into the old truck he travelled in. Moving to the driving side of his truck he smiled at Logan and nodded to him to get in with him.
“Aye lad, I believe you have, finally understood which bits of you are real then?” Logan shut the door and seated himself next to the Farrier, keeping his eyes on the road ahead of them and not at the smiling face of the man next to him.
“Yup.” It was all Logan said about it to him, it gathered another heartfelt laugh and they set off for the mansion and home.
Logan liked the Farrier, it had been Katherine's idea that he go and help out last year, he'd been in a pissy mood and was being a grouch because he could be. Not even Marie had been able to bring him out of the self-serving attitude he was in, Katherine had been short with him and told him to 'go be an ass with the asses.' It wasn't often he managed to upset Katherine but he had that day, everything was wrong, no one was right except him and there was no happy ending for an animal like him, not even with Marie. So she'd kicked his stubborn ass out of her kitchen and toward the Farrier, now travelling slowly in the truck it had been one of the best things she'd ever done for him. Logan remembered the first time he'd walked around the stable block to see the lame smith tending to the huge hunter and he just couldn't keep his mouth shut.
“You'd better be careful there, he's an ornery bastard that one,” the smoke from his cigar lit up the air in the stable, making the hunter shiver as the fire scent reached his nostrils. The Farrier just whispered a word and the hunter calmed again, his vast bulk steady and strong against the small man who was fitting his shoes. What he'd said next had made Logan's anger raise to heights when mayhem usually occurred.
“There's no animal that can't be helped by a gentle word or two, even an animal like you.” He'd been all for dropping his cigar and ploughing into the small idiot in front of him when he'd noticed the change in the hunter. His ears were flat back against his head, his neck was low and his mouth was tight but it was the eyes that held Logan still, they were dead flat, empty. He knew if he looked away that horse would stamp the life out of him if he made just one move out of place, suddenly the size of the hunter was apparent. He was eighteen hands high and nearly a quarter ton of muscle all concentrating on making Logan's day even worse. The Farrier dropped his now newly shod hoof and the hunter moved forward, slowly, his stare going directly through the anger and to the man underneath it.
Logan didn't move, he didn't even breathe deep as the hunter came forward, his ears now moved toward Logan's breathing, his large mouth relaxed and a warm snort flooded over Logan's face as the hunter took in his real scent. The large head bobbed around Logan's body taking in the thing that had been so stupid as to challenge him in his home. When he was assured he was of no threat, he nickered and walked away from him, there were no ropes holding him still to be shod. The hunter knew his place in the heirachy and Logan had just been added to it, below his own standing of course. The laughter of the Farrier had broken the ice between them that day, the sight of Logan all shown down by a horse who could have made him mincemeat in three seconds flat. But it hadn't all Logan had needed was a reminder of his place in the heirachy, he was human and as a human he was below the herd master. Only the Farrier was equal to him, and that was only when he needed his hooves repairing.
That day he'd helped out in the barns, fixed metal work, he'd even popped his claws and asked him if he could do anything about them. The Farrier had shaken his head and told him that the only way he'd be able to deal with them was come to terms with the weight himself, the same way the horses do. They may not like them but they need them, and the Farrier had made it clear that as much as Logan hated the blades in his arms, he did need them. Even if it was to prove that they may have tried to make him an animal but it hadn't succeeded, he didn't kill indiscriminately. They'd talked about swords, about Japan and that was when Logan had remembered the debt he'd owed. But before his thoughts had been crowded with the plans of what he was going to do he'd asked the Farrier for one thing. For a ring to be made for him, from a shoe nail, a ring of iron, a promise to someone who meant the world to him. The Farrier had understood and he'd asked a price for the work and Logan had given it willingly, what was another injury to him? He healed from everything, but when the iron knife had gone through his flesh he'd nearly screamed with the pain. A small pot was produced and the blood that flowed from the closing wound was collected and stoppered. All he'd said was that it'd do for the other rings he made,silver and steel, the blood would quench the rings after forging. He'd never asked who or what the rings the Farrier made were for, but now he knew, they were sitting in his breast pocket, their designs unique, just like the two people they would join together.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Logan's gone to get the man and we find out what happened to make the engagement ring...
Chapter End Notes:
Next Chapter......Wedding!