They hadn't actually known there was a stable in the village, it had been more of a blind hope that they could get saddles here because... it just made sense? But now they were confident in it, with the horses settled in a large fenced area with other ones, happily munching away on grass and hay from the feeders. If there are horses and a stable, there are saddles. Simple as that. 

As promised, Kai led them straight to Elfstone after the horses were taken care of, even though half of the group already knew where the blacksmith was from the last time they visited. Not that they said anything about it, just silently following. Anything to distract from the... awkward moment from before.

Smoke climbed from the blacksmith, loud clanging of metal on metal being heard from outside already, even with the noise from the street. "Well. You guys have fun with your shopping." Kai waved goodbye, completely avoiding both Phil and Techno as they turned around and left. The two looked at each other, shrugged and decided to ignore it as Phil went on ahead into the building, checking if the villager really had time for them before calling the others in. No reason to come barrel in with six people if he was busy with some orders or something.

The heat of multiple burning furnaces and the lava pool at the back almost made him sweat in his multiple layered clothes, but his wings took an immediate liking to the extra warmth. Alright, keep wings extra warm, mental note added. In the corner, he could see Elfstone happily working away on a sword, not bothered by the heat at all. Probably used to it by now. Phil decided to wait by the desk, not wanting to enter the workshop part of the blacksmith. "Elfstone!" The loud clanging stopped as the man turned to look at him, a big grin immediately on his face as green eyes lit up with joy. "Philza! Good seeing you again!"

He put the sword aside and walked over to Phil. "How have you been? Did Tubbo get to you guys okay? He did manage to find you right?" The blonde nodded, taking the offered hand as a greeting. You'd think seeing Phil was the most exciting thing of the day with how much the man grinned at him. "He and Wilbur both made it to us unharmed. We were happy to see them again, especially unharmed. Thank you for taking care of them, Tubbo told us about what you did for him."

Elfstone smiled, nodding along to his words. "He's a sweet kid, put a lot of hard work in for the few days he was here. He has a surprising amount of strength stored away in that short body. We were surprised to hear that he knew you guys. Complete coincidence that we found out too, asking completely out of the blue about travelers that came through. I think he even mentioned your hat specifically. Or was it Wilbur,  I forgot... but they did specifically ask about you!" "I can imagine that was a surprise, considering he lived with you for a bit before asking."

The blacksmith stretched his arms above his head, yawning as he nodded. "Sure was. Now to the big question, how in the world did you manage to hide these things last time you were here? I didn't even suspect you were an avian last time I saw you! They aren't as small as Kai's, seems impossible to keep hidden just behind your back under your clothes. How did you do it?" Phil stiffens, glancing back at his wings. Fuck, of course he forgot about them again.  "Right... uh... I hid them with... invisibility? Like... the potion." Elfstone frowned, eyeing the wings for a bit, then him again. "That works? Just making specific body parts vanish?" Welp, I'm dead. "Pouring it on something is different than drinking it, unless it's made as a splash potion to begin with." Stop digging yourself a deeper grave you idiot!

Yeah, Elfstone didn't believe that for one second. He may be a blacksmith, but he knew how potions work. Everyone knows, even with their limited access to the magic item. No one really trusts the crazy old man to brew them properly. 

Phil mentally slapped himself for even trying to lie his way out of this, already panicking the longer Elfstone stayed silent. This will just get worse the more people ask him. He should just come clean, that will probably be less confusing than- thanks to some miracle from whatever god is up there, Elfstone seemed to accept the answer and nodded. Wait what? "Fair enough. I know avians are really careful with going into villages, even years after all that hunting them down thing has stopped. You don't have to worry about that here though." Phil slowly nodded, his wings shifting and tugging closer to his back. "That's why they are out and visible now." 

There was an awkward pause for a while. Elfstone knew that Phil would probably not give him any more context or answers, so a subject change was probably the best idea. "So... did you come back for more weapons? I just got a big load of ores when a miner group came through for new tools, we can probably work something out." The blonde sighs, happily accepting the change of subject. "Something like that, yes. We, as in me and some friends, wanted to ask for your help with some things concerning items we want to buy, including weapons and armor. Just if all of it is even available in the village and maybe the location of that bigger one you mentioned during our last visit." 

He hummed, looking over at the anvil and his current work. "I can take a break for a bit. How many of you are there?" "Six, me included. Techno and Tubbo came along, but the others you haven't met, I'm pretty sure." "Alright. We should all fit into my living room then, if we squeeze together." "Are you sure? We can just talk outside if-" "Nonsense, let's sit down and get comfortable, who knows how long this will take." Phil nodded and the two walked back outside together, where everyone was waiting and chatting to each other. Tubbo immediately grinned and went to hug Elfstone, abandoning his spot next to Tommy. The blacksmith laughed and hugged back, ruffling his hair. "Hey Tubbo. Good to see you actually found your friends. I was a bit worried you would be out travelling at night. " 

"Nah, we did find them before the sun went down. And the new home we are setting up for everyone is so cool! You should come see sometime! We have a big lake and farms and cool houses that Phil designed!" Elfstone smiled, looking very similar to a parent or big brother listening to their sibling ranting. "I will once I can have some days off. I am supporting most of the village with my work. And if that is okay with your friends here of course." "We'll allow you in this time." Techno gave a small smile, having his arms crossed out of boredom and not knowing what to do with them, already having had enough social interaction for today. Phil immediately elbowed him into the side. "Ouch! What-" "Be nice." "I am being nice!" Elfstone just grinned at the interaction. Friendships never seem to change, always looking similar in the passing through traveler groups.

That was, until Tommy threw an arm around Tubbo and stared at the blacksmith, a very much overdramatic glare on his face. "And I, mister blacksmith, am Tubbo's best friend. If you want to hang out with Tubbo, you gotta hang out with me too." The two stared at each other, the youngest clearly taking this as a challenge or some sort of contest for Tubbo. Clingy, was the first word that came to Elfstone's mind. "Uhhh... sure? And your name is...?" "Tommy! Biggest man ever and Tubbo's only best friend!" Tubbo huffs and shoves against his shoulder. "What about Ranboo-" "Boob boy isn't here right now, so I take his place and can be the double best friend." 

Phil sighs, not even bothering to try and stop Tommy from his ranting or embarrassing himself, simply pinching the bridge of his nose as his feathers rustled behind him. Knowing from experience, telling Tommy to stop would only make him talk more and louder to prove his point. Elfstone looked over at Phil, seeing his very much disappointed face, then looks back at Tommy. 

And back at Phil.

And at Tommy. 

And at Phil.

Wait...

"What are you looking at? Do I have something on my face?" Tommy glared even more, making Elfstone hold up his hands in defense. "No just... Phil just didn't mention having a kid last time he came by." Phil looked absolutely horrified while Techno and Tubbo burst into laughter, together with the two new people behind them. Tommy got a huge grin on his face, looking like a child on Christmas at whatever idea he just had. Phil looked even more horrified at that.

"Tommy no-"

"Oh yes yes yes. Dear old Dadza over here is just so joyful over having such an amazing kid like me, but he hates when people then notice how old he is to have big man Tommy as his kid, all grown up."

"No. Shut. Elfstone he's not-"

"Yup. The main reason he never says he has kids to someone. If there is one thing Phil hates, it's being reminded of his age. Guy is as old as the mountains, he'll crumble to dust any minute now."

"Techno!" 

Phil tried defending himself again, but every time someone decided to just add salt to the wound that was this rumor. In the end, he gave up, his wings slumping down slightly in defeat. "Can we just get the shopping done? I wanted to be home before it gets dark." He shot Techno a look saying 'you will pay for this' while Elfstone nodded and led them inside his home. 

They did have to squeeze a lot to fit at the kitchen table, but they did all fit. One quick introduction round later, they went to talking business. 

"So, what did you guys plan on buying? And since you already said maybe weapons and armor, how many people are we talking?" The group traded looks before agreeing that Phil can, yet again, handle the shopping part. He will murder them all later. "We are a total of ten people now and four of us have equipment from you already. So technically six that need enchanted weapons. Most of us have chestplates and stuff, but again without enchants. We have a bunch of gold and iron, but barely any diamonds. We're still a bit careful with deeper mining and especially caves without proper protection." 

Elfstone nodded, scribbling along in his own notepad to estimate pricing and what he can do in a certain timespan. "So we are looking at more enchanted iron then I guess. Fine by me, I am faster with iron than with diamond. How fast would you need these things?" "We can wait a few days if you are busy with something. Right now the main project is a new house and some improvements to existing buildings, so no pressure." Another hum, more writing. "Do you want new armor or your old one improved?" Phil leaned a bit closer over the table and grinned, looking like he was fully in his element, much to the amazement and amusement of the rest of the group. "Depends on how much that changes the pricing." And Elfstone grinned right back at him. "I think you'll find it acceptable." 

They went back and forth over the items they need and how they will be paid for, discussing how worth it it would be to just fix up the already used stuff. At least Elfstone was being honest with the duration of iron tools. Techno leaned back in his chair, deciding that playing with a piece of string he found was far more entertaining than whatever conversation was going on. Tubbo and Tommy had gotten their hands on some paper and a coal pen and were now playing tic tac toe. Bad seemed genuinely interested in the conversation, almost white eyes darting between the two and following the conversation, while Puffy looked like she was half asleep. 

In the end, they settled on new items, agreeing to bring over their old stuff as extra payment for Elfstone to smelt down and use however he wanted. So their purchase was settled on ten new enchanted iron chestplates, since none of them have enchanted armor, and six weapons. Phil only had to sacrifice a stack of gold ingots and 70 iron ingots for all of it. A steal, considering the prices he knew from usual Minecraft villagers that could demand close to 20 Emeralds for one of these items, if not more. He was still grateful that Elfstone took other payments than Emerald.

"I'll roughly need a week to finish it all, but you can come by before that and pick up the stuff I have already done by then. And drop of your old stuff whenever you can." "We can wait a week, unless something urgent comes up I guess. We'll get on moving the old things once the horses are taken care off." Elfstone nodded, closing his notebook and putting it aside for later. "So, with that out of the way, what other things do you need?" Phil pulled the little shopping list out of his inventory and showed it to Elfstone. 

"Hm... you definitely get saddles and horse supplies here. I'm not specialized in horse armor though, so you need the bigger village for that, sorry. You have a big farmers market in the center for food of all kinds, some wandering traders are here right now too for more exotic things. There is a small book store you can get your paper, ink and other things from. No enchanted books though, only the regular ones. Soaps and stuff are usually also in the market. Kai sometimes sells some too whenever they gets their hands on the needed ingredients. Saplings is also something you should ask Kai about. The butcher may have some leather for you, not sure how much you need though. And I have no idea what in the world that... 'fridge' thing is." 

Oh Phil was so happy Wilbur didn't come along.

"It's... how do you explain that... it's for storing food in. It keeps it cold and fresh for a longer time, so it won't go bad as quickly. Like milk and meats especially." "Ohhh you mean an icebox? That's what we call it." "I guess?" Elfstone got up, startling poor half asleep Puffy wide awake. He walked over to a large chest made of quartz, opening it for Phil to see. The inside walls were lined with slabs of packed ice, keeping the entire thing nice and cold. "Like this?" "Yeah that's it! We need an icebox!" Elfstone closed the box again and sat back down. "I don't know if we have anyone selling them right now, so maybe you need to get the materials from the bigger village and assemble it in your home yourself." 

He looked back over the list once more. "Clothes for ten people would also make sense from the other village, if you look for a bigger variety and faster production. Not that our people are slow, but it's just that most of us make clothes ourselves and we have one shop of an older couple that sells a few items. I know a Seamstress there, she has a big shop. Family business, beautiful designs. She has recently taken it over from her parents. You'll find what you need there, I'm sure. I think they renamed it to Lake's Garment after some incident with the family name though." Phil nodded, adding that to the new list for the big village. "I think that was it. Did I miss anything?" 

Phil scanned over the list himself. "Directions to the village?" "Right! Sorry." He took Phil's paper and quickly noted down the coordinates. "You travel two days by horse, so keep that in mind when you want to go there." "Alright. Thank you Elfstone, this was a big help." "No problem. Glad I could help. You should get going if you want to get everything before it gets dark." They both got up, getting the attention of the others. 

"Are you finally done?! Fucking hell that took forever!" Tommy got up from his seat, dragging Tubbo along. Phil didn't even comment on it. Techno followed suit, stretching with a yawn. "Let's go, I'm getting hungry." Bad and Puffy followed after them, Bad more or less nudging Puffy along. "Didn't you get any sleep last night?" "I did. Just bored." 

Elfstone waved goodbye to them, watching them disappear into the crowded marketplace. "What an interesting bunch of people..." 

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I am back baby!