"This thing shouldn't even work. Weight's all wrong, balance is a mess, who taught ye this craft? The mesh's been hammered like a drunk ogre did it. Leather's untreated, gods, it'll rot in weeks. And this chain, what in the nine forges is this even for? " he then looked at the other gauntlet. "And this one's worse, by a long shot. Don't tell me ye made this scrap yerself? " Andre asked.
Every sentence hit like a slap. Not cruel for cruelty's sake, more like a man offended by the idea of sloppy work existing in his presence.
Kael's jaw clenched under the helmet.
"You know, I feel rather annoyed right now," Kael said.
"Ye oughta be ashamed, layin' hands on craft ye don't understand," Andre said.
"Never would I feel ashamed of making tools that allowed me to survive."
That was the truth, and it came out colder than Kael intended. He didn't care. Survival wasn't a debate topic.
