Early in the morning, just after dawn, Marty began to open up his store. Marty was the obvious owner of Marty's Sword Shop. He always opened early and closed late. This was so he could keep an eye on his valuable merchandise. He was a nice man but he didn't trust most of his customers. At precisely nine o'clock, according to his watch, Marty flipped his "open" sign around. He had a strange habit of doing small, important things three or four hours after they should have been done. Customers neither cared nor could explain why. He looked out the door and standing on the other side, staring back at him, with a smile on her face, and a cup of coffee in her hand, was Neon Glass. "What's she doing here so early", he thought as he opened the door. "Awfully early for you to be here, don't you think, Neon". "Yeah, well", she responded, "today is pretty special." "And what makes today so special?" "Oh yeah, I guess I haven't been able to tell you yet. I'm leaving on a quest today." "By yourself?!" "No!", she said,placing her coffee cup on the counter. "And what's wrong with going by myself anyway?! Are you suggesting I couldn't do this alone?" "Whoa, calm down. You've never been anywhere, outside the city. Why would you up and decide to go on a quest now?" "Sorry, Marty. I've hade a few extra cups this morning, I'm a little edgy." She picked up her cup and took another sip. Marty rolled his eyes, shook his head, and sighed. "Alright then, who are you going with?" Again, Neon set her cup on the counter. Calmly she responded, "I don't know, we're meeting for the first time this afternoon; but that's not the reason I came in here." "Why?". He laughed. "You gonna buy something this time?" "No...uh I mean yes. The wizard said I needed a new sword." His Face lit up,"that's great, I was just sent some new swords last night." As Marty turned to go into the back room, Neon shouted, "I don't have that much to spend, Marty." "No problem", he called back, fumbling through the boxes. In his arms, he held a three foot, sheathed, broadsword. In full view of Neon, he unsheathed the sword, revealing the black blade. She gasped, it was an awesome site. A smile came to her face, then a frown. "I don't think I can afford anything like that,Marty. Put it away, out of sight out of mind." She sipped her coffee. "It's free...", before he could finish, Neon spat coffee all over his face. She cupped her hand to her mouth, partly to hold in the laughter. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry." "As I was saying", he whiped the warm liquid from his face, then whiped his hand on his pants. "Before I was so rudely interrupted, (and leave that coffee on the counter, I don't want any more on my face, thank you)" "Sorry, I thought I heard you say it was free." she reached for the coffee. "I did. Put that cup down!" He paused, "This sword is a prototype, the very first of it's kind. The company who makes it..." "Who makes it?" Neon interrupted. "I'm not allowed to say." "oh, I see, top secret, eh?" "Exactly," he responded. "Anyway, the company who makes it has asked me to give it to my most trustworthy customer for field testing. And, since you're going on a quest..." "You're giving it to me?" "You're a good customer, I trust you." "One question, Marty. Why is it black?" "I can answer that one. It's teflon coated." She ran her fingers up and down the blade."Hmm, so it is. cool." Neon picked up the sword,"What's it made of? "It's very light." "Now that I don't know." "hm, teflon", she took a swing with the sword, "pretty smart." "That's what I thought." "And you're just giving this to me. Marty, that's not like you." "Oh, they're paying me to do this." "That's better. For a second there, I thought you flipped or something." "gotta make a profit somehow." "That's what that wizard said, yesterday." She resheathed the sword, "Thanks, Marty, I'll be sure not to loose it." She put the sword over her shoulder and headed out the door. "Bye, Marty", she called out, as the door shut behind her. Her cup still sat on Marty's counter. "I wish she wouldn't do that", he thought as he picked up the cup and walked into the back room.

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