Heartsmith - By the Tiger

Thank you, Heartsmith

Once upon a time, there was a girl in a red cloak holding a basket of hearts. "Would you like to buy a heart?" she asks politely. "I have quite a few beauties to offer." No one answers her. She then spots a man looking to be in pain and holding his heart with a sad expression walk past her. She walks up to him afraid to make him cry... He just looked so broken and the dam behind his eyes looks to be ready to break at any minute. "Sir" the girl in red asks quietly. Her words are almost a whisper. "Sir, would you like to buy a heart?"

The man gives her a sad smile and says in a broken voice "No, but do you happen to repair broken hearts as well?"

She feels terrible having to say this but she can't very well lie to the poor man in front of her. "I'm sorry but I only sell hearts, sir."

"I see." His voice was barely audible but the girl knew what he said. The man looked to be even sadder and, if possible, even closer to crying. She couldn't very well leave him like that.

"But if you go down that road, you will find the Heartsmith." The man looked at least a little happier and the girl saw a tiny little flicker of hope shine in his eyes, even if a bit confused.

"Heartsmith?" he asked. Then the man realized and hugged the girl in red "Thank you, young lady. Thank you so much."

"You're welcome, sir." The girl was happy she could help. The man walked away. The girl in red wondered what made his heart break so bad that he looked like he could cry any second.

---time skip---

It was evening. The man walked up and down the way the girl pointed several times before he saw it. It was in between the shopping district and the business district. No wonder he didn't see it until now. No one with any sense would put a shop here.

The place he needed to go was a small, cozy, homey looking place. Some place where you knew you would be welcome anytime, day or night. It was made out of wood, a bit old fashioned even for that time. The carvings on the storefront where absolutely beautiful. The man could tell that the craftsman put days of work to make it absolutely perfect, same with the doors. The sign on the top painted a beautiful golden color said "Heartsmith" proclaiming that he did find the right place. The lights inside were on stating that the Heartsmith was, infact, there.

While everyone else was closing up, the Heartsmith seemed to only work harder. Probably to finish a heart he was working on. The man felt sorry for putting more work on the man, but this was important. So he walked in.

The inside looked like what you would expect a workshop to look like. There were tools everywhere. And tables and tables of heart designs, measuring tools, gloves, and other stuff covering every available surface. "Ummm... Excuse me?" the man asked shyly.

"Huh?" The Heartsmith looked up and his face changed for confusion to pure happiness when he saw the man. The Heartsmith looked to be between 23-29, with a cute baby face, deep, beautiful black eyes, and messy chocolate brown hair. "Oh. a customer!" The Heartsmith walked up to the man. "Welcome, sir. What can I do for you?"

"A young girl told me you repair hearts?"

"Yep, that's what I do. I'm the Heartsmith, pleased to meet you." The Heartsmith was very energetic and if you used your imagination you could picture him quite easily with dog ears and a wagging tail, very similar to that of a German Shepard.

When the man thought of this smiled a little. "Pleased to meet you, too."

"What seems to be the problem?" The man was taken aback. He didn't expect the Heartsmith to be so kind. That made his heart happier than it has been in a long time. "Well...?"