Flashback Always by my side

[Virres]

Timestamp: 40th of Summer 512 A.V.

A soft but constant tapping... the clink of metal against metal... A sudden gust of warm air into Vir's cool room, and the low humming of a man from the next room... Vir's eyes opened slowly, his mind and body still halfway lost in his dream of fire and death in the streets... He shuddered. The hostilities between his own clan and the others over their stance on humanity and the outside world were growing worse.

He loved his people, their home, the sheer beauty to be found here, deep under the earth but his clan, and Peritus clan's, views on humanity were not his own... Yes he'd dreamed of fire and death, but for him it was not humans he saw... instead he saw Isur fighting Isur in the streets and that by itself was a thought more frightening than any other.

It was too much... the tension was beginning to get to him... He had to leave. It was a thought he had been avoiding for quite a while now, but it was inevitable... And plus, it would be a good opportunity to see the art of other lands... at least thats what he told himself... It was high time for him to make a decision though... either stay and try to curb his clans anger, or leave and hope he could come back one day, once things were settled.

What decided it for him was his knowledge of his own clan. They would never listen to one so young as he, and they certainly wouldn't want to listen to a man not born of the clan. He had faced the prejudices of some of the Terras elders far too often to think they would listen to his counsel... and so he would have to leave, or be dragged into a conflict he wanted no part of.

After a small sigh he rubbed his eyes, nimbly rolling out of the bed. The tapping and humming was still going, steady and even... A small smile graced his lips and all thoughts of the dream left him as he listened to his father at work in the next room, the sounds as soothing as the beat of his own heart. There was a beat to his fathers work... Tap,tap, ting, tap, tap, ting and the mans hummed tune went along with it... Vir stood at the door which adjoined his room to the smithy, a small smile tugging at his face...

A few seconds passed as he got the feel for the tune before he gave voice to a little ditty brought on by the steady beat...

"Hammer falls, sparks and light
Morning come, take the night
Wake this day, to sound and song

Hammer falls, all night long
May your arm be full of might
May your old bones be allright!"

His father chuckled at the last, very nearly missing a beat before he could catch himself," Eye boy... these old bones could still whip you into shape in no time."

Vir grinned and walked over, taking care not to stand too close lest he accidentally burn himself, so that he might see what his father had been working on all night..." A hammer head?" He shook his head in wonder and looked at the old man, noting his fathers smile..."Its for mother isn't it?"

The old Isur smiled all the wider and didn't even bother to reply... Vir laughed and took up his place on the other side of the forge where his own workstation lay and picked up his hammer and a small iron bar from a pile beside the anvil... Nails were always in need, even in a place like Sultros.

He let himself smile at the thought, but it quickly faded... Today he would tell his family that he was leaving, and he was certain they would not understand...

[Virres]

The bar sat in the coals, heating, even as Vir waited, deep in thought. Leaving the city was not the best option, nor was it the noblest, but he and his few friends would make little headway here in Sultros. No one would listen to them, and Vir's songs were nowhere near good enough to be truly inspiring. Maybe, just maybe, out in the wider world he would be able to do something, even if it be something so mundane as to spread the realization that the Isur are a good honorable people it just might be enough...

He put his thoughts on hold when he noticed the iron glowing a nice yellowish gold and placed the bar upon the anvil. With one hand he held the far end of the bar, with the other he held his hammer up high... One blow, two, three, after every few blows he turned the bar slightly so that his blows always struck a different point. The hot metal slowly shaped to his purpose and he smiled...

But even this task was not enough to make him forget his troubles. Vir glanced over at his father and, when his father smiled at him, he gave a weak smile of his own. Yes he would leave, he would find a way to spread Isurian culture... maybe he would just have to show them the beauty of Isurian craft. Show them what an Isur is, but that would not be enough he was sure... His focus returned to the nail he was working on

The tip was finished and Vir moved it to another part of the anvil, picking up a tool for indenting the metal and placing it where he wanted the nail to end and smacked it with his hammer... It made an indent halfway through the softened metal and Vir reached out with his left hand, deftly wiggling the piece up and down until it broke from the longer whole... Next he placed the end opposite the tip in the fire, heating it so that he might fashion it into the head... His father chose that moment to speak.

"Yer mother's favorite hammer broke the other day... She doesn't know it yet but I have been fashioning this since she first told me. I plan to engrave the sides with embarrassing images fit to make her blush like a maiden." He gave Vir a conspirators wink and Vir had to fight not to laugh. He would miss this. His parents constant back and forth... the warmth and security. But all creatures must leave the nest at some point, and he had a feeling this was to be his.

He pulled the nail from the fire and placed it in the clamp, the heated end up and proceeded to shape it, his hammer falling from different directions so that the metal would not come out completely flat... But instead of his usual happy grin his mouth was stuck in a grim line, and his father noticed easily," Boy whats wrong with you? You start the morning out singing like a songbird but now that your forging your silent? That isn't like you."

Vir gave his cunning old man a sad grin," Aye, I have something to tell you and mother, but not now. Id rather the two of you be together for this." His father frowned at him, but did not pry further. He knew that Vir would talk when he needed too...

Their hammers sang out, but for once it did not seem a happy song... more a dirge signaling the end of Vir's childhood. He finished flattening the head of one nail and moved on to the next.

[Virres]

The hammers incessant ring, his fathers hum, the sparks flying from his anvil at every blow... Normally these things would calm him. Center his mind so that he may face the day ahead, but not this day. Today he would gather the things he had been purchasing discretely for the last few weeks, the traveling gear, the supplies, and he would leave Sultros... If not for good than for a while yet.

But as he watched his father at work Vir's face scrunched up in pain. He hated the idea of leaving, but no matter how he looked at it it was the best option for him... and truly he had been meaning to go out into the world for quite some time now. The strife within the clans was merely a catalyst, giving him the power he had needed all along to leave. Vir placed his old hammer upon the rack where it had rested for most of his life, ran his fingers lightly across the anvil which had sung so beautifully for so long and he walked away.

His father would be finished with the touches on his mothers hammer soon and would come to find her... Vir planned to have everything ready and be waiting before then. After a quick look around he slid into the pantry and moved aside a large barrel, revealing the little nook behind it where Vir had hidden his treasures in childhood... and where he had now hidden the supplies that would mean his life away from his people.

So lost in thought was he that he did not even notice as a shadow passed over the light of the doorway, nor the soft sound of shuffling feet... at least not until a sweet voice rose up behind him," So you're leaving then?" Vir very nearly jumped out of his boots as he turned to see who had adressed him... not that the voice hadn't told him already... His mother, standing there behind him with a look that said she had been expecting this... Before he could even get a word out she smiled," I've known about that hiding spot for years now you know... There isn't much a boy can hide from his mother." He could see her looking him up and down, thinking," Not that your little anymore... nor are you a boy."

She stepped aside and Vir walked out, his voice locked inside by a tight throat, unable to reply... She just smiled that sad smile and continued," Your father and I were expecting this. Have been for a while now in fact.