[Flashback] Kelwyn Temple Dos [Done]

by **Torc Ironwood** on October 22nd, 2010, 8:08 pm

4th of Spring, 499 A.V.

For two years Torc had worked the forge during the spring months. He remembered his first and the long hours in which he spent pumping the bellows and shoveling coal. Priest Ano had been true to his word, Torc hard work had helped the temple flourish slightly and save the few precious coins they could. The men had been surprise at how quickly he had put on muscle. Thick cords of muscle now ran across his frame, two years ago he had looked much like any other boy. Now he was stronger than most men, and was called upon for most of the heavy lifting in the temple. It had felt good the first time a young priestess had called Torc to lift a chest to her room. The chest had been heavy and filled with winter clothes. As he lifted it his arms began to bulge and the priestess eyes widen. Torc had carried the chest up from the cellar to the woman’s dorm without a problem, and the priestess thanked him with a chaste kiss. At the time Torc had felt his face heat up like an oven, his heart began to pump blood and warm his body, and yet Torc was confused. He had always thought the priestess as chaste women; teachers, mothers, and friends. Now, he began to realize that not all the priestess were chaste. It seemed strange as Torc rolled it around in his head. He had always known that the priestess carry children and had families, it just never dawned on him that a man had to be there as well. Yet now with budding feelings and a body that was finally becoming a man, Torc had come across the realization that they weren’t as chaste as he thought.

For the past two months, Torc had thought of that kiss and what it meant. Secretly, he had enjoyed it, even if it was nothing more than a peck on the cheek, and he wondered if Mola would allow him to give her a kiss. Torc shook his head has he organized the tools around the blacksmith shop. Mola had slowly began creeping into his thoughts again. She was no more than a year younger, but her childish frame had slowly began to change into a woman’s. Her small hips had slowly started to expand, often she would walk close to Torc teasing him with a touch or a show of her bouncing skirt. The young boy that Torc was, didn’t know exactly how to handle such things. He had tried talking to the men in the dorm, but overall they spoke of mounting women like horses in the yard. The mere image troubled and excited Torc. He wanted it to be sweet and passionate, yet the men spoke of it as something dirty and a bit of fun.

As Torc crouched near the scrap pile, he realized that the only thing that helped clear his thoughts were work. The simple creation of something, helped keep the troubled thoughts at bay, and over the past few years that had come in handy. Too often Torc had troubling ideas about who his family had been or what had happened to Jimmy after he had left the child’s dorm. Torc pulled out a broken chain and went over to the bar stock. The chain had been used in hooking down trees to a team of horses, after years of use a link had broken making a small section useless. Torc took a pair of tongs off their rack and place the iron bar stock into the forge. Slowly the iron began to heat up as Torc worked the bellows. His arms moved up and down, muscles moving in a rhythmic place. Whoosh, the air entered the forge making the coals glow bright red, and flames shooting up around the metal. The like a weezing old man the bellows expanded sucking in more air. The sound seemed to relax Torc, it made him feel as if he was a babe in an old mans arms listening to his chest. Quickly Torc’s arm went up, whoosh went the bellows, and heat blasted his face. The iron began to have a soft glow about its ends, orange that turned to blue and eventually into black began to seep into the bar. Wheeze, air began to flood into the bellows, as Torc lowered his arm lifting the heavy bellow top up. The flames slowly began to die down, like a hand retreating from the gentle caress of the iron. Whoosh, once again Torc arm shot up allowing the heavy weighted top to collapse the leather and force the air into the forge. Torc’s thoughts of Mola and horses drifted away as the metal began to heat up to working temperature.

Slowly the iron bar stock turned bright yellow orange. Torc picked up the tongs and lifted the bar to the anvil. In his right hand was the hammer, as it came crushing down upon the iron bar. The sweet tang of metal sounded throughout the forge. Sparks flew as flakes of metal began to peel of the bar from the force. Torc lifted the hammer once again, see the dent that his blow had brought. Where his hammer struck the metal had cooled, leaving a orange glow. Torc once again brought down his hammer to hear the strike of the metal echo. Torc had been too thin the bar stock down to size. Each stroke was like a heartbeat within the forge, and the simple music of creation took over. The fire roared a dull beat of heat, the metal’s high pitch ringing was like a voice singing. Torc moved the tongs to flip the piece and the voice of the metal changed. Like a chorus of people singing, each face of the bar had its own pitch, and as it slowly lengthen, the face of the chorus changed. Before it had been the fat and short, but now it was lengthing, turning into a tall thin man. Torc moved between the forge and anvil, each time the music changed, but within it was the song of creation. At times like this Torc knew his spot in the world, as he walked the halls of the temple, he felt like he wasn’t suppose to be there. Yet in the forge with the ringing of the metal, and pulse of the forge, he felt like he was wrapped in blankets and in bed. The creation of something brought a peace to the creator. It wasn’t something to be taken for granted, the peace was happiness. To Torc harmony and balance was within him, the world slowed and as his focus was centered on creating a round bar, the troubles of the world were gone. Finally, after bells of work, Torc had a round bar stock; it was twice the length of his forearm and thick as his finger. He had been able to replace the tongs with his hand as the bar had lengthen, allowing him to heat up only the part he wanted to shape. Now as he allow the forge to heat up the end, Torc found an iron wedge with a long post.

Torc began to thread the post down into one of the holes of the anvil. He would be able to use the wedge to cut the round bar stock to size and create a link. Torc checked the length of the chain links and measured them. Torc grabbed the round bar stock on the end outside of the forge and brought the heated end down onto the wedge. Slowly he shifted the bar stock till he had the correct length, and then he once again brought down his hammer. The bar stock jumped in his hands from the force of his blow. As Torc brought up the hammer, he gave the round bar stock a turn. Each time the hammer came down a small wedge was forged into the metal. The bar stock began to from a blunted v into the middle of it. Torc worked the iron stock, until it had cooled, the taper had shrunken to a fourth of its size. Torc then took pilers off the rack and began working the metal back and forth. It was heavy working moving the iron back and forth. The metal was rapidly cooling on the inside, and yet Torc needed to create a fatigue line in the metal. Slowly, the metal began to give more and more as Torc worked it back and forth. In a blast of effort, Torc saw the crack form in the wedge and break the bar stock along the wedge line. Torc smiled and placed the smaller round bar into to the forge.

As the bar heated up, Torc brought up the chain and the section that had broken onto the anvil. He had beaten the bar stock to approximately the same size as the chain. Torc pulled out the round bar from the forge with tongs, and placed it near the horn of the anvil. Slowly he began pounding in a curve into the metal about three fourths up its length. Torc swings were fully body, like the ones he had done shaping the bar. No they were short swings on top of the bar stock to create a bend using the small of the horn. Though the strokes of his hammer were short the bar quickly began to form into a hook, and then Torc moved to his hammer lower making sure that the straight length of the bar kept its form. Moving back to the forge Torc heated up the partially done link once more, he was covered in sweat and grime as he watched the link heat up. The chain hadn’t been very high on priorities for the temple since no major projects had been thought of. Granted Torc suspected they hadn’t asked for major projects because the chain had been broken. Besides Torc wanted to make sure that they could cut down a decent size tree for the winter and allow it to dry and season the timber. If they did it by the end of summer, it could leave the fall to dry, and then Torc could spend the winter cutting and leveling the beam. If nothing else, at least they could have a spare support beam instead of waiting till one of the temples cracked. Torc saw now that the half finished link was ready to come out of the forge. He once again picked up the tongs and went to the horn of the anvil to began to be the end of link. Once the bend was made Torc stopped, handling the chains he threaded the links onto the one he was crafting. First, he placed the harness link onto the chain, the cool metal leaving a blue streak across the orange metal. After, that he placed the second link that contained the rest of the chain on the link. He was force to move his tongs on the piece, but once done he quickly hammered the link closed. The length hadn’t been close enough Torc had started the bend to earlier and the link rod was too long to close.

Upset that Torc had made a mistake in his measurements, he was forced to put the chain back into the forge. We was now going to be forced to beat the link into fitting, though the link would be stronger because of the tight fit, it meant another bell at the forge as Torc hammered the links end back and forth. Still it had been for a good cause, and when Torc once again began hammering the link, his anger on the mistake faded away. Torc pushed the metal back and forth deforming both ends till they finally one of the slipped over the other. Torc finally was able to beat the metal straight and close the link. Placing the link into a bucket of water, he felt good at completing a project.

by **Torc Ironwood** on October 23rd, 2010, 2:28 pm

5th of Spring, 499 A.V.

It was early in the morning and Torc had skipped breakfast getting here. After fixing the chain last night the lumber team had been grateful. Priest Ano had kept saying it would be fixed soon, but it had never quite happened. Now Torc had finished it in an afternoon, and was temporary their hero. In the midst of all the congratulations and praises, Torc somehow still felt out of place. He hadn’t done it for workers, nor had he done it for the praises. He had been doing it to get a problem out of his, and that problem just walked into the room. Mola, her hair was draped across her left shoulder, a wave a silky black hair combed smooth and straight. Her skin seemed to be tanning slightly from her usual milky white complexion. She was working the temple gardens during the day, and Torc was glad that the temple stood between him and the gardens. All he wanted was to simply caress her face and perhaps kiss those pink lips. However, in his day dreaming the lumber crew had picked up on locked stare. They had joked and laughed at his expense, making him feel downright foolish. Even with the shame and humiliation from the men around him, all he could think of was Mola.

Mola had even plagued him in his sleep, his dreams were of bare flesh and possibly a pleasure not yet experienced. So when Torc woke up, he felt the burning need to start work and rid himself of the dream. So he braved the cool morning air and decided to head towards the forge. A part of him worried a great deal about how much time he was spending thinking about her. A part of him just plain wanted her, yet he didn’t understand anything about how a man and woman worked together to form a family.

As Torc entered the forge, the first moments of peace settled over him. It was a small place this forge, but it was one of the few places he kept in his heart. Slowly Torc emptied the ash trap from the forge and began shoveling fresh coals into it. The fire began to spread anew with the fuel, orange flames began to spread, licking each new coal with flames and then slowly turning the black into white ash. Torc once again began to work with the bellows hearing the breathing of them. Talking with Priest Ano, he knew that the next items on the list were garden hoes and spades. They needed a dozen each before summer, and thankfully since Torc was starting early he didn’t need have to argue with Ano about sitting back and watching. Torc had progressed in skill over the summer to a point in which he felt comfortable working the forge himself. Granted he would never attempt some masterpiece sculpture or a delicate flower, but a spade and hoe were pretty simple fixtures to make.

Torc began to through the bar stock into the forge preparing the metal for day ahead. He went about the shop pulling down two sets of tongs and hammers down. He set up the anvil with a steel round bar coming out of it. The bar was as thick as the wood shaft of a garden hoe or spade hilt, and was needed to create a cap for both. As breakfast began, Torc started creating wedges in the bar stock. Priest Ano had shown him how much material was needed to make a hoe and spade a year ago, when a few of them broke. Now Torc was hammer a wedge in the bars to break them into thirds. Here in the temple everything cost money, and almost nothing was wasted. So for the next several bells Torc began to break the material into thirds. The hammer strokes finally brought their magic as Torc began to drift away from his problems to focus on the metal. He didn’t even realize that Priest Ano had arrived until he was hammering away at the bars that Torc had cut. Slowly the two worked the anvil, Torc breaking the bars in thirds while Ano began making the caps for each piece.

Once done Torc, looked at the forge, Ano had created four caps that were ready to be pounded into hoes. Torc used his tongs to pick up a cap and began using the other side of the anvil to make a flat blade for the hoe. The tongs were holding the piece by the cap, and Torc began to aim his hammer strikes at the end of the bar. Slowly he began to beat out a flat even blade from the bar stock. As he got nearer to the curved bar he began to taper the blade into a round bar, in which he used the horn to curve the blade downward. To Torc it had taken the same amount of time to create a finished hoe as it did for Priest Ano to make a cap. So the two set to work crafting each piece, Torc was able to work one side of the anvil as Ano worked the other. The two smiths began to build a rhythm in their forge. One would work the bellows heating up the metal as the other worked the anvil, there were time when both needed the forge, so they took turns getting water or simply cleaning their faces. Still it was nice for once not being under the direct gaze of Ano and hearing his snide comments. By lunch they had turned out eight garden hoes, and both were starting to improve their technique. By afternoon the first part of the garden project would be complete.

As Priest Ano and Torc stopped for lunch, Torc began to clean himself off in the water barrel. The cool water felt good to him as he dunked his head and arms into it. He scrubbed his hands and face clean of iron and ash, feeling the grime slowly come off he was ready to go get lunch. Walked to the side of the temple sitting down on the outside table, people had gathered there and rotated out places as they needed to go back to work. Torc picked up a plate and grabbed his humble food from the baskets and plates set out amongst the table. As he reached for a biscuit his arm glazed past someones head, and as he looked down he realized that the person had black hair.

Mola slowly turned around looking at the shirtless Torc smiling. Torc felt the undeniable urge to reach out and kiss her. Slowly he pulled back his hand as she locked eyes with him. “Hello, Torc,” came an almost sickly sweet voice. Mola always had a beautiful singing voice which seemed to come out even when she was talking. Torc opened his mouth to say something, and for a moment was left speechless. He simply stood there sucking air as she looked up at him, all he could do was mumble something about being sorry, before Ano pushed Torc forward and motioned him to a pair of empty seats. Torc couldn’t help but turn bright red at the awkward exchange. Mentally, he kept thinking over and over how stupid he had been. He should have said something, or spoke some poem, but instead he simply mumbled. As he took his seat he heard women around Mola began to giggle and his face turned a brighter read.

Slowly Priest Ano sat down next to Torc with a biscuit in his mouth. The man began shoveling in food, while Torc seemed to just push it around his plate. Finally Torc decided to at least eat something, so he began to tear into his meal. Hoping that at least by eating he wouldn’t have to hear the jokes made about him. The food was good, despite Torc shoveling it into his mouth, all he wanted to do was return to the forge and once again start work. So he picked up his finished plate and placed it on top of the dirty dishes. He saw the curly hair of Jimmy and smiled at the boy. Of course Jimmy was helping Priestess Lara in the kitchen today, and though he was only seven now, at least he was given so decent work. As he watched Jimmy take the dishes to the kitchen door, he saw Priestess Lara waving her arms at the staff. For a brief moment, Torc smiled and waved to her, caught up in her work Priestess Lara didn’t notice. Feeling disappointment Torc went back to the forge with Ano.

Torc was once again able to focus on his work, instead of the embarrassing incident that had happened with Mola. In fact they completed their work with a few bells to spare. As Ano sat back relaxing, Torc looked at the forge fire. To him it seemed a waste not to continue, and the bars were already heated up. So once again he picked up his tongs and set to work. He already had practice crafting round bar stock so Torc went ahead had crafted the shaft of the spade. However, he left small square portion to make the blade. The iron caps where left over from the old spades and Torc wouldn’t have to fashion any. So he set to work making the blade. Torc began heating up the square metal bit, glad that he had forged the shaft previously. Instead of working with tongs, he could use his left hand to grip the shaft, while working with the blade. He waited patiently, as he worked the bellows. Priest Ano even got up and started working another piece into a shaft. It seemed to Torc that once again they would split up the work to move faster on the project. A small smile rose to Torc lips, Priest Ano had taught him a great deal over the last two years, but lately he had just given up trying to correct his student and allow him to work. Torc couldn’t actually remember when it had happened, he had just realized it one day.

Torc had been banging away at a horse shoe, using a chisel to indent the bar and then create nail holes when the chisel slipped and an ugly cross mark had been made. Torc had braced himself for another long lecture on keeping his hand steady, when it didn’t come. He looked up at Priest Ano and the man was busy crafting another set of tongs. So Torc had went back to the forge to reheat while he took out another bar. It had shocked him, not hearing how clumsy he was from Ano, though the two had never been close he suddenly felt like the man had accepted him in the workshop. That acceptance must have grown over the spring because Torc had thought of the less supervision he had received and the more independence on projects.

Torc snapped out of his memory and came back to the present. Once again, the two blacksmiths began a harmony, one crafting round bar stock while the other flatten a square piece of metal into a blade. The blade didn’t need to be tempered or a real fighting weapon. For the most part Torc just spread out the metal evenly and kept a decent thickness to the blade. Hacking at soft ground needed no skill to work the forge, and Torc wondered how one would make a weapon. He had heard that sword smiths tempered their steel. Grabbing a steel bar and folding it back on itself over and over again. It allowed hundreds of lines of metal to flex and support one another. While the blade that Torc fashion just had its material strength. Still, Torc would rather keep a simple tool, simple, for no man needed a fighting blade on a garden spade.

Evening began to close and Torc knew they would miss evening prayers, but they would also finish the garden project a day early. Tomorrow, all they had to do was sharpen the edges on the grinding wheel, and move on. It felt good as Torc finished the blade on the last spade, today they had pushed themselves and had fought back against idle hands, and as the work stopped he had a clear head and open soul.

by **Torc Ironwood** on October 23rd, 2010, 10:41 pm

7th of Spring, 499 A.V.

Torc rose out of bed and stretched his arms. Outside the male dorm room the courtyard was dark. The Temple of Kelwyn was quiet, and it was due to the magic of night. Night brought a peaceful blanket down upon the world, allowing every a moment of peace and silence. The world was at rest, soon everyone would be busy carrying on with their chores and duties, but for these few moments everything was peaceful. Torc began putting on clothes and splashing water on his face and hair. The cold water awoke the last visages of sleep from him. He was quiet as he started walking out of the males barracks, here and there he saw that some men hadn’t returned to bed. It was more than likely he would hear of exploits tonight. How they found a corner in the hay loft to lay with a woman or how frisky they were. At those times Torc felt lost, not knowing what to do besides laugh with the other men. He didn’t find it funny or right, but what was one man to do?

Torc work boots made the floor boards creak as he left the room. Softly he made his way to the kitchens to see Priestess Lara. As quiet as he could he entered the kitchen. Priestess Lara stood over a mixing bowl making the temple’s bread, Jimmy slept the floor boards pushing the dust out into the yard. He smiled remembering the simple days of childhood chores. How Priestess Lara’s skirts seemed to be the safest place. As he stood there smiling leaning against the door, Priestess Lara looked up and smiled as she stirred with a mixing spoon. Torc looked at her and waved, he walked into the kitchen and stood next to her. It was a curious feeling, two years ago he had barely been as tall as her hip. Now he stood as tall as her chin. Smiling he took over the mixing as she began to dust the kitchen table with flour. Priestess Lara had began to gather a few gray hairs in the tight bun she wore her hair in. Torc tried to remember if he had ever seen them before, or the few wrinkles that now appeared about her eyes.

As Priestess Lara took the bowl back to shake the dough out onto the counter she said, “Thanks. Now get to work.” Torc smiled and hugged her, as he left to move. Jimmy looked up and smiled at Torc as he left through the back door. Torc took the moment to mess up the boys hair, as well as, rid his hands of flour. The boy grinned and swatted Torc with the broom, causing a cloud of dust to settle on to his pant leg. Torc chuckled as Jimmy Ran back inside, thinking that he had won their confrontation. Torc looked up and saw the heavens. The starry night still showed the multitudes of brilliant pin size lights, some glowed read others blew, and yet even though they were small lights, the countless amount of them made Torc feel small. As Torc head was in the sky, he didn’t see the priestess that he ran into. She had been the priestess he had helped a few days before. Her hair seemed to be tossed about and if memory served Torc right, she wore the same clothes as the day before. As one of the men can out of the barn from where she came, she casted her eyes downward and Torc stepped aside. Somehow, the chaste kiss she had given him felt a little dirty.

Torc made his way to the forge, today he didn’t need to stoke the flames temperature. No today, Torc shoveled a little bit of fuel back into the fire that allowed it to keep going. Torc did clear out the ash tray and took stock of orders. Just as he was moving the grinding wheel out of the corner of the shop, the temples rooster crowed as the first rays of sun hit him. The workday had began, and Torc had a few bells before breakfast. He picked up a garden hoe and began to pedal the grinding wheel. The grinding wheel had been a large whetstone they had found while clearing fields, and one of the tenets of Kelwyn was that everything had a purpose. Priest Ano had forged legs and a foot petal to start the wheel turning, the temple used it to sharpen everything from kitchen knives to axes. Torc poured water over the stone with a ladle from the water barrel. As the cold water ran down the wheel and splashed his leg, it sent shivers up his back. Torc continued till the wheel had been covered and he picked up the first garden hoe. Torc angled the blade of the hoe to the surface of the wheel, slowly and with a soft scraping of metal Torc moved the blade back and forth across the wheel. He pushed harder and harder with his leg as the wheel slowed down from contact with the hoe. Still the black iron began to show that an edge was forming along the blade. As the wheel began to dry, sparks arose from the metal and Torc would stop pouring more water over the wheel. Torc spent the two bells putting a cutting edge on a dozen hoes before he stopped for breakfast. Torc stretch his leg and back as he came off the wheel, and Priest Ano came over. Looking at Torc work he simply nodded and spoke, “Logger Shane has asked us for a double bladed ax, I will have to go to town after the morning meal to pick up a few bars of steel from the blacksmith, you should be done when I return. When I do return I am going to need a second hammer to fold the steel into itself. Whole thing should take us the rest of the day.” Torc nodded and they went to breakfast.

It had taken Torc two bells to put edges on the spades, he wanted to rush the job and start on the axe, but he knew that if he did so the garden crews would complain about his workmanship and he would have to resharpen all of them again. So Torc took his time grinding a cutting edge into the tools. Priest Ano had bought two sizeable steel bars from the village blacksmith. The money for supplies had put a large dent in their material budget, the blacksmith hated the temples small forge and its ability to supply people who lived on the outskirts. The man simply thought the temple was stealing business from him, the truth was that the man valued his skill to highly and would often gorge people on the simplest of items. However, the temple didn’t own a blast furnace nor did it have the contacts to Zeltiva for shipment of ore. So they bought iron, copper, bronze and steel stock from the blacksmith. He always ask for inflated prices, but in the long run it saved the temple money, because if he ask for much more there was always a chance the temple would send a few people to Zeltiva for goods.

While Torc finished his work with grinding stone, Priest Ano began to work the bellows. Torc felt the fire take off, as Ano added more fuel. The priest seemed to be getting the forge up to its higher temperatures as he placed the two steel bars into it. He began working the bellows harder and harder, the intake and exhale of them seemed to be but a few moments apart. Heat began pouring from the forge and even Torc could tell that the flames were twice as hot as they normally kept them. As Torc set down the last spade, Ano motioned for him to take over the bellows. Torc began pulling harder and faster on the flames as Ano checked the bars. They had began to heat up like iron, but it seemed to be taking more heat. “Torc, I am trying to get the bars very soft so that we can began to temper the steel on itself. Since this axe will be used to strike hard surfaces, we want it fold the metal again and again.” As the bars of steel began to reach uniform yellow Ano picked up a hammer and tongs and motioned for Torc to be ready. The hammers that Ano had choose were a wide face with a heavy head. Quickly, he began pounding the bar into a thinner rectangle. As Ano lifted his hammer, Torc brought down his, the two began working on the steel hard and fast. As the piece of metal began to flatten out Ano formed a wedge in the middle of the bar. Quickly he folded the metal back on top of itself, and they began beating it again, this time the metal seemed less soft, and Torc had to put more muscle into hammering it back down. By the third fold, Torc was grunting from the force he had to put into each blow. Ano signaled for Torc to stop and he moved the bar back into the forged, he signaled Torc to began the process anew at the bellows to anew.

“Torc, we will repeat the process on the other bar, and probably do this fifteen to twenty times more. Once done, we will create a half moon shape on one end of the bars, and use the other end to create the axe head. When both are done we will fold the metal of the half moons into the others body to create a hole for the axe shaft.” Torc nodded as he understood and continued to work the bellows. His right arm had began to get sore from the hardness of the steel, and a curious thought enter his mind, why not use your left arm. Torc had always been right handed, but for the most part they wouldn’t need fine detail work done. Besides his left arm was thicker and harder, so as Ano picked up the bar with tongs and placed it on the anvil. Torc prepared his left arm to began hammer, the first blow struck the metal hard and the force of the blow seemed somehow magnify by him switch arms. Torc also didn’t feel the blow shake his bones like it had in his right arm. Ano merely grunted as his hammer fall at Torc, and they began to hammer the bar again and again.

The process seemed to faster for the smiths, as Torc’s blows with his left arm had helped the two moved the steel like it was butter. By mid-afternoon Torc had noticed a change in the musical ring of the metal. When they had started the bar had a high and low pitch to it, now the range of its not had tighten to a high ring and Torc began to understand that they had tempered the steel to a harden but flexible state. He wondered how many more times would they have to fold the metal to hear the pitch tighten again. Torc didn’t ask as they folded the metal bar twice more. Priest Ano seemed to nod as at the steel bar as he placed it back into the fire. It was time to start shaping the ax heads, and Torc was excited. The moved the bar back to the anvil after it had heated up and began shaping the curve that would become half the shaft hole. Once the curve had been establish, Ano motioned for Torc to began flattening the steel into a wedge with a flare. Two hammers quickly came down onto the bar and the metal began to spread, there were a few times that Ano had to move the axe on to its side to shape the spread of the metal, but those times were far and few between. As the afternoon drew longer, Torc and Ano were able to shape the axe heads and then it was time to fold the two pieces together.

Torc and Ano used tongs to bring the two pieces out of the forge and align them together. With strength and car Ano began hammering his side to the belly of the ax. Metal flew off the two pieces as the two pieces slowly were hammered into on another. When Anos side cooled enough that it would need to go back into the forge Torc flipped the ax and began hammering with his left arm. It seemed that his Isurian parent had given him a gift in his left arm. The swing of his hammer was heavier and strong then his right. The metal quickly folded into the ax and Torc took his time thinning the belly to look like one piece. Ano lifted the ax again, and Torc began work on the bellows, though Ano finished the piece and Torc put away the tools. He knew that he would keep the grinding wheel out, for tomorrow he would be putting an edge on his first steel piece.

by **Gossamer** on December 23rd, 2010, 4:50 pm

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Character: Torc Ironwood
Experience: Mathmatics 1 XP, Blacksmithing 5 XP, Metalsmithing 5 XP, Daydreaming 3 XP
Lore: Dreaming of First Kisses, Noticing Women, Correcting Mistakes Blacksmithing, Sharpening Farm Implements, Folding Metal Multiple Times to Strengthen It, Forging Steel Axes, Forging Hoes, Creating Chain, Forging Shovels, Creating Trowels/Spades

Additional Note: I always enjoy reading your threads.

I find no fault at all in these, nor much room for improvement. Thank you for the great read!

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