Completed Another Day of Work

[Alija]

27th Winter
The day hadn't started well. Already crowds of unsettled citizens were crowding in front of the Lord of Council's office, demanding that some figure arises to right their problems and bring content to the starving people of Zeltiva. The shouts were heard through the streets, and most in the Armed Scholar had decided to call it a holiday of sorts, not turning up. Rals himself wasn't there, observing the commotion perhaps. The only two who had decided to turn up to work that day were Alija and Donovan.

He was busy doing nothing, confused at the absence of his coworkers. At Alija's arrival he gave a pleasant smile. "Have you heard what's happening? No one has turned up, not even Rals. I suppose we just close up the shop for today, take a look at what's happening perhaps?" He seemed rather half-hearted, as if he wanted to work. Alija was unsure what to say, as although Donovan was always an excellent worker, he had never been this disappointed with a day off. He preferred to seize the opportunities to mingle with the townspeople.

"Don, everything okay? Do you not want it to be closed?"

"I just... Rals promised to show me something, since it's my birthday. If he's not here, I don't get to find out what it is."

Alija gave a little laugh at the problems of this boy. They were always so simple, yet to him they were the most complex things in the world. He never seemed to realise how easy he had things. "He'll show you tomorrow, and will probably make it better, to make up for today! I'd be delighted if I were you - no work on my birthday! Come on, make the most of it! Go out, get some drinks. And Happy Birthday!" Alija smiled, trying to get him to understand tha what he saw as a problem wasn't one for anyone else.

Donovan smiled in agreement, loosening up. He placed down the helmet he had been holding, pretending to be working, and gave her a wave of goodbye. "Bye then! I'm assuming you have something to do, since you turned up here, but I'm officially inviting you to a birthday celebration at my house! This evening, if you can make it!"

"Of course! Now, go out, have some fun!"

As the excited Donovan ran out the shop, Alija slung an apron over herself, preparing a fire. Late last night an order had come in from on of the richer families, as well as a hand made armoire. The request was simple: Forge a new decorative metal leaf and weld it in place to replace the broken one. With pride of their efficiency, Rals had promised the order finished in the latest of 2 days, that was, finished by the day after tomorrow. With transportation, and such, Alija, who had been assigned with the task, only had today to complete it. She hadn't even had any time to start the night before, but everything was ready for her to start work the next day.

[Alija]

Alija started up a small fire, realising that in fact she did not know what the desired leaf was to look like, or what is was to be made from. Yesterday, Rals had given her little pointers on what to do and how to start, but Alija had no idea what she was in fact trying to create. It was leaf, but her knowledge stopped there.

Alija examined the armoire. It was a dark, expensive looking wood covered in intricate carvings of plants and flowers, matching the metal on it. Along both sides was a twisting, twirling silver twine, topped on one side by a leaf. The other side was snapped, rugged metal showing the breakage. The place where the replacement leaf had to go. She tapped the leaf that wasn't broken, unsure what metal it was. It appeared silver, but didn't sound like it. Or didn't sound like she assumed silver would sound like. Alija needed to delve further into the metal's aura.

Allowing Djed to flood to her eyes, Alija let her auristics take over, zoning in on the small aura that the other leaf on the armoire had. At a first glance it appeared to be silver, just like she had assumed, but after a while, letting the aura come into focus, hints of iron appeared behind the first layer. She kept staring, letting her eyes relax. The more she looked, the more certain she became. It was iron behind  silver paint. It was definite.

Alija stopped there, knowing enough. It appeared that the other leaf was just iron, coated in a thin layer of silver paint to give the appearance of the more expensive metal. It just bothered her whether or not the family knew of this money saving trick, and whether they would notice if she replicated it exactly. She wanted to do so, not because she cared about the price, but because she felt much more confident using iron. Silver was expensive, and harder to work with. The young blacksmith would worry to much about messing up and ruining the metal.

Besides, she had been told to replicate the other leaf as well as possible. How would replicating it be right if she didn't use the right metal?

It also meant that she didn't have to worry about over heating the silver. It was such a delicate metal to work with and there was always the danger of over heating it. Alija was certain that if she tried, without guidance from someone who knew the metal well, she would either over or under heated. And then there was the matter of whether to heat it at all. She had heard of people speak of cold forging, instead of hot, especially when dealing with silver. The blacksmith was unsure on how it worked, and whether it worked at all. It was malleable, but was it malleable enough to be shaped into a leaf cold?

---

[Alija]

Taking a long metal rod, Alija allowed it to heat to an orange yellow colour, ready to be forged. Rals had recommended sharpening one end into a point at first, so she laid the metal onto the anvil, hitting it until the end started turning into a point. One more heat was enough to let that step complete, now sharp enough to pierce skin. The blacksmith brushed off the little iron flakes that had come off, cleaning the anvil.

Alija heated it once more, this time drawing out the metal between the point and the rest of the rod. It took a long time, lengthening the section while reducing its width and depth, but she used a little trick. Using the pointed end of the hammer, Alija created little ridges before flattening them out. The work still took time, but she finished much quicker than she would have. The finished result looked a little like an arrow perhaps, or a spear. The point and a little more was on one side of the long thin section, about half the width of the rest. Alija took that moment to tend to the fire, cleaning it a little and replacing the coal. She wiped her hands on her apron, the soot turning it black. It was hot and dirty working in the forge, but she liked it.

This time she heated the pointed end, letting the metal glow, illuminating the room. The young blacksmith hammered flat down on it, following what Rals had told her to do. She had memorized his instructions to the letter, knowing that without any help she would be lost on what to do. Spinning the hammer in her hand to get a better grip, she hammered slowly, trying to make the hammer face parallel to the anvil face.

The metal lost heat quickly, and Alija grew tired of having to constantly reheat it. There was a trick to that too, but she couldn't remember. Instead she had to continue with what she already had, flattening it out slowly, having to reheat after what seemed like only a few blows. Occasionally she compared the size to the other leaf, noting how it should be longer here or flatter there, before working on that section. It took time to perfect.

At last, the hard work hammering was worth it. She now understood the reason for the point, as with it the metal formed a leaf shape almost identical to one she was trying to replicate. It was large and thin, but it still didn't resemble a leaf, but for the shape. What had Rals told her to do next? ALija racked her mind, remembering each step but the one she was on, Oh yeah, that was it.

Using the pointed end of the hammer, Alija hit the orange metal sharply, watching as it left ridges along the leaf. She took her time positioning them, placing each blow at the correct angle to form veins in the leaf and to give it the texture that it needed. It still looked too perfect, compared to the other leaf that looked like it was just a leaf picked from a tree and covered in silver. It needed to look completely natural, so she repeated the step, this time being less precise with her actions.

Alija then secured the leaf into a vice, the edge glowing hot. Using a chisel and hammer, she cut out notches in the side of the leaf before doing so on the other side. The leaf was really starting to come together. Afterwards, she straightened out the tips which had folded over before adding more of the ridges which had faded or distorted a little when she had cut out the notches.

Using the chisel again, Alija scored a line through the centre of the leaf making the main vein. Finally, she curved both sides of the leaf a little, letting the metal bend to form the final shape. It really did resemble the original leaf on the armoire, and Alija was certain that when she welded it in place it would be hard to distinguish which leaf she had made and which was the one that was originally on the armoire. She really was proud of it. If only there was someone there to see her work.

---

[Alija]

 The next step was to weld it. It reminded her of her first time in the forge, when Rals had asked her to weld two pieces together. Then, she had used wire to check the temperature of the metal, so she wouldn't remove it early and perhaps face oxidisation, but this time Alija would use magic. It wasn't that her auristics had improved by a significant amount, for she believed that she would have been able to use it with her skill then, but Alija had grown more confident with using her power. She found that auristics had become a common part in her blacksmithing life.

The only problem with welding was that the armoire couldn't exactly be put in the fire. She would have to improvise with that. Perhaps she could light a torch or similar and use it to heat the end of the armoire. First, however, she would prepare the leaf, making it silver.

Borrowing some money from the counter, Alija hurried to search for paint. The money would just be replaced later, and as it was expenses for the work she did, it was perfectly allowed, but Alija still felt a little like she was stealing. After all, she had never taken it before.

The search for paint was a lot more difficult than she had expected, and Alija had expected it to be quite difficult. Quite a few shops were closed, and only a few that remained open would possibly have any paint, let alone silver paint. Luckily for her, the second shop she entered had plenty. She took the smallest amount possible and a brush, handing over the money in a quick motion. It was getting late, and she still had a lot of work to do.



text

[Alija]

When she arrived back, Alija realised that painting before welding had been a stupid idea. She had no idea what the paint would do when heated, and it could cause a bad join or loose its colour. Instead she took her preferred tools, a hammer and tongs instead of a brush and paint, and shaped the end of the leaf to push out the flux when joined with the other piece. The blacksmith then set fire to a torch, holding it up to the metal, which slowly heated. As soon as it seemed hot enough, Alija hammered quickly, noting the slightly darker wood where she had held the torch near. It wasn't obvious, but it was there.

Brushing both ends with a wire brush, she cleaned the metal before covering the ends with flux. Then, summoning her Djed, she let her mind focus on both pieces that needed to be welded together. The leaf she placed in the fire, while heating the other part with the torch. The two auras showed how hot the metal was, an easier way to avoid oxidisation but allowing it to reach the correct temperature. Welding was always a complex art.

The leaf, as she expected, heated first, so, bending down to grab the tongs that held it she stopped focusing on it, bringing it closer to the other end, allowing them to join. She hammed down at a strange angle, letting the metals join. Alija heated them again, this time hammering a little differently to inprove the shape.

After a short period of adjusting the angle of the weld, Alija removed the heat, letting the flame die out. The met was a little deformed at the point of the join, but nothing too significant that it clearly appeared bad. A little polish and she could add the paint.

Dipping the brush in, she applied it rather thickly and messily, coating far more than she needed. Brush strokes appeared, but Alija quickly smoothed them out. She let it dry before adding another coat to stop it from removing itself easily. Despite being ordered to replicate the other side exactly, the owners still could believe that she tricked them by using a cheaper metal. She didn't want that happening.

The paint was slow to dry, so Alija took that time to clean up the forge. It was late, too late for anyone, if they decided to turn up,  to even think about starting something new. The tools would make more use in their places for the next day.

Finally satisfied with the armoire,  Alija smiled. It was the same silver colour and the same shape. Alright, the intricate detail on it wasn't identical, but Alija doubted that anyone could make it like that.

Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn't had any lunch. Well, Donovan had invited her round, and he would never not serve food at a gathering. The invitation had to be still open. Leaving the armoire ready for delivery the next day, Alija locked up the shop, hoping for a go time at Donovan's.
notePrice of paint and paintbrush : 2GM + 8CM
Money was taken to cover exactly that.
Paint and paintbrush remain possession of the Armed Scholar

[Dravite]

Alija

XP Award:

• Endurance: 1
• Socialisation: 1
• Blacksmithing: 2
• Observation: 3
• Auristics: 2
• Intelligence: 1
• Persuasion: 1
• Mathematics: 1
• Reasoning: 1
• Drawing: 1
• Painting: 1
• Cleaning: 1
• Planning: 1
• Metalsmithing: 1

Lore:

• Blacksmithing: The importance of an apron
• Donovan: A hard worker
• Donovan: Celebrates his birthday 27th winter
• Metalsmithing: Working with silver
• Metalsmithing: Working with iron
• Blacksmithing: Mastering the basics
• Metalsmithing: Overheating delicate metals
• Blacksmithing: Using a hammer
  
• Metalsmithing: Welding techniques
  

Penalties:
N/A

Loot:
N/A

Notes: Hello, Alija. Thank you for bringing Zeltiva’s grading request to my attention; you were right it does need some love! This was a well-planned out little story, some minor editing that was overlooked, but nonetheless a pleasure to read and grade. I would recommend doing some research on historical welding for future threads. You covered a lot of skills here, I hope I didn’t disappoint! Let me know if you think I have missed anything here and be sure to edit your grading request!

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