Planting Seeds II: From Inspiration Springs Dissent

[Aedifalse]

Previous episode here.

514-WINTER-02
Blackburn Arms

The majority of the work had been completed the previous day, and what remained were the refinements and finishing touches. Isurs were extremely particular about the completeness and aesthetic of any product that were turned over to outsiders, for it represented the pride of their race. Any affront to the industry of smithing would bring dishonor to their father Izurdin.

"You're early today!" Richard Blackburn welcomed jovially as Aedi stepped into the forge. The local smith towered over the Isur by a good number of inches.

"So are you," Aedi remarked noncommittally as he located his designated spot.

He appraised the sword, and noted that he still had not clasped a proper hilt upon the bare steel base, had not affixed a proper guard, had not refined the edges of the weapon, and had not performed what he promised the day before. However, he was confident that he would be able to complete this little project today.

Deciding to start the day with the easy part, and also considering that the furnace was still in the midst of being warmed up, he went ahead to the whetstone, taking the rough blade along. Placing it against the smooth surface, he began peddling the wheel, and the familiar sound of grinding steel filled the silent workshop.

"What did the boys think of Mister Hilckle's blade?" Aedi raised his voice over the noise.

"It's the first time they've seen such a strange blade, Mister Aghanim," Came the loud reply from the furnace at the end of the smithy. "And I must also personally admit, it's not a very good blade for the art of slaughter as well."

Aedi found himself inclined to agree. This was a blade made primarily to cut, for its tip was strangely squarish and was obviously not suitable or thrusting, unless to merely shove rather than to pierce. The blade was also too long and too wide for its hilt, and the inefficient distribution of leverage meant that the sword could only swing in one unbroken motion before requiring a recharging action to rewind for another attack.

"Tis not a blade I would use to duel." The Isur admitted as he continued peddling the whetstone, slowly pushing the length of the blade against the rotating surface to sharpen its edge. As a first morning activity, it sufficed in warming up his body for the more strenuous activities later on, and the smith could feel the blood beginning to pump throughout his muscles.

"How goes your forging, then? If I may gander from the looks of it now, might Dargus receive his weapon by today's end?" The burly owner asked as he threw more lumber into the growing fire.

"I am hopeful that is the case," Aedi replied as he continued grinding the edge of the sword. He mentally took note of what he was going to do next, and turned the blade over to its opposite edge.

"Why, who do we have here?" Exclaimed Blackburn as he called over his shoulder. A young human whose height placed him squarely in between that of Blackburn's and Aedi's had appeared at the entrance of the forge. Aedi glanced over and noticed the prominent white hair, contrasting strongly against the youthfulness of his face.

A Sym, perhaps?

"He comes to help out sometimes, Mister Aghanim, I hope you won't mind if he bothers you a little," Blackburn explained.

Without skipping a beat, Aedi continued cycling the stone, gradually finishing up the polishing which was also the easiest sub-task of the day, "Sure. No problem."

[Tiath Othos]

The sun had barely rising before Tiath had naturally awoke from his sleep, rubbing his eyes to try and wake up a little more but mostly to just try block the light that had begun to trickle into his room through the gaps in his window. As he laid there staring up at the roof he wondered if he could get away with sleeping a little longer, he could already feel the cold pressing against him from outside of his blankets. Yeah, like father wouldn't be all over me if I did that... Sighing he pushed the few blankets off himself and stood up, stretching his arms upwards with yawn. Running a hand through his hair out of habit he looked around before putting on clothes to begin his day. Emerging into the kitchen of his home he quickly found a small slice of cheese and some bread waiting him, his mother must have put them out for him last night before she had gone to bed. A small smile made its way onto his lips before he took the food with him as he left the house to head out into the cold which hit him like a wall. Pausing in his steps for a moment to take a look around at the light snow that had fallen, a childish feeling of wonder welling up inside him as he started to walk towards the gates of the wall.

Taking longer than it normally would, Tiath reached the small clearing on the edge of the outside wall where his father trained him, having to again squash the feeling of glee that came up at seeing the snow. He walked around to where they had hidden a small but long chest, opening it he pulled out one of the two wooden training swords that were secreted away before heading into the center of the clearing and starting to go through his steps. The wooden swords while blunt had been given a metal center to them, adding a weight that made them feel a little closer to the real thing, which in turn made swinging it for long durations an exercise in itself. Slowly he could feel warmth flowing into his limbs as he reached about the half-way point of his normal training routine, glancing in the direction of where the gate would be, intently listening for any sounds that would be coming his way. His father should have been there by now and was running late. He heard the tolling of the bell as he swung the last blow of his routine, flinching slightly as he felt it slip lower then he intended, preparing for harsh words to be thrown at him. Glancing again towards the gate, Ok father is never this late; he should be hearing by now, yelling at me about that sloppy blow. A worry set into his gut and refused to leave as he stood around waiting, getting the better of him very quickly and forcing him to quickly pack away his training sword before heading back towards his home in a hurry.

Upon reaching the door to home, he found his mother sitting at the table waiting for him. "Morning mum, have you seen father? He never showed up to the clearing and I was wondering if you" He was interrupted by loud coughing coming from the his parents room, his mother not even seeming surprised at the sound, stood up and brushed herself off. "Your dad is not feeling too well and asked you to go to the forge, sharpen his sword then offer them any help you can." His mother kept a clam tone as she walked towards him before breaking out of character and hugging him tightly. "There is some more bread in the kitchen along with your dad's sword, take some with you try to keep warm alright?" She said leaning back and smiling at him warmly. Tiath smile back an nodded, hugging back her again tightly "Thanks mum" He said before stepping away from her, their masks falling back into place as they moved away from each other. Entering the kitchen he found his father’s sword leaning against the wall in its scabbard, picking it up he tied it around his back before taking his bread and leaving for the forge.

Walking through the powered path he walked towards the forge, keeping his head down as he did and not making eye contact with anyone he passed until he reached the forge. His entrance was immediately noticed by the blacksmith there which brought his gaze up from the ground to notice the man who was using the grindstone. "Morning Master Blackburn" Tiath said quietly before slightly bowing to the man, turning to the other man he gave a slight bow as well, "Morning" his voice almost a whisper at this point. He walked over to the owner and begun quietly talking to him, "Father ... Asked me to come to the forge for the day and offer my help." He said smiling slightly, he always had fun when he had come here, it was something about the work that he found more than satisfying. "He also wanted me to sharpen his sword" He said glancing over at the other man who was at the grindstone. Richard laughed loudly, "Of course, you will have to wait until he is done." Tiath nodded before walking over towards the man at the grinding stone, standing a good distance from the man, keeping his gaze down but continuously glancing at the man working, his eyes wide with interest and curiosity as he did.

[Aedifalse]

Aedi saw the strange boy approaching in the corners of his vision as he continued refining the edge of the raw weapon. Sparks flew incessantly as the cutting blade was sculpted into lethal perfection, and despite the building fatigue of constantly peddling the rotating tool, the speed never faltered. It was a weaponsmith's pride to always provide consistency in treatment regardless of body condition.

He subtly observed his sole audience with interest, and from the wrapped blade that the boy was clinging on to he surmised that he was likely waiting for his turn. Yet, the stare of curiosity did not go unnoticed, and the Isur smiled a little, remembering the unbridled curiosity of the apprentices from the day before.

"I am Aedifex Aghanim. What is your name, boy?" The smith raised his voice casually over the clashing sounds of steel against stone. "Do you want to try helping out?"

Like the others.

"That would be a unique experience, since we don't usually make weapons like that frequently," Blackburn encouraged from his corner of the forge.

The last of the blade's length was ground into necessity, and with a sigh he heaved the huge weapon up from the wheel, placing it with a heavy clatter upon a work table. Regardless of whether the boy wanted to help or not, he continued conversationally, "I'm going to start making the guard, and an assistant striker would most definitely be welcome."

He began to take several iron ingots. While the main killing portion of the weapon was made of steel, the guard would be made of iron, as a weapon like this would not commonly utilize the guard in combat. Therefore, it would be more of an ornamental addition. Furthermore, the use of iron allowed him the flexibility of manual manipulation, which would help make the shaping process more efficient.

As the iron began to turn white-hot, he used his left arm to simply mash them together like putty, rolling all the material into a ball of metal as he constantly rubbed and turned the mass, making sure to allow the various parts of the ingots to distribute and mesh randomly throughout. This was a modified version of the folding technique which attempted to strengthen the forging process by spreading the impurities in the metal more evenly.

Opening up his left fist, he began rolling the ball of iron with his palm on the surface of the anvil, slowly converting the sphere into a circular cylinder. This would form the extremely rough outline for the guard. Placing his palm upon the cylinder, he flattened it to create a more rectangular sheet of iron.

Next, he glanced towards the sledgehammer, ready to issue instructions should the boy wish to take on his offer of helping him to strike the shape of the guard out.

[Tiath Othos]

Slowly as he watched the blade grind against the stone, his curiosity got the better of him as he gaze spent less and less time on the ground and more on the blade and how the smith was working with it. Without realising it he had slowly closed the gap between them, slowly moving step by step closer. He had watched his teacher before as well as whenever he had helped Mr.Blackburn but it was different to watch this man at work in comparison to them. Also he had never watched someone work on a blade before, besides sharpening a already sharp blade, the blade in his hands suddenly feeling slightly heavier. He knew that his father had sent him here just to make sure that he did something today and that the 'request' to sharpen the blade was just a cover for it.

The weapon smith’s voice broke through his trance, causing him to blink with surprise at how close he had ended up, feeling his cheeks burning up as he realised what he was doing. "Uh... I am I mean...” Tiath stumbled over his own words in embarrassment before his formalities that had been engrained in him, bowing slightly to the man as he introduced himself. "My name is Tiath Othos, it’s nice to meet you Sir Aghanim" His eyes widened as the smith offered to let him help him with the work. He glanced over his shoulder as Blackburn spoke up, encouraging him to help out the weapon smith.

Tiath glanced back at the smith, his heart racing in his chest at the offer, he couldn't figure out why but he couldn't grin at the offer. He quickly dropped his head to try and hide the display of emotion, unsure why but he didn't want to give away anything to the smith just yet. He felt the mask of emotions his father always wore slip over his, he couldn't do it even half as well as his father, his eyes still lit with joy and the corners of his mouth twitching upwards slightly. "If you would have me, I would be honoured to help you."

Tiath kept his eyes wide as he became a shadow to the weapon smith, keeping in step with the man as he followed him to the forge, watching every move that the man made and making mental notes of it. While he was to become a squire to the order in his life, which he felt like that change might be coming soon, he had promise with himself that he would keep up with blacksmithing, even if it was just making something small every now and then. I wonder what Syilra's will be like anyways. His mood darkened for a moment before he shrugged it off in time to see the weapon smith reach towards the open forge with his bare hand.

He reached out to stop try and stop the man before he noticed the man’s left hand, his own hovering just inches from the man’s skin. He went red again as he remembered his place and took a step back, his mouth unhinging itself as he wanted the man play with the iron ingots, forcing them together with just has hand. Tiath's mind could not even begin to understand how that was possible, he hadn't been exposed too much that defied the realm of human and this was something that shook him to his core.

He looked slightly shaken as he watched the smith at work but just nodded as he was gestured towards the sledgehammer, he lifted it and moved into position, following the orders given to him to the best of his abilities. He wasn't perfect at it, struggling slightly at times to keep the hammers blows landing where he was told to, a slightly pained expression showing at each time he did with disappointment in himself. He glanced at the Aghanim, a worried expression on his face as he feared being sent away for it.