Knocking On My Door

[Alija]

43rd Fall 515
"Alija!" Thegans' voice sounded nervous, worried from where he called downstairs. She put down her spoon, swallowed the mouthful of oats, and made her way downstairs quickly, peering into the shop. Kial, tangled among her legs, found his jaw dropping at the sight to be seen. Alija just scowled, completely confused with the events at hand.

Thegans stood by the door, glass revealing the horde of women behind. With him simply unlocking it, they poured in, young, old, tall, short. With them tumbled the gossiping and chatter, but she could tell from their expressions and tones that something wasn't quite right here. Not the fact that all of a sudden she had this many customers, but they seemed worried, scared somehow. Alija didn't know what to make of it.

They horded around Thegans, assuming him to be the owner of the shop, and began to plead him to do something or other, words mixed in with a rest of the shouts. He looked terrified, nervous glances at Alija wondering what he should do. Bringing up her courage, Alija let herself speak loudly enough to be heard over their chatters.

"Ladies!" All eyes turned to where she stood on the platform, messy blonde hair tugged back over one shoulder and ramie tunic pulled over her leggings. In her position, she had a ruling air to herself, and the women fell silent, waiting for what she had to say next. With the silence, she introduced herself. "Good morning, I'm Alija Piper," her voice was weak and trembling, but it was Thegans' look that scared her more. He pushed his way up, whispering lightly in her ear.
"I thought you were going to take another surname, to separate yourself from your father?"
Gently, she reassured him, "It's too late. Besides, it has to be a coincidence, doesn't it?"

Then she turned back to the woman, who had started whispering again. "May I ask what brings all you to my forge on this day?"
A tall, mean-looking blonde replied for the rest, hand resting on her stomach where there was a slight bump. Pregnancy. Now that she looked at them, the majority of them were, or had children with them. The few that hadn't looked old enough to have grandchildren. "Did you not hear!" Her question wasn't a question, but a statement, announcing it to the world. "A pregnant woman not far from here was attacked, by a man with blood-red eyes-"
"-I heard his face was deformed!"
"He was twice the size of normal men!"
"His forehead bulged with veins!"
Series of accusations started, each more confusing than the next, until the same woman shut them all up.
"They say he seeks to kill mothers, and their children, unborn or not. She was lucky to escape alive! You must do something!"

Alija stared shocked at her, while Kial grabbed her tunic in both hands, pressing himself to her leg. "He... he won't come get me, will he?" he whimpered, and Alija picked him up reassuringly, as easily as one would carry a loaf of bread. "I won't let him, besides, he's probably imagined by one of these poor women."

He smiled weakly, and she turned back to the crowd. How was she expected to help? The woman, realising how confused the blacksmith must be, explained, "They say he will stalk you in the streets, and break into your house in the night. But he is no human - he is a monster, and he has weaknesses. They say, hang a cold iron lion as a knocker, and it will keep him at bay. Please, we need you to make these, protect our children, or you shall be the monster!"

A small voice spoke out, "We will pay for everything, just do it, and do it quick." She was desperate, they all were, to believe such a foolish thing. If this truly was a monster, if it existed at all, a knocker wouldn't keep it out. But this was work, and lots of it, from the look of it. She gave a nod, resulted in happy squeals from the onlookers. "Thank you," she heard the cries, and winced at how genuine they were.

[Alija]

She put on her apron, forcing the crowd to stay in the shop letting her work in peace in her forge. Thankfully, Thegans had started the fire, and went to fetch the cold iron, so Alija could come out and check how many orders there were to make. Ten. She counted ten, but with the movement, it was hard to tell for certain. Either way, she wouldn't be able to do that many in one day. Perhaps two, but even that would be straining it. She had to start now, and work hard, very hard, to even have a chance at making all of them.

She snatched up the cold iron, heating it as quickly as possible. Using a large chunk, she began to form the main shape, making it round with the centre section pulled out. With a mixture of upsetting and shrinking, she pulled the metal up tight, until it was a flattened hemisphere. Moving to her smallest hammer, she worked with the delicate features, moving the nose and jaw to be sticking out even further.

It was crude, but it worked, and she heated it up until it was red again, glancing nervously at the women who were watching her impatiently. Kial scampered in, followed by a group of young children. They stared at the fire, and ran everywhere, so much she feared for their safety. "Get out," she snapped, brandishing the red hot metal, "Get out before someone gets hurt!" Terrified, they left, and were replaced by the woman who had spoken earlier as well as a short fat lady clutching a baby.

"You're new around here, aren't you?" the taller one hissed, and the other cast an apologetic look. Alija ignored them as she moved the lump of metal to the vice, snatching up her chisel. "You are, this used to be run by some old man. You don't look Nykan, you're foreign." Everything she said sounded like it should be a question, but it clearly wasn't. Continuing to ignore her, she tried to be appear extremely busy, using the chisel to refine the facial features. She would place it a little in from the edge, and, using a sweeping blow with her hammer, make the metal more at a right angle so the face would be more prominent. The blacksmith continued this all the way round, curving at the chin, cheeks and forehead.

"So where are you from, and what brings you here?" This time, the shorter woman spoke, and Alija was forced to reply.
"Zeltiva. City with the University, and the ships."
"Zeltiva!" the woman seemed to pay no attention to the fact that the second question had been ignored. Alija had no answer for it, and she wasn't that good of a liar anyway. She couldn't tell the truth, though, that was for certain. "My husband worked in Zeltiva for a long time - he's a baker, you know. I wanted to have a go at the university thing, but dropped out after I met him. I was pregnant, you see. We came back here, so my little girl could live in this beautiful city I call home." Alija glanced at the baby in her hands, and the woman laughed, a sound the other two found annoying. "Oh, no, this is Peter. Angie is with her father, in the shop."

As if it really mattered, Alija nodded, before turning her back to them, "I need to focus on this bit."
The woman laughed again, "Oh, you will never believe who I saw at the docks today..." It was almost as if she hadn't heard that Alija needed to focus, for the woman continued to gossip. This sort of company wasn't the type she missed.

[Alija]

With the main shape done, Alija turned to working on the features, like the eyes and mouth. These two were done with the chisel, put she used the very corner of it for precision, placing it in the desired spot before tapping it lightly and watching the metal shift and come off in little flakes. It was the metal residue she hated - every so often, she had to take a wire brush and scrape it all off, watching the wasted money fall to the floor. As far as she knew, there was nothing she could do to stop it. It was just part of the job.

"And Maggie has been seen coming out of the Bubbling Pot with a monk of Skerr several times! What would her husband think? What would Skerr think?" the short woman finished her seventeenth anecdote, about another woman she didn't know. This was honestly getting boring, and despite all her hints, the woman didn't seem to be budging. Thankfully, the mean-looking blonde got fed up too, and cut her off.

"Julie, shut up. We'll never get out knockers, if you talk this much!" Alija silently thanked her, heating up the metal one more time. With twists and turns and irregular hammer hits, she managed to curve the mane, until it resembled a real lion's, moving in the wind.

The two woman had somehow found their way behind her as she added the final touches. She used a hammer first, tapping very lightly around the chin to shape it just the little bit more until it was perfect. Then, she rested the chisel on its tip, diagonally up from the eye. She hit it lightly, moving it slightly around each time. Then, she repeated in the other side, spinning the chisel to make a circular indent and push out the metal around, so it stuck out. Ears. Her knocker was complete.

"It's beautiful!" the taller woman gasped, before frowning, "But where is the knocker part?"

Alija cursed under her breath. How had she forgotten this vital part? It would be hard to add in without ruining the shape, but she had to, otherwise it wouldn't be what they had asked for. That would truly be a tragedy.

[Alija]

Alija put the knocker back in the fire, as well as a long rod. It was the rod that came out first and she wedged it in the vice, bringing out a large chisel, which she placed a decent way in. At this point, she was estimating the size, so hopefully it would be right. First, she marked on a line with a light hammer blow, then wedged the chisel in the dent, so it wouldn't move when she cut the metal. Hitting hard, she sliced through, the longer piece clanging to the ground. Collecting it and the piece for the ring, and placed them to one side, getting the lion head out of the flames.

She took a punch, and lay the lion head on one side, placing the punch on the side of its muzzle. With one hard blow, she made a large indent, ruining very little, surprisingly. Flipping the head over, she repeated on the other side, using a hammer to hit the top of the punch. After every dent, she would flip it, until there was a very thin layer left between the two deep holes. One last punched, and it slipped through the muzzle, a perfect hole just the right size for the metal ring she would make.

The blacksmith took the shorter piece of rod, heating it before placing it on the horn of the anvil. Simply hitting it down and sliding it around, she easily formed a ring, the two ends far enough apart to slip through the hole. Pulling the open ends down to the bottom, she took the head in a pair of tongs, pushing it over the fire carefully so the main part that got heated was the ends.

It would take a little welding for it to perform the full ring, so she had to clean the surface with a wire brush, knocking one end to a point and indenting the other with a chisel. There was coarse sand in a bucket at the back of the forge, and she dipped the ends in, watching as the flux stuck. This was routine, but she always named the steps, just in case.

The time it took for the metal to reach the welding heat was now natural to her, so natural she didn't bother checking neither with auristics nor a piece of wire, not for this simple thing. Once the natural amount of time had passed, something she knew from instinct, she brought it out quickly, knocking the ends together which forced the sand out. The woman watched enchanted by this crafting. Alija smiled, dunking it in a bucket of water for the final hiss. She was met with applause, and brought out the finished knocker.

"Thank you, so much!" both exclaimed, and the taller one took over speaking, "May you sleep well, knowing that you prevented that monster from laying hands on at least one family tonight. Thank you, but I must ask you to hurry, for there are many more of us that need your help."

[Alija]

Alija worked hard all day, the process soon becoming repetitive. But it wasn't, for each lion was different. Salvius went to Maria, his eyes full of sorrow, just like his owner. Marcus had the largest mane of all the knockers, and he was fittingly gifted to Sarah, whose hair stood its ends, bursting from the top of her head. She worked long into the night, allowing the terrified women who had not yet received their knockers to remain in the shop.

The last one was for Julia, who had remained chattering away. Alija smiled as she placed the chisel on the corner of his mouth, hammering until it grew and grew, until the lion had the same bigmouth the woman did. She had heated the metal, she had slanted it as she pounded at it, she had flipped it to get an even shape and she had even remembered to punch two additional holes on the sides, were the nails would go. It was only when she had finished the second one when she realised that the first had nothing to attach it to the door. She had taken that one back, feeling attached to it, and using the smallest punch to wear a hole, an easy punching and hammering process, in the second one. From that point on, she made sure to remember.

Naming it Gaius, she passed it to Julia, staying quiet about the name and personality. They were her little secret, and she found that with everything she made, even something like the spade from a couple of days before, had a little of the person it was for in it. In that case, the spade head was shallow, like the personality of the man who bought it. Despite doing it with everything, she didn't tell anyone. It felt to private for her to admit.

Julia beamed at Gaius, giving it to Peter who began to bite the lion head. "Thank you. I hope you didn't mind working this late - it's almost dawn, actually! You've done us all a great thing, thank you so much. No one else will be bothered by this monster, I'm certain of it. Thank you." Yawning, the woman left, adding one more thing, "Come over any time, I'll always have some buns, or a cake or pie for you!"

Alija yawned back, but she still had a little more to do. She took the last lion head, the first she had made, and left it to heat in the fire. Once hot, she took the punching tool, placing it under the ear and hitting it with the hammer. It slipped through, making a round hole. She did it again on the other side, and found two nails that she had made as part of a larger collection a few days before.

Despite the dark, she made her way outside, facing the door. Dead centre, she placed the lion head, adjusting it so it was straight before placing a nail in the hole and using her hammer to fix it in place. Once both went through, she gave it a reassuring knock, hearing the dull noise. The lion looked impressive, guarding out towards the street. It wasn't hard to see how it could defend against a monster, despite being a piece of metal. But this lion wasn't just a piece of metal. This lion was called Quintus. This lion would protect them all.

[Dravite]

G R A D E S

Alija

Experience

• Observation: 3
• Socialisation: 3
• Childcare: 2
• Organisation: 1
• Blacksmithing: 4
• Body Building: 2
• Endurance: 1

Lore

• Thegans: A ladies man
• Alija: Kept her father's name
• Metalsmithing: Heating cold iron
• A forge is no place for children
• Metalsmithing: Using a chisel for fine details
• Metalsmithing: Simple welding technquies

Penalties

Alija will have a headache for the next three days due to all the noise and interuptions.

Notes

Enjoy the rewards.