Arda: A World of Dreams - Free RP

[Fuin Elda]

September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

Fuin for her part followed Cala up the stairs as well needing to get her dagger and camp saw from her bag, it wouldn't be as nice to use them as the tools she had in Imladris but they would absolutely would work well enough. She made it back downstairs before Cala had found the glasses and the wood. Whens he spoke about making a pitcher the elleth nodded. "Yes that we should do." She took the cup that was offered to her from Cala and looked at the wood "We should also rework the plates and cups make them a bit nicer and make a third set so we each have one, maybe even a couple spares in case we ever have guests." She offered sitting on one of the work benches that was bare at least for the time being and set one of her daggers on the table beside her and looked at the bit of wood, it needed a bit of changing but not a lot.

She whittled the wood down where it needed to be before starting to saw into the top of it so that they could drive a wedge into it to lock it into place. She sipped at the water and relaxed for a while before she decided it was time to finish up the hammer and pulled the chisel with the tongs and then installed the handle leaving them now with two hammers. "How are your arms?" Fuin asked looking at her young apprentice, she had no doubt that her arms would be absolutely exhausted. She wasn't sure she wanted Cala to continue to work, perhaps she could do more bellows works but she really wanted her to work more tomorrow when they would begin finally working on items to sell to the community. Of course as she was thinking of this there was a knock at door and Fuin was certain it was the ingots that they had ordered earlier that day.

[Rillewen]

@I Said What I Said

Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

"Yes, that would be a good thing to have," Cala agreed, wondering whether they'd have enough metal between the two cups and two plates to stretch out into three plates and three cups. The cups were rather thick on the bottom, and around the sides, so maybe. She thought about that for a bit, studying the cup in her hand as she sipped some water. "My arms are a little tired, but I'll be alright." She answered, then glanced in surprise toward the door. Setting her cup down, she went to see who was there, and was surprised to find the same boy who had delivered the coal.

"More coal?" She asked, glancing back at Fuin and wondering if she'd anticipated any more coming.
"No miss, this time it's metal ingots." He answered, stepping aside to let her see what was on the cart.
"Oh! Right." She had forgotten about the ingots, and smiled a bit to see them all neatly stacked on the cart.
The boy had a paper in his hand, but his gaze was on Cala for a few moments before he gave a little shake of his head and looked down at the paper. "So, um.. I have.. one copper, one silver, one gold.. and then four steel, four mid grade iron, and four high grade iron... did I miss anything?" He asked, glancing toward Fuin to check. Once that was confirmed he looked a little relieved. "I'll bring it in, where do you want it?"

"I'll help," Cala offered, following him out to the cart.
"You don't have to.." He told her, before remembering what they said before. "I guess you're supposed to though?" He paused, looking at her a moment in slight awe. "You're really an apprentice blacksmith? To an elf?" He asked, still rather amazed by the idea.
Cala grinned, nodding. "Yep. And she's a master smith from Imladris, at that." She added, proud of the fact she would be learning from such an impressive teacher.
"Oh, wow!"
Cala struggled not to laugh at the astonishment showing on his face. "I'm going to be the best smith in the city one day." She mentioned, picking up one of the ingots, with an effort not to cringe as her arms protested.
Picking up another ingot, he looked at her with a smile. "I believe it."

Surprised that he didn't express any skepticism or anything, Cala stopped and blinked at him, then smiled slightly. "You do?"
"Sure, why shouldn't I?" He hesitated a moment, and cleared his throat. "I'm Thalaben, by the way."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Cala. So, will you always be the one delivering the coal and ingots?" She wondered as she headed inside with the silver one.
"Absolutely." He answered with a smile, following her with one of the iron ones.

[Fuin Elda]

September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

Fuin nodded, at least Cala knew that her arms were tired. Fuin would probably keep her to the bellows for the rest of the night maybe a little bit of other work but for the most part Fuin would be working on keeping her arms from failing tomorrow for the rest of the day.

Fuin shook her head at the comment about coal and before she could answer the young man had answered for her. She looked over the order, "I also ordered a bronze ingot." She said calmly "But we can get that delivered another day if you don't have." any she said producing the written slip of receipt that she'd purchased ingot that hadn't been mentioned by the young man. She went and inspected the ingots that were of precious metals, those were the ones that she was the most worried about and pickedup the gold one it was the smallest though it still weighted the same as the others as well as the copper, and carried those in while Cala and the boy worked on the iron and silveringots.

Fuin started putting the ingost away in the back where it was going to be tucked away and people would have to look for it, as it was worth a fair amount. This was worth as much as the entire building had been, though their improvements would make it worth more now. She sat back and listened to the two of them talking and she couldn't help but smile at how sweet the boy was Thalaben. She hoped that him missing an ingot would not get him in trouble with the smelter after all he knew the man could be incredibly harsh. She liked the boy even if they were missing an ingot, the fact that he was excited for Cala to be the best smith in the city spoke volumes on his character and hopefully helped prove to her that not all of the people of Minas Tirith were so stubborn in their ways that they wouldn't believe a girl could be a smith. She was even gladder to hear that he would be the one delivering their ingots and coal, she wasn't sure how often that would be knowing full well that there were multiple delivery men for both the coal and the smelter.

[Rillewen]

@I Said What I Said

Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

At the mention of a bronze ingot, Thalaben paused, his smile falling away as he tore his gaze away from Cala. "Bronze?" He frowned and fumbled to pull out the paper telling what he was supposed to bring where, and scanned over it, then glanced at the paper Fuin had shown. "Oh... oops. I'm sure that was my mistake. I'm terribly sorry, I'll bring that by as soon as possible.. I think it's too late tonight, but I'll bring it first thing in the morning!" He promised, looking a bit worried that he may have upset them.

"At least we've got plenty to work with in the meanwhile," Cala mentioned, feeling a bit bad for him. It was probably a lot to keep track of, all the different kinds of ingots and such, so she could understand. As they worked on bringing the ingots in, Cala tried not to let on that her arms were tired. "Do you deliver for everyone?" Cala asked Thal as they made trips back and forth to the cart, a little confused on the matter.

"Everyone? No, why?" He asked, a little puzzled.
"Well, you were just here a little while ago with coal. Now you're bringing metal. I thought there'd be different delivery people for both of them."
"Oh." He smiled as he got another ingot from the cart. "Well, I work for them both, in a way."
"Both? That must keep you busy." She wondered if that was why he missed one of the ingots, and hoped it wasn't a common thing to happen.
"Yeah, I guess." he paused, then asked, "How long have you been learning to do this? How come I've never seen you before?"

Cala paused, thinking on how to answer that. "I.. well, sort of, on my own? A few years. Officially? Only a few days, I guess. I lived in the first circle before. We only just started this forge up a few days ago. We'll be opening to the public the day after tomorrow, so we have to get a lot of things made before then." She smiled. "It's very exciting."
"Day after tomorrow.. alright." he nodded thoughtfully. "That's amazing. I've never heard of a girl doing this sort of thing.. most the girls I know just want to talk about dresses and shoes and fixing up their hair, and all that silly stuff."
Cala laughed, trying to imagine how dull a conversation like that would be. "Not me." She grinned. "I don't think I'd fit in with those girls at all." She headed back to get another ingot, while Thal tagged along, gazing at her in amazement and slight admiration as he went to get one of the last ingots from the cart. Before long, they had brought in all of their ingots, except the bronze one which wasn't on the cart.

[Fuin Elda]

September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

Fuin kept putting away the ingots as they brought them in until they were all finished, she wondered if Cala had any idea at all the boy was flirting with her... probably not. Though the boy might be just as oblivious that he was flirting as well, she stood a small smile upon her face as they spoke back and forth about how long she'd been working as an apprentice, and about where he worked.

They would be opening in a few days, which meant they had a lot of work to do tomorrow and not a lot of time to get it done, fortunately if she wasn't teaching Cala she could make items fairly fast so she might do a few pieces at night when Cala and Rada were asleep. She didn't need to feel bad about it Cala knew how to harden items now so she could make a knife fairly easily if she really wanted to, so making a sword was for the most part the same thing on a much larger scale.

"Alright you two." She said as she watched the boy looking at Cala she had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. "You need to get back to the third circle let him know you'll be swinging by here again tomorrow." and then she turned her attention to Cala. "And you need to help me with our next project so that we're fully outfitted." With that Fuin picked up the mid grade iron ingot that they'd gotten earlier and put it in the forge as if it were nothing and motioned for Cala to get to work on the bellows.

[Rillewen]

@I Said What I Said

Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

"Oh... yes ma'am." Thal replied to Fuin, sounding a bit disappointed, but he waved, with a smile back toward Cala before heading out to his cart. He nearly tripped over something as he glanced back and walked a few steps backward, as if to keep looking at Cala.

Trying not to snicker at the boy's clumsiness, Cala shook her head slightly once he was gone. "He seems nice." She commented, smiling a bit. It was very nice to meet someone friendly, and nice. Who didn't tell her that girls had no place in a forge, and that she couldn't do what she'd proven she could do. "What was our next project? Fixing the tongs, right?" She was pretty sure that was where they had been before Thal showed up, but she might be wrong.

Going to the bellows, she got to work, hoping that it wouldn't take too long before her arms were toughened up enough that such work wouldn't bother her. One day, she figured she'd have enough strength to be able to use the heavier hammer without much trouble, like Fuin. And she'd be able to work all day without it making her arms burn. But for now she would have to take it easy until her muscles were used to all this stuff. It was a bit of a surprise to find that using her small hammer was not really the same as using the forging hammer.

[Fuin Elda]

September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom


Fuin smiled at Cala who was utterly oblivious about the boy, it was cute, and perhaps reminded her a bit of herself when she had first met Afarfin all those years ago. He'd told her later that he'd been head over heels in love with her upon first seeing her, Fuin - Melviriel at that time- had been completely unaware and unaffected by any such love at first sight nonsense. She'd been annoyed at first sight of his brother so she suppose that was a step up for her later husband. "Yes he is very nice." She said with a smile. "No we need to make another set of tongs first before we fix yours, we need something to put yours into the bed and pull it out again that won't be too hot." Fuin said with a chuckle

"I have a feeling your arms are going to be hurting for the next while until they get use to the task at hand, you aren't in the worst shape, and you aren't terribly young so I am going to probably push you a bit more than I would if you were a child apprentice but I am not going to be overly expecting too much more than you working the bellows and watching closely for the next few items just because tomorrow I'm going to have you making up the new plates and cups and cutlery for the three of us while I work on items to sell to people." Fuin said with a small smile waiting for the ingot that she'd put in before to get up to temperature. This one was a lower grade of iron, so it took less time to heat to the temperature needed to punch parts of the ingot off with the chisel Fuin pulled the heavy iron bar out and went to work hammering down through the ingot quickly in only two heatings, and then doing so again so that she had two narrow pieces of ingot both of which went into the forge once more where Cala was kept busy with the bellows.

Soon the small pieces were stretched and bent and folded, almost as if they were made of fabric instead of semimolten metal. She set them in the forge to harden them. Cala was getting quite good at understanding the color required. "Remember this is a lesser grade iron so watch the colour closely, as the timing will be different from the last batch." Fuin reminded her apprentice.

[Rillewen]

@I Said What I Said

Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

"Oh, right, making tongs." Cala nodded, slightly annoyed she'd been distracted by the interruption which made her forget what they were doing. She nodded as Fuin explained what she would have her doing. "That sounds reasonable. I think I should be able to do a lot better with the plates and things, this time... I've got an actual forge and real tools and everything, now." She said with a smile. "Plus, you'll be here to tell me how to do something if I'm not sure." She was extremely happy about that. Having merely guessed at what she was doing before, she was quite eager to find out what better ways there might be to do this.

She watched while running the bellows, curious as to how Fuin went about making the tongs. It was quite intriguing, and done far better than what she had done. She tried to make mental notes for whenever it came time, someday, that she might need to make some again. But for the most part, she was quite content to let Fuin do the work for now, so that she could watch and learn, and not have to strain her muscles too much. "Right.. does that mean it'll come to critical more quickly?" She asked, watching carefully. "And lose it more quickly as well?" She made a guess at that, remembering from when she was younger, how some metals got hotter quicker and others took longer, though at the time she hadn't understood why that was.

[Fuin Elda]

September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

Fuin smiled as Cala got excited at the prospect of working on her own projects tomorrow while Fuin worked on the items to sell people that would be coming to the new forge. "Yes you certainly will, I'm excited to see how much you improve upon them now that you have a proper forge and soon to be all proper tools." Fuin said with a smile as he stood watching Cala as she was in charge of the bellows as the two parts heated to temperature.

"Yes it will come to it more quickly, it won't necessarily lose it more quickly in the forge unless it's winter and we have a fairly strong cold draft, but it will mean that if you heat too swiftly it can burn up faster. Outside of the forge the shape of these tongs does mean that they will lose the heat faster." She said calmly watching the tongs closely as this was going to be a fair bit of a test for Cala, this was the first test for her on a different grade of metal. She'd done the last few very well, but one had to pay attention to the thickness of the metal, and the quality of it, Fuin wanted to know if she'd been paying attention or if she had figured out a rough rhythm that worked for the high grade iron that they had been using before for the hammers and the file.

Her willingness to ask questions boded well for her and she was like a ravenous wolf, ready to consume any knowledge that she could get. It didn't take long before Fuin reached in with the set of tongs that Cala had made and transfered the hot pieces one at a time into the quench bucket. "Now I get to make a rivet to put those pieces together and then we fix these." Fuin said and clicked the tongs in her hand together. Instead of going to the ingot instead Fuin went to the scraps that Rada and brought for them and found a piece of chainlink, rusted on the exterior but when she scraped it with the file it showed good metal underneath. "So a good way to see if metal is worth heating to use is to run the file a few times over it see how it took away the red?" Fuin head out the link of the chain most of it was a dull red rust colour but where she had scraped with the file showed a clean silver metal. "And for a rivet I know most chains are high enough quality metal that I can save the effort of heating that giant ingot to take a tiny piece of it off, in fact it should be enough if we need to replace the rivet on your tongs as well." Fuin said with a smile and put the link into the forge, because of it's size it wasn't long before she pulled it and cut it in half putting the other half aside in the forge where there was almost no heat at all in the coals because of how they were piled and began shaping it into a rivet. Soon she pulled the tong halves from the quench and put them together. and slid the hot rivet in place and slammed the hammer onto it with several hard thumps rounding it out and trapping the two halves of the tongs together. She was careful to not hit too hard checking to make sure that the tongs still opened and closed easily enough before rounding the rivet head gently and quenching it again. The rivet didn't need to be hardened or tempered it just needed to exist. "Right now we file down the faces so they touch nicely and then we can start on fixing these." Fuin said with a smile.

[Rillewen]

@I Said What I Said

Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

Cala nodded as Fuin answered and explained about the different grades of metal. It made sense, and she remembered having accidentally ruined a few pieces of metal before, during her nightly experiments in that one forge. Thankfully, it had been merely scrap pieces of metal, and nothing that anyone would miss. But now, at last, she understood why it had happened, and better knew how to keep it from happening. Thus, she watched very closely and paid careful attention to the color the metal was, trying to ensure that she got the timing just right on this one, until at last Fuin was quenching the pieces.

She watched with great interest as Fuin made the rest of the tongs. It was similar to how she remembered making hers before, though obviously with more expertise, and Fuin knew to do different things which she had not known then. She nodded as Fuin explained about the rust, and the chain link. "That makes sense." She paused, thinking back. "I never had a file before, but sometimes, I'd take a rough stone and try to scrape rust off of something, if I wasn't sure." She mentioned, recalling her old methods of doing things, before she had any sort of teacher. It was infinitely better, having a teacher at last, who could tell her and show her how to do things, as well as explaining why this would work or this would not, and so on. How she ever managed before... she could only put it down to sheer determination. "How do we fix them?" She wondered. That was something she had always wanted to be able to do, because they weren't quite satisfactory to her, but didn't know how to go about it.

[Fuin Elda]

September 13 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

"A rough stone?" Fuin tipped her head slightly it was a very creative work around to not having a file and there were many stones that could be used in place of a file, though they tended to be less agressive than a file which meant it took far longer. "It's a lot more work I'd assume with a stone, I've never tried it." She looked at the tongs. they had a wobble to them which looked like it came from one of the handles being a little crooked and the rivet not being quite tight enough.

"Well to fix these the first thing we are going to do is shear your rivet so we can work both pieces individually." Fuin said looking them over and sticking them in the forge now that they had a new set of tongs She made sure the rivet was in the hottest portion of the coal bed so it would heat the rivet the fastest. It heated extremely quickly which didn't entirely shock Fuin, it likely meant that each movement was actually shearing and stretching that rivet which is why it was as off kilter as it was.

A moment later she pulled them and pressed the chisel between the two parts and gave it one good hard hit and it sheared apart. Fuin tossed the ruined rivet into the quench bucket she'd worry about that later and set the seperated pieces onto the anvil one was sitting nice and flat the other had twisted, just slightly from what it should be likely from riveting it together a hit or two in the wrong area while it was still warm, or a partial quench that caused the metal to bend it didn't matter there was only one way to fix it and it was to heat it straighten it and then harden both it and the other piece. Hopefully they were a high enough grade metal. From how the rivet heated compared to them she was fairly certain they were.

Soon the second set of tongs were finished and they could be done for the day. Mostly because Fuin did not want to over work Calas arms and because they would need to make supper soon and then start planning exactly what they would be making tomorrow so that they had enough items that people would want to come back and see more of their work, or place orders so they began cleaning up and shutting down the forge for the night.

[Rillewen]

@I Said What I Said

Calaerdis



September 13, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

Watching with curiosity as Fuin fixed the tongs, Cala was surprised to see how easily the rivet popped open. It appeared rather weak, and she thought back to a few years ago when she made them. She'd been working with whatever things she had on hand, and using the very primitive 'forge' she'd made back at the old home, and using borrowed tongs that she had to return as quickly as possible. So it stood to reason her work hadn't been the best quality.

At last, they were finished, and she had to agree they looked much better. It was quite nice that they only needed a little bit of fixing, rather than having to be completely remade. She was pleased, as it seemed as if one of her first official works had been done well enough that Fuin only had to fix it slightly. And with that being done, it was now time to close up shop and get started on supper. She gladly stretched her arms and hoped the muscles would stop burning before long. They had one more day before they would begin having customers.. or she hoped they would.. and she hoped to be able to help make a few of the items for selling once she'd fixed the dishes.

Thinking on that as they worked on supper, Cala tried to think how to go about properly fixing the plates and cups, but she wasn't entirely sure. She would have to ask Fuin once they got started in the morning. As of now, she was thinking of melting both plates together and then dividing the metal into three, to give them the third plate. They would each be smaller, but at least they'd have three of them. Same with the cups, but she wasn't really sure how to make the cups. Maybe she'd use the horn part of the anvil for that? Thoughts about what all she'd be doing tomorrow continued to race around in her mind even after supper was over and she had gone to bed, eager to get started in the morning.

[Fuin Elda]

September 14 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Purrmonster of Doom

Clean up and supper went well, Rada came back before dark and the heat of the forge had upstairs nice despite the fire upstairs being cold all day. Supper was simple and all three of them were exhausted from their day and sleep came quickly for all of them.

In the morning the house was cold, not that it bothered Fuin at all but she had no doubt the kids weren't a fan of how cool it would be, she slipped out of bed and made a fire to start warming the upstairs area up and so that she could make breakfast, indeed there was a lot of work to be done and this was her and Calas last day to do it before they would hopefully be getting business. That and their last ingot should hopefully be arriving today. Fuin smirked wondering how much of s distraction that would be both for the young man and for Cala.

Soon there was a boiled egg for each of them and a bit of bread with butter and a bit of jam that Fuin had gotten, which would hopefully work well as a substitute for tarts, it was strawberry and quite tasty, and then there was the milk that was delivered. As she waited for the children to wake up she started sketching out designs of things that she would be making today, high end knives, a sword, some metal bracers, and perhaps a shield. Yes a shield would be an excellent piece to work on she hadn't seen any proper shields of late in the local smith ships, not in the first circle nor in the smithy where they'd gotten the anvil.

[Rillewen]

@I Said What I Said

Calaerdis and Radaron



September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

Rada bounced into the room bright and early, wandering over to Fuin to watch her draw. "What're you doing?" He wondered, quite amazed at how well she did everything, the latest being drawing, apparently. "Do I have to do anything today, or can I go play with my new friends?" He asked hopefully, eager to learn a few more games that his first circle friends didn't know.

Eager to get started on their last day before opening, Cala dressed quickly and came to breakfast, trying to think over different ideas of what to do to fix the dishes, having been going over a few different thoughts ever since last night. "Good morning," She smiled as she saw both Radaron and Fuin, and wondered if he was bothering her. "I was wondering," She mentioned to Fuin. "You said you were going to make some things to sell, while I work on the dishes.. what if after I finish those, I could make a few of those toys like I made for Radaron, for selling?" She wasn't sure if Fuin had any other thoughts on tasks for her, but that was definitely something she could do easily, and it would provide a few novelty items to sell that shouldn't cost much for those who didn't want to spend a whole lot.

[Fuin Elda]

September 14 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Rillewen

Rada was up faster than Cala, that was standard by this point he was a bundle of energy and Cala yesterday had done a fair amount of work and was undoubtedly tired. "I'm making designs for items that I'm going to be making today and hopefully selling tomorrow." Fuin said calmly she glanced at him as he asked if there was anything that he needed to do or if he could go play with his friends. She bit her lip and thought for a moment. They really should get him into school he couldn't run around like a wild child all day an not learn anything but neither she nor his sister really had time to properly teach him and she had a feeling that he was going to find that most of his friends might not be about every day as a good many of them likely would be going to school especially the boys. Cala would have to be taught by her as she learned smithing.

"Today is going to be your last day running about playing with your new friends I think Rada." Fuin said with a smile. "Then you're going to start going to school, so you can learn your numbers and letters and be smarter than all your friends from the first circle." She said with a wink knowing full well he wanted to be better than them especially after their little interlude that she'd heard. "I have a feeling most of your new friends will also be at school most of the week as well." She said with a smile, she might pay for him to have an extra half day of tutoring each week until he was caught up with the children that were his age but that shouldn't take too long, especially if he was as head strong as his sister was about being smarter than his first circle friends." With that she put Rada's breakfast on a plate for him and gave him a cup of milk as Cala came out dressed and ready to get to work.

"Making a few of those toys would be an excellent task for you and we could mark them as apprentice work so that people get use to the idea of purchasing items made by you as well." Fuin said as she got Cala's portion of breakfast ready and handed it to her as well. "Maybe Rada's new friends could pop by to buy their own version of the puzzle, or bring their parents." Fuin said with a smile that would be quite useful even if it were coppers coming in on what she made it would be made out of the lesser scrap pile which had cost them nothing to acquire thanks to Rada and his excellent work.

[Rillewen]

@I Said What I Said

Calaerdis and Radaron



September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

"Aw.. why?" Radaron pouted at the thought of this being his last day to run around and play all the time, but then became interested at the thought of being smarter than his first circle friends. Not friends anymore, exactly, but those kids he used to call friends. He grinned. "Yeah! I'm gonna be way smarter than them!" He cheered, eager now to get started on this 'smarter than them' project. "I can't wait to show them that I'm smarter." He bounced happily, imagining what he might learn in the near future that would make him smarter. He eagerly ate his breakfast, excited to go out and play and tell all his new friends about how he'd be coming to school with them soon and everything. "I'll tell all my friends to come buy your toys Cala!" He added, hearing the talk about Cala making them and everything.

Cala smiled, nodding a little. "Well, with advertisement like that, how could we not sell out?" She grinned as she took a seat near her brother. "I can't believe tomorrow is our first day being open for business." She mentioned, feeling a little nervous but very excited, too. "Will we have time to get enough things made to sell?" She tried to think how long it might take to make a few things. The nail puzzle games didn't take long, she knew, it was mostly just tricky to get the nails bent at just the right angle, but she'd made enough of them over the last few years that she shouldn't have much trouble doing that.. it was one of the things she had the most practice at making.

[Fuin Elda]

September 14 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Rillewen

Fuin smiled as Rada got excited about going to school, perhaps if they took a break today she would see about registering Rada for school so that she would be able to just drop him off with a lunch before they opened for the first day. She wasn't sure that that would happen but she'd be able to get Rada to school early enough to pay for his lessons and then get him into a class before they opened while Cala prepped everything to open before she came back.

"We should sell out quickly one can hope in terms of those puzzles." Fuin said with a smile as she finished cleaning up the dishes from their breakfast. It would be nice to have more plates and cups and perhaps even some forks for hot food. "I think your first task will have to be the puzzles those are going to be more important for the shop than plates and cups for us. I think we will likely need to use some of the scrap pile for new plates and cups and perhaps some forks for ourselves. That said I am going to trust you to do those on your own for the most part." With that she set the two sets of dishes aside and stretched. "And we should be getting our bronze ingot some time today, perhaps I can make some cups as well for other people out of bronze as well as some plates to sell along with the knives and fancier items to sell as well.

"So I think it's time for us to start working we have a lot of things to make and not a lot of time to do it." With that she headed downstairs so that they could get started, she'd get Cala to light the forge once more and they they would get started. She started to open up several of the windows as it would soon be getting fairly hot in the shop and she set out her sketches with the work that she wanted to get done today as she waited for Cala to start up the forge as she got the ingots that she needed ready, some of them would be made into knives and other little items.

[Rillewen]

@I Said What I Said

Calaerdis



September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

Cala was eager to get started, and hurried after Fuin. "Go on and have fun today, Little Brother," She called back. "Tomorrow you're starting school." She waved at him as he ran out, and then smiled to herself as she went to get the coals started for the forge. "I'm glad he is at least enthused about it." She commented in relief. "But I wonder how long that will last, when he has to start doing the school work. I never could get him very interested in it." She sighed.

With the thought in mind that the puzzles were to come first, rather than the cups and plates, Cala nodded and dug through the scrap pile. She had made enough nails over the last couple of years that she didn't need any help with that, and dug around to find the right sort of scrap metal to make some. She put some different things in the coals to heat up. "Here comes Thalaben now." She mentioned, catching a glimpse of him passing one of the windows on his way to the door. She had a little while to wait before anything would be hot enough to work, so she went to the door and opened it before he could even knock. "Good morning." She smiled a bit at the surprised look on his face.

"Oh, good morning." He smiled. "I've got your ingot, would you like it with the rest of them?"
"Come in," She glanced at Fuin for the answer to that question, and let him put it wherever Fuin said. "I hope you didn't get in any trouble about that?" She added.
"Oh, no, I didn't, don't worry about that." He grinned slightly. "Umm," He paused, then held out a heavy sack he'd brought along. "I..brought along some other things I thought you might need, sort of..as recompense for forgetting the ingot yesterday? It's not much, just some scrap bits from around the molds...but I thought it might be helpful."
Cala blinked in surprise, and took the bag.. it was quite full. "What did you do, scrape all the excess off of every single mold you have there?" She wondered, a little amazed. "Won't you get in trouble for that?" She frowned.
He grinned. "No.. I don't think so. Not much anyway.. but I figure, it's the least I can do after yesterday, I mean... that might've set you back a bit, and I'm sorry about that." He shrugged.
Cala glanced at Fuin, a little unsure what to do, and set the bag down. "Thank you, Thalaben, that's very considerate..."
"No problem at all," He smiled. "Do you need to place an order for any more ingots, while I'm here?" He tore his gaze from Cala, addressing the last part to Fuin.

[Fuin Elda]

September 14 th, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Rillewen

Fuin smiled as Rada ran off, "Likely because he was stuck doing it alone without proper motivation." Fuin said with a chuckle. "Here I feel like he's going to want to catch up to his current friends, and school is a bit more interesting when you're with other children your age and it's not your family teaching you." She smiled as Cala spotted Thalaben. She seemed to be almost as struck by him as he was by her.

"Good morning Thalaben, yes with the rest will do lovely." She said with a smile as Cala asked if he had gotten in trouble, and then glance d at a heavy sack that he showed them full of scrap and blinked at it, there was easily a half a golds worth of metal in there possibly more as she couldn't tell if there were precious metal scraps, there were probably very few of those, iron and steel would be far more common in that back and it would make for some fantastic little pieces. "That is very kind of you Thalaben, though not necessary, I do think Cala would enjoy making some smaller projects from those pieces to practice her precision work on over the next few days without having to cut bits off ingots." She said with a smile. When he asked if they needed ingots she shook her head. "No we have a standing replacement order once a week, though if we should need more I will send Cala up to place the order." She said with a tiny knowing smirk as the young man struggled to keep his attention on her the Master smith of the forge rather than the apprentice. It was cute and sweet. She pulled a few silver pieces from her coin purse and handed them to Thalaben, "That's for the bag of scraps, it's not quite enough but should keep you out of trouble for the small amount that you would get in trouble."

She had to admit she was a bit curious about why he wouldn't get in trouble, she knew the smelter well enough, and anyone except fam... She paused tipping her head back and gave a chuckle pretty certain she'd figured out why he wasn't going to get in trouble at least that was her guess. Goodness if Cala kept up with the flirting with him, she'd not be paying for metal or coal, that would be an impressive feat.

"Right Cala, let's get going the forge isn't going to stoke itself with the bellows." She said with a smile, "And thanks again Thalaben, I hope the rest of your day goes smoothly." She said and lifted one of the high grade steel ingots into the forge so that it could start heating and she could make a short sword from it and a matching dagger.

[Rillewen]

@I Said What I Said

Calaerdis



September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

"You can call me Thal, most people do," He informed them, smiling mostly toward Cala but trying to remember not to focus on her entirely. He was pleased to hear they could use the scrap metal, and then looked a bit surprised when Fuin offered a few silver pieces. "Oh, no ma'am, you needn't do that, this is just to recompense for my forgetting part of your order yesterday." He told her, holding up his hands to turn down the payment. "I couldn't.. I mean, I didn't bring it expecting you to pay for it, I just figured it ought to sort of make up for my mistake." He shrugged and offered a smile. "Just.. don't mention it, alright?" He nodded to them, particularly Cala, and waved. "Good day to you ladies as well." He left without taking the silver pieces, with a last little smile back toward Cala before he was gone.

Cala was a bit surprised, watching Thal go, then remembered about the forge as Fuin mentioned it. "Right.." She hurried over to the bellows. "That was.. very nice of him," She mentioned, puzzled. "I wonder why he'd want to risk getting in trouble, and not even accepting any money for it.. I hope that smelter won't be too angry, if he doesn't know about it." She frowned, wondering a bit about that. She didn't know the smelter, but he'd looked a bit intimidating to her, and she'd hate for Thal to lose his job or worse just because he was trying to be nice.

She kept a close eye on the metal for her project. Since her pieces of metal were smaller than Fuin's ingot, it was in more danger of getting messed up if it got too hot, and so when it looked to be just the right shade, she got to work, making the nails she needed for her puzzles. They didn't have to be sharp, so that made it easier. In fact, it was better that they weren't sharp, since children would be handling these. Eventually, she had quite a lot of nails, in pairs, finished. The next step would be to shape them into the right bends, and after making enough for a few dozen puzzles, she put them back on the coals where they'd heat up, but not too quickly. Soon she got to work bending them into the puzzle shape. It was more tedious than anything, because she was doing so many and it had to be bent just right, so that it was tricky, but still possible to get them apart and back together.

[Fuin Elda]

September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Rillewen

Fuin smiled and just barely kept from shaking her head as the boy refused payment and said that they shouldn't mention it. Indeed the smelter would give him a thumping he'd never forget if she knew the man well enough. She gave a nod to his request and he departed Cala for her part she wasn't sure if it was because he felt bad for his mistake or if it was another excuse to spend a bit more time with Cala. The worst part was she wasn't even entirely sure either of them knew what they were doing. Teenagers. She thought to herself as she waited for her ingot to heat up.

Soon she split the ingot and began working on the short sword as it would take the longest she stretched the metal out folded it several times until had over a thousand layers - eleven folds in total heated and welded together before she began shaping it shaping out the tip and making the body of the weapon curve gently like an elven sword and stretching out the tang as her apprentice worked on the nails to make the puzzles. She looked at what Cala had done so far, she was pretty certain that she was going to have enough for all of Rada's friends in this circle and the first, not that that was a bad thing - it was excellent and she nodded approvingly as she took a short break from her own work as the length of the sword reheated so that she could refine it's shape a bit more before she went on to harden it.

It was almost noon when the sword was finished, and she'd spotted more than a few curious people peaking into the windows as they walked by hearing the ringing of hammers constantly inside the new shop and whispered that it was an elven forge come to Minas Tirith. She wasn't sure if Cala heard them like she could and it made her smile. It did mean that she would need to make more items, than just a sword and a small dagger though. Perhaps she'd make some arrow heads, and some more basic tools that people could use... Perhaps some fabric shears and needles and pins, those were hard to come by from smiths for they were tedious things that were small and took a lot of time and weren't worth a lot of money most of the time especially if one didn't have the patience to perfect making pins and needles - something an elven smith most certainly did. Perhaps she'd teach Cala after she made the fabric shears remembering she'd said something about making sewing pins and having them dismissed by tailors and seamstresses.

[Rillewen]

@I Said What I Said

Calaerdis



September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

Once they were cool enough to touch, Cala carefully tested each one of her puzzles after putting the bends into the nails, making sure that each one was possible to do, while not being too easy, either. Some, she had to adjust a little, squeezing the loops a little closer together, or further apart. Once she was satisfied with it, she set it aside and started on the next. Eventually, the tedious work was finished and she had each little puzzle set aside. Maybe, after she'd sold a few of those style, she might experiment with another style of puzzle she'd had an idea for, but she wasn't sure she wanted to try something like that today.

Whatever Fuin was making, she was rather intrigued by it, and the whole time that she was working on her puzzles, Cala was watching out of the corner of her eye, until the thing began to take shape and she saw that it was a blade. She wished she was already advanced enough to make something like that.. how amazing that would be, to craft a thing like that. She smiled a bit, taking a little break to watch while she stretched her arms slightly.

"If there isn't anything else you think I should work on right now," She said after a moment, "I'm going to get us a cup of water and then start working on fixing up the dishes." She decided. And, with this bag of scraps, she thought that maybe she'd be able to make a few extra ones for selling. She had a much better idea about how to make cups, now that she was a little older and had watched a few blacksmiths, and hoped to be able to do it without needing too much help or advice from Fuin.

Receiving the go ahead, she went upstairs to retrieve the dishes, the cups filled with water. Fuin was hard at work at the sword she was making, and Cala would have loved to stand there watching, trying to learn how she did it, but she had her own task to accomplish. The plates would be first. She hardly remembered what they had originally looked like.. after the fire at the house, they had been a little warped and charred, and she had tried to reshape them later on, but the lack of proper equipment had resulted in the obvious hammer dents and all that. She hoped to smooth that out and make them look nicer, now that there was proper equipment, plus a teacher now to guide her along if she wasn't sure what to do.

Soon, after only having to ask for a little verbal help along the way, Cala was looking at a much nicer-looking plate, and smiled happily before setting it aside to cool. By now, the other one should be hot enough to work, and she drained the last of her water, making sure there weren't any more drops of water in it before carefully adding it to the coals. Then, she set to work on doing the same thing to the second plate while the cup heated. The first two plates were likely to be the easiest, since they already had the basic shape of a plate. It would be harder, she knew, since she would have to do extra steps, but she didn't mind that too much. It was fun getting to turn chunks of useless metal into usable things, and she was thrilled to be able to do it better than she used to.

Before too long, she was setting the second plate aside to cool, and checked to see if the cup was warm enough to work yet. It had a lot more metal to it, so she figured it might take a while. But, by using the different idea she had for making a cup, she figured she ought to need a whole lot less metal for making it, and hoped to have enough metal left over to make another plate and cup.. she remembered using several pieces of melted dishes to make just those two cups, before. But if it wasn't enough, she might be able to find matching metal scraps in the bag that Thal had brought. Fuin's sword was nearly finished by now, and she figured it was probably drawing near to noon. She frowned a bit, wondering how much time she'd have to finish the cups before it was time to eat. Maybe if she worked quickly, she might get the third plate finished.

Taking the heated cup, she frowned, trying to make an estimate about how much metal she would need to make a plate. She wanted to try this one on her own, without asking for help, but she would if she had to. She took a guess and trimmed off a chunk of the metal, remembering with some amusement how she had made those to begin with.. she had taken a lot of metal, melted it, formed it into a big blob, and shoved a smooth, round river stone down the middle so that it formed the part to hold liquid. It was the only way she could make it work at the time, having no anvil or other tools to do such a thing.

Shaking her head slightly at the memory of that, she took a while to hammer out this piece, trying to make it round, and shape it into a plate. As it began to take shape, she sighed and realized she didn't have enough. She put that off to the side of the coals, and instead took the other portion out and got to work on it. It turned out to be just about right, and while she felt a bit annoyed about the first failure, she now knew about how much metal it took. Soon, a third plate joined the first, and she figured it was about time to rest and have lunch before returning to work.

[Fuin Elda]

September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Rillewen

She was dipped the sword into an oil bath letting flames lick up the tongs as it burned from the initial dip and left it there as it was time for lunch. She looked over at what Cala was doing once more she had to be getting close, the plates it looked like were now done and she gave a little smile.

"Looks like you've finished in time that we can use the new plates if we give them a scrub up get the scale off of them." She said with a smile looking at them. They were much nicer shaped and much smother than the plates had been as she looked at the stack and shuffled through them all giving an approving nod. She picked up one of them and gave it a rub down with a piece of leather to get the worst of the scale off of it before tossing the leather to Cala and heading to lock the bellows as she was finished with the plates for now.

They ate quickly, mostly because they needed to get back to work swiftly so that they would have enough items to sell tomorrow. "So the cups next, I think for you?" Fuin asked quickly finishing off a bit of bread and cheese and giving the plate a rinse they'd polish it up nicer later it was clean enough at least that it didn't transfer scale or soot to her sandwich that she'd made. She gave it a quick wipe down and set it aside so it could finish air drying "Let's get back to it." She said with a smile and headed back down stairs trusting Cala to follow her when she had finished and washed up her portion of the dishes. The first thing she did once she was down stairs was unlock the bellows and get the coals hot again. and she put the last bit of the ingot in so she could make a matching dagger to go with the sword. By the time it was hot she would have the hilt of the blade put together since she had gotten most of that finished before she had hardened the blade.

[Rillewen]

@OHoney

Calaerdis



September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

Cala was very pleased with how well the plates had turned out. She should have fixed them a long time ago, she realized, but of course, back then she hadn’t really cared that much about how the plates looked. They were just plates, something to hold food. But it definitely looked more like something she could be proud of, and she figured the more she did it, the better they would look. Maybe she could work on making more plates and things to sell, if Fuin thought it was a good idea.

For now, though, as she returned to the forge after lunch, it was time to work on the cups. She nodded as Fuin suggested the cups next. “That was what I had in mind, too.” She smiled, taking a pair of tongs. She moved the piece that hadn’t been enough for a plate, and moved it back into the coals to warm up. That should work just about right for a cup, now that she had a better design in mind. Once it was heated enough, she removed it from the fire and worked on hammering the metal out quite thin, trying to move it more into a long rectangular strip. Once it seemed evenly thin all across the length of it, she took a moment to think how best to go about making the edges perfectly straight and even.

Getting an idea, she laid it flat so that the edge she wanted to even up was on the edge of the surface, then carefully tapped the rough edges down, flipped it, and bent it back the other way, then back again, til the metal broke off. She held it up, checking that it looked nice and straight and even. Now, she paused to consider how to make it smooth. She took a moment to think on it before carefully bending the rough edge down so that it was rolled down on itself, like a hem on the bottom of a skirt. Then she curled the whole thing so that it formed a circle. It was just about right as far as size, but she wasn’t entirely sure how to go about securing the edges together. But, once she had that finished, it would be time for the bottom.

This would be more tricky. She frowned as she studied the piece she had made so far, trying to picture in her mind how this ought to go. She figured a round piece would serve for the bottom of the cup, but how to attach it? She stared at it for a few moments before finally giving in. “I got to this point, but I can’t think how to actually make the edges secure together, and also how to put the bottom on.” She frowned a bit. “Would I just.. heat it up enough so the metal bonds together? I’ve not done that very much,” She said, a little unsure about this now. “Or, for the side seam part, would it be better to add some rivets, and I could attach a handle with the same rivets?” She wanted to make sure that she did this really good, and wanted the cup to be made well enough that it would be sell-worthy even if she was only making it for their own use.

[Fuin Elda]

September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Rillewen

Fuin watched from the corner of her eye as she began finishing up the sword. There was much yet to do with it, it needed it's hilt finished and it needed to have all the burnishing and slag cleaned away and the edge honed to a razor. It looked to her like Cala was biting off more than she could chew with how she was making the cups, the welding temperature of such a thin metal was... unforgiving. And that was being generous in the wording of it. She had no doubt that these cups would leak horribly but she wasn't above letting an apprentice fail at a task if it was a learning experience.

"Yes if you are bonding the metals together you need to get it to welding temperatures and then use flux on it. That white powder." She said pointing to a sack that had come in on one of their various trips getting supplies. Fuin could hardly even remember which one. "That is what makes it so they will bond properly... IF you get the temperature right." She added that way Cala knew that it was going to be a tricky task. Unfortunately with the need to make stock for opening tomorrow she wouldn't have time to teach her how to weld such a thin bit of metal properly, it would be something that would happen undoubtedly over the next several months but today was not going to be the day for that lesson.

"Rivets are not the best when dealing with liquids unless you can near weld them as well, they have a tendency to leak sooner rather than later as it is a weak point in the side, it is better to weld the cup or leave it without a handle if we are not drinking hot liquids from it." She said calmly as she carved out the hilt and prepped it to be put onto the tang of the sword. "For hot liquids you should be able to make it so the handle comes from the top rim of the cup and curls down to the bottom, if it's not hard attached at the bottom but only mildly attached due to the heat it should be fine as long as the top is sturdy enough." Fuin said with a smile suggesting a way that she might create a handle without weld or rivet by simply shaping and stretching the metal further as she heated the tang and pressed the wooden portion of the hilt on searing it into place and making it so that it would be strong and immobile before hammering the tang that stuck out flat trapping it in place creating a simple but clean and elegant pommel. Now all that was left was to clean and hone it. That would not take long and she'd be onto the next item.

[Rillewen]

@Fuin Elda

Calaerdis



September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

Listening to what Fuin answered to her question, Cala hesitated and glanced back down at her work so far. Using the flux.. welding the metals, getting the temperature right... all things Cala didn't know how to do yet, and had never attempted. Having heard what she would have to do to make this work, she was starting to have second thoughts about this plan. She frowned and stared down at the curled, flattened piece of metal, thinking, realizing that this way of doing it was not actually easier or better, as she had thought it would be. But what could she do, instead? She hated to have to ask Fuin to help with it, since she was busy with the sword, but she also didn't think she could manage to do all that stuff she described, without having to involve Fuin anyway.

Sighing softly, she folded her arms and frowned, trying to fight the frustration that was trying to take over. This was hard, complicated, and beyond her ability, and she just couldn't do it, and that was a bit upsetting. Feeling a bit discouraged by her lack of ability, she scowled at what she had made so far, as if trying to will it into something better. But she knew it wouldn't do it on its own.. she'd just have to rethink this thing. But how could it be done, other than the way she'd done it before? That used way too much metal, and she wanted it to look nicer, and not be so heavy. It seemed impossible, or at least impossible without having to ask for help, which she really couldn't do because Fuin had other things to do right now. Maybe later, she'd teach her how to do this stuff, but not right now. That added to the frustration, and she wanted to go for a walk and think about it but she needed to solve this right now... they had a deadline, after all.

Conscious of the fact Fuin was probably watching her even if she didn't look like she was, Cala tried to decide if she wanted to continue with this plan, or find another plan that might be easier, and perhaps quicker. She thought about those who said that a girl couldn't do this sort of work, and frowned harder... they were wrong, she would prove that. She couldn't let a stupid cup become a wall to her.

And then, just like that, another idea popped into mind. Tilting her head, she considered that, thinking it through as carefully as she could, trying to foresee any potential problems with that, and tried to picture how it might turn out. "What if I..made this into a round, flat disk, and then bend the sides up around.." She paused, trying to think how better to describe what she had in mind. "Hmm.. would the metal on the sides form folds, or wrinkles? or would I be able to smooth it out after it's formed into the wall of the cup?" She rubbed her forehead thoughtfully, trying to figure out how to make this work.

[Fuin Elda]

September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Rillewen

Fuin glanced at Cala as she stood arms crossed and her mouth frowning harder and harder each time she looked at her. She was just putting the finishing touches on the sword when she finally spoke and came up with a different idea. Fuin nodded. "That will probably be easier for you than your original plan. And yes the sides will wrinkle and fold if you're not paying attention, but you already know how to push material back thicker so that it doesn't need to do that." Fuin said with a smile as she eyes the straight line of the sword in her hand happy with it she set it down so she could give her apprentice a moment of time to hopefully sooth the frustration.

"You can smooth it out as you bend the sides up, making it a bit easier than if you were to have hard wrinkles, but Cala." She said with a small smile. "You're an apprentice, and you are still a child, you're allowed to not do something perfectly the first time. That's the whole point of learning is to get better at something. You have my full permission to mess up on a cup trying to do something you don't know how to do yet for the sake of learning. You have my permission to go through a good portion of that scrap pile your brother brought playing with a forge trying to figure things out when I'm busy. Goodness knows we've got some fantastic new scraps today." She smiled "Allow yourself to fail, so that you can learn. I'm not going to kick you out of your home because you couldn't make a fancy cup right the first time, I'd be a horrible teacher if I only took on students that knew what to do before I taught them."

"My suggestion is to make a the sides 'hammered' so that they have texture to them and you don't see the imperfection in the thickness of the sides as easily and it will allow for you to hide the folds easier before they become folds." Fuin said with a smile, honestly there likely wouldn't be too many folds or they wouldn't be as harsh as Cala thought they would be. "Now, I've got the first item done, I'm going to make some knives to go with it as those won't take too long and then I can move onto bracers." She said with a smile

[Rillewen]

@Fuin Elda

Calaerdis



September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

Nodding, Cala took the piece she had worked into an almost cylinder shape, and put it back in the fire. It would have to be reshaped, and she may need to add more metal to it now... she started toward the pile of scrap stuff and then paused as Fuin started talking to her again, and looked down, a bit embarrassed. "I.. I know.. it's alright to make mistakes, I know." She fidgeted, sighing. Of course, it was logical to expect mistakes, but she didn't like it when she messed up. It made her feel a little like maybe those naysayers were right, and she felt she had to work even harder to prove them wrong. "And.. I know you won't kick me out or anything, I just want to do the best I can. I don't want anyone to be able to say, 'see, I told you girls can't do this stuff'." She glanced up at Fuin. "I don't want anyone to have any reason to say that."

Grabbing a piece of tin to match up with the metal of the cup, she added that into the coals so she could get them heating up at the same time, and then.. she figured she'd need to mash them together and then take off a piece to turn into a disk, and do plan B on the cup. "I knew my first method of doing a cup didn't really turn out so great, so I figured there had to be a better way, so that it wouldn't use as much metal, and wouldn't be so heavy. Poor Radaron had a hard time using these cups, when I first made them..they were so heavy, and he could only use one hand..." She frowned slightly. "I guess he got used to it though. I wonder how he'll like the new ones... if I can make them right." She smiled faintly at that thought.

[Fuin Elda]

September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Rillewen

"The only things we are going to put out for the public are the things you are good at, practice items are for us, so you can refine them and hone your techniques. Unless we end up with a burglar nobody will know if you have mistakes or have a hard time figuring something out if it's not to a smiths quality quite yet. And I am absolutely certain that Radaron will love the new cups. Hopefully he doesn't pick on up with the force he's used to on the old ones and ends up with milk or water all over him thinking they will be heavy. He'd have to have bath if it were milk and he'd not like that." She said with a smile and grabbed a few small pieces of steel, she could tell by their sheen that they were steel, now to find out the quality of them she tossed them into the forge and watched them heat, the one was mid, and she pulled it and found another piece and put it in as well the first was high quality and she pulled it out and started working on it quickly stretching and folding and welding it together with flux to strengthen it before heating it again. She went back and forth between the two pieces of metal she was working on to forge the knives, these would be big enough to be weapons but small enough to be thrown if need be.

Soon their shape was taking form and Fuin cast a few glances at Cala as she began to work again, the horn of the anvil was the most useful place for her at the moment which made it easy for them to share for the time being and the knives shaped much much faster than the sword did just because of the length of them. Soon she was hardening them and making the knife handles to go on them.

[Rillewen]

@Fuin Elda

Calaerdis



September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

Cala listened, nodding slightly. Fuin made a good point about that, she realized, and tried to stop worrying so much about getting it right the first time. Perhaps it was due to the fact that before, her supply of metal to work with had always been very limited, and now she didn't need to worry so much about whether she went through the metal supply and 'wasted it' as she'd always thought of it. It wasn't exactly that much of a waste, she realized, if she learned from it.

At last, her metal was hot enough to work and she pulled it out and got to work on shaping it into a disk. Only once she was satisfied with how round it was, and the thickness, did she put it back in the coals to warm up again. "I'll warn him about it being lighter, before he goes to use one." She smiled. "I could also let him try it out empty, first." She thought about that for a moment and then took the reheated disk out, and positioned it carefully before starting to work on bending the sides down, remembering to make sure the part that was to be the bottom of the cup stayed flat. "I wonder... would it work to have a sort of... I don't know, a round disk of wood, to help shape it?" She asked after a moment, glancing up. "You know, like to stick down in the bottom and then bend the sides down around that?"

[Fuin Elda]

September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Rillewen

Fuin thought for a moment about what Cala had asked, honestly it had been so long since she'd done basic work like cups that she had to think in if that would work or not. "It will work alright, you just have to be careful that you don't get it stuck or it will burn to a crisp and you'll have to make a new blank. I believe when I did it ages ago now I used a metal blank when I was working with tin. You can perhaps make a metal blank to follow when you start making cups for other people to use for now a wooden one for the three of us should be fine. I won't complain if the cup has a little wobble to them as long as they hold water properly." Fuin said with a chuckle as she kept shaping the knives handles until they were smooth and felt good in her hand, a bit large but but these would be for men, so the handle would feel excellent in a slightly bigger hand.

"Eventually you'll get so use to making them that you will be able to do it with nothing more than the horn of the anvil and your eye to measure but that will be a few years off likely, though knowing you-" Fuin pulled one of the knives and put the handle on hammering the pommel down locking the wood in place as it smoked from how hot the metal making it a tight and perect fit. "You'll have it sorted in six months and make me feel like I was the lazy apprentice." With that she moved onto the second knife to repeat the process.

[Rillewen]

@Fuin Elda

Calaerdis



September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

Cala nodded thoughtfully as Fuin suggested a metal blank for future use. With the deadline looming before them, of opening the shop, she thought it might be best to wait on doing that. In fact, it would take some time to hunt down a piece of wood and cut it into the right shape, so maybe she would just continue to try and 'eyeball it' as she spoke of. If the bottom wasn't even, she could try and even it out after the sides were done. She returned to her hammering, careful not to bend it too far, or to hammer it too thin or anything.

It took some time, but working steadily and determinedly, Cala eventually held up the cup and looked at it critically. It wasn't the greatest, and wasn't perfect, but once she had evened out the lip and made that look a bit nicer, she figured she'd be satisfied enough to call it done. It took just a little time to heat it back up, and then she got to work on trying to touch up the edges. That took a little doing but eventually she was satisfied, and smiled as she dunked it into the water to quench it. "I hope the next one doesn't take as long." She laughed. "If I don't take too long I might be able to get the other two finished before supper."

[Fuin Elda]

September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Rillewen

Fuin looked over at Calas work indeed it as a bit uneven in terms of being a perfectly cylindrical cup but it was a vast improvement from the old cups. "Put that next to one of the old cups and see how much better it is." Fuin suggested. She'd come a very very long way and had not had a lot of practice, the difference was startling what proper tools and someone giving you hints could manage. "And the next ones will be faster, you know what to do now that you made one, you can refine more on the next one and it'll be faster and a bit better. The more you make and practice the better you will become. And the faster." Fuin said finishing up the second knife and setting it aside. Three items for sale were done now, as well as the multitude of little puzzles that Cala had already made before lunch.

"And supper may be on you tonight Cala, I will need all the time I can get to get a shield and bracers done." Fuin said with a smile. She might be an elf and she might have had practice for centuries but time still was time and there was no rushing it or slowing it down so that one could work faster with metal. with that she pulled the metal ingot to make the shield she'd make a round shield big enough to cover a mans entire torso with ease, and it would be thin and hard the rounded curved shape would make it hard to puncture sending swords and arrows that did not strike straight sliding off of it. Those that did and managed to puncture it would find a second layer of metal lapped inside the first curving less than the first but still enough to stop it before it reached the arm of the wielder which would be strapped with thick durable leather to the inside wall. with a firm wooden handle to hold to make it easier to maneuver.

First though she had to stretch out and thin the steel ingot so that she could form it into the start of the outer layer of the shield. with enough room to create a fold, similar to the one that Cala had been thinking of doing but with a much thicker and higher quality metal.

[Rillewen]

@Fuin Elda

Calaerdis



September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

Nodding, Cala set the cup next to the old one that was left, and smiled. "It does look a lot better." She laughed. "I might keep the old one, just to..remember." She mentioned thoughtfully, wondering if she would want to keep it forever, or just for a little while. "I don't mind doing supper," She added, turning to check if the metal she'd added to the coals earlier was warm enough yet. Once it seemed ready, she took out the chunk and got to work on a second cup.

Like Fuin said, now that she knew what she was doing, it took far less time to actually do it, though she tried to take a little extra time to make the edge even. While Fuin worked on the knives, Cala focused on the cups and before long, she had finished the second and started on the third. Each one ended up slightly better than the last, as she got more used to doing it, and almost couldn't believe she'd never tried doing this before, it was far easier than she would have thought. "There, three cups!" She grinned as she set the third one down next to the others, and was pleased that she had managed to eliminate any wobbling of the bottoms. "How much time now, before supper? Should I start it cooking, or do you think I have time for one more thing, first?"

[Moriel]

Rembina
Alqualondë. YT 1499.
(Private with Frost)

Davos laughed, arranging his face into a dramatically wounded expression as he cradled the tuna in his arms. “Excuse me, I don’t need that barnacle-bottomed layabout’s help to bring in a fish! I do have tricks of my own you know. As for the seaweed, well,” the Nelya wrinkled his nose, “spend as much time at sea as your old man and you’ll discover it never really goes away. Hup! Catch!” With a quick jerk of his arms, Davos launched the fish at Finnbarr, laughing as his son dove to catch the slippery thing. “Go on then, cook us up a feast to celebrate, let’s christen this boat properly!” Davos lounged in the bow of the little craft, calling out items of advice to Finnbarr as he prepared the fish- probably unneeded and unhelpful, but wasn’t it his prerogative to be irritating now and then? Now and again though as they bantered, he glanced eastward. Each time he resolutely plucked his gaze back to Finnbarr, until when the fish was nearly done, the salt-savory smell of its crisping scales curling about them in tantalizing fashion, a lull in the conversation stretched out. Both against his will and without his realizing it, Davos’s gaze slid back to the east. This time it lingered there, just as it had that morning, when the memories of his past had become overwhelming. Until he had shared it with Finnbarr earlier that day, he had not heard another voice speak Sombelenë’s name aloud in centuries. And the way the way Finnabrr had said it, as if in the silken syllables he could sense the disquiet they bore. As Seaworth stared into the distance, straining his keen eyes against the blue-black sky and the wine-dark sea, it was almost as if he could see a horizon in the distance. He knew it impossible, he had sailed across that sea and knew just how wide it was; though they had lived long enough in this endless starlight to adjust, or in his case re-adjust, and see things not so darkly, there was no way that even his eyes could make out the shores he had left behind.

“Do you ever wonder,” Davos said quietly, the words slipping out before he could stop himself, “what it’s like over there?”

[Moriel]

Omentië
Cuiviénen. late YT 1080.
(Private with Frost)

Please, come now! Come now!

He had not responded, and he had not yet come; the words continually burst from Tyelpelfindis as she strove to keep the peace and calm among her kin; but her mind would not be silent, and continued screaming to Mairon across the distance between them. The fear of the quendi only multiplied as the ungualaco continued to haunt them, cutting them off from the forests and hills surrounding Cuiviénen, for few dared venture beyond the starlit shores of those waters, now that terror hunted the land. She felt powerless and alone, unable to help and, it seemed, unable to reach the one person she knew who might be able to. Where was he? What had become of him? Had Mairon himself fallen prey to the ungualaco? It did not bear thinking of. Davos had come to visit her today, and they had sat and talked for a long time, holding hands beneath the pine boughs of her shelter as she brewed tea, and eventually they sang together, wordlessly to the stars. Davos’s mood was lighter when he left, and she smiled as she waved him off, pressing a bundle of herbs into his hands to help Trawyn sleep. But when he had gone, her face collapsed into trembling lines, and she sank back to the ground. Just as the swell of an uncontainable sob began to rise in her throat, a voice broke into her mind, crashing like Cuiviénen’s on the rocks in high wind.

I am here, Tyelpelfindis.

Her mouth opened in a silent scream. She leapt to her feet, tripping over the hem of her robe. Tyelpelfindis gripped it and ripped it from beneath her feet, even as they dug into the earth and she ran. Heedless of the distance and the exposure between this place and their clearing she rain, hair and robe alike streaming out behind her, both the wind blowing across the plain and that of her speed forcing tears from her eyes. She ran not for joy but for desperation, and the breath was ragged in her chest. When at last she reached the clearing, peaceful and still beside its pool, he was there.

“Mairon!” she gasped, and rushed to him, not feeling the sharpness of the lakeside stones under her feet or the twigs that had tangled in her hair. She rushed to him, and seized him by the arms. Unable to speak the horrors that had made her cry out to him, she opened the floodgates of her mind and poured them into him: everything that had happened since the quendi’s first encounters with the ungualago, to the first child who had vanished and the screams of his parents; the others who had disappeared, the fear of the quendi and their songs of it; the uncertainty, the pain, the terror; Trawyn’s black-flame wreathed arms and her wild eyes; and the whirling black shadow creatures themselves, with shining eyes like obsidian with no soul behind them and beckoning voices and the name ungualaco. At last, she gasped again and, her eyes springing open, she looked up at him, her fingers clenching tighter. “What is it? What is it, Mairon?”

[Fuin Elda]

September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Rillewen

"Go for it you have plenty of room to do that now. Though eventually you may want to pare any collection down." Fuin said with a smile as Cala laughed. Indeed the old cups were... well they were the first attempts of a child that quite literally had to make up everything that she was doing. They were creative and they worked but they were not the most functional of the things that Cala had made, and she'd never thought to remake them.

Fuin had started working on the shaping of the outer layer of metal when Cala had asked if she needed to start cooking supper. Fuin glanced outside, there still seemed to be plenty of light out and her stomach wasn't growling yet but she was an elf and didn't need to eat as often as Cala and Rada would she was guessing. "What does your stomach say?" She asked she figured it was lightly saying that there was time for something more to be done in the forge "Feel free to start when you feel the need to I promise I will be fine even if you do another project." Fuin returned fully to her own project finishing up the shaping of the outer layer and beginning to add embossing and details where they would look good but not compromise the integrity of the shield itself. Mostly in the center pointed cone which would force arrows and swords away from the dead center as well as to the inner edge of the wide band of thicker metal at the very edge of the shield though there she added less. before putting the shield into the forge to temper rather than harden. This was one of the times she wanted it strong but she had no need for it to hold an edge, it needed to have give so that it might fold and protect its bearer from the worst attacks that might strike them. And once it was heated she set it aside on the work bench out of the way of all of them where it gave off a glowing red heat.

"That said I might get you to run upstairs and let us test these new cups it is awful hot in here with all of these big projects." Fuin said glancing outside again and seeing the world beyond their small shop rippling from the shear heat of the work that the two of them were producing.

[Rillewen]

@Fuin Elda

Calaerdis



September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

Considering, Cala figured she could wait a while, though she wasn't sure how much longer it would be before Radaron came wanting food. She hadn't thought much about him today, with all they had to do, and hoped he was staying out of trouble. Setting her hammer down for a moment, she took the cups with a nod to Fuin, and went upstairs to fill them with water, after a quick washing to make sure there wasn't any lingering coal residue on them or anything.

As she returned and handed one to Fuin, she thought for a moment about how to adapt what she'd done with the cups, and selected a few chunks of scrap metal that matched the cups and added that to the coals. "That shield looks incredible." She commented, admiring her mentor's work, and wondering how long it might be before Cala could do something like that. "What are you working on now?" She asked, while waiting on her metal to heat.

Once the metal seemed hot enough, she got to work on making another, but larger, disc out of it. Now that she'd done a few cups, she had a pretty good idea how to make a water pitcher, but the only thing she'd yet to figure out was how best to attach the handle, but hopefully that wouldn't be too hard, or perhaps Fuin could at least talk her through that part, if it was tricky. With this project, unlike with the cups, she tried to make the walls round outward, so that it could hold more water. It was a bit more tricky, but there was enough metal from where the metal folded upward, that she was able to make it happen without too much effort.

Then, as she moved higher up, it flared out a tiny bit more, and as she reached the top of her pitcher, she made a little point so that the water could flow out more easily. The edges she finished off the same as with the cups, and then stepped back to take a look at her work, tilting her head thoughtfully. "I think.. it just needs a handle now. What do you think?" She glanced over at Fuin, wondering if she'd forgotten anything, aside from a handle. "How would you suggest putting a handle on?"

[Fuin Elda]

September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Rillewen


Fuin smiled seeing the cups brought back down and she took a drink they worked perfectly and were much lighter and held far more water. "I need to do the second layer of the shield. So what will happen is if a blow manages to pierce through the first layer of the shield which is the part you can see at the moment, the second layer will stop it before it hits the persons arm." Fuin said as she waited for the second piece of metal to heat up enough so that she would be able to shape it the way she would need to. "It's eventually going to have a wooden handle to hold with their hand and a leather strap that will go over their forearm to hold it in place nicely." Fuin explained before she pulled the metal piece out and she started to stretch it and shape it out. It would be not nearly as fancy as the outer layer but would be critical in order to protect a soldier.

She watched Cala's newest project as she reheated the piece working on sizing it properly to fit the outer layer which would wrap around the outer edge of it trapping this inner layer. though she would need to attach the handle and the leather strapping before she actually attached the two metal parts of the shield together. This one had a curve to it as well though it was a lot less severe than the curve of the outer layer which would force most blows to skip off of it instead of sink into it. The pitcher that Cala was working on was a good step in the right direction for expanding the lesson that she already had. Fuin looked over what she had and could see that there was a bit extra metal on it.

"Perhaps if you push the extra metal that is in the metal over to the side opposite the lip, you can stretch it out thinner so that it is nice and long and then curl that back down so it's all one solid piece." Fuin suggested knowing that would be the easiest way to do it but would still be solid and look good."

With that suggestion made she went back to working on the shield and curving the inner layer and getting it to the right size before punching four holes in it so she could attach the handle and the leather

[Rillewen]

@Fuin Elda

Calaerdis



September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

Cala paused to take a look, and felt a bit silly for not having thought of that herself. It would only take a little bit of effort to shift it to the right spot, and she nodded as she waited for the metal to heat up again. "I guess it doesn't actually have to even touch at the bottom," She mentioned thoughtfully. This was becoming very fun, she thought, as she began to make more and more things. Useful things, out of useless chunks of metal. That was what had drawn her into this whole thing to begin with, she recalled, and now she was actually doing it for real. That was a great feeling.

Soon, she had stretched a strip of metal up from the top edge, opposite the spout part, and had taken a little while to round it into a smooth rounded bar of sorts. Now, she took a moment to think on how to shape it from here. Giving it a little thought, she decided to curve it up and down, and curl up again, sort of like an upside down S, smaller at the bottom. It lightly touched the base of the pitcher, and stepped back to look at it, smiling. "There, and now we have a pitcher!" She grinned happily, then stuck it into the bucket of water to quench it. "I can't wait til it's cool enough to use, I want to try it out." She laughed.

[Fuin Elda]

September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Rillewen

Fuin had finished shaping the second layer of the round shield and was attaching the leather and wood to it when Cala called out that the pitcher was finished far faster than she had expected and she couldn't help but grin at the girls enthusiasm. "Excellent! At this rate you'll be making similar items to see before too long!" Fuin said with a smile, she figured there would be a few more practice attempts at both cups and pitchers but the young Gondorian woman was a swift learner especially when she was encouraged. "I figure I shall have the shield done soon enough as well, though it is taking its sweet time." She said with a laugh as she put the first layer with all its details back into the forge to heat up the lip that she'd left that would bend around the second layer pinching it into place permanently short of perhaps a Mumakil stepping on it or it being lost in the sea and rusting out.

"I think once it's done we will eat, and then I'll be back down here preparing some more items for our opening tomorrow." Fuin said as she pulled the ornate layer of the round shield out the main body of it still cold as Fuin wanted it but the rim of it was red hot. She set the second layer inside the wood and the leather strap facing outwards and began hammering at the rim folding it over quick using the chisel to force a secondary lip into it with each hit.

[Rillewen]

@Fuin Elda

Calaerdis



September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

Cala looked over, admiring the almost-finished shield that Fuin was making. "That's going to look amazing," She smiled. She figured it was about time to go up and make supper, but she wanted to test out her pitcher first, and make sure it was going to work like it ought to. So she'd wait a bit until it was cool enough, and then pull it out of the water with water in it, and make sure it didn't leak. Then go make supper. In the meanwhile she started to work on tidying up a little to make sure she didn't leave any mess lying around that shouldn't be, and gathered up the plates and the new cups, and the remaining old one, to take upstairs and put to use, or put away, respectively.

Finding a spot in her room to put the old cup so that she could take a look at it sometimes and remember her first attempts at making cups, Cala smiled and went to set the new dishes near the wash basin before returning down to the forge. "Next, maybe I ought to make some forks and spoons," She grinned. "That should be pretty fun, right? Is it hard to make those?" She hadn't really thought much about having such things, but realized it was probably a good idea to have them. Especially now that they were living in higher class than before.

The pitcher was finally cool enough to touch, and she was excited as she pulled it out of the water and held it up, waiting for the excess to stop dripping from the sides and down to the bottom. She considered using her sleeve to dry it, but thought better of that and instead looked around, and grabbed an old rag that was lying in a corner, and dried the outside of the pitcher. Then she took a closer look and watched to make sure it wasn't leaking, before nodding in satisfaction. "Now, we don't have to make so many trips up and down to get water." She grinned, and could hardly wait to show Radaron the new things she'd made.

After pouring the water back into the bucket, she set off upstairs to start cooking supper, grinning with the excitement of how her brother would react to the wonderful new dishes and things. While their food was cooking she took a bit of time to thoroughly wash all the new things, so she could be sure there wasn't any soot or ashes lingering on the metal. Once that was done, she set the table, humming happily.

[Fuin Elda]

September 14, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Rillewen

Fuin smiled though she did not take a break from her task in crimping the two layers together, she could not reheat the metal in the forge so she had to work fast. "Indeed." She said working methodically not overly having time for the moment to talk to Cala or respond to her next idea of things to work on though they were good. Once the crimping was finished she let out a relieved sigh and looked at her grinning apprentice who was testing the pitcher now.

"Excellent! And forks and spoons and even knives will be a good project for you! the forks and spoons will be a good start and making knives will help you learn how to make proper weapons eventually as well." She said as she set the shield aside to finish cooling as she couldn't dunk it - that would ruin the tempering of the metal, and she was not hardening it for a shield needed to be able to bend before it broke. "And no they aren't terribly hard to make it is just tedious to make sets as they all need to look the same, but for us and practice perfection isn't needed for the first few and you can reform the old ones once you get the style you like and can make repeatedly down." She said leaning against the work bench for a moment to give herself a bit of rest after a long day that was not yet over for her.

Soon her apprentice was running upstairs and Fuin let out a sigh and pulled out another billet of metal and began the task of making bracers, mostly because she would leave the scissors and pins and other small items like that until later as she could make them much faster and leave them off for the night where the bracers would need much more time and wouldn't be able to be worked on again in the morning and be finished before they opened.

Of course by the time she had finished stretching and folding and re-stretching the material she could smell the food that Cala was making and knew that it was almost time for a break she would need to finish the bracers after she ate and then possibly while the children were asleep she would make the last few small items to sell - pins and fabric sheers. With that she locked the forge pulling the metal out of it so that it wouldn't burn up and headed upstairs happy for a longer break she was certain Rada would have stories to tell both of them since he would be starting schooling tomorrow.

[Rillewen]

@Fuin Elda

Calaerdis and Radaron



September 15, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

The day dawned bright, looking to be a beautiful day. That was good, Cala hoped that meant there would be plenty of people out and about to check out the new shop. Her and Fuin's shop. She grinned as she swiftly dressed and then went to wake Radaron, only to find that he was already up. Big surprise. He met her at the door, practically running into her on her way out.
"Slow down, Little Brother!" She laughed. "What's the hurry?"
"Do I really have to go to school today?" He asked, looking dramatically upset. "Pleeaaaaase, I wanna stay and see how many people come to the first day of your shop!" He hugged her around the middle, clinging. "Pleease Cala? Can't I stay? I could help! I can tell everyone all about what great smiths you and Fuin are, and how they ought to buy things from your shop and everything."
"You have to talk to Fuin about whether you go to school or not," She told him, trying her best not to laugh. She could understand why he might feel a bit left out, having to go to school when they were having the shop open for the very first time. Maybe Fuin would give in and let him start tomorrow, she thought as she watched Radaron run off to find Fuin and address his plea to her instead.

Shaking her head a little in amusement, she went to get something for her and her brother to eat, eager to get down before the shop would officially open. She had meant to get up a little earlier than she did, but she'd been a little too excited to get to sleep right away, and that made her less inclined to wake up when she meant to. As soon as she had finished a very quick breakfast, she filled up the new pitcher, and brought it and two of the cups down to the forge. She wasn't the least bit surprised to find Fuin already there, and smiled, a little amused to see that Radaron had also found her and was attacking her now with his pleas to stay and see the shop open for the first day, at least. "Good morning!" She set one of the cups down for Fuin and another down close to where she figured she'd be working, and filled them both up. "I brought water. How long have you been working, already?" She vaguely wondered if the elf had even gone to bed at all during the night, glancing around and noticing several new items that she'd made since Cala was last down here.

[Dungeon Delver]

The Broken Ouroboros
A Sacked Dorthonion Fortress, FA 455
(Private)

Fleeg sniffed the air. Aside from the nigh overwhelming smell of burning flesh, smoke, and ash, he could smell his quarry. He could smell the fear, the desperation, the panic. His nostrils flared. Most of the elves had been killed or fled, but there were still a few scurrying creatures barricading themselves inside this broken fortress. Fleeg smiled, a twisted thing that revealed yellowed fangs. He closed his eyes, denying himself one sense to enhance the others. He sniffed the air again. The fear spiked, it was a spicy odor, sharp and pungent, with heat. His quarry was nearby, he opened his eyes. He entered to the tunnel and the flaring red light of countless fires faded until it was barely a glow. The sounds of battle grew more and more muffled; screams, the sounds of steel on steel, the roar of flames, they all sounded a thousand leagues away now. The goblin descended the stairs, his iron shod feet clanging ominously against the carven stone. The echo died almost immediately. Down, down, down into the darkness he went. How far down did these accursed creatures delve? Creatures of light and stars? No, they were barely worms, caught and mystified by the great lights, hypnotized into believe that they were the superior form of life. Fleeg growled. The sound bounced and echoed. The sound of a monstrous wolf resounded into the emptiness. He felt at home in this darkness. Even though he could not see, he already knew every inch of this corridor. He had been designed to operate in places like this, far from the heavenly bodies. He was more at home here than he was on the surface. Ingrained within him was the desire to go further down, until he reached the bottom of the world, the conquer it, control it, shape and form it in the image of his master. He had spent years in the pits of Angband, surrounded by forge fires, pits, and screams. He hated it. He was never going back there. Angband was where he’d been born, where he created his people, but it would not be where they died. They would spread like rats to all corners of the world until they were exalted above the stars. Down he went. The air was cool down here, fresh, not yet tainted by the death above them. Fleeg inhaled. The damp air of the underdark filled him with exhilaration, with vibrancy. How far did this tunnel go? Each step he took made him feel more alive. He chuckled and the sound surrounded him, wrapped him in a blanket. This place would be his. Mairon had no need of it, his sights were set on more grandiose places, but this place would be perfect for his people, a capital, a central point from which they could spread, infiltration, infest. He ran a hand along the stone. It was cool to the touch, welcoming him with arms wide open. He sniffed the air again. All he needed to do was find his quarry, rid the place of elven filth, and this would all be his.

Finally, he reached the bottom of the winding stairs. The way was blocked. Something had collapsed or had been made to crumble. He couldn’t tell how far the damage extended, but the way would shut. He rolled his eyes. These elves didn’t know what they were fighting. The scared little rabbits were throwing everything they had in the way of the oncoming wolf, not knowing that nothing could stop him. Fleeg was as relentless as the sea, as constant as night, as persistent as the crawling decay of erosion. He took a deep breath and began to move forward. His bones snapped and shifted, his ribs folded inward, his joints twisted, popped out of place, and flattened. If there was a space large enough for his skull to fit through, Fleeg could find his way through it. He maneuvered around a massive stone pillar, broken and tossed aside to block his way. He only had the breadth of a hair to move, but he was able to squeeze his flattened skeleton through the gap. With a hand on the wall, and a hand on the piece of the pillar, he pushed himself upward, scampering over a pinch in the way forward until his head was scrapping against the top of the tunnel. He shifted again, felt his bones and muscles contort until he was nearly completely flat. The way would be slow going, but Fleeg was patient. Inch by inch he crawled, holding his breath as he moved forward. He propelled himself forward with his hands, each bone contorted and twisted so that they were like spiders crawling along the surface.

He closed his eyes again and opened his ears. There were several elves down here. More than just his quarry, a veritable feast awaited him behind the rubble. What had their plan been, he wandered, scooting forward, shifting his hips around as the space grew more and more tight. Had they planned on staying down here in the depths of the fortress until the forces of Angband moved on? Did they think they could hide that long? Did they not think the sea would come in and drown them in their holes? Did they think they could ever been safe again? They were naïve, childish, sophomoric babes. He would instruct them otherwise. The way ahead was blocked, a piece of the earth had given way and cut off the passage. There was not enough room around it for Fleeg to maneuver. He inhaled again, slowing his breathing and his heartrate. Slowly and methodically he unhinged his jaw, he felt it snap out of place as it expanded. He bit down on the stone in front of him and began gnawing and ripping through the earth, his jaws were dozens of times stronger then the arm strength of most orcs. He was able to bite through wood, stone, and earth as if it were naught but muscle, tendon, and bone. In conjunction with his jaws, his clawed fingers tore at the stone, widening the gap until he was just able to slip through, forcing his body through the hole until he was all the way out. He landed on the ground with a soft, muted thud and waited as his body slowly shifted back into shape. He felt bones pop, muscles relax, and ligaments rest.

His quarry was close. He could almost taste the elven flesh. He licked his lips. He continued down the passageway until finally he came to a stone, carven door. He touched the frame and closed his eyes. A smile appeared and split his face.

These stairs don't have anywhere to lead you
Who cares if you're lost like the others?
Don't let anybody step into the circle now
Don't let anybody tell you that you're safe

All these days gonna pass like a grass fire
Don't let anybody tell you that you're safe
One of these days Imma head for the last mile
Don't let anybody tell you that you're safe

Who dares coming in to where I'm standing?
The rude stares just as empty as you are
Although not everybody died and gone to heaven, child
So don't let anybody tell you that you're...

These are the eyes that saw them die
These are the hands that dug their graves
So don't let anybody tell you that you're safe
So don't let anybody tell you that you're safe

You gotta let go, let go, let (tell your father you ain't coming back)
You gotta let go, let go, child (tell your mother that you're gonna die)
You gotta let go, let go, let (let them know you're gonna be awhile)
You gotta let go, let go

Fleeg was not used to singing, but his voice was rich and vibrant, dripping with debonair savagery. Orcs, pitiful wretches, could hardly hold a tune, but he was of much better stock. He learned how to properly vocalize. His voice, and the voices of those he created and instructed, were not the harsh, rasping, bestial grunts of the orcs. He sneered, one of the many reasons goblins were superior to orcs. He looked behind him and chuckled, another reason. He and his people would have no need of siege engines or scores of works to clear the debris, they could simply climb through it.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” he said in a singsong voice. He unwrapped the hook swords that had been strapped on his back and began knocking. “I know you’re in there little elflings. Come out before I lose my temper.”

He pressed his ear against the door and smile, his eyes glimmering in the absence of light. He could hear them, just beyond the door. There was at least a half a dozen of them. There were children with them, he could hear whimpers and sobs and attempts to hush them.

“Open the door!” he roared, bloody spittle flying from his lips. He slammed a fist into the door, the guard of his hook sword, as sharp and deadly as the shaft of the blade, stuck in the stone. “Open the door! Or I will break it down. Open the door or I will break it open and cause the dead to fly through. I will cause the dead to outnumber the living. OPEN THE DOOR!!”

He wrenched the blade from the door, pulling the stone with him. The doors crumbled into rubble at his feet. His chest heaved with the exertion, a giddiness filled him, exhilaration and madness. He rushed forward bursting through the portal before the dust cleared. Two elves were immediately on him. But he side stepped them, sliding beneath their blades along the floor. He came up behind one, kicked his squarely in the back. The elf was armored, elsewise the kick from Fleeg would have snapped his spine in half. He flew into the hallway, stumbling. The second elf was faster, whirling about, shuffling his feet until he was able to get into a defensive stance. Another elf came out of the darkness, Fleeg barely had time to react before a blade flittered out of the darkness like a falling star. He dodged the strike, angling his body so that the sword could be easily parried. He stepped again, coming closer to the elf. He saw the fear in the blind eyes of the creature before him. He laughed. A flick of his wrist brought the hook behind the elves neck, cradling it in a dangerous embrace. He then slammed his other fist into the helmeted head. The head jerked back as he brought the sword forward, the result of the conflicting momentums was a thick spray of blood, a pitiable gasp, and the tearing of flesh. He moved to the next, using both hooked swords to rip at the creature’s armor plating in furious blows until hunks of meat began flying all directions. Fleeg licked the blood from his lips and savored it. “Give up now, and I won’t turn the children into rations,” he hissed.

The elf charged forward instead. The goblin shrugged and met him head on. This one put up more of a fight. He moved like water, shifting this way and that, staying just out of reach of the hooks. He was fast, but Fleeg was faster, filled with the lust for blood. He kicked out with his left leg, sweeping it around and knocking the elf prone. He jammed one sword into the elf’s gut then, as the elf tried to recover and squirm away, slammed his heavy, armored foot down, crumbling the helmet. The head inside exploded like a grape. “I did warn you,” he said with a shrug.

Fleeg turned slowly and watched the two children huddle behind the last elf, torch in hand. “Really?” he snorted. He swung his sword out, wrapping the hook around the torch and pulled, yanking it from the elf’s hand and snuffing it out with the stamp of his gore-soaked boot. “You have one chance,” he warned. “Either you become chattel, or you become food.”

There was another torch along the wall, it sprayed orange light on the scene. Fleeg stood in front of the elves, his blades held in a lazy grip as he moved forward. The children whimpered. One screamed. “Shut her up or I swear I will rip her leg off and eat it raw.” Silence. Fleeg smiled viciously. “That’s better. I want you to listen closely. You are mine. Your lives are no longer your own. I own you.” He took another step forward, grabbing the older elf and pushing him aside so that he was looking directly at the children. “Tell me, child, are there any more of you in here?” He sheathed the swords on his back and sat on his haunches.

The little girl broke into blubbering shrieks, scrambling backward like a cornered cat. He grabbed her by her red-golden hair and ripped her back into place. “I asked you a question. When I do that, you answer. If you do not,” he paused dramatically and looked toward the boy, the younger of the two, “I will tear off one of his fingers.” To show just how serious he was, he grabbed the boy and before anyone could move, pulled him forward and bit down on the boy’s right index finger. It came off with a quick ripping sound and a muffled scream. He pulled the finger from his mouth and waved it front of the girl before devouring it. He stood up and looked the adult in the eyes. “Or perhaps I should be asking you, coward. Why were you not with the defenders? Why did you not flee with your lordlings? Could they not stomach you?”

“I… I…” the elf sputtered. Fleeg kicked him savagely in the kneecap. It bent wrong and the elf went down like a sack of bricks.

“I… I…” Fleeg mocked with a cruel chuckle. “How is it your kind ever thought they were the true heirs of this world? You can’t even stand before me.” He kicked again. The children screamed. The boy broke in a run, cradling his maimed hand. Fleeg grabbed him by the neck and pulled him up to look the child in the eye. “Why did you go and do that?” He asked, his voice sincere and wounded. “Have I not demonstrated the punishment for disobeying me?” He opened his jaws and bit again.

[Fuin Elda]

September 15, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Rillewen


Fuin had slept very little the night before, the items that had taken her until the wee hours of the morning still needed to be displayed nicely on the front shelves and the back of the forge was tidy looking as well. She'd left her window open so that the rising sun would strike her face and wake her back up for she needed to make sure that Rada made it to school as well as having some lunch with him before they opened.

She let out an angry hiss when her plan worked and the sun broke upon her face. And pushed herself up off the bed and straightened herself out splashing cold water on her face, and heading downstairs to begin the task of setting up the items for display and cleaning the forge so that it looked tidy and proper to customers that came through. She was nearing being finished and was getting ready to go wake up Rada and make him breakfast and lunch to take with him when Cala came bounding down the stairs and Rada as well.

She blinked too tired at first for Rada's barrage of demands and requests and beggings to stay and help with the forge when Cala greeted her as well. She gave a nod and happily took some of the water. "Only a few hours to make sure everything is displayed right, I was about to come and get Rada ready for school."

Again another barrage of him wanting to stay, and being upset at the fact that she had not seemed to listen to him at all. She dropped down to a knee so that she was closer to his height and looked him in the eye. "I know you want to stay and help, but you going to school will be helping Rada. Cala is going to need help learning her numbers and letters better, and she's too old to go to school anymore so you're going to have to go for the both of you and help teach her everything you learn because you'll need your letters and numbers and writing skills in order to help her with the forge." Fuin said softly "You get to go on an adventure that she's not going to get to have - and there will be plenty of days for you to come yet with her in the forge where you'll be able to help here as well I promise. Now do you want to help me pack you a lunch?"

[Rillewen]

@Fuin Elda

Calaerdis and Radaron



September 15, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

Cala inwardly cringed as she heard Radaron beginning to whine about how it wasn't fair he had to go off to school while all the exciting stuff was happening right here, but then as Fuin explained about how he would be helping them a great deal by learning, he stopped pouting and looked wide-eyed and curious before turning to look at Cala. "You mean I could learn enough that I can come back and teach you?" He asked, astonished by this concept.
Cala hesitated, unsure exactly what he might learn at the school, but nodded slightly. "I suppose you probably would. I'm a bit jealous, Little Brother, you get to do something I never did." she told him with a slight shrug. "And besides, it's going to be awfully boring here anyway. Just a lot of people coming and watching me and Fuin work, and maybe buying some things, you'll have a lot more fun in school playing with your friends and learning new things... trust me, I'd rather go to school if I were you." She honestly had no idea what school was like, but hoped to build it up enough that he would change his mind and want to go. It worked.

Radaron bounced excitedly. "I'll go to school and learn everything real good so I can come teach you, Cala!" He told her eagerly. "I'll make my lunch! You don't have to help." He ran off upstairs.
Cala glanced at Fuin, then looked after her brother and hesitated. "I'll supervise, so you don't have to stop whatever you're working on," She told her, setting off after him. Just in case.

Once she had ensured that his lunch was properly packed, she walked with him back down to the forge. "Well, I think he's all ready for school." She announced, but from here she wasn't sure exactly what the plan was, whether Radaron was going to be going to school on his own or if one of them would walk him there.. she thought the latter was the best plan, as he was likely to get distracted or 'lost in an adventure' if they let him go on his own. "Where is the school, anyway?" She wondered, trying to think if she had seen it in all their running around from one level to another.

[Dungeon Delver]

Omentië
Cuiviénen, YT 1080
(Private with Moriel)

It was difficult to say what sort of emotions took root and blossomed in his mind that moment. They were myriad, jumbled, and half-understood. Fear? Panic? Rage? Desperation? Relief? Giddiness? Dread? Dumbstruck? Piteous? They were all right, but they were all wrong. A voice in the back of his mind, one that only he could hear, told him that he knew this day would come. Eventually, He Who Arises in Might would find these people and his poison touch would grow like a fungus. It was only a matter of time before the creeping, skulking creatures he twisted and misshaped found this place. There was no place in Eä the Quendi would be safe from his fingers. There was no place in all the world he could not find eventually and spread rot. In the early days, he had not thought so of He Who Arises in Might. He saw the decay and rot and damage as a necessary evil, a way to break the world the way Arōmēz talked about breaking horses. But seeing her memories, sensing the utter pain and terror that filled a once golden voice with doubt and fear, he had doubts. Mairon had never experienced fear, not in any appreciable, tactile way. The flood of feelings and emotions he received caused his mind to reel. The Children were afraid. No, the Children were terrified. They created a whole new section of language, a whole new style of song just to try and explain what it was that they felt, and still all the words and songs came up pathetically short. This was barely an oily tentacle of smoke in comparison to the horrors he had witnessed and approved of.

He grew angry. Not at He Who Arises in Might, nor the “ungualaco” that had defiled the land with its presence. His anger was directed at the Quendi, at the Children themselves. How could they have let this happen? How could they have been so foolish and naïve to believe that their way of life would go on unnoticed by monsters and shadows? The world was more than starlight and butterflies. It was ugly too. It was filled with death and infestation and disease and fire. But what did they know of it? They thought they could tame fire and use it as a tool? They would all die in a blaze. They thought they could tame the beasts of the earth? They would be trampled and beaten into the ground. Why had they set no watch? Why had they set no guard or a curfew or anything else that would have kept them safe? For a moment, only a moment, he thought they deserved to be wiped out for their stupidity, their arrogance, their utter lack of awareness. The thought was akin to a blast of fire down his throat. IT was gone in a flash though, and thankfully, hidden from his companion. They were naïve, it was true, more naïve than naïve. They had no concept of danger because the worst they had ever experienced was a broken limb from climbing too high or the sensation of getting lost in the woods. They were so utterly infantile. How could the butterflies know a flower is poison when they don’t even know to feed on flowers? His anger subsided, yet it did not vanish. It was a thought that infested his mind and would flee until it found a more opportune time to reassert itself.

There is a darkness you do not know, he said, using his mind rather than his voice. The deepest darkness you think you know are the starless caverns or the depths of the waters. Those are as bright as the Valacirca compared to the darkness I have known and have long sought to keep you from. They are the scouts, the first fingers of a hand ready to strangle and maim.

He showed her a glimpse. Only a glimpse. A flash of darkness so bright it could blind her. He dared not show her more, nor elaborate on who and what and where. That knowledge would be too much, even for one such as her. She was strong, stronger than he’d anticipated time and again throughout their long friendship, but this would be too much, and he would not show her more even if she threatened to end their friendship.

I know this darkness. I can manipulate it. I can get those taken by the ungualaco and bring them back. But…

His thoughts were interrupted suddenly. They were not alone in their little grove. The sacred place had been intruded upon by a pair of interlopers. He had not felt anything dark on the edges of his sense. He cursed himself for letting his guard down to such a degree in his haste to reunite.

“Come. Out.” He said in a voice that brooked no argument, that compelled any that heard it to obey. The red fire of his eyes matched his mood.

Two young boys came out. They were small, the children of Children. Mairon thought there had to have been a better word for these things. One was light skinned with hair as black as the space behind the stars and his eyes were wine dark cerulean, the other looked as though to be his inverse, dark skinned with bright hair not quite silver and eyes of jade green. The fire did not die in his eyes, he glared down at them. They were young, but they had intruded upon a space that was not theirs. He could feel the apprehension and trepidation coming off of them in waves of pheromones. They were skinny and unarmed. They posed more of a threat to a bushel of pomegranates than to him or his companion. The fire slowly subsided, but his voice did not.

“What are you doing here? Who are you?”

The dark-skinned elf came forward first, looking down he did. “I… am Cútaþar. I saw, we saw, Tyelpelfindis running and… and with all the uncertainty, we thought…”

“… we thought she might be in danger,” said the other boy, stepping forward and looked to her before continuing. “We did not see you until just a moment ago. I… I am Trasander.”

“He’s my younger brother,” interjected the first, Cútaþar. “We’re brothers. We were sitting by the water when we saw her running.”

“And you wanted to be heroes?” Mairon asked, tempering his voice.

“What’s that?” the second boy, Trasander, asked.

Despite the direness of the circumstances, Mairon smiled. He knelt and beckoned the boys over to him. “A hero is a person that looks to keep others safe, that will put their ideals at risk so that the community can thrive through those same ideals.”

“Yes!” shouted Cútaþar. “We want to be heroes.”

“Yes!” his brother echoed. “Heroes.”

“Then you will need something for that,” he stood up again and took something off his belt. It was a thing he’d carried for so long that he almost forgot it hung on his hip for aeons now. He’d take the jawbone of one of the equine megafauna Arōmēz loved so much and fashioned a weapon from it. He wove spells of preservation and hardihood into the bones, sharpened the edges into dangerous points, and wound the handle about with leather stamped with secret words. “This was my weapon, one that I have used for ages beyond your measure. I think it will serve your arm well, Cútaþar.”

He looked at Trasander and squinted. There was something in the boy’s eyes. “And you, Trasander. You have eyes like no other, but” he touched the boy’s forehead with forefinger, middle finger, and thumb and pushed new sight into his eyes, “you will need greater sight for the tasks ahead of you. You must stand guard against the creeping shadows. You are both blessed with arm and eye and you must use those talents for your community. You must be vigilant; you must be swift. Can you do that, Cútaþar, Trasander?”

They answered in unison, a duet of affirmation. There was a look in Trasander’s eye that Mairon did not catch, a secret look that was there so briefly no one could have, but Cútaþar’s chest puffed with pride. “Now go, young ones, and look after your people.”

The two nodded and rushed off with their newfound gifts, leaving Mairon and Tyelpelfindis alone in the grove once more. “I must go. If I move swiftly enough, I can catch them. Do. Not. Allow anyone else within the boundaries of Cuiviénen. No. One. Understand me, Quendi, it is of the utmost importance that you do as I tell you. The world is not safe, there are creatures both of light and shade that are not to be trusted. Do this for me. You must.”

He did not wait for her to respond. There was no time. He’d wasted what precious little he had already. He had to make for Utumno.

[Fuin Elda]

September 15, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle
@Rillewen

Fuin gave Cala a bit of an apologetic look when Rada was focused on her, after all she didn't overly have time to overly argue with him if she wanted to get him to the school and be back in time for them top open the shop. She finished cleaning up a few items as Cala and Rada headed upstairs, she could hear them running about getting ready and soon they were back down.

"I'll take him, I need to pay for his lessons." She said with a smile, "You can finish cleaning up the forge and opening up the windows so that it's nice and bright in here and get the forge going you can start working on the utensils you were talking about until I get back, then we'll start getting you practicing making a few more items that are useful for people that will sell." Fuin said smiling at Radaron and heading for the door.

***

It was about half an hour later when Fuin finally returned the walk to the school was short but getting Radaron enrolled and making sure he had everything he needed at the school took a bit of time and Fuin did want to meet the teacher to get a idea of their temperament wanting to make sure that Radaron wouldn't be picked on by the man for being behind because of his circumstances until recently. When she was happy with that she headed back to the forge.

She saw that there were a few people mostly men were waiting outside of the forge and she could hear the hammer strikes and she gave the men that were waiting a nod and slipped in quietly shutting the door behind her as they whispered that the rumors were true there was an elvish smith in Minas Tirith. She gave Cala a smile. "Are you ready?" She asked glancing about the forge, indeed the wares that they had looked impressive polished and well crafted, and Calas toys she'd created and Cala looked like a proper apprentice. She didn't bother going to get her apron just yet but it was hanging near the forge itself where she could grab it and get to work quickly. She waited for her apprentices nod wondering if the young woman was feeling nervous before she opened the door, wedging it open and greeting the customers who had gathered out of curiosity. How many of them would actually make purchases some might others might just be looking.

[Rillewen]

@Fuin Elda

Calaerdis



September 15, 2615 - TA
Minas Tirith - Second Circle

Nodding, Cala was glad to let Fuin take Radaron off to school. While she was gone, Cala rummaged through the bag of scrap metal and dug out a chunk that she thought might work for making into a fork, possibly more than one. Having never actually done this before, she was hoping it wouldn't be all that hard, but while the metal was heating up, she tried to get an idea of how she was going to go about it, and took some paper and tried to sketch it out, as she had seen Fuin do with things she was going to make.

At last, as she was working on stretching the metal and flattening the end out so that it could become a fork, Fuin returned. She glanced up, catching a glimpse of people lined up outside, and felt a bit nervous. "I...think so.. but first.." She showed Fuin what she had so far. "I wondered if you had any good advice on how to make the fork...poky things." She asked. "I thought of kinda cutting like, slits in somehow, to make the poky things, but I thought you might know a better way, and.. I wanted to ask before we let people in." She didn't want those people to see it, if she wasn't sure what to do with such a simple, basic project.