《Land of Irith》


 Chapter 1 - the first day

    <blockquote><cite>Quote:</cite>Now with more spacing.  Be it an improvement or not, I will let you readers decide.</blockquote>

    A group of people were sitting in an auditorium, you could hear everyone''s conversations .

    "Hey remember that job we finished yesterday? I actually found a follow up for it at the other end of the town of all places." The person sounded slightly frustrated as the person next to him replied.

    "Nothing odd with that, LoI is alive and evolving so it would be weirder if the npc''s were sitting next to each other. More importantly you got something to do today or wanna finish it?".

    Most people were talking about LoI or Land of Irith, after the discovery a few years back it didn''t take long for companies to spill out virtual reality games, but the best and most popular one was polished and released a couple of years later, Land of Irith, so many people played it that it was actually harder to find a person who didn''t play than who did, the game had become so big it, was acknowledged as a whole different world where even the developers didn''t know all of its secrets. The room kept buzzing with conversations until suddenly the whole room became quiet as someone with a stature of a viking walked up to the front of the auditorium.

    The feeling in the room could be explained with one word "Admiration". The man put a stack of papers on the table and turned on the microphone.

    "Good morning everyone and welcome to the first year of Virtual Reality studies. I am Professor Lyod Baxton, you probably remember me from few years back when I revealed the discovery that sparked a change in this world of ours and now I work as a teacher in this university of America, dedicated to further the technology we call virtual reality"

    Everyone kept quiet making the professor slightly nervous.

    "Ah, moving on first things first ill run through what we''re doing today in this "entrance ceremony" of ours, which is mostly paper work for today, the real studies start next week while we''re still preparing the class rooms for link accessibility."

    Link, the portable computer which enabled anyone anywhere with a link plugin to connect to virtual reality network as long as they had the program or game they needed to connect to.

    "Sorry to say we couldn''t get it done for this week. We got a report that the cables were destroyed in a store mishap, but it shouldn''t effect you in any way other than having to wait 5 days."

    Loyd said while running a hand through his beard while thinking.

    "So today we will give you some paper work to fill up which consists of your personal details, application for school provided link, also we''re gonna have to test all of your mental states for reference in the future, don''t worry its basically the same one that link does every time you start it up, but this one we will be keeping."

    The auditorium was in slight of a shock and everyone were talking which made Loyd confused.

    "Did I say something wrong?" he thought and then noticed a young man raising his hand in the front row which propped his curiosity.

    "Yes?" he said while gesturing towards the young man.

    "Sorry, but could you go a bit further into why we need to get mental state tested and for what reference? I think we''re all a bit confused why you need to invade our personal space that much".

    "Ah that''s right" Loyd thought in his head and it showed on his face.

    "Yes sorry that might have been a tad too vague, apologies. We aren''t testing to see if you''re a sociopath, its more of a starting point snapshot if you will.". Loyd paused to see the reaction and then continued.

    "The idea is that we''re going to be taking these every 6 months to see how your studies effect your mental states, you will be able to see it for yourself when necessary, but most importantly we get data." the whole room quieted down in understanding.

    "Also I forgot to mention that it was actually my idea to do this and I''m not forcing any of you to do it, plus if you were to quit your studies you can ask for the information to be removed." the auditorium sighed in relief and everyone looked to be fine with the procedure.

    The professor and his assistants started to hand out all of the papers and opened to doors instructing students who had filled their papers to go to the room next door one by one. Professor Loyd left while the assistants stayed to answer any questions.

    After a while the auditorium was trickling new students out to the next door making a line which blocked the passage way, almost everyone had finished their paper work except one. Specifically the young man that was the only one to speak up about the testing, Nicholas. The man was tall and had robust physique, his hair was light brown and if you came to eye contact with him you would first notice his eyes which were different colour, left one brown and right one green, those two eyes were on a face which had both European and Hispanic traces. He was struggling with his Link application form, unlike everyone else.

    It was as though he was the only one without a Link he thought, so he kept asking questions regarding the link form until the assistants noticed the line was gone.

    "Hey you better get to the next room or the Professor might think we''re done, he should be fine with answering any other questions."the assistant said in a hurry, most of the other assistants had actually already left so they were the only two inside the auditorium.

    Nicholas knocked on the door and waited for an answer, "Oh? Come in come in".

    As Nicholas entered the room he took a glance, but once he saw Professor Loyd sitting at a desk at the opposite side of the room he ignored the room and walked up to the Professor.

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    "Lets see those papers then." Loyd prompted Nicholas and took the stack that was handed to him.

    "Personal info seems to be in order, but what about this Link application? There''s a lot of holes and i don''t see this going further than me.".

    Nicholas sighed, "Yes sir, I was having problems filling it up since I''ve never owned a Link before. The last assistant that stayed with me said you wouldn''t mind helping me do the rest.".

    Loyd looked dumbstruck for a second after hearing this, "Never owned one huh.. well that''s unusual indeed and i cant blame you for not knowing what to write here considering you need to use a Link test to get the answers."

    Loyd stood up and went to the corner of the room to pick up a weird looking link. The item itself looked like futuristic sunglasses except that the glass part was transparent, the Link visor itself didn''t look weird, but there were two of them and they were connected with each other by a thin cord making it an odd pair.

    "Now this here is the Instructor version I use. There''s no real difference to a normal Link other than it has a few programs installed for teaching purposes and its powerful enough to work independent of the Link network so I can use it in a so called -Offline- mode. Come lets fill your application".

    Nicholas put on Link that was handed to him and Loyd started up the system. In a moment both of their consciousnesses were ported to a space which could only be described as emptiness, it had a few specks of light shining around them but other than those lights there was nothing around them.

    "Professor is this okay? I can''t see anything." Nicholas said with a slight shock.

    "Its perfectly fine, this is my personal preference. No distractions and only the essentials" Loyd said while gesturing towards a specific speck of light which then consumed both of them.

    After 2 minutes of testing and 10 minutes of writing things down Nicholas was done, but Loyd still had something to say.

    "You mind answering a few questions Nicholas?"

    "Yes sure" Nicholas was curious on what the Professor had in mind, but the question was a question he had heard many a times.

    "Why do you not have a Link? Were you not interested before ?" a small sigh could be heard from the other side of the table.

    "I lost my parents a few years back, I''ve had to study and work at the same time so I''ve had little time for virtual reality in general. Most of my free time I was working or sleeping."

    "You worked and went to school?, it must have been tough living by yourself as a teenager." Loyd looked genuinely sad for Nicholas.

    "Its okay, I''ve come to terms with their passing a long time ago." he said indifferently.

    "So, tell me about your parents." Loyd asked curiously. "Well my mother, moved here from Germany 20 years ago in search of a job, that''s when she met my Father, a Latin American car repair specialist, they were both in love and after a year got married and had me. They both decided that my future is important so mom got a job as a secretary and dad stayed in car repair business even up an till that buss accident which took both of their lives."

    His story started with a smile and ended up in a frown, "I''m sorry I shouldn''t have asked something like that, there''s no need to bring back bad memories ." Loyd apologized.

    "It''s fine it''s fine." Nicholas waved the apology off.

    "So what do you do these days? Do you still plan to work?" Loyd asked curiously again.

    "No I actually managed to pay off all of my expenses and I have a lot of money from working and what my parent''s left for me so I can now focus on what I want to do with my life."

    "And you decided to study virtual reality, what drove you into that conclusion?." Loyd was leaning back in his chair while questioning Nicholas.

    "The idea that we can make new worlds or implement our consciousness into a machine which lets us control it through virtual reality fascinates me to be honest, on top of that I read that this university provides students with links and free access to LoI made the decision easy."

    "Oh yes, Land of Irith" Loyd stroke his beard, "Were actually going to use LoI as an example in few of our studies since it''s so well made and we can learn much out of it." he said while eyeing Nicholas.

    "LoI these days is probably the biggest activity in the world you know, it''s a surprise to see someone without a Link or a character in it." Loyd shifted slightly in his chair and reached for a drawer.

    "Here''s all you need to know on how to get your LoI access, we have a special agreement with the company so you don''t need to pay anything"

    Nicholas smiled, "Yes I was aware of that. Its a nice benefit to have, but I doubt many people use it since they have probably bought it and played for a long time."

    "Indeed, but since you need both Link and LoI access you can use the benefits of this institution" Loyd said concluding the topic and handed him a paper with a lot of information, mostly regarding the game.

    "This paper includes LoI access and some starter information, but you can hear all of that at the log in screen when/once you get in. When you leave go to the front desk and give the Link application to them, they will look through the values and pick up a Link that suits your needs and then you can be off. Remember though that you need to be here on Monday or you might fall behind on studies."

    Nicholas took the papers handed to him, shook the professors hand and was off to the front desk.

 Chapter 2 - Creation

    <blockquote><cite>Quote:</cite>26/9/2015. Felt like going back to some of my older chapters to see/fix anything that didn''t make sense related to the newer chapters. Also some minor rewording. No massive changes though.</blockquote>

    Nicholas was walking back home with his brand new Link, eager to play until his studies started since he had nothing better to do.

    "They say even after a year people haven''t discovered 5th of what Land of Irith held within it."

    If you had never heard of Land of Irith before you probably would think he was lying, but the game in itself was a whole new world, even today the smartest people on earth couldn''t say they had discovered even a 3rd of what human kind and earth had to offer so it wasn''t out of question that a whole new world was not explored through and through in a shorter time.

    He entered his apartment. The house had had 3 rooms kitchen, bedroom and the living room which were all clean and pretty empty.

    "Guess I should eat something before I start fiddling with the Link" he thought as he put the box down on top of a table in the living room and strode to the kitchen.

    In a short while Nicholas emerged from the kitchen with his lunch, a plate half full of mashed potatoes and some beef with garlic sauce. He then opened the Link box and found the manual for it and started reading while chowing down.

    He finished eating and reading through the manuals in a moment but they didn''t really hold any useful information other than the first installation which only consisted of "Wear the link, plug the cord in to a Link plug and follow the installation procedure".

    As he Started up the system and put the equipment on he appeared in a room filled with blue windows which were circling around him and a panel in the middle of it, the panel was used to register the log in details and as he put in all of the needed details the blue windows shook and started to expand making the room bigger, in a moment a notice popped up.

    "Your first installation is complete, this area is considered your "desktop" you will find any program you install in this area"

    Without further waiting he took out the instruction paper for LoI and started acquire his own game and in a few moments another message appeared.

    "Land of Irith has been added to the desktop".

    Land of Irith system icon was a typical crossed swords with a shield on top, floating jumping and spinning slowly, he gestured towards the icon and it enveloped him.

    Next thing Nicholas knew he was in a house with no windows and what looked to be wooden walls.

    "Welcome to Land of Irith I''ll be your guide to character creation" someone said from behind him.

    A small flying sprite was floating in front of Nicholas, the sprite looked like a square block with wings and a smiley face on the front as its face.

    "Hello I''m here to make a character" said Nicholas naively.

    "Of course you are, you can only make one character and you can''t get here if you have one" the sprite said and you could feel that the little block was rolling its nonexistent eyeballs as to mock him.

    He wasn''t fazed by this and continued on.

    "So where should I start?" immediately the room was no longer what it was just moments ago, but instead a room filled with mirrors.

    "First you need to decide a race to play as."

    Nicholas swiped through the selection seeing a lot of race pictures yet nothing seemed to catch his eye until he landed on a specific portrait.

    Dwarfs, the race which lives in deepest mountains and below. Their hunger for knowledge, battle and beer shaped the race to become the continent leaders in metal working.

    Nicholas took a moment to look at the two dwarfs shown on the race card and deemed it was what he was looking for.

    "Excellent moving on you can customize how you wish to look, you can be pretty specific on the details. Of course we could just scan you and use your real person as a base, but only around half of the people choose to do that" the sprite concluded.

    Nicholas started to work on the dwarf avatar and ended up with a generic dwarf with long dark beard and long dark hair with tired eyes, he was about to say he was done, but then he slipped his finger on the gender button and the whole avatar changed. Surprised by the event he reached to put it back, but then he saw what the avatar had become, he didn''t know what to think at first, but the new avatar started to feel even better than the old one so he delved further into modifying the female dwarf he was looking at. The end result was something to behold, a dwarf with medium length hair with the colour of grey, her eyes were green, her face was clear and had no wrinkles and gave the feeling of calmness, her body had modest curves with a slightly tanned skin. Nicholas locked the avatar in without realizing it.

    "Ooh, she looks nice I''m glad this pervert at least has a better taste than the other ones"

    The sprites half amazed half snarky comment made Nicholas realize that being a guy and making a female avatar probably did make him look like a pervert, but he didn''t really care.

    "So what is next Mr Sprite?"he said to prompt the sprite.

    "Now i need to explain to you how character progression works in Land of Irith, basically everyone starts at the same point however through work and learning you can become anything you wish to be."

    "Your character has no stats so to say, but by doing activities you can still increases the respective attribute, reading books makes you understand the subject better, doing pushups builds up your muscle and stamina and so on."

    "You can also sleep in the game but as time moves slower in game its not advise-able to go without sleep for long periods but instead think of the sleep in game as naps."

    The sprite was in its own world blabbering on, but it had lost Nicholas''s interest at this point.

    He started to gaze around the room which now that he noticed was different to the character creation room, the walls were made of stone and there were some paintings on the walls representing people, not to mention they looked majestic.

    A figure standing on top of a pile of corpses was roaring at the heavens while pointing his sword towards the sky.

    A man who looked like royalty sitting in a conference meeting, being stabbed in the back by a figure in the shadows.

    A room lit up by what seemed to be candles that floated in the air around a person reading a book.

    A person hiding in the bushes while readying his bow and a hawk flying off from his shoulder.

    A cloaked figure standing in front of what appeared to be a general and his strategy meeting.

    Nicholas stared at the paintings "These must be some typical paths for people to take just up for show."

    After a few minutes of staring at paintings, Nicholas felt an impact on his shoulder.

    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work."Hey are you listening?." the sprite wasn''t amused when it was obviously being ignored.

    "Yeh yeh you can become anything you want to if you put enough work into it I heard ya." Nicholas answered half assedly.

    "Good now we can move on to the next part." the whole room disappeared and Nicholas was suddenly in a white room filled with all sorts of paths and pitfalls.

    "So since you decided not to go with your own person you need to get accustomed to your virtual body." the sprite made something that sounded like a snap, and Nicholas fell down.

    "What the?" confused as he was, he realized a lot of things had changed, he was feeling very uncomfortable as he tried to stand up.

    "Good you can stand up! Not many can do that so easily after the change." the sprite was amused.

    Confused at the situation Nicholas wanted to see what happened "You got a mirror or something?"

    Suddenly a whole body mirror appeared in front of him and what he saw was the female dwarf he had just made in the reflection.

    "This is amazing" he thought while moving his hands over his body.

    "So after you''re done with harassing yourself..." the sprite was no longer amused.

    "We can start with the course. I''m giving you some tasks which by the end of the list should have you acquainted with your body at the proper level."

    A system notice popped in front of Nicholas, or should he now have another name? It would be awkward to think of himself as Nicholas while in a woman''s body inside the game Nicholas thought and agreed, from now on he was a woman inside the game and would be referred to as one once he got out of the character creation.

    Once his head was clear of the confusion he took a look at the list of things to do, it looked like basic training but with him not being familiar with the new body it was going to take some time while he was getting used to the body, so he started right away.

    Eventually his running and hopping around was interrupted.

    "Finally"the sprite sighed as it had kept record of the dwarfs progression, he could now control his new body adequately and comfortably.

    "So the last two things to do are give you a name and a spawn location"

    A window appeared in front of Nicholas "choose a name", he had been thinking about fantasy names in case he ever got a link and got to play LoI ever since it came out so he had to run through his options, after a few minutes he picked one which seemed to fit the little dwarf.

    "Aleyn"

    "Congratulations, your character creation is done, choose a spawn location" after the message a map opened up, 3 points were lit up on the map indicating spawn points for beginning dwarf players.

    He looked through the options and one peaked his interest more than the others, Ironedge. A small town just a few days worth of travel from the capital of Dwarves , the landscape was snowy and the town was at the foot of the mountains.

    "I choose Ironedge"was the last thing he could say as he was moved to the location.

    After coming back to her senses Aleyn noticed she was standing in the middle of a market, the crowd was lively, merchants were selling their things, adventurers were browsing, noticing people looking her way she decided to move to a quieter spot and get to know her equipment better.

    She had spawned into the game with raggedy cloths with nothing but a rope holding her pants up, her boots werent really boots but cloth wrapped around her feet and tied with a rope. She had a backpack and a coin pouch which was empty, her backpack contained a piece of bread and a short sword.

    "Not that grand is it.. Got to start from somewhere I guess." she thought and put the sword back in her backpack after examining it for a bit and then decided to gather more information about the town.

    After asking around for what felt like an hour and going through most of the stores and inns, she had gotten an old crude map as a gift, a brand new one was way too expensive and luckily they were about to throw this one away since it was in that bad shape.

    The town itself was moderately big, surrounded by a spruce forest with a couple of roads leaving from south east and south west. Deeming she was done with gathering information Aleyn wanted to experience a bit of the world before she would take a break and look for some starter tips on the internet.

    She traveled outside of the town and headed east, she noticed many guards and a few adventurers looking but not bothering her.

    The wind was blowing hard in the mountains and it ran straight into her bones.

    "Maybe choosing the mountains wasn''t the best idea" she thought.

    "I''ll rethink this after I get back to the town" she thought as she was turning back to head back to town, but then she heard a growl a couple of feet next to her and spotted the source.

    A wolf with bright grey fur and massive teeth that couldn''t exist in the real world was growling while looking straight at her.

    "Great... there''s no way I can fight that in this condition." she wasn''t interested in chancing it either.

    As she slowly stepped away the wolf kept on creeping towards her, even a moment of hesitation could get her killed right there so she did what any sane person without a plan would do. She ran.

    After a minute of running away from the wolf it gave up and returned back the woods, Aleyn had survived her first fight, but she was exhausted and freezing though only a few minute walk from the town, it wasn''t going to be a pleasant trip back.

    With a bit of struggling she made it to the safety of the town, still exhausted still with the left overs of the freezing temperature which didn''t make her feel any better.

    She sat behind the blacksmiths, she had spotted the place earlier while gathering information about the town and as a stroke of luck it was located on the east side of the town, just where she was heading to.

    Inside the blacksmiths quarters the bellows were blowing a nice warm breeze at her which was immediately absorbed by her cold skin. Few minutes of resting behind the blacksmith cured her coldness and exhaustion, she took a bite from her bread and then decided to call it a night.

    Taking of his Link Nicholas noticed that he had barely spent two hours in game while it felt like he had been doing things for 6 hours at least.

    "That sprite did mention that time moves slower in game, but it still feels odd" he turned off the Link, turned on the tv and whipped out his laptop searching for "beginner Land of Irith" as his keywords.

    After few hours Nicholas turned off his laptop and tv and went to bed.

    "Never would have imagined that a video game would be this exciting though" he thought while lying in the bed.

    "Tomorrow I''ll see if I can get some money for a night at the inn or something" was his last thought as he drifted into sleep.

 Chapter 3 - First jobs

    <blockquote><cite>Quote:</cite>26/9/2015. Minor changes and fixes.</blockquote>

    It was Thursday, Nicholas was having dinner after finishing his morning routines, he had time until the next Monday when his studies started to spend in LoI so he wasn''t in a rush, but he was very eager to get started.

    He ate his lunch while watching the news, apparently someone famous in LoI had done something which he didn''t understand any of right now, but it seemed the news reporters found it amazing.

    After entering the game the dwarf girl was met with a hot gust of wind from the bellows of the smithy which took her by surprise and made her tumble backwards on her behind.

    "Note to self, find a better sleeping spot. Preferably inside"

    She lift herself up and headed towards the Adventurers hall which was across the market.

    The Adventurers hall was a place where people looked for assistance with all sorts of jobs or activities, it was basically the place for people to go if they wanted to work without being tied to a contract.

    It was very early in the morning yet you couldn''t find an empty stand in the whole market, while Aleyn was making her way to the adventurers hall she heard a massive crash.

    "Shit!, now what do I do?" could be heard from a merchant on his knees next to a toppled carriage, it seems the carriage couldn''t take the weight of the produce and one of the wheels broke.

    Aleyn looked at the event but decided to ignore it, she didn''t really have a way to help the merchant so there was no real reason to bother.

    As Aleyn had entered the adventurers hall she immediately noticed the lack of people inside.

    "Too early?" was her first thought, but she saw a man standing behind the counter at the other end of the room so it couldn''t be too early to talk with the clerk at least.

    "Welcome to the Adventurers Hall, can''t say i remember your face are you new around here?" asked the clerk while stroking his impressive moustache.

    The clerk was a human with short dark hair, his stature was that of a British boxer you could see in old movies and his moustache complimented that image.

    "Uhm, yes I just arrived here today and I''m looking for work. Is it too early? There doesn''t seem to be that many people here surprisingly." Aleyn asked.

    The clerk took a quick look around the room and said "Oh no no. It ain''t too early. I don''t really want to generalize but it just seems that people who do adventure work aren''t early birds"

    Aleyn shrugged "Well more work for me then."

    The clerk chuckled "That''s the spirit girl." but then took a serious look at her

    "I suppose you''re here for copper jobs. No offense but you don''t see like you could handle much higher."

    The ranking system consisted of 6 different ranks Mithril, Gold, Silver, Bronze, Tin and Copper being the worst.

    "You''re correct Mr... erm."

    She stopped to see any indication of a name, the only thing she could see was a plate saying clerk .

    "Johnson, Norrison Johnson. Just call me John" he said with a bow.

    "Aleyn" she replied

    "So John is there any copper rank work to do?" Aleyn said with a smile.

    "Well, it depends on what you''re looking for.. there''s a lot of work that no one wants to do and can barely be called copper rank jobs and I would consider easy coin, then we have the proper list of actual copper jobs on the copper rank billboard over there."

    John pointed towards the left wall. The wall was filled with papers requesting help for different sort of jobs, from gathering wood to killing some pests.

    "I don''t really have any money at the moment so I guess I''ll start with easy coin. Would be nice to have enough money to stay at a inn at least." Aleyn said while scratching the back of her head showing her embarrassment.

    John went to the backroom for a moment and came back with a stack of requests, "Take a seat and look for what interests you."

    After leaving the hall Aleyn had claimed 2 jobs which she considered to be good for starters. A request for picking a certain common flower for the towns alchemist and someone to help clean the inn.

    "The inn is close so guess I''ll go there first"

    As she entered the inn she was assaulted by the dust which had been cultivating with many adventurers.

    "Cough.. Cough" it took her by surprise slightly as she was moving towards the counter to talk to what looked like the inns owner doing paper work.

    "Oh its you again, I''m sorry but I''m not here to hand more freebies, you were lucky we had no use for that map"the innkeeper said after taking a glance at Aleyn, it was the exact same inn where she had gotten the old map she used.

    "I''m here because of the request you put on cleaning." Aleyn said as she ignored what the woman in front of her had said.

    "Ooh someone willing to help with cleaning! Come come lets get started right away!."

    The owner took Aleyn by surprise and dragged her to the back room where she was handed a broom, few rags and a bucket.

    "So to get your payment you need to clean the windows, sweep the floor and change the sheets on the beds, there''s 7 rooms and each one has a closet with the sheets inside."

    Aleyn was nodding and listening to the explanation.

    "Try and finish the job fast and if someone comes in trying to cause a ruckus then just come and find me. You got all of that?"

    Aleyn nodded again

    "well then off you go" the innkeeper pushed her out of the room and continued doing paper work.

    It only took around 30 minutes to clean a room since Aleyn was familiar with having responsibilities like cleaning her own house so she finished it at rapid pace.

    As she was starting on the last window she heard someone rushing towards the room and then the door opened suddenly.

    "Is the room ready soon? We just got a huge group of people booking rooms and they want to leave their belongings." The innkeeper seemed to be in quite a hurry to get things done.

    "Just need to finish this window and make the bed, it shouldn''t take more than 10 minutes if they can wait." Aleyn said while still cleaning the window, time was of the essence it seems.

    "Okay I''ll inform the group that they can move in soon." the innkeeper yelled while already half way back to the front desk, she was definitely in a hurry.

    As Aleyn was leaving the room she noticed a group of people heading up the stairs.

    "Guess those are the people" She thought to herself while looking at them.

    The group looked like a typical adventurer party. A tall person in full body armor making it hard to distinguish their race and gender, wielding a shield and a sword.

    A tall slender man that seemed to be human, only dressed in a robe and wielding a staff, most likely a mage of some sort.

    Two men of equal height hidden under a cloak, one had to be a hunter of some sort since he had a bow strapped on his back, the other one held no indication of what they were until you saw the two bulges on the sides of his waist resembling dagger handles.

    Behind the two men you could see a woman that overshadowed both the mage and the warrior in height and width, wearing body armor, but no helmet leaving her long red hair hanging around her head  and the huge sword behind her back. She was either a Norn or the tallest human woman ever.

    Stolen story; please report.

    She was talking with someone, but it was hard to see from Aleyns angle, but as they got closer she saw spotted who the Norn was talking to.

    A girl glad in a white robe holding a staff which had patterns over its head. It wasn''t just any sort of girl though, pointy ears noble air and blonde hair. She had to be an elf of some sort, but even with the staff you didn''t get the feeling she was a mage.

    As Aleyn passed the group and she was heading towards the innkeeper for her reward, she noticed the innkeeper sitting in at the reception with a huge smile.

    "I''ve finished the job, rooms are clean and it looks like the group was heading there just now."

    The innkeeper snapped out of her smile "Good work, you freed up so much time for me, paper works usually a nightmare."

    "Three silver and twenty copper, like said on the request, I looked at the rooms after you were done with them, you did your job admirably. If you ever want some extra money you can always come and clean rooms again." the innkeeper said as she handed the money to Aleyn.

    "I''m glad my work was up to standards. I''ll be sure to keep that in mind if I the need extra money" Aleyn said while smiling.

    It was time for her second job request so she took off and started heading towards the alchemists house.

    Aleyn entered the alchemists shop after traveling through the whole town, inconveniently the Inn and the alchemists shop were on the opposite sides of the town.

    "Hello?"

    Aleyn raised her voice after seeing no one in the shop and after hearing no response she moved closer towards the counter and repeated slightly louder.

    "Hello!?"

    Suddenly a thud could be heard and someone grunting. Few moments later a dwarf glad in a dark grey robe and a black beard stumbled from the room behind while yawning.

    "Sorry if i kept ya waiting, was taking a nap." he said drowsily as he moved behind the counter

    "So what are ya after ?"

    "I''m here because of the work request for picking herbs." Aleyn replied.

    The dwarfs eyes shot open for a moment "Finally, been waiting for someone for few days!" the old dwarf took a book and a basket from behind the counter.

    "I want you to fill this basket with Snowstars, they''re practically everywhere, but once you get to the snowy areas it becomes a pain in the head to collect em." The dwarf explained.

    He opened the book and shuffled through the pages.

    "Here''s what it looks like, it''s the only flower in the mountains that has white colour and like I said, it grows everywhere, but its used in almost every sort of potion so I really need it."

    The picture that was shown had a small flower with 4 petals  and a short neck, making it seem like the whole flower was just the petals.

    "Understood." She gave a nod of acknowledgement picked up the basket.

    "I''ll be off then." She waved while walking out.

    Aleyn returned to the store with a basket full of flowers, "That didn''t take too long, now did it? Here''s ya pay."she took the few coins and put em in her coin pouch.

    The dwarf took the basket and sighed.

    "Wish I had more time, brewing all of this and attending the store is going to do my head in." the dwarf muttered and went to the back room.

    "I could help if you taught me the process Mr. Alchemist." Aleyn raised her voice so the old dwarf could hear her.

    "Ya wanna learn? Well okay come here then and the names Heber not Mr Alchemist." the dwarf yelled from the backroom.

    As Aleyn entered the back room she was met with a collection shelves all filed with vials, some filled with herbs or liquids, some empty.

    "There''s not that much I need teach ya to be quite honest. A lot of alchemy is about discovering and testing but I''ll teach ya how to use the alchemy tools at least." Heber said as he picked up a mortar and a few vials.

    "You''ll be using these to make the Snowstars in to powder, not the ones you picked up though, those need to be hanged up somewhere to dry or it''ll be impossible to do anything with em."

    He said as he put the basked on the other side of the room and picked up another basket and brought it to Aleyn.

    "So what you need to do is put your wrist in to it like so." he ground the petals for a good 5 minutes and the end result was indeed some fine powder.

    "Now as much as it''s quite simple to grind them to dust, if you don''t have any wrist muscles you can hurt yourself so take a break every now and then." he said as he passed the rock to her.

    She took some petals and started grinding them and after a bit longer period she was done with her first patch and went straight in to the next one.

    Aleyn had been working for a while and was almost finished with the basket of herbs and had a plate full of fine Snowstar dust next to her.

    "Wrist hurting yet?" Heber yelled from the front of the shop.

    Aleyn and Heber had been talking about random things on and off over the time of the grinding to pass the time while the shop was empty.

    "Yeah its aching alright, but I''m almost done so it isn''t that bad." she said while placing the last pedals in the mortar.

    "Oh good, we can move on to actually make something then." Heber jumped off his seat and walked to the backroom.

    "This is really good, not many people can be bothered to make such fine powder." Heber took a bit of dust and rolled it around his fingers.

    Heber picked up a few vials and put them on the table

    "So what you need to do next is take some vials and fill them with water then pour enough dust into them that they turn red. These healing potions don''t need anything special like heating".

    Aleyn picked up a vial and started filling it, the water filled around 2/3 of it when Heber told her to stop.

    "Okay that''s enough now pour some dust in."

    Aleyn took a piece of paper, made a funnel for the dust and started pouring.

    It took all of the dust Aleyn milled just to make 4 Vials of Healing potion.

    "Nicely done, the quality is superb." Heber said as he shook the vial looking for clumps and impurities.

    "You could say that you''re an Alchemist now in theory."

    Aleyn smiled knowing that it probably wasn''t that simple.

    "Thanks Heber, I''ve never used a mortar before so having the experience is nice." She said and proceeded to clean the equipment with a brush and a wet towel.

    Heber thought for a moment after seeing her be so eager.

    "Ya know what, hold on a minute." He said as he went to the front desk.

    Heber came back with a dusty book a lot smaller than the one where he showed what a Snowstar looked like.

    "This is the alchemy book I used when I was learning, it has mostly information on herbs in it, but it also has the notes I made over my studies on them." He said as he gave the book to Aleyn.

    "If ya ever want to come mill or brew something then don''t be afraid to ask, nice to have some company every now and then"

    "Thanks Heber, really appreciate it." Aleyn was thrilled with the book, it would definitely become useful if she ever comes across strange plants or needed something simple made.

 Chapter 4 - The Woods

    <blockquote><cite>Quote:</cite>26/9/2015. Minor tweaking.</blockquote>

    She had gone back to the adventurers hall to pick up a good few easy money jobs over the day, the plan was to get better equipment so she could move on to proper copper rank jobs as soon as possible.

    After numerous requests she had finally accumulated enough money to buy set of leather gear, leather jacket, leather pants, leather boots and a pair of leather gloves which all could take more of a beating from every day life than her raggedy clothes and they were a lot better for winter wear, she also bought a bow so she could try and minimize close combat if she ever had the chance.

    With a little bit of money left over she decided to restock on her supplies, few rolls of linen for first aid use and with the rest she bought food. Returning back to the adventurers hall instead of going straight to John she instead stopped at the copper rank billboard.

    "Ready for real work Aleyn?" could be heard from behind the clerks counter from John.

    "Never know if I don''t try." she yelled back with a grin.

    There were numerous jobs to go through, but there were a lot which she didn''t understand the purpose of and a lot which were too long term for her taste so she took a moment to look through the jobs thoroughly.

    "Town smithy looking for ore of any rarity, payment decided on quality and quantity. Do not remove."

    "In need of a courier, destination Syls Lake. Payment on delivery."

    "Old woman in need of wolf hides for her tailoring hobby, payment decided on quality and quantity. Do not remove."

    The 3 tasks seemed simple enough for her, Syls lake was a 30 minute run northeast of the town and the forest in between was known to have wolves running around, be it in packs or alone. The ore job didn''t sound too complex, but she had no real clue about mining so she decided to leave it for now.  Aleyn took the paper for the courier job and brought it to John to claim it.

    "It''s basically a normal courier job, an old hunter lives near the lake up northeast and occasionally comes in to restock and order things while leaving a job request for people to bring the items back to him once they''ve arrived. You''re gonna need to bring this paper to the general store to prove you''re the courier this time. He left the request around 5 days ago so his order should be here but if it isn''t then you just need to keep checking." John explained thoroughly as he processed the papers and handed one of them to her.

    She took the paper and put it in her backpack, but she wasn''t done yet.

    "So what''s with that  "Old woman looking for wolf hides." request? Or rather, how do I claim it?" she asked John.

    John went to the board and looked at the request since he didn''t really remember the details

    "Oh yes the Old lady. You don''t need to claim the job, just bring her the hides. It''s the sort of a request where the person them self decides when they no longer need to be supplied and they come and ask to take it down.".

    "So the only worry for me is that she takes it down before I bring her the fur?" She wanted to confirm

    "Exactly, but you don''t need to worry about that. She has had that request up for months and even if she does take it down you can just sell the hides at the market." He said and walked back to his counter.

    "Okay understood, well thanks again John." She said as she was getting ready to leave.

    "Don''t mention it." John waved her off.

    The general store was located on the East side of the town, from what she had heard they provided tools, materials and equipment, but they were more known for providing things you couldn''t get in the mountains through orders.

    Aleyn entered and saw few people turn her way, but then disregard her and continue shopping, the shops main counter was void of customers so she didn''t waste any time since she could look around the store after she got the ordered items.

    "Hello I''ve taken a up a courier job to bring some items to an old hunter at Lake Syls." She said while handing the paper to the shops clerk.

    The clerk was a short old man wearing thick glasses he was probably mistaken as a tall dwarf more than few times.

    "Ahh yes his order, we have it right over here in the back room. Come in." The old man disappeared in to the backroom and Aleyn followed close behind.

    The old man went to a shelf and started looking around until he found specific bundle "Satchel filled with herbs and 3 Books, yep all here"

    He returned to Aleyn with the bundle, she put the satchel and books in her backpack but as she was about to leave the clerk interrupted her.

    "Be careful with the books, that man loves reading so he cut the last couriers pay by half when he discovered that the guy had torn some pages after fighting a wolf."

    "Thanks for the heads up." She couldn''t think of anything else to say and walked out of the store.

    Going through the forest between Syls and the town wasn''t the only way to get to Lake Syls, but the detour that went around the forest took almost twice as long so she decided to just abandon the thought.

    The forest was quite thin, you could see far and wide in between the trees so avoiding wolf packs was easy, however she did want to meet some for the other job request.

    After walking for a few minutes and dodging few bigger packs she came across an usual site, a wolf was lying down in the snow making awkward grunts of agony while the snow around it was getting red rapidly.

    She moved towards the wolf while keeping an eye on her surroundings, the wolf noticed her and started growling on top of grunting.

    The wolfs rib cage had a huge gash which was bleeding steadily.

    "I don''t think this guys gonna last too long." She thought while looking over the wolfs wound.

    Aleyn went to her backpack and picked up her short sword and after she was mentally ready she

    aimed towards the wolfs heart,piercing the wolfs chest and ending his agony.

    She Pulled the sword out and washed it in the snow, she was ready to try and skin the wolf but as she opened her backpack she heard footsteps coming closer from behind her.

    A wolf almost half bigger than the one dead in the snow was staring at her, its height reached to her chin and it was approaching her, on a closer look the wolf had blood all over its face.

    "So you''re the culprit."

    Aleyn turned around to face the wolf, there was no running from it now that it was only few feet from her, she dropped her backpack and took a firm grip on her sword as she readied herself for battle.

    The wolf noticed her intent and became more alert, it circled around her for a few moments watching her reaction. She kept her eye on the wolf not letting any movement slip by.

    Suddenly the wolf started running at her and at the moment the wolf jumped at her it grazed her elbow leaving few drops of blood dripping from her sleeve.

    The wolf lunged at her again, but this time she was ready, she took the sword and blocked the wolfs face, punting it away.

    The wolf spun and landed on its side in the snow and couldn''t stand up for a brief moment feeling dazed by the impact to its head, but in a moment the daze was gone and it was more angry than before and started stubbornly attacking continuously.

    The wolf attacks were too predictable and the result was the same she blocked the wolfs attacks and pushed it away with heavy impact and no injuries. The wolf was getting exhausted and took some distance, but the pause didn''t last long as it started charging again this time going for her lower body.

    She blocked the wolf again but it had put more effort into its legs than its upper body and Aleyn could feel a slashing impact on her thigh.

    The pain was moderate, but it seemed that the wolf had lost its footing in this final strike and stumbled on the snow falling in to a short daze again, she had to ignore the pain and go for it before the wolf could attack again.

    She aimed at its chest to pierce the wolfs heart. The wolf bled and struggled aggressively as she pushed the sword down deeper in to its chest and the snow. The wolf kept struggling but eventually the loss of blood claimed its life.

    With the danger gone, she had to take a look at the damage, her right thigh had multiple bleeding wounds but they weren''t too deep, her elbow was bleeding as well but only a little of skin was torn off. Still needing to stop the bleeding she started digging into her pockets looking for the straps of linen she had bought earlier.

    After bandaging her thigh and elbow she took a look at her backpack, there was no sign of damage on the outside but to confirm she took a look at the books inside and found them intact as well, sighing in relief she decided to check the wolfs.

    Both wolfs had dyed the snow around them in crimson red which worried her as animals would be attracted to the smell of blood.

    Remembering the old lady''s request for hides, she took her sword and started skinning both wolfs as fast as she could while looking around for any attracted animals.

    Luckily the only creature that came to her was a young fox which observed her from far away and didn''t disturb her.

    As she was about to leave she noticed the fox had gotten quite close, it looked at her and looked at the carcasses keeping an eye on both but didn''t seem too afraid of her.

    "Yeh you can have them, I''m leaving."

    After traveling for a while she could see lake Syls and the end of the forest, she was almost at her destination after her small adventure in the woods.

    She had ran across a few more wolfs after the first two and now she had five hides and three new wounds which weren''t severe, but they still took a toll on her. Realizing how close she was she picked up her pace, she was about to leave the woods as she heard the snow shuffling in the distance as if someone was running, after a moment of scanning the surroundings she noticed three wolfs running in the forest.

    The wolfs were chasing after a rabbit, but it seemed to disappear into the snow, the wolfs circled around the area they had last seen the rabbit at and started turning the snow but in the end it seemed their rabbit hunt was over, they were ready to leave but as they were leaving they noticed a familiar scent of blood in the air.

    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    They took a moment to find out where the smell was coming from and that''s when they noticed her staring at them. The fact that they had picked up a scent from her didn''t register in her head until the wolfs howled and started running.

    Aleyn wasn''t in any shape to fight against a pack of wolfs even if she wasn''t injured so she put her sword on her belt and started running along the lake towards what was supposedly where the old hunter lived.

    The wolfs were catching up to her at a moderate rate and after a bit of running it was clear that they weren''t giving up and they would catch her even if she kept running.

    Realizing the situation she stopped to conserve her energy and took her short sword out.

    "If you come at me one by one, I can probably get rid of you one by one as well." She said with a low voice, but as she turned around she noticed the wolfs had split up and started to encircle around her.

    If the wolves now came at her at the same time she could block one but the other two would hit her without any resistance.

    "Shit, at least give me an opening of some sort!" she was getting desperate.

    The wolfs smelled her fear and kept on closing in towards her until one jumped at her, she was caught off guard and she knew there was nothing she could do about it.

    The wolf missed, the idea that the wolf had missed a point blank jump which was pretty impossible didn''t click in her head and she thought she had gotten the chance she was hoping for.

    She took a new stance towards the other two wolfs but surprisingly the wolfs were no longer looking at her, instead they had their eyes towards the forest.

    A man was standing at the tree line across the snow, that figure was a man with a long coat made of wolf hides, he had a bow on his left hand and an arrow ready in his right one. As if the wolfs recognized him they retreated away from both of them and into the forest.

    "Looked like you needed help, and I needed lunch. Two birds with one stone yeh?." the man yelled from the tree line in a jolly manner while walking towards her.

    She was confused as to what had happened until she took a closer look at the wolf that was lying in the snow, it had an arrow sticking out of its throat and it lied dead in the snow.

    "You saved my life old man." she yelled in realization.

    "Names Terry, people in Ironedge call me the "Old hunter" you are? The man that came to Aleyn had dark hair, short beard and a lot of wrinkles on his face.

    She stood up brushed the snow off of her clothes and put the sword back on her belt "Aleyn, I was actually sent here to bring you your order of items." She tapped her backpack.

    "Ah yes, my books! Come lets get back to my cabin, you can rest while I evaluate your pay." He motioned for Aleyn to follow and started walking into the forest.

    Few minutes of walking led them to an old cabin, it had a roof made of straws and grass while the walls were made of logs, it was very modest and probably made to accommodate one person.

    When Aleyn entered the cottage she looked through out the room, there was one bed on the other side of the room, a table right next to the one window he had and a place for a camp fire right in the middle of the room.

    "Lets see those books then, you can lay down in the bed if you want but put the satchel next to those sacks first." Terry pointed next to the bed where there were three sacks.

    She dug the books out of her bag and gave them to Terry and then went for the bed, she dropped the satchel next to sacks and  laid down on the bed.

    The first books front cover had stains of blood on it from the hides she had collected, Terry took a quick look inside.

    "The front cover is stained but I don''t really mind since I can clean it myself. The pages look to be intact."

    He took the second book out, its front cover and back cover were clean and the pages were intact

    "This ones good as well"

    Then he took a look at the last book, its front cover was intact but the back cover had a wolfs tooth going through it. Aleyn was shocked as nothing had gotten in her back during her travel but then she realized it''s one of the teeth she had taken from the wolfs she had killed.

    "This doesn''t look promising." Terry said while flipping through the pages, the tooth had pierced about 15 pages from the back.

    "Well this ones the worst out of all of them I guess, the tooth pierced a good few pages and some words are missing due to it. I''ll give you two thirds of the payment for this one since it doesn''t make it unreadable." He sighed while putting it down next to the other two.

    Aleyn was relief, Terry could have been heartless and just refused to pay for the book all together and she couldn''t say anything about it in her situation, two thirds compared to that felt like a fortune.

    Terry handed her a pouch filled with silver coins, the coins totaled  to 45 silver.

    She was taken back by the amount and looked at Terry "Woah isn''t this a bit too much?"

    Terry turned around with a confused face.

    "Why would you think that? Books are expensive. The fact that you brought them back mostly unharmed is also worth the money" He said while turning back to put the books in their proper corner.

    That was actually correct. Most books were hand written making their value huge just due to how much effort it took to make them.

    Aleyn put the pouch in her backpack as the amount was way too much for her coin pouch. They were both going about their businesses, Terry was starting to clean the bloodied book while Aleyn was looking through the money she had just acquired and trying to rest.

    Suddenly they both heard a scratching sound on the front door, Terry grinned and opened the door

    "Come on girl, get in then."

    A fox strode in and barked once as Terry took it in his arm.

    "This is my girl Emily, she usually runs around the forest on her own and returns here in the evening."He pet the fox a few times and then put her on the floor.

    The fox strode towards the bed and sat next to Aleyn.

    "She seems fine with you, you met her already?" Terry asked. Aleyn took a moment and realized she might have.

    "Earlier today I fought a wolf who had killed another wolf and a fox was observing me while I skinned them." She said while reaching to pat Emily.

    Emily wasn''t bothered by her which made Terry nod.

    "Yeah that was most likely her, she loves meat and has a habit of going after hunter left overs."

    Emily climbed up in the bed and nestled in to Aleyns lap for more petting.

    Time had gone by and it had gotten dark outside, Terry had lit up a small fire in the middle of the room for some warmth.

    "So what would make an old man live in the middle of nowhere."

    Aleyn asked the old hunter who was cleaning the bloodied book while running her hand through the foxes fur.

    Terry stopped and looked up as if he was thinking of an answer.

    "Well.. there are many reasons, but in short I''m a retired adventurer, I used to live here with my wife who passed away a year ago. We were both fond of nature and preferred to live outside of civilization so this location was perfect. Not too far from the town, but if anyone wanted something out of us they would have to put some effort in to it."

    Preferring to not dwell deeper into something sad she instead asked.

    "Why would someone want to come here though? Other than courier jobs."

    Terry turned around to look at her and smiled as he noticed her and Emily both looking at him.

    "Some people come to me after hearing the stories and ask if they could learn from me. I teach them for a day or two and they leave with the knowledge. Word travels fast and I''ve apparently made a new name for myself as a teacher for survival skills"

    Terry turned back and continued cleaning the books cover.

    "Survival skills? Like how to start a fire or how to use a bow?" She kept asking curiously.

    "More or less, though what I teach can be more broader."

    The subject had triggered her curiosity so she kept going.

    "So, is the pay good? You live in the back of the woods and order expensive books. Must mean you make some nice profit."

    She wanted to have a go at learning archery at least but if the cost was too extreme then she wouldn''t bother.

    "You''ve got the right idea, but you''re wrong."

    Terry paused.

    "While it''s true i need to buy things from the town occasionally i don''t need an income."

    "I don''t really value money in fact. Occasionally having a person come to learn and be willing is enough for me. Not to mention a little company is always welcome." Terry seemed to be reminiscing as he stopped talking.

    "Would you be willing to teach me?" She said without hesitation.

    More knowledge would always be useful and since she had already experienced the dangers of the woods she knew that wild life was no laughing matter.

    Terry paused his cleaning for a moment.

    "Ah so that''s why you asked about the pay, clever girl." He gave a small chuckle

    "I wouldn''t have my reputation if I denied a person who wanted to learn" Terry continued.

    In the middle of all the discussion Emily made a small squeaky yawn, which both of them could hear. Terry put the now somewhat clean book away.

    "I think that''s the cue for everyone."

    Terry put some hides on the floor and blew out the candle lights.

    "We can talk more about it tomorrow. Lets get some rest for now."

    And with that note all 3 of them went to sleep.

 Chapter 5 - The Steps

    <blockquote><cite>Quote:</cite>Now with more spacing and minor editing.</blockquote>

    As the morning came, the little cabins residents were already up and awake having dinner.

    "Dried rabbit meat and potatoes, enjoy."Terry handed a bowl to Aleyn. She gave a quick glance around the bowl and started eating.

    Once the morning drowsiness had faded she got ready to ask the question which had been on her mind since yesterday.

    "So what are you going to teach me today?"

    He was about to say something but was interrupted by Emily who was growling next to him.

    Terry picked up a whole rabbit leg from the campfire roast and threw it next to her.

    "She gets so angry if she doesn''t get food while others are eating." he chuckled.

    Emily didn''t waste much time and started eating her food, Terry picked up a potato and stuffed it in his mouth.

    "But back to the topic, what do I teach?" he paused and ate some more.

    "That usually is decided, by the "student"." He took a jug and poured water in to a handmade mug and handed it to Aleyn.

    Terry emptied a mug of water and continued

    "I have a lot of experience and knowledge, but I''m no teacher. Usually I just show how to use a bow properly and if they have something else they want to know I try to answer to the best of my abilities."

    Aleyn emptied her mug and replied "I don''t really have any ideas at the moment but maybe some will pop up later."

    "That''s perfectly fine." he said as the conversation tapered off and the trio continued their dinner.

    Everyone were done with their dinner, both Aleyn and Terry had gone outside to wash their bowls in the snow and Emily had taken off in to woods.

    Terry looked at Aleyn''s clothes and wondered.

    "So you came through the woods while only wearing all that? I''m surprised you didn''t freeze."

    She looked at her clothes and replied "I didn''t really have problems with the cold yesterday though it did get slightly unbearable later in the evening when the wind started picking up."

    Terry shook his head.

    "You''re underestimating the cold, I''ve met many men and women who have done so, they''re fine until the evening and then the wind and lack of sunlight takes away all of the heat. In most cases they pass away in the snow."

    Aleyn was slightly shocked, it had to be more serious than she thought due to Terry''s reaction.

    They both went back into the cabin, she was getting concerned over what she just heard.

    "I don''t really have any other clothes than these though."

    Terry thought for a moment.

    "Didn''t you have some hides in your backpack?"

    "I do, they''re for another request. Why?" Aleyn asked

    "Well since I live here pretty much alone I''ve had maintain and sew my own clothes, I could probably make you something depending on what i got to work with."

    Terry said with a little hint of pride.

    She took the hides from her backpack and presented them to Terry who started looking them over.

    "Tsk-tsk, I''ve seen worse cuts but it still hurts to look at these." he said while going through the hides

    "Does that mean they''re useless?"

    Aleyn had skinned the wolfs with no previous experience and if Terry didn''t think he could make something out of them it could very well be that the old lady wouldn''t accept them either.

    "No no, I can still work with these but I definitely need to show you how to skin properly."

    He folded and left the hides on the table.

    "But before I do any of that you should probably start using that bow since it''s still nicely warm outside. Come, lets go out."

    Terry left the cabin and Aleyn rushed after him once she picked up her bow and quiver.

    They walked away from the cabin towards the lake until they came to a tree far away from the cabin.

    "This tree here will be your target." Terry said as he walked to the tree. He took six long steps from it and drew a line.

    "Come over here and give it a shot."

    Aleyn walked to the line quickly and drew her bow and shot at the tree. The arrow flew past the tree and hit the snow behind the tree.

    Terry moved behind her.

    "Okay, draw the arrow again."

    She stood with the arrow drawn.

    "Move your right leg back and sideways... straighten your back." Terry gave instructions and she kept changing her posture and position.

    "Lastly, watch your breathing, release the arrow once you''re about to breath out. Now try again."

    He moved to the side and kept observing.  Aleyn took longer this time and after a few rounds of breathing in and out she released the arrow.

    This time the arrow hit the tree, not at the center of it but it was a huge improvement to her first shot.

    "Good good, now do that until you can hit this circle consistently."

    Terry moved to the tree and drew a circle on the tree with a knife, the circle was the size of a basket ball and covered the tree from side to side.

    "Oh and I''m taking most of the arrows, you''re gonna need to go fetch the ones you''ve shot and reuse them, its good to move a bit while shooting."

    He went to Aleyn''s quiver and left only eight arrows in.

    "Once you think you''re done come to the cabin, I''ll be working on the hides."

    Having nothing else to tell her Terry went back to his cabin.

    Aleyn had been shooting at the tree for a while, but she wasn''t too happy with the results yet, she could only get three arrows inside of the circle consistently.

    "Straight back, right leg back, breath in breath out." she had her own little mantra going as she kept shooting at the tree and picking up the arrows.

    After a while she showed improvement she was consistently getting more and more arrows inside the circle until she stopped at seven.

    "This should be enough." she thought as she picked up the arrows and left for the cabin.

    As she walked to the cabin she noticed the wind was picking up, the weather was still sunny and it wasn''t that cold, but if Terry''s story earlier was any indication it might get bad fast.

    "I''m done." she said as she entered the cabin.

    Terry was working on what seemed like a cloak

    "Oh yea? How many did you get up to?" he asked while still working.

    "I can get seven arrows in the circle consistently." she said while expecting a negative answer.

    "Oh? Not ambitious enough to go for full eight? Well that''s not bad either way, most people quit at around five."Terry chuckled.

    "So now for the next part, you''re gonna take four more arrows and double the distance. Come back once you''re satisfied." He said and pointed at his quiver.

    Aleyn picked up four arrows and turned to Terry.

    "I noticed the wind was picking up, should i stay inside since you aren''t done?"

    "Eh?" Terry sounded confused and looked out of the window, but weirdly enough he started smiling.

    "Oh, you''re quite lucky, it seems today is more windy than usual. You don''t need to worry about  it, as long as the sun is shining and there''s not a snow storm you shouldn''t freeze."

    He was about to get back to working on the cloak but then a realization hit him.

    "Actually, don''t double the distance, instead take four steps from the line and try from there."

    Aleyn asked with a slight smirk "four dwarf steps or four human steps?"

    Terry turned around thinking he might have offended her but instead saw her smirking face.

    "Four dwarf steps. If it starts snowing then come back in unless you want to turn into an icicle." he gave a smirk of his own and went back to working as Aleyn left the cabin.

    Aleyn was back shooting at the tree, the distance she had to take had lowered her accuracy, but not by much since she could still get 4 arrows in the circle, the biggest annoyance was the wind since it seemed to pick the arrows up and throw them off course easily.

    "Guess that''s why he changed how far I need to go." she thought while shooting at the tree.

    Over time her arrows started reaching the circle more consistently, she was getting used to adjusting to the wind and she had reached back to her seven, but this time she had more arrows so she decided to keep on going until she could hit ten arrows.

    "I''m finished." she claimed once again as she entered the cabin.

    "So how many this time?" Terry was holding the cloak in air and looking it over.

    "I could get ten arrows inside the circle." she declared with a little pride.

    "Sounds good. I''m also done with your cloak." he nodded and handed the cloak to Aleyn.

    "Try it on.".

    The cloak reached from her head to her ankles, it had a hood and it covered most of her front side down to her waist.

    She was amazed at the handy work "This is rather impressive Terry."

    "Thank you, I do take some pride in my work." he replied as he was cleaning the table he was working at.

    "More importantly, we can now go and replace those hides I used while it''s still early.".

    Both of them left the cabin and traveled deeper in to the forest.

    "You said "while it''s still early" is it better to go hunting early or is it more about the coldness in the evening?" Aleyn asked curiously.

    "As much as its about the weather, the animals actually get more aggressive through out the day so it gets harder to avoid bigger packs later in the day." Terry said while looking around.

    A realization hit Aleyn, it had been a lot easier to dodge wolf packs right at the start and it got harder and harder later on leading up to her running along the frozen lake yesterday.

    "So it was actually like that" she thought.

    Terry and Aleyn moved around the forest not finding any wolfs for a while, but eventually they stumbled on a duo of wolfs who had not noticed their approach.

    They were behind some rocks very close to the two wolfs, maybe at around the same distance where she had been shooting the tree from.

    Terry whispered "You take the left one, if you miss or it doesn''t die then don''t worry I''ll cover for you. Remember to properly move your cloak off so it doesn''t interfere with the arrow."

    They were both getting ready to shoot at the wolfs and Terry started counting down

    "four...three..two...one" and they both let go off their arrows.

    The right wolfs neck was pierced and it died but Aleyn''s arrow hit the wolfs stomach and it was still alive and angry.  Terry quickly shot another arrow and the wolf was put out of its misery.

    Aleyn was annoyed that she hadn''t killed the wolf.

    Terry noticed her mood and commented "Don''t worry about that, you hit the wolf at least."

    "I thought aiming at the heart would be the best way to kill it, but I missed." she said with a frown.

    "The wolfs heart is actually hard to hit, you should go for its neck in most cases since it''s easier and the wolf dies immediately in most cases."Terry said while pointing at the wolf he had shot in the neck.

    "Is that some sort of a secret weak spot of the wolf?" Aleyn said curiously.

    "Well im no expert on the wolfs body, but I think there''s a vein in there that once pierced the wolfs heart just can''t handle it, though don''t take my word for it."

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Terry paused and turned the wolf on its side, "Anyway since we got two good hides here I''m gonna show you how to skin properly."

    He took out a knife and started cutting around the wolfs neck "There''s no point skinning the head, its more trouble than its worth. So what I do is start at the neck and cut down to their stomach right up their tail."

    He made a deep cut from the neck towards the tail and all of the wolfs insides flopped out with a burst of blood.

    "At this point, depending on what sort of an animal you''re skinning you need to either cut the legs off or make certain cuts around the feet and strip the skin off."

    He cut around the wolfs ankle and lifted the hide to strip the legs out. The process took a few minutes but the results were ideal.

    "And that''s how you pretty simply skin a wolf." he folded the fur and handed it to Aleyn.

    She packed the fur in her backpack.

    "Now skin this one." Terry said as he pointed at the other wolf.

    Aleyn took Terry''s knife and made rough cuts around the neck and a deep cut that started from the neck and reached the tail, she had a lot of trouble with the leg part but after some struggle she had skinned the wolf.

    Terry took a look at the cuts "Not the best I''ve seen but it''s already an improvement to the ones from earlier. It comes down to practice at this point really." he handed the fur back to Aleyn and she put it in her backpack.

    After the skinning presentation the duo weren''t done with the wolfs, they harvested all of the edible pieces and once they were done they headed back to the cabin for nice bit of wolf meat stew.

    After the lunch Terry instructed Aleyn to go back to the tree with four more arrows and take few more steps back, the routine of going further away from the tree continued until nightfall and the next days noon when they went out again to hunt for some wolf hides.

    After all of the shooting Aleyn now had all of her arrows back and could reliably hit the circle from 25 of Human steps away, but due to her only training for a day and a half her shooting speed wasn''t up to standards since she still had to take a while to aim and fix her posture but from this point on that could only be fixed through repetition.

    They wondered around the forest avoiding bigger packs of wolfs while not coming across suitable targets until they found a group of three.

    Terry looked at the wolfs and back at Aleyn "You think you can hit two of them?"

    Aleyn had seen the three wolfs but never expected for Terry to suggest that.

    "Well i can try, you''re backing me up right?" she asked nervously and Terry nodded.

    The duo decided on their targets and got ready to go for the kill.

    "Remember not to panic, take your time if you need to and aim for the neck. You ready?" Terry whispered.

    Aleyn nodded and the count down began four... three...two....one.

    The two arrows flew and hit the two wolfs in the neck, killing them instantly.

    The third wolf noticed both of the culprits and started running at them, Aleyn took aim with heavy breaths and as the wolf got closer Terry readied his bow as well.

    The wolf had halved the distance between the duo and himself, but unfortunately for him Aleyn was very ready to shoot as she inhaled and released the arrow, the arrow flew in a straight line towards the moving wolf and disappeared.

    The wolf kept moving towards them for a few more steps and then fell on its side showing the poking arrow on its head.

    Both Terry and Aleyn went to look at the last wolf "You didn''t aim for the neck?" Terry asked.

    "My idea was to aim for the eye socket, it would pierce the brain and pretty much lead to death almost instantly like the neck." Aleyn replied while panting.

    "Well points for creativity and execution."

    Terry picked up the wolf by its back legs and dragged it to the other two"You skin yours I skin mine".

    It didn''t take long for either of them to skin the wolfs and as they we''re about to leave Aleyn asked Terry "Since it''s so early you mind if we get one more set of hides?"

    Terry turned to her and asked "What for? You have 5 now." he was slightly confused.

    "Well originally I wanted to have more than 5, and I would like to practice shooting and skinning a bit more." Terry liked that she had interest in training herself, but he wasn''t fine with excess killing.

    "How many do you want then?" he asked bluntly, "I was thinking on seven or so." she actually wanted more, but Terry''s reaction told her everything she needed to know about his opinion on the matter.

    Terry took a moment to think "Well, fine, but no more than seven though. Come lets find some wolfs.".

    The duo returned to the cabin, once they got inside and sat down to rest Aleyn had something to say

    "I think I''m going to head back to the town in the evening."

    Terry shook the snow off his cloak and put the bow next to wall "Already?"

    "Yes, I feel like I''ve learned much from you, but from this point on it seems it''s mostly about practice."

    Terry sighed "Me and Emily here had already gotten attached to you, but who could keep a young adventurer locked up in the woods when the whole world is open to them I suppose."

    Aleyn took a look at Terry''s sad face "You know you''re not that old yourself, you could still make a name for yourself out there."

    She really did mean it, from what she had seen Terry was in great condition and his skills were exceptional.

    "You flatter me, but to tell you the truth it''s just not for me anymore. When you get older you see the world differently, and for me personally I''m starting to prefer this quiet life style."

    Terry smiled and patted Emily who was just sitting there next to him. "You''re gonna stay for some lunch at least ?"

    "If you''re offering." Aleyn replied with a smile.

    Terry and Aleyn were standing in front of the cabin, Terry was holding Emily in his arms while talking with Aleyn as snow was pouring down and the sky was getting dark.

    "So, was it worth staying ?" he asked while rubbing Emily''s neck.

    "It was worth every minute." Aleyn smiled.

    "You''re taking the road back to town yeah?" he asked and Aleyn nodded.

    Terry nodded back "Good call."

    Emily dropped off of his arms and went to Aleyn.

    Aleyn gave her a rub behind her ear as she told her "Don''t worry girl, I''ll come and visit at some point."

    Emily barked once.

    "Be safe Aleyn." Terry reached for a handshake.

    Aleyn put her right hand in to his "Same to you old man."the last words before she took off.

    Aleyn noticed that Emily had decided to keep her company for her small journey as she traveled the road from the lake to town.

    "Really attached huh?." she thought and smiled at the fox.

    The road was wide and man made, it seemed to be specifically made for caravans and carriages.

    She walked and walked with the little fox and eventually the lights of Ironedge started to show in the dark and snowy weather.

    Aleyn stopped and crouched next to Emily "you should head back soon, Terry might get worried if you stay too long outside."

    Emily looked at her and the town and gave a bark before snuggling into her arms for the last time.

    Aleyn let go of the fox and started walking towards the town while Emily sat still and looked at her until she couldn''t see her in the distance anymore and started following the road back to the cabin.

    Aleyn was now back in Ironedge, it felt good to see civilization after such a long time, but she didn''t have time for standing around.

    Terry had told her to bring proof of delivery to John, she didn''t really understand why she needed to do that but Terry had insisted so it must have been important.

    She entered the adventurers hall and approached the clerks stand which was empty. She gave a quick knock on the table which got an immediate reaction as you could hear John yelling from the back room.

    "Comiiing."

    John walked to the table "So what can i do for you.. Oh!"

    And thats when he noticed who he was talking to "Ah Aleyn my girl you''re still alive."

    He hugged Aleyn which came to her as a surprise "Erm, you thought I was dead? "

    "Well when someone goes through the woods and doesn''t return for a few days you start to think about possibilities right?" John answered while still hugging Aleyn and then let her go.

    "But the most important thing is that you are alive." He paused and sighed.

    "So what do you need from me?"

    Aleyn handed in the paper Terry had made "I completed the courier job and the client told me to give this to you."

    John took some glances at the paper and nodded "Yes this is definitely Terry''s handwriting, this means you can get your badge, now where did I put that box.."

    John started looking for something right after reading the note "Ah here it is."

    Terry brought a box filled with what looked like metal badges with some sort of a crystal in each of them.

    She took a look at the badges and asked in confusion "What are these then?"

    John raised an eyebrow "Oh did I not tell you about the badge? Well no time better I suppose."

    He took a needle from a box filled with paper and vials of alcohol "So what we need to do is apply some of your blood on that badge, marking it as yours, give me your hand a bit."

    She reached her hand over the counter which was up to her neck making the scenario look slightly silly. Before she knew it John had already poked her index finger with the needle and drawn some blood. John moved the finger on one of the badges and few drops of blood fell on it.

    "Here you go its your personal badge." he showed the piece of metal to Aleyn.

    "So this is an artifact made by the mage''s guild in the human continent, it doesn''t have a real name so it adopted the name Badge due to its shape and size."John said as he showed the badge.

    "It''s generally used by adventurers for recording their accomplishments, when you put some documents on it and use a stamper like this one on it."

    He stamped the document on the badge and a moment later a light burst out of the badge and absorbed it.

    "Got the idea?"

    Aleyn was in a slight shock due to the whole event, it was the first time she had experienced something related to magic after all.

    "Ye..yes, but how do I show whats inside then?" she muttered as she was looking the badge over.

    "Ah, for that you need to pour in a small amount of magic, let me show you."

    John took the badge and held it in his hand, suddenly a burst of light appeared over the badge showing the document it just absorbed.

    Aleyn looked at the light in daze "Woah."

    As she took the badge back she tried it herself but sadly nothing happened.

    She thanked John and went to look at the copper jobs, she wanted to see if the Old lady still had her request up and it turns out she did.

    Aleyn took mental note of her address and realized that she had spent way too much time in game and should probably log out for a while, remembering her last log out experience she decided to rent a room at the inn.

 Chapter 6 - Training and Ridicule

    It was Sunday morning, Nicholas was sitting in his living room chowing down his breakfast. He had  woken up early as per usual but today he had gone for a jog since he felt a little stiff after his gaming session. Today''s plan was to make most of the day in game since tomorrow was when his studies would start at the university so once he was done with his dinner he got ready to immerse himself in Land of Irith once again.

    Aleyn left the inn and head towards north west side of the town where the residential area was located. The wealthier people who could buy a decent house or build one were few in this particular town which meant that the residential area had some shabbier houses mixed in, but there didn''t seem to be any bad air between the nobles and the poorer people so they could live in harmony in their little district.

    She found the old lady''s house without too much trouble. The house was located in the middle of the residential area and it looked out of place among the two ruling sides of poor and rich. The house was old and made of wooden planks while its neighbors were either made of logs or a combination of logs and bricks. It was probably the first structure build in that part of the town and back in its day it must have been considered a work of art, but time and weather had taken its toll on it now and it had some batches of wood which looked out of place.

    Aleyn knocked on the door, you could hear someone moving inside and in a moment the door opened. What greeted her was an old dwarf lady with long red hair which had a few grey stripes here and there. Her face was wrinkly but it still held a certain charm of an older woman, she wore a dark shirt and what a dwarf could consider long skirt.

    "Yes?" she asked which woke Aleyn up.

    "Oh sorry.. yes are you the one who put up the request over wolf hides ?"

    "That is me." she said and crossed her arms.

    "I''ve got a few hides for you then." Aleyn shook her backpack as indication.

    "Come on in then, lets see what you brought." the lady moved inside and motioned for her to follow.

    The old dwarf woman brought her to a living room with a fireplace already burning, the room looked well kept and had a few pictures lying on the shelves.

    "Lets see them then."

    Aleyn took out 7 folded hides and put them on the floor. The old lady started  unfolding them around the floor and going through their conditions.

    "These actually have quite good cuts. People rarely bring this good hides here." she said while raising her eyebrows. She turned her head towards Aleyn and asked.

    "Did you skin these yourself?"

    "Mostly. My archery teacher skinned two of them."

    She folded the hides back on the floor and sat on her chair.

    "So about the payment, I''m gonna make you the same offer I made with all the others." she paused to take a sip of her tea that she had from before.

    "You can either take the money for hides which is.. seven hides for 3 silver so 21 silver."

    "And my other option?" Aleyn asked.

    She took another sip of her tea.

    "Or I can make something out of these hides for you and I don''t pay you anything. That might sound bad but I have confidence in my skills. What ever I make for you, you won''t find something equal for 21 Silver in this town."

    Both choices seemed tempting. More money was always useful, but even though she had  Terrys cloak she could still use something extra to keep her warm during her travels. Money was simple to get, you just had to work but buying good quality clothes would either be hard or expensive.

    Aleyn went through the possibilities for a moment and ended up with what she thought was the best solution.

    "Could you make me something that mainly helps with the cold outside?"

    The elderly dwarf looked her clothes over.

    "You''re mainly wearing leather, but that cloak should should keep the wind and cold at bay, you''re expecting to travel to the mountains or something?

    "It''s a possibility. Once I go up in ranks there might be some job or request which needs me to travel there."

    The old lady looked at her for a moment.

    "I could go on about how the weather is not the biggest issue when traveling to the mountains, but it doesn''t concern me really."

    She put her tea cup down.

    "So for snowy weather.. I think chest gear and pants would help you the most and I think your seven hides should be enough for those. If I start making them today they should be ready by tomorrows evening."

    "Lets go with that then. How long can you keep them if I don''t come and pick them up tomorrow?"

    "You don''t need to worry about that unless my whole house gets filled with requests, which is very unlikely. Just retrieve them when you can."

    The elderly dwarf took some measurements from Aleyn and went to finish her tea while Aleyn left the residential area.

    Today''s plan was to ease up on the killing and instead do something that required more physical strength. Healthy body means a healthy mind.

    She went back to the copper job board and went through them again searching for something fitting and she came across a request she had seen already a few days ago.

    "Town smithy looking for ore of any rarity, payment decided on quality and quantity. Do not remove."

    "Mining should be hard physical work right?" she thought.

    She still had no real idea how mining worked or how to go about it, but there was no better way of going about it then asking and doing was there? She decided to go to the blacksmith and ask.

    As she reached the smithy she was reminded of her first day inside the game. She remembered how she had almost been eaten by a wolf and frozen due to the weather, but she put it behind her as she stepped inside the blacksmith.

    The building was probably the largest one in the town and the only one made of mostly bricks. Definitely the only one with multiple chimneys.

    As she entered the smithy she was assaulted by a gust of heat which was so intense she had to take her cloak off. She looked around the house until she heard a voice from her left.

    "Business?"

    A bald dwarf with a long brown braided beard. He was striking an iron rod on an anvil without looking at her. He wore a very worn shirt with no sleeves that left his arms vulnerable to the dangers of the forge and a leather pants which had burn marks all over.

    "I came here to ask a few questions regarding the request for ore."

    He took a side glance at her and continued hammering the iron.

    "Cybil sorts out all of the orders and questions. Go to the end of the house and there''s a room on the left."

    She thanked the dwarf who just ignored her.

    Aleyn found the room at the back of the house and knocked on the door. She was prompted to come in almost immediately.

    A human man was sitting at the opposite side of the small room. He had brown hair which was long enough to cover his forehead and ears, he also had a short well groomed and trimmed beard.

    There was a stack of papers which he was shifting through and writing on, but as he took a moment to look at Aleyn he put the stack aside.

    "Hello my name is Cybil and this is my workshop. What business might you have?"

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Aleyn took a few steps toward him before answering.

    "I''m Aleyn and I noticed you have a request for ore which I intend to take part in. However I have no previous experience on mining so I thought I could come here and ask about it."

    Cybil took a moment to look her over

    "Another girl who thinks physical labor is nothing amazing huh..." He thought to himself as it wasn''t the first time.

    "A little lady wants to mine? You sure you don''t have better options for money? I''m sure there''s something much more suited for you."

    He obviously didn''t think much of her from face value, what he couldn''t know though was that Aleyn in the real world had done more than enough physical work to know how tedious it can be.

    "You don''t need to worry about that all I need is some tips and methods and I''ll be on my way."

    Cybil sighed and picked up a pickaxe that was lying next to the wall.

    "What a cocky girl." Cybil thought.

    "Well if you''re gonna be that persistent about it fine by me, not my issue."

    He put the pickaxe on the table.

    "Mining is simple. You need a pickaxe and a cluster of minerals. You whack the cluster with the pickaxe until you can collect it."

    "Now go on, have a fit and run away little girl." he thought as he tried to get rid of what he thought was an ignorant girl.

    Aleyn rolled her eyes.

    "Gee that''s very enlightening, but seriously speaking is there an educated way of hitting something with a pickaxe?"

    Cybil thinking that his half-assed explanation would drive her out was slightly amazed "Thicker skin than expected." but then decided to humor her.

    "Proper way of using a pickaxe in 3 easy steps." He stood up and moved away from the table.

    "Step one. Hold the pickaxe like this and always with two hands."

    He put his left hand at the bottom end of the pickaxe and firmly took a grip of it while his right hand stayed at the other end close to the metal part.

    "Step two. Swing from over your shoulder." he positioned his pickaxe over his right shoulder

    "Step three. When your swinging down let your right hand slide down until it hits your left hand."

    He swung the pickaxe over his shoulder slowly and demonstrated how his right hand slid down.

    "This reduces strain on your whole body."

    Aleyn nodded as she finally got something useful out of this meeting and asked.

    "So where should I go and mine then?"

    Cybil sighed and went back to his seat.

    "There''s a quarry to the west, they have plenty of ore to mine and only take 30% of anything you mine as payment for using it. Your other option is to find veins in the nature."

    She thought for a moment but then decided to leave

    "I won''t keep you away from your work any longer then. Thank you for your guidance."

    "I''ll probably never see her again."Cybil thought as he gave a half-assed wave to her.

    Aleyn was walking towards the forest to North East after deciding not to go to the quarry. She had gone to the general store and bought a suitable pickaxe for herself and gotten equipment in case of a mishap but enough room to hold ore. Now the only thing left to do was find something to mine.

    She walked for a good while, dodging wolf packs which weren''t interested in her and weren''t aggressive. It was definitely a good idea to try and mine early in the morning since Terry''s theory seemed to be true.

    After some walking she came to a rock formation which had boulders and spikes all around it amongst the snow, the formation itself was very tall reaching up to 15meters. She circled around it looking for anything out of place and found something at the foot of the formation. A dark glitter which looked out of place on the grey''ish rock.

    "Iron." she thought to herself.

    The cluster of Iron wasn''t that big on the surface but it could go further into its rock host and since it was the first mineral she had found she decided to start with it.

    She took a grip of the pickaxe and started whacking at the rocks and iron. It turned out that she had to put in a lot of strength to chip the rocks and metal. She hit the rock for a good few minutes until her first ore nugget was extractable. It wasn''t much bigger than her both fists combined but it was a start. She continued until the cluster had only small fragments and dust left.

    Once finished she was already sweating and sore, but her backpack was filled up to a forth. The weight of the ore was surprisingly large but manage able.

    "This certainly goes for gym training." she thought as she put her backpack on and moved on.

    She traveled around the forest mining smaller batches she found until her backpack was half filled. The weight that the ore put on her was now moderate, a close estimate would be about 35 kg.

    "Time to head back and take a break."

    The journey back wasn''t much different to her journey there other than she now had more weight on her back.

    As she entered the town her breathing was noticeably heavier and she was still sweating. As she came to the smithy she took a fist full of snow to wash her face with and wiped it off with a rag from her backpack.

    Knocking on Cybil''s door once more she heard the same prompt to come in.

    As Cybil saw her he gave an annoyed look.

    "You need more help or something?"

    Aleyn ignored his comment and sat down while she flipped her backpack on the edge of the table.

    "No I came to bring my first batch."

    She pushed the backpack towards Cybil and laid back to relax a bit while stretching her arms back.

    Cybil took the bag and felt the weight which surprised him. Being a blacksmith and a miner he could estimate how much something weighted with his arms quite easily.

    He didn''t say a word as he took a leather scroll from behind him and rolled it over his table and work. He also picked up a scale from the floor and put it on top of the leather and poured the contents of the backpack slowly on the scale. Once all of the ore was on the scale he shifted through it to see that it was in fact all iron.

    "Roughly  32.6 kg of Iron ore." he said while staring at the scale.

    "Sigh, I estimated 35. Scales don''t lie though." Aleyn said while wiping her fore head

    Cybil looked at her for few seconds then declared professionally.

    "I can give you 75silver for this."

    Aleyn was shocked that had to be the biggest amount she had gotten so far out of any request."

    "Deal."

    As she was about to leave the room Cybil interrupted her.

    "You said it was the first batch. You intend to bring more?"

    She turned around to look at Cybil

    "Yeh, I was planning on a few trips. I probably need to take a break though in between so maybe 5 batches or so today."

    Cybil''s eyebrows rose and he stayed silent.

    "Anything else?" Aleyn asked

    "No no, you can go."

    Aleyn left the smithy and went to the inn for her break. She ate and rested for a while and then decided to go for another mining trip.

 Chapter 7 - Pride

    Aleyn was once again in front of the smithy, but this time she looked to be in better shape. She had gone back and forth from the blacksmith to the forest and collected Iron and other minerals while accumulating more than 3 Gold and this was her last planned patch of ore. She once again knocked on the office door and got the permission to enter.

    "39kg of iron.." Cybil said with a low steady voice after weighting the newest delivery.

    "Through out the whole day you''ve brought back five patches that total to roughly 150kg, that''s more than we''ve gotten in the past two weeks."

    He leaned back on his chair.

    "I really don''t understand what drives you, especially a little girl like you. There''s so many ways to gain the means to live as a woman without physical labor."

    Aleyn took a proper posture after trying to relax.

    "What about you? I don''t understand you. You seem rather biased towards women. Do you hate women?"

    Cybil''s eyes widened and he immediately refuted.

    "I don''t dislike women, I''m happily married in fact and love my wife."

    He paused and sighed

    "Though I''ll admit that I''ve probably become untrustful towards women looking to work here. They have a habit of disregarding the amount of work you have to put in for the money."

    "Being too biased isn''t good for business, imagine if any of the other women who came to you did the same thing I did today for example." Aleyn said while leaning to the arm rest with her elbow.

    "You''re probably right on that." he scratched his head while avoiding eye contact with her.

    "I''m glad you''re understand. But why did I start mining while it''s taxing and harsh on the body you ask? Exactly because of that."

    "What?"

    Cybil didn''t understand what she meant.

    "After collecting wolf hides and training with the bow I felt that I needed to do something to increase my own condition more."

    "I went to the adventurers hall and looked through some of the requests and that''s when I came upon your request. I had no idea about mining, but I was sure that it would only be good for my body and getting money while mining at my own pace didn''t sound like a bad idea."

    Cybil looked at Aleyn with a difficult expression.

    "Wait.. you wanted to mine because you thought it would be good exercise?"

    "Essentially yes."

    Cybil stood still for a moment, but then started laughing.

    "You really are something. You have a goal or something that needs physical strength?"

    She started thinking and said "A goal?" in low voice.

    "I don''t really have a goal. Eventually I wish to leave this town and adventure but I''m in no real hurry."

    The very frank claim made Cybil think for a moment "Maybe..."

    "If you''re not in a hurry, then I''ve got a proposition for you."

    "And what''s that?"

    Cybil picked up a Hammer from the floor and placed it on the table.

    "You stay here for a while and learn to be a blacksmith from us."

    It was time for Aleyn to be surprised yet sceptical. For what reason would he give her such an offer all of a sudden?

    "And why would I want to do that?"

    "Well, let me ask you. What do you know about the art of blacksmith?"

    She took a moment to think.

    "Basically, blacksmiths mold metals in to something use able like weapons, armor or tools."

    "And that''s it?" Cybil asked calmly.

    Aleyn shrugged and wondered why he was taking the situation so seriously.

    "Blacksmiths forges weapons and armor yes, however there''s much more to it."

    He picked up the hammer and started started turning it around in his hands.

    "I was taught how to work around the forge not here in the mountains, but in the city of dwarves, Dvalfgar. I was taught under a very strict and proud man Camedyr Tin-flame. "

    "He taught me many things, but the most important thing that ever he said to me, was his answer when I asked him what makes him so proud of being a blacksmith."

    ""We use much strength, skill and magic to mold the metal, this makes us strong.""

    ""We draw from past knowledge and try to find new and better ways to improve our arts, this makes us researchers and seekers of knowledge.""

    ""We craft weapons which can cut a boulder in half and armor which not even an ogres strength can dent.""

    ""Which is more powerful to you. A weapon or armor that is capable of amazing feats, or a person who has the knowledge and power to make them?""

    "After that speech I saw the profession in a whole new way, the amount of pride he had was not without cause as he was one of the most revered men in the whole continent due to his skills."

    He put the hammer back down on the table.

    "What I''m trying to say is, blacksmith work has far more dept than "we craft things" and as much as I don''t live the life of a proud blacksmith that aims to craft a legendary item anymore it doesn''t mean I don''t take pride in being a blacksmith."

    Aleyn was slightly stunned, as much as she didn''t think her first answer was all that there was to it she didn''t imagine it to be this prideful work.

    "You''ve got my attention, but why would you want to teach me?"

    Cybil smiled and replied.

    "Thick skin, puts a lot of effort into work, has a will to improve. I could go on but you seem like a blacksmith to me."

    "And you''re willing to teach me out of good will? I don''t believe that. What would it cost me?"

    As much as she didn''t feel like Cybil was out to get her, she didn''t think he told her everything.

    "Well of course I wont be teaching you for absolutely free, you have to get your own equipment and any material you miss use you have to pay for yourself."

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    A deal was shaping up and didn''t sound unreasonable.

    "Well lets say I did take you up on your offer, what sort of a commitment is it?"

    "I''m of course making it sound like an easy thing with the "Come learn from us." but no you''re right in assuming its not that simple. It is hard work, it takes a lot of patience and stamina just to work with metal for a long period."

    "So basically I need to work hard? I''ve had worse, I''ll take it."

    "Wonderful, I need to make some preparations but we can start tomorrow. Come early if possible."

    He took out a piece of paper and started thinking on things while writing them down.

    "You''re going to need these."

    She went through the list. Everything written down seemed simple to get from the general store and if not she could just order them.

    "Until tomorrow then."

    They exchanged handshakes, but after Aleyn had left the room Cybil was still in thought.

    "That girl sure is something. Even when a deal is stupidly good she doesn''t let it stop her from asking for clear details."

    He laid back in his chair as he thought to himself.

    "If she can survive through the training she will be a force to be reckoned with."

    He left his office to prepare and inform the whole smithy about what was going to happen and started planning on how to mold this girl into a blacksmith.

    Meanwhile Aleyn was already heading out of the general store with her newly acquired supplies and tools. The list had included pretty much everything from things to wear up to sharpening stones and other tools. She didn''t have to spend that much in the end as she bought everything from the list.

    It was getting dark. There was no real point to do anything so she returned to the inn with her things and decided to just retire for the day.

    After waking up and having her ordered breakfast she had head directly to the smithy. As she entered the house she was met with the usual workers and Cybil who was overseeing everyone working.

    She walked up to Cybil who looked like he wouldn''t notice a giant approaching.

    "Morning."

    Cybil didn''t break his concentration but replied.

    "Morning."

    "Am I too early? I can come back a bit later."

    She thought maybe the morning was a rush hour period for smiths. It didn''t seem like she could be taught much with all of the hassle going on.

    "No no, your timing is quite perfect."

    "You''re gonna be helping and listening to Tavin over there in the corner. He is going to be making some tools and utensils for most of the day. I''ve already told him you''re coming so just go there."

    He never even gave a look at her, but the order was clear.

    She went to Tavin after changing her clothes to what she had bought yesterday, a thick apron, thick leather gloves and pants and a sleeveless shirt.

    He was the Dwarf she had met the first time she came to the blacksmith. He was currently working with some heated Iron rods on the anvil. She wanted to introduce herself but the atmosphere around the smithy felt like no one wanted to hear any of it so she stayed out of the way and observed.

    He had just started to make a knife blade and was explaining some typical methods he was using currently. Like drawing, which basically meant to make it longer and thinner by hammering it.

    After a while of drawing the rod, it started to shape up slightly.

    "Give me a chisel from the wall."

    She looked behind the dwarf. The whole wall was filled with tools that mostly looked like they were meant for delicate work, the chisel stood out as the most unrefined tool.

    She handed the chisel to the dwarf and he proceeded to cut pieces off of the rod while in turn molding it by hammering. The knife blade at this point was shaping up but it was blunt.

    "At this point I need to sharpen it. Hand me a Sharpening stone."

    She looked around and found a stone like bar which she handed to Tavin.

    "Now sharpening has a few tricks to it, you can start by imagining the whole stone is a piece of wood and you''re trying to carve it. Start from the bottom of the blade and carve across the stone while moving through the whole blade."

    Tavin swept the blade across the stone for a few minutes. It was a part of the process which seemed to require a lot of patience if anything. In the end the blade had a proper sharpness to it.

    "And the last thing that''s needed is to polish and clean it. Take a rough rag and do that while I move on to the next one."

    He handed the freshly sharpened blade to Aleyn and she started polishing it while Tavin picked up another Iron rod and started heating it in the forge.

    The process continued through out the whole day. She helped Tavin make tools and gradually worked up from polishing to actually drawing the metal. She had pretty much grasped the process they worked on for the whole day and at the end she could make the utensils and tools Tavin was making almost independently as he observed her and gave pointers.

    Eventually the day was over and it was time to call it quits. However Cybil still wanted a word with Aleyn.

    "Nice work today. I kept an eye on you and it seems you picked up quite fast as expected."

    "Thank you."

    "But that''s not why I called you here, I''m going to be heading to Dvalfgar tomorrow so I''m not here for a day or two. The smithy is still going to be working, but you don''t need to come tomorrow unless you want to work on the same things as today."

    "Well actually I might have something I need to do tomorrow and it could take the whole day. I will definitely come if I find the time though."

    Cybil Nodded.

    "Regardless, great work. I''ll see you in a few days again."

 Chapter 8 - Classmates

    The day had come, Nicholas''s first class would start today at 9am. He himself had woken up at 5am though.It had become a routine for him to wake up at this hour due the time he worked, a few times a week he would coach himself to jog to the gym in the city''s center to lift some weights and swim a bit if he didn''t have work just to burn time. He wasn''t overly eager to do it but not everything in life had to be a joy, regardless his efforts showed results and his health was better due to it.

    Today was one of those days, he had gone to the gym and was riding a bus back to his apartment. The bus was full with people going on about their day so he had to stand. He still had two hours until he had to be at the university so he was thinking on ways to burn time.

    "Did I need something from the store? Think I ran out of ground beef and.. oh yea that burned lamp in the kitchen..."

    While he was absent-mindedly thinking and holding on, a man knocked him into the window he was standing next to while trying to move further into the bus.

    "Oh, sorry my bad." the person apologized.

    Nicholas took a moment to get a hold of himself and to reply.

    "It''s okay, I was in my own world there."

    But The passing person had his back towards him already, the guy seemed to be a in a hurry for a seat that opened up. The whole notion of rushing for a seat in a completely full bus was a bit silly to Nicholas, but he didn''t really care that much and went back in to his thoughts.

    "Now where was I? Ground beef, kitchen lamp.."

    A younger passenger nudged him.

    "Dude you just got tackled by Wymer."

    Nicholas''s was confused as to what he meant. He took a look at the guy that had pushed him. The person was sitting facing away from him so he couldn''t see much other than that he was wearing a red collar shirt and had short blond hair. It didn''t really help him understand who this Wymer was.

    "Who?" he asked

    "Dude! Are you serious? That guy is on the tv like every week." The kid was raising his voice in shock.

    Nicholas took a moment to think about what he had seen on television recently. News, weather, news about LoI and then he placed the name, a person in LoI had recently explored a new dungeon which had an unique monster in it, he couldn''t really remember the details but he did remember that the characters name was Wymer.

    Meanwhile, while Nicholas and the kid were talking about him, Wymer could hear both of them loud and clear. He could see most of the bus looking at him in awe. He loved every moment of the attention he got, specially when the kid told Nicholas off for not recognizing him.

    "Oh that guy, so what about it? He apologized so it''s okay" Nicholas said nonchalantly not making a big deal out of it.

    The child froze in shock. This person just got tackled by one of the most famous LoI players and he didn''t even show a smidgen of care. He was obviously out of the celebrity hype culture.

    That didn''t compare to what Wymer felt, it was as if all of his pride and fame had been poured down the dumpster, outside he didn''t seem moved but internally he was screaming.

    The rest of the ride was silent for Nicholas as he tried to figure out what he needed from the store. The child had stopped caring over what had happened to him and just kept being ecstatic over Wymer with his other friends. Nicholas dropped off at the store on the way and walked the rest of the way home.

    As the time hit 8:30 he was already at the university, he knew where he needed to be but he didn''t know where the room was so he took a moment to consult a map on the wall.

    The university was quite big, it had 3 floors of class rooms and some more specific rooms for computers and workshops not to mention a whole library and its own cafeteria. The building itself had originally been housing other study groups such as Mechanics, IT and marketing, but with the recent addition of Virtual technology studies the whole building had had few rooms remodeled for advanced Link usage. Other than that it seemed like a usual university building.

    Nicholas explored for a few minutes on the way to his class room, seeing some students disassembling computers while some students were having a group meeting in a empty class room.

    With some spare time he arrived at the class room, which was mostly empty, but he wasn''t actually the first person there. A tall blond guy wearing a red collar shirt was sitting at the back row fiddling with his phone until he noticed Nicholas entering the room. He was a handsome guy with sparkling blue eyes and you could tell he was probably brought up in a wealthy family, his facial features made him seem like he had some french heritage.

    This was of course "Wymer" from the bus, he had come to the class room early. Wanting to be early and to bolster his ego by being the first person people saw when they entered the room.

    Nicholas entered the room.

    "Ah hello, are you here for the virtual reality studies class?"

    "Wymer" was shocked internally, he definitely remembered Nicholas from the bus.

    "Uhm, yes I''m a first year."

    "That means we''re going to be classmates, Nicholas Abel. You can call me Nic."

    Nicholas went and gave a handshake.

    "Andre Bernard."

    Andre shook Nicholas''s hand with a awkward expression on his face and thought in shock "Does this guy not remember me?

    Nicholas wasn''t much of a man for small talk so as he had nothing else to say he just took a seat and picked up a book from his backpack while he waited for the whole thing to start, meanwhile Andre tried to not look shocked "He really has no clue...".

    Gradually people started entering the room and of course the first few people only noticed Andre who had been on television several times. They gathered around him for autographs and to try and talk to him. This revitalized Andre''s spirit after Nicholas had dumped it down twice today already. He took a look at Nicholas every now and then to see if he finally had noticed who he was but the guy wasn''t moved by the chatter as he read his book.

    Eventually the room was filled and it was almost time for the class to start and that point Professor Baxton finally entered the room which ignited a new set of chatter amongst people.

    Once he had put down his backpack he took a quick look around the room and smiled as he said.

    "Morning everyone. It''s about time to start soon so I''ll take a head count to see if we''re all here."

    He started counting the people in the room. The total number amounted to 19.

    "One less than total, I actually already received a notice that the person will be late by a few minutes due to a personal issue so we can probably..."

    And precisely at that moment someone knocked on the classrooms door.

    "..start."

    He opened the door and girl entered the classroom.

    "Sorry for interrupting." she said and quickly moved to try and find a seat.

    Most of the seats were actually taken but Nicholas noticed that the seat next to him was actually the last one available. He raised his voice enough for it to reach the front.

    "There''s a seat here."

    She hurriedly moved to next to Nicholas and sat down while thanking him.

    "Thanks, that was awkward."

    "No problem." Nicholas replied

    The professor moved back to the front of the class room in the meanwhile.

    "Now that we''re all here we can start. So again, good morning everyone. Today and tomorrow you have no real classes, but that is by design. We''re going to be using them to get you accustomed to the university and getting to know each other."

    Stolen novel; please report.

    He paused and sat at the front desk which had a computer on it.

    "So here''s a multilayer map of the university, I''ll be going through most areas and if you have any questions feel free to raise your hand."

    He spent some time going through each floors rooms, including what they were used for, what you were allowed to do in them, if you needed to book the room and the general class rooms. A few simple questions were raised, but overall it seemed everyone got the idea without much hassle.

    "Now that that''s done we can spend some time getting to know each other a bit, lets start with just standing up and saying our name plus something else."

    An awkward but simple way.

    "I''ll get the ball rolling then. I am Loyd Baxton, I''m a big fan of fantasy books and I''m actually only a scholar in LoI."

    There was some gossip over what the professor had said, but it stopped once he started talking again.

    "Anyone else like fantasy books?"

    Few people raised their hands and he picked a person out of the few and asked them to say their name and if they liked something else.

    The process kept going for the rest of the hour and it turned out that they had a nice healthy group of people with different things they like. Most of the people mentioned a lot about LoI and their accomplishments. Especially Andre who was happy to boast about his achievements. Eventually it was Nicholas''s turn to introduce himself and he stood up.

    "Hello everyone, I''m Nicholas Abel, you can call me Nic. I don''t really have much to say about LoI as i only started my first character last week, but my other interests are swimming and team sports."

    As much as Andre''s accomplishments were leaving people in shock and awe, Nicholas stunned people in a whole new way. People started speculating that he was either poor or he had some other weird reason to be this late with LoI. All of the attention that Nicholas got of course annoyed Andre who was really looking forward to comparing their gaming careers, but what use was there to compare yourself to a person who had only been playing for a few days?

    Few more people introduced themselves and after that it was time for scheduled lunch after which they would gather in the same room.

    Today''s menu was chicken tortilla wraps and Caesar salad.

    In the cafeteria the class was encouraged to sit in the same table, which sort of worked as a lot of people gathered around Andre. Nicholas wasn''t too interested in the hassle but sat on the same table regardless, but contrary to popular beliefs not everyone was interested in talking to Andre.

    Two people instead drifted to Nicholas. The girl who sat next to Nicholas who was accompanied by an Asian fellow he had only seen in the class room.

    "Mind if we sit here?"

    "Not at all." Nicholas answered while munching down on his wrap.

    "I''m Ken and this is Elle."

    "Nicholas, you can call me Nic."

    They shook hands and sat down opposite of Nicholas

    Ken was about a head shorter than Nicholas, he had short dark hair which had a comb over on his right side. Even though he spoke fluent English his looks had very strong Asian heritage, he had glasses over his brown eyes and he wore a grey hoodie and jeans.

    Elle was half a head shorter than Nicholas and even though she obviously had some extra weight on her it didn''t make her look less attractive. Her hair was dark shoulder length and unlike Ken and Nicholas she looked the most American of the trio, other than that her eyes were hazel colour and she was wearing a light blue t-shirt and grey pants.

    Once they both were seated Ken took a look at the the other side of the table where Andre and most of the class was and asked him.

    "Not interested in the Andre circle?"

    "Not that much no." Nicholas said bluntly.

    "That''s a first, you know that guys quite famous right?"

    "Yeh I''ve seen him on tv a few times."

    Ken raised his eyebrows.

    "Well alright, you yourself are the stranger one in my opinion though." he started eating his own meal.

    "And why is that?" Nicholas asked curiously.

    "Someone who is at an adult age and only just started playing LoI is bound to look strange don''t you think?"

    Nicholas couldn''t really think of a counter argument so he just agreed.

    "I suppose."

    It wasn''t really the first time someone thought that he was weird for not playing LoI. He had been asked multiple times when he was still working.

    "So let me ask you then, why did you delay it for so long?" Ken asked bluntly.

    Nicholas explained everything from his parents to him having to study and work one or multiple jobs. Ken of course wasn''t expecting his reason to be as serious as that.

    "Ohh... Sorry man that''s a bit more than I imagined."

    "It''s alright, but enough about me. Lets get to know you two better."

    They chatted for the whole lunch hour. Ken and Elle had worked at the same store during the summer so they were familiar with each other and by surprise they both had enrolled for the university. Ken was really into marketing and making contacts and he actually worked the stock market during some of his free time and in LoI he was a merchant with a goal to become a trade magnate. Elle was really into making clothes and working her own garden, she had started losing weight a year ago and was still going strong with her exercising routines. She also played LoI but she didn''t want to talk about her character which was completely fine by them.

    They talked a lot about past events in game which Nicholas hadn''t heard of before but eagerly soaked in the info. In the end Ken''s and Elle''s curiosity got the best out of them and they asked

    "So what have you been doing in LoI so far Nic?"

    "Not that much created my character, requests and jobs, learned some alchemy, hunted wolfs, learned archery and at the moment I''m being taught blacksmithing. After I learn that I''ll probably leave my starting town."

    You could see it in both of their expressions that it was less exiting than they had thought. Elle wanted to encourage Nicholas a bit.

    "You should really move out of your starter town, its a beautiful world with loads of surprises and secrets. Who knows you might even find an ancient relic and become famous."

    He had heard and read plenty of stories about people discovering something new and how it had effected their standings in both worlds.

    "I''m not in a hurry. Also I would rather work on my own skills before doing that." Nicholas said calmly as he was finishing up his meal.

    It was almost time for lunch to be over so they packed up and left for the class room. For the rest of the day they mostly their time signing up for their respective classes and getting to know each other and the professor. At 2pm the professor interrupted everyone.

    "Good work everyone. For tomorrow I''m going to ask you to bring the Links you''re going to be working with so that we can register them here, otherwise you wont be able to use them in the building. You''re also going to get some software, but we can go through that a bit further tomorrow."

    And on that note their first day was over. With the rest of the day still open Nicholas was eager to get back in game.

 Chapter 9 - Results

    Nicholas laid on his living room couch, working on some university tasks. It had been over a week since the start of the year and now they had actual work to do. The main subjects their line of work concerned over were neuroscience and advanced programming which were supported by other subjects such as math and a little bit of medical science.

    Their first years were about understanding the current limitations of the human brain and virtual reality machinery so they could dwell deeper into what they can do with the current knowledge and technology. Later on the subjects would have to become more specific but during the first years their struggles were the basics with no real connection between a person and the computer.

    Programming in it self had become a main part of the normal school curriculum a decade ago so most if not everyone of the younger generation already knew how to make programs on a normal computer and programming on a Link wasn''t much different  though it did have plenty of new additional requirements and rules.

    You could run programs on a Link externally with a computer or use the more advanced way which was of course using the link itself and programming in a virtual environment, however that was a bit volatile for beginner usage.

    Any program made in a virtual environment had little error control by default so if you made a mistake it would leave you at least with a migraine and at worst it could leave you with something you could never get rid of.

    As scary as that might sound to a beginner, most professionals preferred to use the virtual environment as it opened up a lot more options and all of the dangers could be removed with control programs and safety nets as long as you understood how to use them. Nicholas didn''t have to think much about dangers as first years they would only use the Link as a intermedium to run the programs so there were no dangers to the user.

    His homework was simple. Make a calender like you would on a normal table computer that takes the date, month and year from the links own internal timetable and add an a notification to a day, however now you would have to fulfill the requirements needed for a Link to run the program.

    Nicholas had plenty of experience with programming since he studied it during his school years as well as having to program a few devices while working. At first he struggled but he found the missing pieces eventually and everything worked properly so he submitted it to the assigned drop box.

    With plenty of the day left he unplugged the Link from his trusty laptop and put it on to immerse himself with what had become one of his favorite pastimes, Land of Irith.

    Even though it had only been roughly a week since she had started as a blacksmithing disciple, in game it had already been almost a month. She had over time come to impress the whole workshop and in doing so become one of their trusty workers in essence.

    She had started her own little project as well during work downtime where she would go out and mine a bit and once she was satisfied she would come back and sell the ore to buy steel bars so she could continue the real project. Forging her own set of armor. She also had some interest in a weapon however with a multitude of choices for a weapon she was at a loss on what to make so she focused on her armor. The set of armor consisted of 3 pieces with 2 pieces on the way.

    A chest piece, shoulder piece, elbow guards, gloves and boots all made of steel.

    She had completed the three most simple design pieces which were the chest piece, elbow guards, and shoulder pieces. The chest piece covered her from her shoulders to her waist, which had been designed so that certain pieces had hinges which allowed some freedom of movement if she wanted to kneel down or crouch.

    She made the elbow guards as an after thought once she realized that the armor set she had in mind had gaping holes from her wrists to her shoulder and if she ever had to block something blunt with her arm she didn''t have any way to avoid injury.

    The design was simple it reached from her shoulder piece to her wrist, the metal parts only covered her elbow side as she wanted to reduce movement limiting factors. It had three leather straps that held the pieces in place and the three pieces were connected hinges which allowed full movement of the arm.

    The shoulder guards were probably the most delicate in design, they covered her shoulders and around her neck. Both pairs had four moving parts which allowed full movement of her shoulders from kneeling down to lifting something over her head as the hinges let the pieces move respectively. She had finally finished them today and it was certain they took the most work out of the three pieces so far.

    The other two pieces left were gloves and boots which surprisingly were more tedious to make, each finger on a glove required numerous moving pieces and they were all different size, each foot required four independent parts so that the whole foot could move and adjust to the environment for balance.

    Most of the armor she had made so far in the workshop had had very little moving parts and was designed for mass production more than for a specific person and took far a lot less time to make due to that.

    Having some simple armor wasn''t to her liking, if she was to travel and fight someone head on at close range she needed something she could be as comfortable as she could and as safe as she felt she needed to be. She had foregone the idea of a helmet and pants due to helmet reducing her vision and head movement and the pants which obstructed a lot of her leg movement which was crucial in combat.

    Most workers looked at her work in awe and wonder, not only because of the results which were good but because making this sort of armor required a massive amount of patience and skill. Even Cybil was shocked when she had finished her shoulder piece, if it weren''t for the fact that they were designed for a dwarf girl the design itself screamed expensive.

    "That really is some beautiful work you''ve done there Aleyn."

    Cybil had been observing her as she finished her shoulder pieces and was now polishing and removing rough edges with a grindstone.

    "Oh hello Cybil" She had been concentrating so hard she didn''t even notice him approach.

    Aleyn put the shoulder pieces on a wooden stick figure she made that held all of the pieces she had made so far.

    "It could have came out better but I''m still very happy with the results."

    "Nonsense, they look absolutely fantastic." Cybil patted Aleyns shoulders trying to encourage her which caused her to blush with pride.

    "You''re not done quite yet though are you thought? What''s next on your list." Cybil asked curiously

    She pointed on the table which had a few scrolls on it which had drawings and writings on them

    "Plan is to make pair of gloves and boots still. Then I think I''m done with the armor and can start thinking of what sort of a weapon I want, to go with the armor."

    She had written down most thoughts and drawn multiple sketches of every piece multiple times, it was quite a stack of papers.

    Cybil took a look at each of them. Each page had measurements and even some speculation with trial and error comments. He took a look at the last two pages which contained the gloves and boots, both of their models were very intricate and specific.

    "This is very good. The gloves and boots look very difficult to make though. If you need any help don''t be afraid to ask, Im sure anyone here should be happy to help you with them."

    He put the papers down and turned to Aleyn.

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    "Though work comes first of course. We got a request for some nails and building tools, it seems someone''s planning to build a new house here."

    "Gotcha, Am I working with someone or solo?" She said while wrapping things up with her project.

    "Everyone''s busy at the moment so you need to work on your own this time. It''s not a complicated order though so it should be fine. Here''s the details." He handed the order to Aleyn.

    500 Nails

    8 Hammers

    6 Hatchets

    6 Axes

    3 Whipsaws

    "Woah, all of this is gonna take at least a few days." She said with some worry.

    "Yeh its a big order, start with the tools. Once you''ve made a hundred nails send them my way and I''ll get someone to deliver them. I''ll get you some help once people become free."

    "Okay, I''ll start then."

    She was about to leave when Cybil stopped her.

    "Oh yea, do you have copies of these armor plans? I''d like to show off to some friends when I go back to Dvalfgar in a couple of weeks."

    "Yeh you can take those, I got copies in my badge." she said with a sigh and left the scene

    "Sweet." Cybil whispered with a smile.

    He had lied about wanting to show off. He had something far more interesting in mind.

    Hours turned to days, days turned to weeks in game while it only had been a few days in actuality.

    Nicholas''s school time was uneventful. Andre worshipping cult seemed to have died down a bit but would every now and then be resurrected when his new achievements were aired on tv and he boasted about them in class. Nicholas didn''t really give a damn about them of course as his mind was mostly full of either studying or his little armor project in game.

    The whole class was hanging around in a room after their programming class since they were allowed to use the computer classes as long as they didn''t interrupt any classes that were going on in them.

    "Yo Nic, whatcha doing?" Ken came up to him after seeing Nicholas staring at the computer screen and making notes.

    Nicholas was currently looking at medieval armor and pictures of armor people had posted from LoI.

    "Oh not much. Just researching and helping Elle."

    Elle was sitting next to Nicholas. She was working on today''s task and occasionally ran into issues which Nicholas helped her with.

    Ken took a look at what he was looking at and writing in his notebook.

    "You making armor?" Ken asked while raising an eyebrow

    "Yeh, I''ve finished it mostly but having some problems with the gauntlets so trying to see if i can find a spike of inspiration somewhere."

    He took a quick look at Elle''s code after answering.

    "You misspelled the directory."

    "Dammit." Elle frustratedly replied as she noticed it herself.

    Ken was took a look at Elle''s program and tried to encourage her.

    "Don''t worry, you''re almost done." He tried to at least be encouraging.

    "Mhmmm..." Elle grunted a reply, obviously slightly frustrated with the whole thing.

    With his encouragement plan failing Ken tried to change the subject.

    "By the way, you going to attend the Arena tournament Nic?"

    Nicholas took his face off the computer in confusion.

    "The what?"

    "Oh you haven''t heard about it? Well..." Ken started explaining the event.

    Apparently each capital city had its own Arena for fighting, and every three months in game they would hold a tournament where people fought one on one. The competitors gain rewards based on their performance on rankings and the person at the top would fight against the other capitals winners for fame and fortune. As much as it was entertainment it was also the best opportunity show your skills.

    "That''s fancy, whats the grand price?" Nicholas asked as the event had grasped his curiosity.

    "No clue, its usually money and items but the amount and items vary from tournament to tournament. Though last year it was 15 thousand gold and eight high grade elemental stones."

    "Woah 15 thousand?! That''s an unnecessarily large amount of money." Nicholas said in shock he had no real clue about the elemental stones, but the amount of money was already absurd.

    "I feel the same." Elle replied while on her last few lines of code

    "Its a big deal, though if you win two times in a row then you don''t get anything until someone else beats you and you win the next one." Ken continued

    "Wouldn''t that make it profitable to just fake a loss though?"

    "Yeh it would, but the fame you get for holding your title is large. Also imagine how big of a hit your status would take if you were caught losing on purpose." Ken explained

    "Well when you put it like that it does make sense."

    "One guy got caught during the first year of the game release and he can''t enter the tournament anymore from what I remember." Elle said with a slight tone of relief as she finished her task.

    With all the talk about fame and fortune something crossed Nicholas''s mind.

    "Let me guess.. Andre over there is the champ?"

    Ken took a look at the guy who was surrounded by a lot of people in his own little corner.

    "Well he is quite high ranked but he actually has a lot of competition and has to work for it."

    "He usually has to compete against a like five people but lately the number has been increasing..." Elle added.

    "Figures. Would be odd if there weren''t other strong people looking for glory."

    "I''m gonna go get some coffee, you two want any?" Elle said as she stood up and stretched a bit.

    "No thanks." Both Ken and Nicholas Declined.

    As Elle took off Nicholas thought of something.

    "So hows the tournament rules then, everything goes or what?"

    "Ah, you can check all of the rules online. There''s way too many things to remember."

    Ken opened up a new tab on Nicholas''s computer and showed him a site which had compiled info on the tournament.

    You could fight using magic and weapons, rule set on weaponry was somewhat lax which confused Nicholas, wouldn''t it be bad if people died due to something silly? But as it turns out there was a safety net in the tournament, they hired a massive amount of people with high grade magical ability to summon a protective zone inside of it.

    The people in the arena couldn''t die, but could be injured to the extend they wish they were. After every match the fighters would be healed to their original condition however it didn''t effect weapons or any other equipment. Basically, they wanted a bloodshed without casualties.

    "This has potential to be a late night movie." Nicholas said while reading the fine print.

    "It''s actually broadcasted on television and people log on to watch it in the arena in masses. I''m surprised you haven''t heard about it, though actually.. no I''m not." Ken replied.

    "Comedian huh..." Nicholas frowned at the comment.

    "Well don''t get me wrong, but you''re really lacking in that department."

    "But... no you''re right."

    Nicholas couldn''t think of anyway to refute Ken, he really wasn''t on track with the times.

    "Anyway, I''m probably not attending. I''m going to put it on my to do list though so I''ll enter some day."

    "Figures, not confident?" Ken smirked

    "You could say that."

    "Well, that''s probably true. You should really leave that town of yours and get some fighting experience."

    "Soon, my dear Ken, soon." Nicholas smiled.

 Chapter 10 - Overwhelming difference

    On the night of the tournament instead of logging on and continuing his little project, Nicholas instead decided to have a look at few matches of said event.

    He tuned on the channel which he found on the tournament info website and it turned out that he had tuned in too late since they already had the final match of human capitals going on.

    A Beast man was fighting against an Elf in a arena that looked like it wouldn''t last much longer.

    The beast man actually belonged to the subcategory called a bull man, he had the facial features of a bull, his fur was black and he had a lot of scars. The horns on his head were large and one of them was cut in half, his height reached around two and a half meters. Unlike expected of a beast man his posture was very solid and straight, making him look less vicious but more humane. He was only wearing a dirty chest piece and torn leather pants currently, but you could see pieces of broken armor around the arena which probably belonged to him. His weapon of choice was a very large axe. He was in worse shape than his elf opponent.

    The elf wore full body armor excluding a helmet, the armor shone brightly, it was probably very high quality and was currently effected by some sort of a magical effect as the air around the elf fluctuated. His weapons were a sword and a shield. The elf was looking around the arena and the audience he seemed to be enjoying himself. When Nicholas noticed his face he couldn''t put his finger on it but something felt familiar.

    All of a sudden the sounds of fighting seemed to stop and it was replaced by the audience chanting.

    "Wymer Wymer Wymer."

    As the bull man heard the chanting he lost his temper, his muscles tensed and grew. In the end he looked half as much bigger and twice more ferocious,  the look in his eyes showed nothing more than rage. With nothing else in mind he started charging at the elf who was in his own world filled with attention.

    "Oh.. Ye its him.."

    Nicholas realized immediately after hearing the audience chanting. The elf was definitely Andres character, he hadn''t changed a thing about his characters looks other than the ear and hair length.

    The bull man charged with all of his might while raising his axe over his head to split Wymer in half. As much as Wymer loved the attention he still had his head in the fight, he took a stance with his shield to block the attack, but to his surprise he almost got smashed under the weight of the axe. He quickly abandoned his spot and the shield which was now bent on the floor.

    Without any time to rest the opponent came rushing again like a bull, this time with his weapon swinging from the side. Wymer stood still waiting for the strike to come and avoided it by backing up, the beast man had no way to stop his swing mid air which left him wide open.

    A spray of blood shot out of his side accompanied by a roar of pain but it didn''t stop the bull. He spun with the axes momentum and pulled it over his head to go for another hit, but the end result was the same Wymer just dodged the hit which shattered the floor and slashed the side of his opponent again which released another spray of blood. This sequence continued for a few more exchanges and the bull man was bleeding immensely, yet he didn''t look like he was willing to stop.

    But fate deemed it was not his decision when the fight would end. Wymer took a quick look at the audience and smiled again which the bull man noticed immediately. After the quick look Wymer stood straight and brought his hand forward to made the universal gesture of  "come at me.". The opponent had slightly calmed down during their exchanges but Wymer had found a way to incite his anger again. The bull man roared loudly enough to shake the rocks near him and charged forward, Wymer didn''t even react as the murder house came stampeding at him.

    It almost looked like he was forfeiting the match as he just stood still and let the axe fall down on him, but at the very instance he was about to get flattened he moved. He very simply side stepped the bull man whose axe hit the ground creating a hole which the it stuck to.

    He didn''t even have time to try and pull it out before Wymer swept his legs from under him and stabbed his heart with his sword, stabbing him in mid air which pushed him to the ground with great force.

    With a sword in his heart and blood staining the floor, the bull man finally stopped moving. He of course had not died due to the protection the arena gave the competitors, but he had fallen unconscious due to the pressure to his hearth and the excessive blood loss.

    The whole arena went silent as the referee dropped down from the audience and walked to check the bull mans condition. After confirming that he couldn''t continue on the man turned around.

    "Fight between Bresuik and Wymer has come to an end. The Winner of Keitwell Region Tournament is Wymer!"

    After the announcement the whole audience exploded with almost blood curling screams, Wymer took a moment to bask in glory and to give a bow before a few people came to carry the bull man away, surprisingly enough Wymer followed the group.

    At that point the channel started going through the rankings showing each competitors standing and reward but at that point Nicholas turned off the tv. For most of the show it was as if Wymer had been playing with the bull man, though it most likely wasn''t his intent to get his shield smashed. He definitely was very skillful.

    It was quite late when the match ended so Nicholas decided to just go to bed early, it was the start of the weekend after all. There was plenty of time to play tomorrow.

    "Finally, its complete."

    Aleyn was looking at the stick figure glad in steel armor. She had finally finished her little project. Most of the workshop was taking side glances to admire her handy work, but quickly continued their work. Even Cybil wanted to have a look so he came to Aleyn for a closer inspection.

    "Done with the gloves huh? Got to say it looks good. A fine work of craftsmanship."

    Aleyn nodded and brushed off dust that had gathered on the shoulder pieces. She was very proud of the end result.

    "You going to decorate it?" Cybil asked.

    She shook her head.

    "Naah I don''t feel I have the inner artist for that."

    "Well, you can always get someone to do that if you ever want it. More importantly, you going to put it on ?"

    She had been concentrating so much on her work she had yet to put a single piece of the armor on.

    "Oh right, of course I am."

    She hastily started putting on the armor. Even with a lot of time between each of the pieces crafting the pieces fit almost perfectly. There was some discomfort, but she expected nothing less from metal equipment.

    "I''m slightly jealous. You look like some sort of a story book hero." Cybil commented on her as she looked herself over on a mirror.

    "This hero still needs a weapon though."

    "Then just make one? You use swords right? You''ve made hundreds of swords here so it shouldn''t be a problem." Cybil asked in confusion. It didn''t seem like a big deal to him.

    "I don''t particularly like swords though. Then again I don''t know what I like either." she answered slightly downcast tone.

    "Well.. you know. You could try different weapons out? We''ve crafted many weapons which never sell. "

    "Where? I''ve never seen any weapons here." She had worked at the smithy for months and had never seen a product lay around for longer than a day.

    "Then you''ve never visited the storage. Come." Cybil prompted her as he left for the front door.

    She followed Cybil for a few steps before stopping as the words registered and she thought to herself

    "The storage?"

    Cybil walked behind the house. There was a small shed which looked like it hadn''t been opened for a very long time.

    "This is a storage?" Aleyn asked with a slight disbelief.

    "Well it isn''t that big, but doesn''t that just mean everything we make sells ?" Cybil had a slightly cheeky tone as he answered.

    She just rolled her eyes while he was opening the lock on the little storage room.

    The inside was full of dust, weapons and armor, but primarily dust. Though there were quite a number of different weapons in there.

    "''Cough'' You can try these weapons with one condition.. that you clean this place first. ''Cough''." Cybil couldn''t take the dust and left the storage room and went back to the smithy.

    Aleyn gave a shrug and started moving things out so she could sweep the storage room. Which didn''t take long, she returned anything she didn''t want to use inside after the cleaning. This left her with a pile of weapons outside the storage room.

    She started by swinging a large sword around, trying to look like she knew what she was doing.

    "this feels fine.."

    She placed the sword to the right side of the pile and picked up a large pole-arm. While spinning it around trying to imitate some cartoon ninjas she came to a conclusion.

    "This one only makes me feel stupid... Think I would need to learn from a professional pole arm user to even have a grasp at how to use it."

    She placed the pole arm left of the pile and picked up another weapon. Eventually the big pile had turned into two medium piles.

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    "And now I still have 10 weapons... this isn''t helping."

    Deciding to ask Cybil for input she put the no good weapons at the back of the storage room and the good ones at the front. Even if she had never heard of anyone stealing things in the town having the weapons outside to entice someone wasn''t good either.

    She went inside, but couldn''t find Cybil around the workshop so she went to his office and knocked on the door.

    "Come in."

    Aleyn stepped in and started explaining what she had done after cleaning the storage.

    "No no no you can''t figure anything just by swinging a weapon around. You need to try and fight something." Cybil face palmed at how simple Aleyn had been about the whole deal.

    "So you want me to go out to the woods with a weapon I don''t know how to use to try and fight something?"

    Cybil thought for a moment and realized that wouldn''t work well either.

    "Well you could try and fight against someone. Fighting in general should give you a good feeling of what your weapon is lacking."

    "Who can I fight in this little town though? There''s no arena here." she said with a slightly annoyed tone.

    As much as the arena hosted the Big fighting event they were used for duels and other things as well. Sadly it would be rather silly to think a little town like Ironedge had one.

    "I could fight you." Cybil said bluntly.

    "You?" her tone had noticeable sarcasm to it.

    "Don''t give me that.. you know very little of what I am capable of."

    Well certainly she didn''t know him inside out but the most she had seen him do was paper work.

    "Well if you want to.." Aleyn answered slightly unconvinced.

    "Yes I do. Just let me finish the paper work and I''ll go get my equipment," this time Cybil showed that he was annoyed.

    After a little bit of waiting Cybil arrived behind the house covered in chain mail armor and wielded a long sword. Aleyn had piled the weapons outside of the storage room and put on her armor as well.

    "So how do you want to do this?" Aleyn asked.

    "The best should be to just fight with using all of the weapons."

    "What do you mean?"

    "I mean.. this." Cybil took a look at the weapon pile and swiped his hand.

    The weapons flew across the backyard and scattered around.

    "Start. Pick up a weapon."

    Was all Aleyn heard while she was shocked and confused at what had just happened.

    Cybil started walking towards her.

    "What in the.." She couldn''t even finish her sentence before Cybil made her dodge a sword swing.

    "Come on, pick up a weapon and fight."

    "You.." Aleyn picked up the two handed sword that was sticking to the ground next to her.

    As she picked the sword up Cybil was already swinging at her again forcing her to parry the attack. The force behind the blow made her fall back and stumble.

    "In a proper fight you would be dead you know. Come on stand up." Cybil ridiculed her.

    Aleyn realized he was going easy on her, but didn''t say anything. Instead she stood up and readied herself.

    Noticing her change of attitude, he instructed her.

    "Good. Try and attack me."

    Aleyn charged at Cybil swinging from the side, but Cybil parried it and threw her attack away which he followed with a kick to her stomach.

    "That was weak."

    His attitude was starting annoy her, she threw away the sword and picked up the closest on the ground which was a metal quarterstaff.

    Cybil gave a very unimpressed comment to her new weapon

    "Really?"

    This of course frustrated her further and she started attacking. With the quarterstaff she could attack faster with a flurry of strikes, but they had no real weight behind them and as long as he matched her speed Cybil could block everything easily repelling her again.

    He gave another spiteful comment.

    "No, just no..."

    She dropped the quarterstaff and picked up the next closest weapon, which was this time a pole arm. Which made Cybil think to himself.

    "That gives a better feeling at least."

    As much as he was annoyed at being underestimated he had good intentions with annoying her. When she is angry, she would try harder. It would help her find what she was looking for.

    They fought for a long period of time while running through the weapons. With all the fighting Both of them were getting tired which was more of a burden to Cybil as he had to concentrate on not injuring Aleyn severely.

    She was currently attacking him with a mace that was way too big for her so she wielded it with both hands. The weight off her attacks were actually getting to Cybil and he had to try and dodge as well as block.

    She used the maces momentum to rain heavy blows on Cybil while he dodged and parried them with his sword. The blows kept getting heavier and heavier due to the fatigue which put a lot of strain on him and just as he thought he was still fine he noticed something.

    At the very root of his old swords guard there was a crack forming, at first he thought it was just dirt but after a few heavy blows he felt the sword about to break. At that moment he tried to stop Aleyn but it was too late, the last blow to his sword broke the blade.

    As the blade broke it was as if time had slowed down for both of them as they realized their situation. Aleyn started trying to divert her blow the moment she felt the blade give in but it was far too late as she had put too much strength into the blow to stop the momentum of the mace but she still had to try.

    Even Cybil was at a loss as he had no way to physically stop what was going to happen. Resigning to his fate he brazed his chest with both hands for impact, but as he did a wave rushed forth from him that threw the mace away and knocked both him and Aleyn on the ground.

    Cybil was in shock,  but glad. His survival instinct had triggered a very unrefined blast to repel the attack and it had worked in both of their favor.

    While they were lying on the ground they could feel someone walking towards them.

    "You both alright ye?"

    Tavin asked while polishing a knife with a rag.

    "Yeh just exhausted. Where the hell did you come from?" Cybil said while gasping for air.

    "I''ve been here for quite a while actually. Me and the boys have been watching."

    Cybil and Aleyn turned their head towards the house. The workers were watching from the side of the house in silence.

    "Oi, get back to work you shits." Cybil yelled.

    "Yea yea yea." the workers all grumbled and started moving back in.

    Once everyone but Tavin had returned inside both Aleyn and Cybil had recovered enough to stand up. They took a look around the backyard which was covered in broken weapons.

    "Sigh, they aren''t in any shape to sell anymore. Then again no one was buying them anyway.." Cybil frowned

    "What do you want to do with them?" Aleyn asked.

    "Just pile em up near the smelter. Might as well get some use out of them as nails or something."

    He turned to Aleyn.

    "More importantly, did you find what you were looking for?"

    Aleyn had a sad expression as she looked down.

    "I don''t feel I accomplished anything with this and I almost got you injured as well."

    "Don''t worry over that, I should have stopped the fight earlier." Cybil consoled her.

    "I thought you were doing fine with the mace to be fair. You used it the longest and it had the best results." Tavin said while still polishing a knife.

    Aleyn took a look at the mace and started recalling the fight.

    "But the mace was so off balance, and the handle was way too large not to mention the ball at the end is useless."

    After saying that she suddenly had a surge of understanding as Tavin echoed what she already thought.

    "Then just make a better one that isn''t off balance, has a proper handle and isn''t useless. Doesn''t seem too complicated to me." Tavin was rolling his eyes as he put the rag and the knife in his pocket.

    He took few steps towards the mess.

    "More importantly, who the hell is gonna clean up all of this?"

    Aleyn tried to not look at Cybil, but you could practically feel his eyes pierce her head. She had definitely been nominated for the task.

    "Sigh. That would be my job I guess." she mumbled.

    Aleyn was still exhausted but she wasn''t getting out of the cleaning job so she didn''t even bother.

    "Well enjoy then." Cybil said as he and Tavin head inside. Cybil slightly limping as his body was sore.

    It was getting dark and close to closing time so she had to gather all of her will power to quickly pick up everything. While cleaning the backyard she thought about her fight with Cybil and how she had underestimated him severely. As she went through her thoughts and finished picking up the now scrap weapons the sky had already gone dark and it was time to close the shop.

 Chapter 11 - Passing the torch

    The next day after her duel with Cybil, she was already back at the smithy. Every muscle in her body was screaming and she could barely lift a hammer but she was still working.

    "Start off slowly so your muscles get to stretch a bit. You''ll feel a lot better later in the day."Cybil had instructed her.

    She was doing a large order of kitchen knives, it was slow work at first but as Cybil had said her muscle ache and the fatigue slowly faded after each hit on the anvil. After finishing her order she felt like she had shed off something extra and felt a lot better. With no other order she started working on her new project, a weapon.

    She drew up some plans, thinking what she needed of a mace that she could wield two handed. A handle big enough to withstand its weight and force, the head had to either be balanced correctly or completely symmetric. The length of the handle and the size of the head effected everything. She drew multiple variations of a mace.

    Tavin happened to be walking past her and took a look at what she was doing. When he took a look at what she had wrote he shook his head.

    "That''s no mace."

    Aleyn not having noticed him approach got a slight jump scare and turned around.

    "Huh?"

    "That''s no mace I said. That''s a war hammer." Tavin explained

    "A what?"

    Tavin having heard her ignorance shook his head again.

    " Haven''t you ever read a history book?" He said as he started explaining what he was on about.

    War hammers were just what the name implied, a huge hammer used for fighting. They were a very common weapon in dwarven history used almost exclusively by great warriors and kings. These days they were very rarely used as weapons with blades were regarded better.

    After hearing Tavin explain what a war hammer was, she had a new surge of inspiration. She had been too focused on the idea of a mace and had not realized that it wasn''t what she wanted at all.

    She grumbled the drawings into a ball and threw them into the furnace. Which surprised Tavin

    "Hey! What are you?..."

    Immediately after throwing them she started working on new sketches. Even though Tavin was curious he realized he actually had work to do so he left her to her sketching, he could always come back and see what she had cooked up. She once again drew multiple ideas and sketches while thinking of what best suited her.

    A head which had two blunt sides expanding from the middle outwards. A handle bar that reached from the floor to her chin, the handle bar was thick and had two spaces evenly spaced at the top and at the bottom of it for her hands.  It was very plain, but this wasn''t what she had in mind for a final product so it didn''t matter quite yet.

    With no work in sight and nothing but time on her hands, she told Cybil she was going mining and took off for the rest of the day, only returning to bring her load of ores back to safety in the smithy.

    The next day she had actual work which she finished diligently and started working on her project.

    Compared to any of the armor pieces it only took half a day to finish the weapon, but she knew that wasn''t going to be the end of it. She went to test the hammer out at the edge of the forest, hitting rocks and trees while getting a feel for the weapon.

    After hitting rocks a few times she noticed the weapons head was already starting to lose its shape and cracking.

    "Not good enough, not to mention its way off balance."

    Her first version had been a failure but that was to be expected, she had crafted some pieces of her armor multiple times before she was satisfied with the quality. She returned to the workshop and made some notes for the next day as she didn''t have enough time to try again. With little time to spare she helped others with their work until closing time.

    The next day, after she had finished her work she used the rest of her ore to try again with the new improvements in mind. It took a bit longer than half a day but she finished the second version.

    The War hammers head this time was bigger making it slightly heavier but it was a negligible difference.

    She again went to the forest to try out the weapon. The balance this time was better but the weapons toughness didn''t change as it was on the verge of breaking after a few swings.

    While returning to the smithy she thought about her problem.

    "As hard as I try I can''t seem to make the weapon tough enough. I can work on the balance and form but if it breaks that easily then it''s useless for testing."

    As she was almost at the house she noticed something glimmering some distance from the house on the ground and thought.

    "Did I forget something?"

    Thinking she might have left some trash lying around after her duel with Cybil she went to pick up the forgotten weapon, but as she approached it she realized it wasn''t one of the weapons she was using.

    "Cybils blade.."

    It was the blade that had broken off of Cybils weapon. While looking it over she started remembering the fight and how he had defended against himself for a long time with the sword.

    "That sword was strong, wonder what it was made off..."

    As she asked herself she came to realize what her problem was right now. Even though Iron was good for trying out armor designs it was absolutely horrible for weapon testing.

    As she entered the smithy she immediately threw the broken weapon next to the smelter and head for Cybil''s office and knocked on the door.

    "You actually made two iron hammers already? What a waste." Cybil frowned.

    "You can smelt them, I don''t need them anymore."

    She had a brief pause.

    "More importantly you got any insight for my plan?"

    Cybil crossed his hands and started thinking.

    "You really want the weapon right now?" Cybil sounded frustrated.

    "Well no, I''m not in a hurry anywhere since its a side project."

    "Oh! You don''t have enough work is that it?" He  grinned.

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    "Well you could say that, but I''m just an apprentice."

    "Nonsense, if you''re saying you don''t have enough work then I need to give you work." Cybil said with a cartoon villain expression.

    Aleyn rolled her eyes.

    "Okay then... its the apprentices job to work." She gave in.

    Cybil narrowed his eyes on Aleyn and took a more serious expression.

    "Tomorrow I''m going to Dvalfgar for a day or two, and once I return I want the other workers to express their cheer and happiness over your efforts. Got that?"

    "As you command." she said sarcastically and bowed.

    "Good. Now go on."

    The next day in Dvalfgar Cybil was sitting in an Inn drinking while waiting. He sat there for quite a while, but eventually the one who he was waiting for arrived. They both ordered more to drink and started talking.

    "So boy, whats so urgent that you wanted to see me in person?"

    "What? I can''t come and see my teacher if I feel like it?"

    "Pffft.. Having problems running your shop so you have time to come and talk to old men ye?"

    "You would love that wouldn''t you.." Cybil said in a sarcastic manner.

    The person sitting with him was his old teacher Camedyr Tin-flame. Camedyr by dwarven standards was huge, he was probably one and a half heads taller than Aleyn and anywhere you could see his skin his muscles were bursting like it wanted to get out of him..

    His face was old and wrinkled he had dark rings around his small brown eyes which were burrowed deep in his head. He had shoulder length red hair and his beard was in a single braid that reached below his waist. He wore a simple shirt which had burn marks and leather pants which were held up by suspenders that he wore over his shirt.

    They both sat quietly for a moment until Camedyr cracked and started laughing and Cybil followed up shortly after. Once they calmed down the old dwarf took a deep breath.

    "Haa...it''s nice to see ya boy."

    "Likewise Old man." Cybil took a sip of his drink.

    "So what brings ya to the mountains. Tired of the town?" Camedyr asked curiously.

    "Not in the slightest, Me and my woman are actually expecting a baby and I''ve taken an apprentice in my shop."

    "Good on ya boy, you''re at the age you need to settle down and an apprentice? Someone to call you teacher and look up to you huh."

    "That''s an exaggeration old man. That apprentice of mine is some work... Take a look at these."

    Cybil dug out his badge and started showing the blueprints he had taken from Aleyn. Camedyr didn''t seem too fussed at first but his facial expression changed very quickly into a more serious look as he went through the drawings.

    "And they''ve actually made all of these?" He said with a slightly surprised tone.

    "Yeh, the gloves were finished just a few days ago. The whole set is something to behold."

    "Never knew you were such a good teacher boy." Camedyr chuckled as he took another sip

    "That''s the more interesting thing. All I did was let her work amongst the other workers for a month or so. I myself barely taught her anything,  She''s pretty self sufficient to say the least."

    Camedyr froze mid drink and put his mug down.

    "She did what? And She? Your apprentice is a woman?"

    "Yeh, it''s a dwarf girl." Cybil answered.

    "You seriously did that? You know perfectly well women rarely are suited to work in the forge.." Camedyr said with a hint of disappointment.

    "Yet this one goes out to mine her own ore, hunts wolfs with a bow, learned to work at the smithy in month no less and even has these side projects of her own."

    The old dwarf stared blankly at Cybil.

    "Why?" was the only thing he even needed to ask.

    "I asked her the same thing before she became my apprentice. You know what she answered me? ""Because I want to improve myself?"" not word to word but it was the message I got."

    "You found a weirdo, huh." Camedyr picked up his mug and chugged the rest of it in one gulp.

    "ONE MORE!" He waved the mug in air and yelled.

    "Yeh, she is a weird one. But I think she has a certain charm to her." Cybil answered as he ran his finger in a circle on the table.

    After a small pause to sip his drink Cybil threw out a question.

    "I was wondering, could you take her in. She should be around rank three right now I think?"

    "Huh, why? Shes your apprentice." the dwarf questioned.

    Cybil frowned slightly as he started to explain.

    "Problem is my shops got nothing left to teach her, she is basically just a normal worker there at the moment and will eventually want to leave. I think she could become a great smith if you took her in and taught her about the finer parts to blacksmithing."

    Cybil ran through some reasons which only made Camedyr question him.

    "Why don''t you do it? I taught you well I remember."

    Before he could finish Cybil took Camedyrs hand and forced some energy through his hand. It wasn''t much but the old dwarf immediately knew what he was trying to get across.

    "I see..."

    Cybil withdrew his hand and took a sip of his drink.

    The old dwarf eyed Cybil up and down and shrugged.

    "Suit yourself boy. So when do you think that little lady''s coming."

    "You''re willing to take her in?" Cybil asked with a happy tone.

    "Of course, if she''s everything you''ve build her up to be then she is one of her kind."

    "Thank you teacher. I''ll talk with her and send her your way." Cybil gave a slight bow.

    "Enough of that then, lets get more drinks!"

    Camedyr raised his drinking hand and ordered more to drink for both of them and they drank and chatted for the rest of the evening.

    Cybil slept in Camedyrs workshop and spent the next morning keeping him company until the evening when he left Dvalfgar.

 Chapter 12 - Parting

    "The stars are coming out, is it already this late ?"

    "You know what they say, time moves faster when you''re working. You can thank that caravan for the fast shift."

    Two guards were discussing at the post west of Ironedge as the sun went behind the mountains and the veil of darkness descended upon the area. The day had been quite hectic with a lot of traffic entering the town so they had to spend a lot of time inspecting the carriages and inventory. Their shift was at its end as they waited for the next pair to release them from their duty.

    The guard pair was happily chatting and writing down the number of people and vehicles that had entered the town.

    "Oi, look someones coming."

    Far away in the distance illuminated by the snow, a spec of light could be seen coming towards the town. As it got closer a cloaked figure could be seen carrying a torch as they traveled towards the outpost. The scene was unusual as normally no one would dare to travel so late in the evening and they had just inspected a caravan which could have been used for transport.

    As the figure got closer the guards took their weapons out in case the suspicious person was hostile.

    "Stop! Who goes there!"

    "Settle down boys, its just me."

    The figure took off their cloak to show their face and the guards immediately recognized the person and lowered their guard.

    "Why in the world are you traveling alone so late at night Cybil? There was a caravan just a few hours ago, you could have taken that and been a lot safer."

    The lone figure was indeed Cybil. Pretty much all of the guards knew him as he supplied all of the towns tools and metal equipment. He had traveled from Dvalfgar to Ironedge alone late in the evening. Something that was normally discouraged due to the weather and wild life.

    "My errand ran a bit late and I really wanted to get here today. Got a problem?"

    The guards really wanted to scold him but they knew it was futile. They returned to their post and waved Cybil off.

    "Oh by the way, you should expect to hear from the town hall tomorrow. Most of the guard equipment need some maintenance." One of the guards yelled at Cybil who had already moved on past.

    "Figures, you guys can''t seem to take care of em for longer than a month." Cybil waved the guards off and threw his torch into the snow as he could now see the lights of the town.

    The door to the workshop opened and Cybil walked in. The first thing he saw was the workers crowding around a table in the middle of the house. He took a peak over the workers shoulders who after noticing him quietly gave him more room to see. Once he could see the whole picture he couldn''t believe what he was seeing.

    Aleyn was having an arm wrestling match with one of the biggest workers in the workshop. Sweat was rolling down both of their arms and heads as they struggled. Slowly but surely Aleyn was losing the battle which made her opponent grin in an evil manner.

    She saw the grin and took a deep breath, her concentrating face showed a cheeky smile as she turned the tides in one slow motion and won the match. The crowd exploded into cheer and laughter as Aleyn stood up in a victory pose.

    She walked behind the guy who had just lost and patted him on the shoulder.

    "Whoooh, you''re one strong man. Good thing arm wrestling is a all about technique or I would have definitely lost."

    The guy snapped out of his shocked expression and awkwardly answered.

    "Erm, yes definitely technique. I lost in technique, yes definitely."

    At that point Cybil had had enough and exploded.

    "The hell are you guys doing? I leave for two days and you guys are having arm wrestling competitions? Get back to work!"

    Everyone now noticing Cybil stopped laughing and turned towards him. Having had Cybil yell at them everyday already had made his explosions lose effect.

    "Oh Cybil, when did you arrive?" Aleyn raised her voice and asked.

    "Just now! That''s not important, I thought I told you I wanted to see some work done before I got back and you''re just having fun? I''m disappointed."

    Having witnessed Aleyn in a different light he had second thoughts about having her go learn from his teacher. He was furious enough to kick her out of the shop.

    "We finished all the work a few hours ago though, I even took some time to sharpen some tools and polish em and with so much time left the guys started playing cards which sort of escalated to this."

    Aleyn answered with a calm and expressionless face. She understood what Cybil thought was going on perfectly so she didn''t judge him.

    Cybil didn''t believe it at all.

    "What? I left you with more than two days worth of orders."

    The workers started defending Aleyn and gradually Cybil started to calm down.

    "Yeh she even did the paper work, its right there in your office."

    Cybil after hearing this took quick strides as he went to his office and indeed there was a stack of papers. Cybil took a moment to think and then yelled from his office.

    "Okay I get it. Aleyn come in here!"

    The workers took a seat and gave apologetic looks towards Aleyn thinking she would get yelled at for something. She waved them off before heading to Cybils office.

    "There a problem?" She asked Cybil who was going through the stack of papers.

    "Everything seems fine here, different to what I usually do but that doesn''t matter." He had obviously calmed down.

    "How did you manage this?" he took his eyes off the paper work as he asked her.

    She lied down on a make shift bed in the corner.

    "Hey where did that come from!? Cybil asked in confusion, he didn''t have a bed in the room before.

    "Oh, I put it together an hour ago while waiting since I felt tired. It''s mostly my things though so you''re not keeping it." She said as she closed her eyes for a bit.

    "Anyway. Yesterday when you left I addressed everyone and told them about your little challenge and asked them if I could take control of the work for the time."

    "What challenge?" Cybil was confused as he wasn''t aware of giving a challenge.

    "You know,""I want to hear the workers praise you when I get back."" I thought that clearing that order list would be pretty praise worthy so I wanted to take control for the two days."

    Cybil stared blankly at her while she was resting herself.

    "And what did you do then?"

    "I told everyone to finish what they were working on and take a break until everyone was free, once they were done I ran through the orders and picked out the more complex ones to do and focused on them for the first day. "

    She paused for a breather and continued.

    "With a little bit of ordering and yelling we got them finished late in the evening and had time to do some less stressing work for a few hours until closing time. We spent most of today doing the rest and finished early."

    "So what work did you do other than yelling and ordering?" Cybil asked with a stern voice.

    Aleyn sighed and started listing all the work orders she remembered, sometimes Cybil would ask regarding a specific one and she would give him the details. Having gotten the whole picture Cybil smiled.

    "You must be tired, that''s a lot of work in a short amount of time."

    Cybil narrowed his eyes on Aleyn and asked

    "The quality didn''t suffer did it?" He sounded more serious than before.

    "Naah, I personally checked every order. No damaged goods." she assured him.

    Cybil sighed and put the stack of papers in his drawer.

    "You''re making this really hard for me.." Cybil said with a sad tone.

    Aleyn opened her eyes and turned to face Cybil in confusion.

    "Huh?"

    "Oh nothing ignore that." He quickly fixed his sad expression

    "More importantly, I met my teacher when I went to Dvalfgar. I had to boast about my little apprentice." he gave a slight chuckle.

    "Your teacher ? The one you told me about when you asked me to learn from you guys?"

    "Yes the very one. How would you feel about going to Dvalfgar and becoming one of his pupils?"

    Aleyns eyebrows rose in shock for a moment.

    "Why would I do that? I''m still learning from you."

    Cybil shook his head.

    "You learned the ropes in a month and have been working here as an equal worker for a long time. You even used your spare time for a project and you ran the shop for two days with excellent results. It''s safe to say I have nothing left to teach you."

    Aleyn went into thought for a few moments and silence fell in the room until she asked the key question.

    "Why would I want to learn from him if I''ve got nothing left to learn here? What''s so special about him."

    "My teacher is one of the worlds most known blacksmiths he has royalty asking him to have his students craft their weaponry from all known regions, just having his students work on your request is highly sought for. Do you really think he is below you?" Cybil said with great pride, slightly ridiculing her for saying what she had said.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Aleyn knew very well that his teacher was a very powerful person, she had said it more out of spite than anything. After hearing Cybil defend his teacher she felt slightly overwhelmed.

    "You''re saying you have nothing left to teach me, yet you were his student. Why can he teach me something you can''t?"

    "There are things which when lost can cripple you in more ways than one. You''re just going to have to believe me when I say I have nothing left for you to learn." Cybil sounded normal but you could feel a slight sadness in his tone if you tried.

    Aleyn having heard his explanation went through an exchange of feelings, from sadness to curiosity and from curiosity to loneliness. She had really come to like this little towns workshop and people. As she was thinking she was interrupted by Cybil.

    "It''s not like I''m happy to let you go you know. A person like you is very nice to work with and you''re a good friend. But I feel if you stay in this village you''re wasting talent. Besides wasn''t your intention to leave eventually anyway?" He said with a honest tone.

    She didn''t need to hear that, she knew very well he was only thinking about her future.  She lift herself to stand on the makeshift couch and took reached for her backpack and with a calm voice declared.

    "I guess there''s nothing to it then. What do I need to do?"

    Cybil calmly ran through some things to prepare, she needed to get a hold of a map of the region and the city. Regarding work, she was basically laid off at the spot technically but there was no ill intent. He needed to write a letter for his teacher as well. While talking Cybil had a sudden rush of realization.

    "Oh yes, I heard that a caravan entered the town just today. You should go and ask them if they''re heading west so that you can hitch a ride."

    Aleyn nodded.

    "I''ll be off then."

    She picked up her things and head for the caravan. The caravan had set their post on the west side of the town and the whole camp seemed to still be awake. It turned out they weren''t going to Dvalfgar but they were heading west so she could hitch a ride for a fair price. They were departing the next day in the early evening.

    Having heard the the schedule she paid the caravan leader the price and returned to the workshop to tell Cybil that they were departing tomorrow. He was already working on the letter and still sat in his office. Having heard the time frame he still had something to ask of her.

    "Could you come to the shop early in the morning after you''ve gotten yourself set?"

    "I will." was the last thing she said with a gloomy tone as she left the workshop.

    The next day was exceptionally sunny and there were no clouds in the sky. It was a pity it didn''t elevate her mood more as she strode towards the workshop for what would be her last time.

    She entered Cybils office where he was already waiting while looking over his letter. As he heard someone enter the house he folded the letter and sealed it with wax. Aleyn entered the room as he was just finished with the letter.

    "Here''s your introduction, you got a map right?"

    Aleyn pulled a rolled up map from her backpack and placed it on the table. Cybil unrolled it and looked at it for a second or two then placed his index finger on a specific end of the city.

    "Camedyr placed his workshop on the south east side of city, if you enter from the current south entrance you should be able to see it. If not then you should have hard time finding a passer by who doesn''t know of the place."

    Cybil took a look at the slightly quiet and gloomy Aleyn who nodded at his explanations. After having done so he rolled the map and gave it to her.

    "Come with me to the backyard." He said with a stern voice and left the office.

    Aleyn and Cybil entered the backyard, and to her surprise there was a person waiting there. Tavin was leaning next to a huge rock which didn''t used to be there.

    "Morning girl." Tavin said as he pushed away from the rock.

    "Morning Tavin." Aleyn answered and after noticing the rock she had to ask both of them.

    "What''s this about then?"

    Tavin stayed quiet, but Cybil had an explanation.

    "There''s a tradition amongst blacksmiths, where others who have a lot of respect for a certain one encourage them to leave their personal hammer as a memento to a workshop they are leaving. Some give it to them as a gift, some make more of a show of it and use their strength to leave it in a stone block forever. I asked the boys to help me carry this stone here for this purpose yesterday. It would honor us if you followed the tradition. "

    Both Tavin and Cybil put up a serene smile which hit Aleyn with a wave of emotion, she dug into her backpack and took out her forging hammer.

    "What do I need to do then?"

    "Nothing special, hit the rock with all your strength and leave the hammer there. It''s probably good outlet for you today in fact."

    She took a quick glance Cybil who still had his smile on. With nothing more left to do she walked up to the rock and focused on the center, she readied herself to strike at with a few steady breaths and lifted her hammer behind her back.

    Aleyn used all of her strength in her right arm for that one blow, you could feel the something bottled up being released through the air as she swung the hammer in a huge arc and yelled loudly enough to leave an echo in the mountains.

    It sounded like her voice chords were being clawed, but the sound paled behind the huge crackle that followed the impact of the hammer. As she hit the rock it felt as though it was parting away under her hammer while splinters and clusters of rocks flew past her.

    In the end she had used enough strength to leave her having to support her right hand as it ached and hanged loose. In one perfect motion she had put all leverage on her right arms swing which normally could dislocate ones shoulder, but not this dwarfs it seems.

    Cybil and Tavin having stood a bit further now walked towards her, they both took a look at the hammer up close and marveled.

    "Monstrous." Tavin said in admiration. A blacksmith could easily break a piece of rock, yet it took a lot more to pierce it without making it grumble completely.

    Cybil smiled solemnly, and approached the girl holding on to her right arm.

    "You okay?" he asked

    "It''ll be fine." She assured him.

    "Feel better?" he threw another question

    She took a moment to realize what he meant. As she gave herself the same question she realized her mood was a lot higher and she didn''t feel as sad as she was before.

    She raised the corner of her mouth small smile and as a small tear fell from her eye she replied.

    "A lot better."

    "Good." he patted her left shoulder.

    Cybil had the letter in his hand, but instead of giving it to her he dug into his pocked and pulled out what looked like a small hammer.

    He handed both the letter and the small hammer to her and explained.

    "It''s not that hard to forge a letter, so hand him that pin as well. It''s the one I got from him when I left his workshop. It''s quite expensive so keep it somewhere safe and don''t show it around too much or people will get handy. When I come and have a visit him in the future I can take it back."

    The pin he had given her looked like a simple forging hammer but occasionally if you looked closely the hammer got engulfed in a silver coloured flame. Was it the material or was it an enchantment? She didn''t feel like figuring out. All she had to do was present it to Cybils teacher.

    Aleyn picked up her things and gave both Tavin and Cybil a handshake and a hug, wishing them both a good health. As she left both of them looked at her leave, her hair and cloak were being assaulted by the wind but she ignored the fact and left for the caravan early.

    "I think we''re gonna be hearing about her in the future. What do you think boss?" Tavin said without letting his gaze off of Aleyn.

    "Without a doubt." Cybil answered.

    Once Aleyn was out of both of their vision they entered the workshop carrying the rock inside. As the workers arrived they heard the story and marveled at the memento of that little lady that had been working with them for just a few weeks.

    None of them had voiced an opinion when Cybil had entered the workshop and told them his plans yesterday, they all agreed she was worthy. Eventually as it was time to start up the forge they took a last look at the hammer and went back to work. There was no stopping the wheels of production after all.

 Chapter 13 - Dvalfgar

    Nicholas was sitting in a computer room with few other people, he was currently concentrating on their very first programming exam on the computer. It wasn''t an exam which held much relevance though, it was only there to check how people had progressed.

    Everyone had taken the exam, but as there was a time limit some people wanted to use all of the given time and Nicholas belonged to the same group of people.

    "Times up guys, Turn in the exam." The overseeing teacher looked at the clock and claimed.

    Nicholas left the computer room accompanied by everyone else who had stayed till the end.

    "You sure took your time Nic."

    Ken and Elle were sitting in front of the room waiting for him to leave. They hadn''t had the time to talk today yet so they were eager to chat. Nic had been thinking about yesterday for most of the morning. He had grown attached to that little town of Ironedge and still felt slightly sad about his departure.

    "Why the long face Nic? Did you fail?" Elle asked.

    " 90% not even close."

    "Hmff. I only got 75%." Elle said with slight frown.

    "100% here, bow down peasants." Ken said and struck a pose.

    "So whats the problem Nic?" Elle asked again.

    "Ah.. I left my starting town yesterday. Sort of feel emotional about it."

    "Grow some balls boy. You weren''t gonna stay there forever were you?" Ken said with a snarky tone.

    "That''s true. Still, I cant really help it."

    "Well at least you got out of there. Where are you off to now then?" Elle asked.

    "I''m going to Dvalfgar to learn more blacksmithing." Nicholas answered.

    "Blacksmithing again. You''ve really started to like it huh. No more interest in adventuring?" Ken asked.

    "Got to admit, I have started to like it, but the idea of adventuring still intrigues me. I will get to it at some point. Besides there''s much more to that world than just exploring I feel." Nic explained.

    "Well as long as you''re entertained." Elle claimed.

    "That I am." Nicholas answered.

    Dvalfgar was build inside of a huge mountain but it only used a little more than half the mountains interior. The mountain itself was in a horizontal oval shape and had three entrances to the city at north, west and south. Around the entrance of each gate there were what you could call a small village which housed the gate guards and patrols.

    The South gate was usually the most uneventful gate as there were only two places that used the entrance. The Quarry which was a few hours away and Ironedge.

    Today was one of the few days where the guards had to raise their attention as they noticed a large clump of vehicles approaching. To their slight disappointment it was only the caravan which had passed just yesterday. They were on route to pass the gate but some people dropped of the carriages and head for the south gate.

    They kept an eye on the people that approached, there were no real limitations on who could enter but anyone suspicious would have to be checked and any large shipments had to be notified about the day before.

    "You there! Halt!"

    A small person cloaked from head to ankles was stopped at the gates, you couldn''t see much of them other than they had a large backpack and a quiver and bow strapped to their back.

    "Remove your hood."

    The person removed their hood and revealed their bright gray hair and a feminine face with bright green eyes gazing at the guard. The guard was slightly shocked at the little dwarf as she opened up her cloak revealing her equipment more. The person was of course Aleyn.

    "Something the matter?" She asked

    The guard snapped out of his thought.

    "What is your business here?" the guard asked.

    "I intent to live and work in the city for some time. Do I need a permission for this?" Aleyn asked the guard.

    The guard looked her up and down and requested to see her backpack. After inspecting the content he deemed her not a threat and let her enter.

    "Welcome back to the home of all dwarves,." He said as he gave her backpack back.

    "Thank you."

    As she passed the guard she could see a lot of people walking in to the dark tunnel that was the only direction to go. The tunnel was long and wide, it was also tall enough to probably fit three carriages on top of each other, she estimated probably 25meters. At the end of the tunnel she could see a flickering torch. As she got closer to the torch the sound of the crowd inside the city got louder and once she reached the torch itself, she had to stop and gaze at the opening in front of her.

    What she saw after the torch was a great huge open space paved with smooth rock and amongst it you could see a huge cluster of buildings with roads and paths going through them. The opening itself was wide and tall, if there weren''t buildings in the way you could probably see straight to the north and west entrance from the spot she stood on.

    It was as if someone had made a city and build sphere over it. Which was almost what they had done. The dwarves had carved the mountain through the years and build their home inside of it, enforcing it with pillars and magic from the inside.

    She turned her head away from the city and faced towards her right where Camedyrs workshop should be and what she saw was not what she had expected. A huge dark building with chimneys going through the rocky roof was build right besides the huge rock wall that cut through the mountain separating it from the city.

    It was like a massive warehouse from the real world but it had huge open doors on its side like you would find on a farms warehouse. You could see heat and hear the impact of hammers hitting anvils escaping from the house.

    Knowing she had found what she was looking for she did not go there immediately, she had other plans. Aleyn instead walked up to a patrolling guard pair and asked if there was a inn where she could stay at nearby.

    There were two big inn''s which housed people in the vicinity. One which housed travelers and provided them with a room to sleep in and another which was a bit more high classed as it was bigger and had a spa in it amongst other things.

    Not needing a spa she chose to go for the cheaper inn, it was located at the south west side of the city and it took her roughly 15minutes to walk from the south entrance to it. She booked a room and left anything unnecessary in her room before heading to meet Camedyr. Only wearing her leather equipment and backpack as she traveled through the city once more.

    As she got to the building she took a moment to gaze in wonder at the height and width of it all. As she was staring at the building up close she heard a voice from the inside.

    "It''s not gonna fall on ya you know."

    She quickly looked down and tried to find the source of the voice.

    As she searched, she found a figure sitting inside the room that was just inside of the huge door. There were many sets of armor, weapons and tools hanging from the shelf''s across the whole room. The figure was sitting in a chair next to a drawer, reading a piece of paper.

    "If the whole mountain comes down, this building will be the last thing to fall with it. I can tell you that much." the figure said.

    "I don''t doubt that." Aleyn entered the room and replied.

    Once she entered she got a lot better look at the figure. It was a beast man who had the characteristics of a lion. His mane wasn''t all poofy and lush like you would expect, but he did wear a beard which resembled one slightly. His actual mane reached behind his head and down his back.

    He was two heads taller than her and you could see a tail flopping around next to the chair. He wore a sleeveless shirt and ragged pants which were held up by a belt.

    As Aleyn stared him the beast man noticed her look him over.

    "Never seen a Lionkin before?"

    "Erm, no can''t say I have." Aleyn answered unsure of herself.

    "Can''t blame you. We usually inhabit more warmer places." he replied and rose up from his seat and approached her.

    "Anyway, you here for business or something?"

    "I''m here to meet Camedyr Tin-flame, we have an unscheduled meeting."

    The lion took a look at her and rolled his eyes.

    "As much as I would love to believe that... I don''t. Master is out at the moment anyway, if you feel persistent then you can come back in an hour or so and try again."

    He then turned and went back to his seat.

    Well, if the guy wasn''t in then there wasn''t much she could do. She decided to take a look around the City and then come back and see again.

    She had no real destination so she just looked around and went where ever looked interesting. At first she went to the middle of the city which housed the dwarven arena, probably the biggest and tallest building in the whole city. It resembled the roman colosseum in size and form but it was obviously made with dwarven architecture in mind. It was currently free for anyone who wanted to book it for duels or other fights and since there was no one guarding the audience entrance she went to look inside.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    There were a few people sitting in the audience watching a pair of people fighting, sadly as she was about to sit down one of the duelists had already lost and a person from the audience jumped down to heal both of them. It seems like they had a proper training group going on as everyone in the audience looked ready for battle except the person who jumped down to heal them. Having lost interest she left the arena and head towards the north entrance.

    The north side didn''t seem much different, though it did house more exotic shops and people. It seemed that the sea wasn''t that far from the north side and it was the place where people who came by ships stayed at. She entered a few stores looking at the merchandise which varied from exotic crystals to foods and many other things. She was about to leave for the west side of the city when she spotted a house which had a billboard with the picture of a wand on it.

    Having had her interest aroused Aelyn entered the building. It turned out that the wand represented a magic equipment shop. Each wall was filled with books on bookshelves and in the middle of the room there were racks filled with equipment. She went to look at the books but looking at the titles they seemed way too complex for her at a glance.

    "Extracting essence.", "Perfecting manipulation." she read through the the titles in her head.

    "Expensiiiiiiiveee." a high pitched voice came from the opposite side of the room.

    "Who, what, where?"

    The voice startled her, when she had entered she thought the place had seemed empty.

    "Expensive books." the voice sounded again, this time closer.

    She was confused as she couldn''t see anyone, but the voice was definitely closer.

    "Hey down here." the voice this time came from below.

    She looked down and what she saw shocked her in a new way.

    A person half her size was standing next to her. It was mostly a shock because it was the first time she had seen someone smaller than herself.

    The short person was another beast man. It had the characteristics of a ram but it walked on two feet and had humanoid hands and body while its legs and face kept some features of a goat, looking at their face she determined the person was actually a young little girl.

    Her horns were small and growing outwards. She wore a blue one piece dress that covered her from neck to her inwards bent kneecaps. She wore no shoes as she had hoofs for feet.

    "You here to buy expensive book?" the little girl asked as she looked up and straight at her.

    "Ah no, I just got curious when I saw the wand at the front and wanted to have a look." Aleyn answered very frankly.

    "bawww."

    She muttered in a sad manner, but immediately perked up.

    "If you got question come ask."

    The little rams speech was a little broken but you could understand her. She hopped back to the back of the room, without making any real noise.

    "What a cute little thing." she thought to herself and smiled.

    After having a look around the book shelves and not understanding any of it she decided to just give up and leave for her next destination. She entered the western side of the city

    The western side seemed to lack shops and only had houses where people lived, but it did house some other important buildings as well such as the city hall and the adventurers hall.

    First she entered the city hall and after seeing the front desk and the whole place empty of customers she decided to ask some questions about what she could do here.

    The city hall cooperated mainly with the adventurers hall to provide work, but it also was used to purchase land inside of the city borders which extended every year due to the city expanding further in to the mountain. The city hall also housed the city''s only court room where people could settle political disputes and plead for their unjust punishments.

    Having had enough of the city hall she decided to have a look at the adventurers hall to see how it was compared to Ironedges.

    As much as the adventurers hall in Ironedge was modest, the one in Dvalfgar was massive compared to it. Even the front door was huge and took a bit of strength to open.

    She pushed herself in and inside she was met with a lot of gazes. She wasn''t wearing much armor or didn''t carry most of her equipment at the moment so she didn''t look much like an adventurer. Giving the inside a good look everyone who were staring at her pointed their gazes away.

    The inside of the house was pretty standard looking, there were tables where people were discussing things and setting deals and at the end of the hall there was a reception just like in Ironedge. The place had a second floor, but it seemed to be out of limits for anyone but staff so she didn''t bother about it too much. On the left side of the whole wall there were a massive number of requests.

    Having had enough of looking around she went to look at the requests. The quality of had definitely risen a few notches from Ironedges requests as even the copper requests seemed exotic.

    As she was looking at the requests, a group of people gathered next to her.

    "Hey girl, you looking for big strong men to help you?"

    One of the group members had gotten even closer and looked to be flirting with her.

    "No, not really. I was just curious on how much the place differed from my previous hall." she said frankly.

    "Then you aren''t in a hurry anywhere yea? How about you spend some time with us." the man had gotten even closer and placed his hand on her right shoulder from her left side.

    "Not interested." She said with a emotionless voice.

    "Come on babe. We can show you some good time." he was laughing and smirking as he tried to reach for her breasts with the very same hand.

    At that point she had had enough and looked away from the wall of requests and looked straight in to the guys eyes. She took her left hand and put some strength into removing the guys hand from her shoulder.

    "Not. Interested."

    She stressed each word and as she removed his hand the man started convulsing and yelling in pain. She pushed the guy on the floor where he was trying to endure the pain of getting his fingers broken. As he did that the two others came to his side, one of them picked him up and the other threw a punch at her.

    "You bitch!" he yelled as he put his strength in to his punch.

    Aleyn opened her right hand and just received the blow in her palm, relaxing her elbow so that her hand wasn''t just a wall of meat. She caught the punch which had some noticeable strength to it but she could still overpower it. She grabbed the fist and twisted the hand behind his back in a hold and sighed.

    "Come on guys, I don''t want any trouble. I just wanted to see the board."

    After saying that she pushed the guy away from him and he got knocked into the third rascal who was holding the flirter. They staggered and took a mean look at her, but in the end they decided to leave her be.

    She sighed as she had caused some commotion, a lot of people had looked at the exchange and some were even ready to intervene. To their surprise she didn''t need any help and as she had repelled the trio they turned their gaze away from her.

    Still, she had made an impression she didn''t mean to which annoyed her. Even the reception girl seemed to be looking at her with intense eyes.

    Having had enough of the attention she decided to return to the south side to see if Camedyr had arrived..

    As she was about to leave, the door opened in front of her and a group of large men

    glad in expensive looking armor and robes strolled in pushing her aside. They didn''t even notice her until she yelped when she hit the floor, which caught their attention but not their pity.

    She stood up and dusted herself off and left as she didn''t want to make a fuss and she didn''t really care for apologies that had no actual regret behind them.

    "You get these people everywhere huh." She thought.

    The man who had run in to her was about to give a half assed apology, but to his surprise she didn''t even acknowledge them as she strode out.

 Chapter 14 - Camedyrs Workshop

    The dwarf girl had once again arrived in front of the massive workshop. She had taken the most direct route to the house as she didn''t feel like spending her whole day waiting for Camedyr to arrive.

    She walked into the first room once again and was greeted by the lionkin man she was talking to earlier. He still sat in his seat reading some papers, but stopped to talk to Aleyn.

    "Little miss is back huh, Master is back there. Good luck." his tone had quite a lot of sarcasm. He must have had a lot of people come to him for this exact reason.

    She thanked the guy and walked in to the workshop area.

    The forging area was massive, there were tens, maybe a hundred anvils all around the room coupled with racks of tools. The biggest eye catcher was the forge in the middle of the workshop, it was something to behold.

    The forge itself was probably the size of Cybils whole workshop, it was cylinder shape covering most of the room inside the workshop, it had multiple huge holes which were used to heat the metal. You could probably throw a whole shipment of armor in there to melt it would fit. Workers were rushing all around, some heating metal some groups were carrying large metal bars. There was not a soul who was not working inside of the workshop, except Aleyn, she was standing there looking at it all in wonder which caught the eye of few of the workers.

    She marveled at it all until she remembered why she had come there in the first place, to become Camedyrs student. Problem was, the only things she knew about Camedyr was that he was famous, full of pride and powerful. Cybil had never actually told her how he looked and she had never seen any indication of it either. Having nothing else to go by she started to look around the house to see who fit the description. As she was knocked on the floor from behind as some workers were carrying a large armor towards the front of the shop.

    "Gah, who the!? Don''t you know not to be in the way in the workshop area!? Wait I don''t remember you who are you?"

    She was bombarded with sudden questions, by this huge bald muscle Man wearing the usual forging clothing. He was definitely the biggest person she had ever met and towered over everyone.

    "Ah sorry, I was slightly in my own world there. I''m Aleyn and I''m looking for Camedyr."

    The big guy took a look at her.

    "What do you need master for ?"

    "I want to be his student." She answered honestly.

    The whole vicinity went quiet for a few seconds, and then a row rumbling of chuckles started to fill its emptiness.

    "That''s not how it works little girl, we here have a hierarchy. Here let me explain it to ya" the big guy let the others carry the load away and spent a few minutes explaining things to her.

    Basically they had their own ranking system. Where people were split in to ranks. People who wanted to become blacksmiths started from the bottom.

    rank 7 �C learning their way around the forge, if they could pass an oral exam they would be put to the next rank. Usually anyone who studied a bit would only stay at this rank for 10 minutes.

    rank 6 �C learning to craft simple tools, they had to forge a set of tools perfectly before they would be put to  the next rank.

    rank 5 �C  learning to craft simple weapons and armor, basically forging armor and weapons that were mass produced under a set timer, once they could do 4 sets of those without stopping and or going over the time limit they would be put to the next rank.

    rank 4 �C learning to craft more unique armor and weapons, this is where people usually have their biggest bottle neck in ranks. Crafting something that takes a lot of patience and skill. They would have to craft a whole set with good quality before they would be put to the next rank.

    rank 3 �C at this point it Camedyr would take over their teaching and supervision. That is all she needed to know about the last ranks.

    The guy boasted from left to right how every rank could take months to surpass and how much they had to work for it. He was obviously ridiculing her and trying to make her feel bad with his constant grinning.

    She took a moment to think about what she should do, should she just ditch the guy who was being an asshole to her and look for Camedyr more aggressively? Her other idea seemed much more enjoyable though.

    "You''re the rank seven overseer right?" she asked

    "Yes.I''m also the rank six, five and four overseer" He grinned.

    "Oh convenient. Can I take the exam?"

    "Yeh, sure. Follow me." He humored the little girl, even if she knew about tools and procedures. There was a massive gap between rank seven and three.

    To his mild surprise she passed her first exam without any problems. Though it wasn''t that major of a step he still thought she wasn''t gonna go anywhere from the start.

    "So what does the second exam have in it?" She asked without further waiting.

    "Now hold on, you still need to learn how to craft the tools. Just learning them can take you a month." he said with a calm voice.

    "Oh.. I know how to craft tools. Can I take the second test?" she answered trying to sound like a country pumpkin who had no clue.

    The overseer turned around to pick up some bars, while he turned around he had the biggest grin on his face but he removed it immediately once he turned back to face her.

    He gave her seven tools to make which included everything she had learned to forge in her sleep. It didn''t take long for her to finish the task.

    The overseer was shocked at how fast she had finished the job. His grin turned into a frown.

    "You got some skill girl. Have you been working for long?" he asked with a more serious voice.

    "I''ve worked as a blacksmith for a month or two" she tried to sound proud, but she knew very well a month meant nothing.

    "Oh wow... A whole month." The overseer faked an impressed voice and expression. Internally he was laughing.

    "So can I take the next exam now?" she swayed her whole body and twirled her hair between her two fingers. Giving the most ''blond'' expression she could muster.

    "Oh you think you''re ready for it? Well with your experience you might even pass."

    The overseer went to to pick up some bars. Normally it took many months to advance from rank six to five, yet this girl wanted to take the exam with her one month experience? If she passed then it would be a surprise.

    "You have an hour to craft 4 sets of this armor."

    He pulled a simple chest plate from the rack on the wall and presented it to her.

    "Okay then, you ready with a timer?" she asked.

    "My internal clock is perfect." he grinned again as he answered.

    The overseer thought to himself, "Two sets, that''s all I see from you.".

    "That''s so cool." She answered with a giggle which infuriated the overseer internally.

    She started making the chest plate. Her hands worked fast and she hammered the bars in no time, which made the overseer gaze in shock. "What the?."

    As she was at the half way mark she had finished three of the chest pieces. At one hour mark she was waiting and cleaning up the tools, she had made 5 sets of armor easily.

    "Oh did I make five? Sorry I must have miscounted. But I passed right?" She asked kiddishly as a single drop of sweat dropped from her chin.

    "Erm oh yes, you passed." The overseer was in awe as his prediction was crushed.

    "Yaayyy." she waved her hands in the air.

    "So what do I need to do for the next exam?" She asked while hanging from the overseers hand and smiling.

    "You Bitch..." he said with a low voice.

    She had gone a tad overboard with the acting and he had noticed it. Thinking back to everything she had said and the way she had acted he started to realize things.

    "Huh?" she asked as if she hadn''t heard what he just said. Though she did.

    "Time to step it up a notch." he thought to himself.

    "Oh nothing.... Your next job is this. You got four hours." he put down a set of plans on the table next to them.

    The actual exam gave the person the whole day to craft the set and they could only start it at the very start of the day, filling the whole twenty four hours of the day. Every student used most of the given time. There was no way any student could finish it in four hours realistically unless they had deep knowledge on the subject.

    He strode out of the way and sat on a table few anvils away.

    "Timers running." he yelled.

    "Uh oh." she said as she took a look at the plans.

    The set of armor was composed of a chest piece, pants, gloves, and a helm. To any other blacksmith the set looked hard to make, there were multiple moving parts which required some intricate design and hinges. To Aleyn it looked like a failed version of her own armor which she had worked on for many hours.

    She took her fake expression off and started acting more seriously as she prepared for the task at hand. She figured she could easily finish before four hours were up, but wanting to see how fast she could do it she decided not to take it easy. She chose to make the gloves first as it was the hardest part to make with numerous moving parts.

    It took her an hour and 30minutes to  finish the pair of gloves, she didn''t have any trouble with them at all as the design was so much simpler than what she was used to working with.

    The next part was the helm, she had not made one for her own set but it didn''t mean she didn''t think about making one. She worked on the helmet for an hour before it was finished, it took unexpectedly a lot more work than she had previously anticipated which worried her but she didn''t let that distract her.

    Meanwhile the overseer was gnawing his massive knuckles as he watched the dwarf girl work. The only thing on his mind as he saw her progress was "Are you fucking serious?!" .

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Next she chose to work on the pants, as much as pants are not the same as chest pieces they do have similarities in the eyes of a blacksmith. Her work progressed fast even though she wasn''t experienced with the lower body armor and in an hour she finished the pants.

    Last but not least the chest piece which had the lowest amount of moving parts. The chest piece actually had integrated shoulder pieces on the design which made the work slightly more complicated, but as the shoulder pieces were completely connected to the chest piece there were no moving parts needed for it so she thought it wouldn''t be a problem.

    She finished the chest piece in an hour and 10 minutes. To her surprise the connected shoulder piece was more work than she had anticipated and she had gone over the 4 hour mark by a semi large margin. Failing the fake exam and her own test.

    The overseer looked at the armor set. Its quality had no problem passing the exam, and she had spent little more than four hours to craft it. He would know, he observed the whole thing without blinking, thinking there was some witchcraft at work.

    "I guess I didn''t pass then since I failed the four hour mark. Is there some sort of a time penalty on when I can try and take it again?" she genuinely looked sad. Not because she failed the four hour mark, but because she had gone over her own estimations.

    The overseer ignored the only real expression she had given her and exploded in anger.

    "Quit playing with me bitch! A month or two my ass!" The overseer exploded and threw the chest piece on the floor which made a very large distinct noise across the workshop.

    Anyone who heard the noise immediately looked at the overseer who was infuriated and striding towards the dwarf girl. Even a certain lump of muscle and power was aroused from his concentration at the other end of the building. He started slowly striding towards the commotion.

    "WHO ARE YOU!? There''s no way anyone without years of experience could do this. QUIT PLAYING!" The overseer took a grip of her apron .

    "I''ve already told you who I am. I''m Aleyn and I''ve worked as a blacksmith for one or two months and I want to become Camedyrs student." she was very serious.

    Having heard what she said he exploded in to another fit of rage. There was no way she had worked for only a couple of months with her skill. He released her, but right after releasing her his fist landed on the table next to her. Completely annihilating it.

    She froze in shock for a moment. His whole fist was the size of her head, if she got hit by it she would definitely need more than medical aid.

    But if he was simply throwing a punch, it wasn''t particularly hard to dodge for her, but the fear of getting hit by such a massive fist still scared her enough to make her very very careful.

    A crowd had gathered around the scene, forming a circle where they watched in awe. It wasn''t everyday someone fought an overseer so it was good entertainment, however they had not expected that he would have trouble in the fight.

    The overseer seemed to have lost all of his care for the furniture and in such a place where there were loads of tables and racks his fist could not avoid obliterating anything they hit.

    She raised her eyebrows in surprise, she didn''t mean to get anything destroyed but it was too late now.

    The overseer turned around and immediately threw his other fist at her, this time she had made sure there was nothing behind her as she ducked below the fist and side stepped behind him.

    At this point the big lump of muscle had arrived at the circle, he was watching intently at the whole scene. Normally he wouldn''t even bother to come and watch such a scene but as he had not heard the workers cheering and instead watch in silence he knew there was something interesting going on. He watched as the little dwarf girl kept avoiding the giant in front of her.

    "I''m confused, I thought I completed your tasks. Even if i failed the last one, this is still too extreme." she said with an out of breath tone.

    The big guy in the crowd was confused, why was the overseer so angry? She said she had passed his exams and failed the last one that meant she was rank four. As much as it was impressive outside of this workshop. It wasn''t anything a special in his eyes.

    "YOU PIECE OF SHIT, DO YOU TAKE ME FOR A CLOWN?" he threw another punch which she dodged while trying to avoid the equipment.

    Aleyn changed her attitude and expression.

    "Actually, I sort of do. It''s no different to what you felt towards me when I talked to you earlier though is it?"

    "YOU...." Every single vein on the overseers head was pulsing. It looked like he was close to a heart attack.

    He took two quick steps towards Aleyn and threw his right arm stubbornly at her again.

    Aleyn having had enough felt like she should stop it before he bursts a vein. She sidestepped to the right and faced away from the man, once the fist had went past her she took a firm grip of it with her both hands and put all of her strength into throwing the overseer.

    With her strength she managed to throw giant over  her shoulder and in the air. To her sadness she had forgotten to see if there was anything in the mans way and he landed on a table, completely destroying it as he landed on his back on top of it.

    The overseer not defeated and still burning with rage stood up and got ready to try again but as he faced Aleyn he noticed a huge figure in the crowd.

    "Master.."

    The inferno of rage that had been assaulting Aleyn without a pause immediately without question shrunk down and stopped moving.

    The huge figure parted the crowd and approached the overseer. He had his hands behind his back and  a very calm expression as he tried to figure things out.

    "Cofius, explain." he said with a strict tone.

    "Master I..." he tried to explain but was cut off by Aleyn

    "You''re Camedyr yes?"

    The man turned to her.

    "Yes."

    "Your overseer here is very rude. I completed the tasks he told me to do and then starts attacking me." she said with a nagging tone.

    "Pass the first exam, yep easy."

    "Make tools, yep done." she pointed at the tools on a further away table away from the ring.

    "Craft the four sets in an hour, yep done." she pointed at the scattered pile of armor at the other side of the ring. They were placed in a row nicely and you could see without much counting that there were actually five armor pieces

    "Craft the more complicated set of armor in four hours, well I finished it little over the four hour mark so that''s fair enough I failed. But it still doesn''t mean you can just start throwing punches." She pointed at the chest piece next to her and the other pieces across the room.

    During the whole ordeal, the overseer was sweating and shaking.

    "Is that true cofius?" he asked calmly

    "Yes, master. But..." he said without hesitation.

    "Silence." Camedyrs voice was sharp and loud.

    Camedyr walked up to Aleyn and looked her over as he towered in front of her.

    "Who are you then?" unlike the overseer he seemed calm and not hostile.

    She dug into her pocket which had the letter. The letter was damp and crumbled as it had endured through out her journey around the city and her ordeal with the overseer.

    Camedyr took the letter and opened it ignoring it''s condition and started reading. Even before he started reading he noticed the letter wasn''t the only thing she had given her there was something sharp below the letter.

    As he read a smile crept on his face and he realized what the sharp object below the letter was and after having read the letter of introduction he took a look at it. The pin was the one he had given to Cybil there was no question about it, and with the letter he had just read he was pretty sure he was looking at Cybils apprentice.

    "Get back to work." he raise his voice, not enough for it to be considered a yell but loud enough for everyone to understand that they needed to move.

    He took a look around to confirm that everyone was indeed working before replying to Aleyn.

    "You know you really could have just come to me and given this. It would have saved you a lot of trouble." he said with a hearty chuckle.

    Aleyn sighed.

    "Well I did try, but the guy at the front said you weren''t in when I came at first and your overseer here insisted on this hierarchical crap. I thought I would show him something interesting."

    "I can''t say I''m surprised. You know how many people come to see me?" Camedyr said expecting something much different then what he was about to hear.

    "I don''t care how many people come and see you to be honest. I came here to learn."

    The whole vicinity in an ear throw quieted down a tone, the people were working but they were also curious and what Aleyn had just said seemed unbelievable to them.

    The silence was broken by Camedyr as he started laughing. Everyone else kept quiet while the man cracked a smile and had a laugh.

    "I like your attitude girl." He paused and looked at the overseer still waiting for judgement.

    "Cofius, you''re paying for the damaged goods. Pick up the things she made and put them with the rest. Learn from this, humility is not a disease."

    "Yes master." Cofius quickly stood up and started picking up things.

    "Aleyn, get some rest. Come here before the place opens tomorrow. I''ll be waiting for you." As Camedyr said that he immediately started walking back to where he came from.

    "Will do."

    Her first day at Dvalfgar turned out to be more than she had expected.

 Chapter 15 - Knowledge

    Early in the morning the city of Dvalfgar seemed like a different place. If it weren''t for merchants and few people occasionally walking around, you might think the whole place was deserted. Aleyn strode through the city with a lot more ease than she did yesterday, it was a welcome surprise to her early morning as trying to get through the crowds wasn''t amongst her favorite hobbies.

    As she got to Camedyrs work shop to her surprise the doors were closed. She took a hold of the handles and to her surprise the closed door slid open without much trouble.

    "Is the place open or is it closed? I can''t tell." she thought to herself.

    Shrugging she walked inside, she was told to be there early so it should be fine to enter right?

    The front shop was empty of people, but the door to the forge was half open and you could hear impact of metal hitting metal so someone was definitely in.

    When she entered the workshop, she didn''t see anyone around but the forge was definitely on and blowing and the sound was louder. She took a moment to look around and noticed that the noise was coming from the opposite side of the forge. As she got around the forge she spotted a large amount of people working on the anvils and the forge while Mr muscle lump himself was overseeing them all yelling out instructions.

    He walked up to one of the people hitting a bar of metal.

    "COME ON! Hit it like you mean it! It ain''t going to turn in to anything at that rate!

    She walked behind Camedyr who was yelling and genuinely instructing the students. She looked past him to see what the worker was actually doing.

    The person was hammering on a bar of metal which refused to be molded, it looked like normal steel yet the student was barely getting it to shape.

    "What is that?" She asked.

    Camedyr had not noticed her enter and approach so he turned around to see.

    "Ah You''re here girl. Now that, that right there is just normal hardened steel."

    "Hardened?" She questioned.

    "Pff. I ain''t going to explain ya your first assignment." He gave a chuckle as he answered.

    "Boy''s once you''ve turned that bar in to your hammer take a break. And you Second rankers once you''ve Gotten a proper fusion you can also take a break. I''m gonna have a chat with little girl here in my office. Come Aleyn."

    Camedyr yelled his instructions and all of the students behind the forge took a moment to acknowledge it with a yell.

    Camedyr and Aleyn went back to the front shop and entered a room behind the counter which had stairs leading up to a second floor. This confused Aleyn as there was nothing between the them and the ceiling in the workshop, but when she looked up she noticed there was a small room on top of her.

    Camedyr had build an office above everything. You could see the inside of the whole building from his office windows. Clever design.

    The office itself was very simple, there was a table and a couple of drawers around the table, with a huge chair behind it.

    "Had a good rest yea?" Camedyr said as he sat down

    "Yes."

    Camedyr lifted up a piece of chest armor on the table which was very familiar to her. She had in fact seen it just yesterday as she hammered it on the anvil. Her rank four exam.

    "As much as I heard much about you from Cybil already. Just using four hours to make that set is quite something. Quality is so-so but it passes definitely. "

    Aleyn stood still and listened to the huge old man talk.

    "I see a lot to improve though, but hey that''s why you''re here ye?."

    "Definitely." she agreed and after a brief pause continued.

    "Can I ask some questions.?" she asked.

    "Sure, go on."

    "Could you explain the rest of the ranks? Your overseer guy didn''t bother."

    Camedyr changed his expression from happy teacher to more of a unimpressed employer and sighed.

    "That''s one thing I don''t like about this line of work. Even if you have a reason to be proud it doesn''t mean you have to be a dick about it."

    "Anyway, the Ranks which I oversee are what differentiate blacksmiths." He started explaining.

    The simple explanation for the ranks went as so.

    Rank three �C precious metals. Learning to work with high quality goods.

    Rank two �C Fusion. Fusing metal with high quality ingredients and crystals.

    Rank one �CEnchanting. Applying magical essence or power in to the previous ranks work.

    The first five ranks used the front of the forge while the last three had the back all for themselves, splitting the shop in two.

    "So what do the exams look like for these ranks? She eagerly asked.

    Camedyr narrowed his eyes on Aleyn.

    "Well.. first let me ask you this.. which metals have you worked with?"

    She ran through the metals she could remember from Cybils work shop.

    "Iron, copper, bronze, tin and steel. Why?"

    Camedyr''s kept looking at her, he didn''t even blink as he explained.

    "Not to sound like Coifus from yesterday, but you really shouldn''t bother thing about the next exams yet. The stuff I want you to work with are hard, even with all the praise  I''ve heard about you I''m confident it will take you some time to get comfortable with them." He looked straight in to her eyes and looked sincere.

    Having the big guy that was one of the worlds known people act so sincere to her made her resign her herself to following his flow.

    "Alright boss... I can call you boss right or do I need to say master like everyone?"

    "Call me anything you want, I''m not forcing anyone to call me master here." he said with a chuckle as he finally relaxed.

    "Okay boss. So another question, why is the place so empty. When I worked at Cybil''s place everyone was there and working before the sun rose."

    Camedyr gave a weird expression, but then showed some realization.

    "Oh I get it. Tell me Aleyn, what do you think this place is?" he leaned back in his chair as he asked her.

    "That''s a weird question, This place is a blacksmiths workshop." she answered without hesitation.

    Camedyr chuckled.

    "Well you''re not wrong, it is blacksmiths workshop." He turned his head to look at the people working under them.

    "But first and foremost, this place is a school. We don''t have a schedule, but we have rules and requirements. Sometimes people order things and we assign the proper rank to make them, but those who stay here just for work are kicked away from the ranks fast and precisely."

    He took a breather and continued

    "It''s not hard to see the difference between someone who wants to work and someone who wants to improve. I don''t give time tables, but if you want to get work done it''s of course best to come early."

    He took another breather and continued.

    "The work difference between every rank after the fourth doubles, most people don''t leave the workshop until they''re in their forties if they arrive when they''re young. Though some I employ as overseers or assistants in other cities."

    Aleyn after having gotten the whole picture was thoroughly impressed. Keeping the place as a school even when he had gathered such fame was very admirable. Or perhaps it was actually because of the fame that he kept it as a school.

    Aleyn fixed her dumbstruck face as she still had one thing to ask.

    "And for my last question, where do I start today?" she gave a smile with the obvious silly question.

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    "Ah yes." he took his eyes off of the window.

    Camedyr started digging through the tables drawers.

    "Here they are!" he claimed.

    He picked up a parcel and unrolled it on the table. It was filled with cards which had writing on them.

    He shuffled through the cards, looking for specific ones and picked them up. After finding them Camedyr handed four cards to Aleyn who took them in her hands and took a look.

    The cards all had few lines of text on them like.

    "Properties of heated precious metals."

    "Properties of precious metals."

    Camedyr took a look at her reading the cards.

    "You know what these are right?"

    "They sound like book titles." she answered unsurely.

    "Exactly, go to the library and give those to the clerk. They know what to do. Once you got the books start reading and after you''re done come back here and find me."

    With nothing more to hear she stood up and replied and left for the library.

    "Understood."

    The city''s library was located south west side of the city, just south of the adventurers hall and her inn. She had walked past the building a few times so she knew where she had to go.

    The library itself stood out from most of the buildings around it, there were a few other buildings that shared it''s characteristics but the library was the only one which was located in the south western area.

    What made the library building stand out? It was made of rock like everything else, however it wasn''t build per say. It was way more appropriate to say it was originally carved from the mountain, there were no bricks or building components, the whole building was a rock that was carved from the mountain. The building looked like a mountain that grew straight from the floor as it shared its rocky colour, starting wide and becoming thinner as it grew up all the way to the peak of the so called mountain, some windows adorned it and showed the rooms inside.

    It had weathered the years, however some additions had to be made to accommodate newer books and research so its original glorious carved structure now had some brick building extensions around it but they didn''t take away the fact that the building itself was eye catching. A huge crack was carved in to the middle of the mountain with stairs leading into it and at the end of the stairs there was a wooden door which was unnecessarily large.

    Aleyn stood for a few moments admiring the unique architecture. Having had enough of the unnatural mountain she started climbing the uneven stairs towards the door.

    As she opened the door she was pleasantly surprised to find that the door itself wasn''t as heavy as it appeared and opened easily. She stepped inside, but what waited inside looked way more impressive than what she had just witnessed outside.

    Looking up you could see that the inside wasn''t as big as the outside would make you think. When you looked straight inside from the door you could see a huge corridor, on the sides of the corridor you could see that the place only had two floors which looked like a balconies overlooking the corridor.

    The corridor''s sides had alcoves which looked like cave entrances, but unlike any actual cave they had book cases and drawers inside of them which reached the ceiling all the way from the floor.

    The whole building was quiet, but you could hear the sound of the winds breeze echo through it like in a cave. While she was admiring the interior, she suddenly heard footsteps that echoed around the corridor and something came in to view.

    A figure carrying multiple books was walking towards the end of the corridor at a steady pace. At the end of the corridor there was a what looked like a reception area and once they got to it they dropped the books on the desk and went behind.

    Aleyn having had enough of the tourism started walking towards the desk. As she walked her footsteps echoed through out the building in an awkward manner. The figure gazed her way but then returned to their pile of books. She tried to walk at a pace which made the least noise, it was a library after all but there was no avoiding some noise as she wasn''t a ninja.

    She got to the end of the corridor and stood in front of the desk she took a look at the book pile and the person behind it.

    A tortoise, that''s what she saw. The person behind the desk was a dwarf sized tortoise. They wore a robe over their body, but it didn''t hide his obvious body characteristics

    Their head held no humane shape or traces on it, their body was completely covered by a dome-shaped shell on their back and their front was covered in a dark green carapace. The person looked old even for a turtle as they had some tufts of white hair on their head and a short white beard coupled with a set of thick glasses on their eyes, completing their old man look.

    "Yes?"

    The tortoise behind had taken their eye off the books and noticed her.

    "Umm, the boss sent me here for these." She said in an unsure manner and handed the cards to the tortoise who took them in their hands and read through them. He gave some glances back and forth between Aleyn and the cards and then handed them back to her.

    "Follow.." he ordered in low voice

    He started walking at a steady pace towards a door at the back of the room. The door lead to a very dusty staircase which lead downwards and wasn''t lit, but there was an unlit torch standing on the wall just behind the door. He picked the torch with one hand and swiped the top of it with the other which created a spark that lit the torch, he proceeded to move down the stairs while Aleyn followed him.

    The staircase wasn''t long, probably just long enough to move them down to a basement level. As they got to the bottom what awaited them was another much shorter corridor with multiple locked doors. The tortoise walked to a door and dug in to his robes pockets and took out a key ring to open the door in front of him.

    Inside the room there were a couple of drawers and a single book case and at the other end of the room was a single table and a single chair behind it. On the walls you could see a three candle holders with fresh candles, each in their respective wall.

    The old tortoise went for the book shelf and without much thinking pulled out four specific books, it was as though he knew exactly where they were without looking. He placed the books on the table and started talking in his low voice.

    "Rules... Books don''t go out of this room. You''re not allowed to pick up anything else out of the drawers or the bookshelves. If we find that you ruined any of these books and didn''t report it, you will be reported to the owner and lose your reading privileges.

    Once the candles are lit you must leave when they run out of steam, less of a rule just that the only ventilation is that door we came from and the air is horrible down here.

    That is all, if you don''t leave before the candles run out I will personally come here to escort you out. I will know when they run out." he calmly and slowly explained the rules in his low voice.

    Aleyn nodded and the old tortoise started to light up the candles.

    "You may start." was the last thing he said before leaving and closing the door slightly. His foot steps echoed loudly as he left.

    Aleyn sat down on the chair and took a look at the books and thought about which one to start with as the echoes of the foot steps faded.

 Chapter 16 - Challenge

    <blockquote><cite>Quote:</cite>I''m slightly preoccupied with things so my writing/proof reading will suffer for a few weeks which in turn means posting of chapters will be slower. Just a heads up.</blockquote>

    As much as it shouldn''t, it came as a huge surprise to Aleyn how many different metal alloys there were in this world. With magic you could combine and change the most common and complex metals in to ones with different or improved properties. Most of the metals she had read about just now were completely new to her as they had no real way to have a counter part in the real world.

    Hardened steel for instance. By applying a steady flow of a smelters own magical power in to the smelting process, normal steel would change drastically as long as it was done properly. Hardened steel was just like steel however it was far more durable and harder to work with, not to mention a lot heavier and required a lot more heat to melt. Problem with using magic to improve smelted metal was that you had to have a steady flow of it which in turn required a person to overseer every moment of the process and apply themselves to it which was a tedious and exhausting process.

    This though was exactly why it belonged to the precious metal category, it required a lot of effort to make and was very expensive yet it was amongst the lowest grade of precious metals.

    Aleyn was reviewing what she had read and noticed the lights flickering. The candles were running low and it was almost time for her to stop, she wasn''t bothered as she felt she had gotten the most out of her reading experience but she still decided to wait for the old tortoise to come and take her time. He didn''t disappoint as she soon heard foot steps approaching.

    "It''s time." he claimed as he entered the room.

    "You need more time? I can fetch new candles after you take a breather outside."

    "No no, I''m just reviewing. I''m ready." She said and closed the book.

    The tortoise took the books and placed them back in to the bookcase and started suffocating the candles with his fingers. Few times some wax dropped on the drawers below them, but he just swiped it off on the floor, ignoring the fact that the wax was probably hot as fire. He then took the lead towards outside with his lit torch.

    Once Aleyn got outside of the staircase, she took deep breaths to shake off the dust ridden air from her lungs.

    "Really bad air." The tortoise said as he did the same.

    "Yeh." Aleyn said in agreement.

    With nothing more to say she thanked the old man and head out of the library and back to the workshop.

    The whole place was a lot more busy than it was when she had left. People at the front of the room were working on tools and armor while Cofius the overseer yelled instructions at them. While looking around Aleyn and Cofius''s eyes met but he immediately averted his gaze and tried to look busy, the reaction made Aleyn lift an eyebrow and wonder as she moved to the back of the forge.

    Camedyr was once again leaning towards the forge and doing his thing, yelling and instructing people. This time he noticed her approach.

    "Ah girl, you''re back. No problems I take it?"

    "None. What''s next?" She asked.

    Camedyr took a look around the group in front of them. After spotting a person a bit further away he looked like he had found just what he was looking for.

    "Next I''m pairing you up with Kyrtaar over there. He just started what you''re actually suppose to do, but that wont matter. "

    Camedyr brought Aleyn behind a person and stopped his work.

    "Kyrtaar stop your work for a moment and listen."

    The person immediately dropped what he was doing and turned around in a quick movement.

    Kyrtaar was an Elf, he had short light green hair and very sharp facial features like they were sizzled around his small narrow eyes.  He was two and a half heads higher than her and had muscles that fit a blacksmith. Kyrtaar was wearing the usual working clothes of ragged shirt and pants.

    "Yes master. Did I do something wrong?" he asked.

    "Nothing that I could see. I''m going to pair you up with Aleyn here. She is going to observe your work, if she says something that you don''t agree with you can ignore her but ultimately she should be your partner in work. Keep working on your hardened steel bar until you got your hammer."

    Kyrtaar gave a questioning look at Aleyn but then reached for a handshake.

    "Pleasure to work with you."

    "Likewise." she answered.

    Kyrtaar had no idea who she was, but if Camedyr ordered something then there were very few cases where you could argue against him.

    As they were done with the greetings and instructions, the bar he was working with had cooled down which Camedyr noticed.

    "You may start."

    Aleyn sat down on a table next to Kyrtaars anvil. Taking the spot of an observer while He proceeded to the forge with the bar.

    It took a considerable amount of time before he returned carrying the bar between a pair of huge tongs. He placed the bar on the anvil and took a quick side glance at Aleyn who was observing in silence. He was rather curious on who she was as it was quite rare to see a woman in the forge so she was either quite capable or there was something much more mysterious about her.

    Realizing now wasn''t the best time he stopped his speculations and put the tongs away then proceeded to try and work with the bar of hardened steel.

    After and hour he was sweating and huffing while still hitting the bar. The bar itself had barely been   changed, it was as though he had only hit it a few times. Feeling very embarrassed he took another side glance at Aleyn.

    Aleyn was still looking at him, in fact she had never taken her eyes off of his work but she was leaning against her hand while her elbow was on her knee making her look bored. Kyrtaar felt a bit worse and more humiliated as he thought she was unimpressed.

    The metal had cooled again and had to be brought back to the forge, but as Kyrtaar was heading there Aleyn stopped him.

    "Do you mind if i suggest something?"

    Kyrtaar having not heard her say much was slightly shocked.

    "And what would that be?" .

    "When you come back and you''re about to start forging the metal. Wave your hand around a bit to shake the fatigue off, and then hit the bar as hard as you can."

    Kyrtaar gave a questioning look at her.

    He had years of experience with blacksmithing and it was a fact that just one hard hit wouldn''t have a special effect.

    He quietly turned and went to the forge. Once he returned and put down the bar on the anvil and thought to himself. "Should I try it?" thinking he might offend her, he decided to give it a shot. If it didn''t work he wouldn''t lose much since he could rest his hand and reheat the metal.

    Kyrtaar relaxed his arm and shook off some fatigue. After which he picked up the hammer and lift it above his head and took a few breaths before smashing the hammer straight down on the bar.

    The bar didn''t budge, which made Kyrtaar slightly happy and slightly sad. His experience hadn''t failed him, but the bar was still just staring at him.

    "Keep hitting." Aleyn jumped of her seat.

    "What? What do you mean?" Kyrtaar was confused.

    "Shut up and hit it!" she ordered while slightly raising her voice.

    Being rushed by her ordering he didn''t get to think much and hit the bar. The bar gave in under his normal blow which shocked him.

    "WHAT?!"

    "shut up and keep hitting." She ordered again.

    Deeming she had been right the first time, he continued working quickly.

    He had to reheat the bar a few times and each time he came back with it the bar had become hard to work with again until he repeated what he had done at first. It was a tiring process and he progressed slowly, but eventually he finished his hammer.

    He glanced at his new hammer before giving a look towards Aleyn who had been sitting there looking over him as he worked., he would know as he kept checking every now and then.

    "I don''t get it. Why did that work?" he said out loud. Not particularly directed at Aleyn.

    "Hardened steel when under extreme heat hardens even further making it deceptively hard to work with, but if the hardness is disturbed the whole piece of metal loses the property until it solidifies again." She explained

    "What?" Kyrtaar asked in confusion

    "Properties of heated precious metals. By Camedyr Tin-flame" She said calmly

    Kyrtaar like everyone above rank three had to have read the four books. He took a moment to think and came to a realization that there was indeed a passage like that about hardened steel in that book.

    He slapped his own forehead, there was a reason that people had to read those books and it was exactly this.

    "Wait.. If you knew then why didn''t you tell me earlier?"

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    "You looked like you knew what you were doing to me and it would have been rude if I interrupted you before I knew for sure. I''ve never worked with hardened steel." Aleyn explained.

    Kyrtaar gave a depressed sigh.

    "Can I take a look?" Aleyn stood next to Kyrtaar and asked.

    Kyrtaar handed the hammer to her while thinking through his own stupidity. He should have remembered something like that. She turned the hammer around and swung it down a few times.

    "This is nice. You should probably get some leather and put it on the handle as a grip."

    Kyrtaar looked at Aleyn and the hammer. Still very sad over what had happened but he couldn''t disagree.

    "Thats probably a good idea."

    "So what''s next ?" Aleyn asked.

    "Only orders were to finish this."

    "Well.I''ll go ask the boss then." she claimed

    "The boss?" Kyrtaar asked, but Aleyn was already on her way and couldn''t hear him.

    Camedyr was in his office relaxing and doing some writing, but was interrupted when Aleyn knocked on the door.

    "Yeah?"

    She opened the door a bit and asked.

    "We''re done with Kyrtaars hammer. What''s next?"

    Camedyr looked at her for a few moments with a complicated expression.

    "It took this long to make that one hammer?"

    Aleyn rolled her eyes and started explaining what had happened.

    "The hell. Is this what I get when I let people read my notes?" Camedyr said angrily.

    "Well to be fair, he looked pretty crestfallen when he realized it. I wouldn''t be too hard on him."

    Camedyr took a look outside his window and spotted Kyrtaar who was looking sad and turning his hammer in his hands. Camedyr after seeing this calmed down from his slight frustration.

    "Heh, he actually does. Oh well, nothing lost other than time I guess."

    "So what do we do next?" Aleyn asked again.

    "Your turn."

    Camedyr stood up from his chair and walked behind it. On a closer look there was a hidden drawer behind the chair which appeared to be full of random metal bars.

    "Catch!" He yelled as he threw it behind the chair towards Aleyn.

    Surprised at the sudden throw she barely caught the flying bar while Camedyr laughed and sat down.

    Aleyns just shook her head and left the room returning to Kyrtaars anvil where the person himself was still standing and looking depressed.

    "Come on guy, cheer up. Nothing wasted but time is what Camedyr said. Take it as a lesson." Aleyn said while trying to comfort him

    "You told master?!" Kyrtaar raised his voice in a heartbroken manner.

    Aleyn realizing that she might have made it worse tried to explain it as best as she could.

    "Well he asked what took so long so I sort of had to."

    Kyrtaar covered his face in shame and let out a tear. Aleyn tried diverting his attention.

    "Anyway! There anything I need to know about the forge? First time I use such a big one."

    Kyrtaar removed his hands and looked at the ceiling for a moment with sadness in his eyes, but seemed to slowly recover from his depressed state.

    "Yeeh.. Lets go, I''ll show you." He said with a low voice.

    Having looked at Kyrtaars performance, Aleyns hammer forging went a lot faster. Kyrtaar kept watch on Aleyn, but since she had seen the process already he didn''t think much out of her speed.

    Once she was finished they compared both hammers for a bit. They were both fit for a blacksmith but they had different design as Kyrtaar had made the handle longer and in general the size wasn''t suitable for her use.

    Deeming they were done with their task, the pair went up to Camedyrs office to ask for their next task. Camedyr had a look at their work and after a short inspection gave them both a thumbs up. He then looked at both of them and without a shred of joking said.

    "You two wanna take the exam now then?"

    Both Aleyn and Kyrtaars stood frozen in shock until Aleyn opened her mouth.

    "Thought you said it usually takes months before people advance to the next rank? Why would it take that long if you just need to craft a hammer to take the exam?"

    Kyrtaar nodded hectically in agreement.

    "Pfft." Camedyrs mouth deflated like a balloon.

    "Rank three has plenty of work to do, its just not forging. By making the hammer you''ve shown that you understand that there''s more to metals than you can imagine. The exam is arguably the most taxing for people and I''ve yet to meet a person who passes it with flying colours on first try."

    He took a breather before explaining.

    "Rank three examination. Identify 10 metal alloys and their properties, explain how you would start working with them to forge them in to a small blade."

    "Which ten?" Aleyn asked.

    Camedyr''s grin widened to a scary degree.

    "Which ever I pick from my library. Hehe."

    It took a moment for her to register the meaning of those words and as soon as she did her face turned pale.

    Kyrtaar didn''t understand, He had confidence that if he took some time to read in the library he could remember enough to pass.

    Aleyn noticed his reaction. Did Kyrtaar have a problem with his memory or did he actually not go to the library?

    "There''s at least a hundred different metal descriptions in that library."

    Kyrtaars eyes widened and it felt like he had just swallowed a bone. Oh how wrong he had been.Camedyr having noticed both of their reactions laughed in a evil manner but calmed down after remembering something.

    "Oh right.Only one person can use the library at once and there''s a small queue at the moment. So even if you did want to take it I couldn''t let you now that I think about it. You two should probably spend some time crafting different precious metals, I can give you some allowance for testing but my generosity is limited as well."

    Aleyn after hearing that calmed down and after thinking for a moment about what to do had an idea.

    "Who actually supplies this place?"

    An unusual question, not something he was asked often.

    "Random people, some magic users, the quarry outside the town. I could go on and on.. Why?"

    "Well if there''s a queue then I want to continue my project while waiting. Might as well use some precious metal while I''m at it." Aleyn stated.

    Camedyr fixed his posture slightly and raised his eyebrows in curiosity.

    "Your project? What are you doing? A weapon?"

    "Indeed, I need steel to experiment with and something expensive for the final product." She ran through her plans.

    Camedyr thought for a moment. A lot of steel and something expensive.

    "Well there''s this one person who seems to find their hands on precious metals. Steel you can get from the quarry."

    "Who''s this ''one person''?" Aleyn got curious.

    "Tell you what.. Experiment with steel in the lower rank workshop side. If your results show promise I''ll tell ya."

    Aleyn had a frowning face. Couldn''t he just give her the persons name? With a little more thinking she decided to let it go and go with Camedyrs flow.

    "That''s a challenge I guess. Okay I''ll take it."

    Kyrtaar having heard their exchange while being ignored was the most confused person in the whole city at that point.

    "What project? And a challenge? I rarely hear master giving challenges" he thought.

    But with his mind mainly on the exam he realized something crucial.

    "Hey master you said there''s a queue right? Is there a sign up?" Kyrtaar asked.

    Him being quiet and suddenly asking that surprised Camedyr.

    "Oh right yes there is a list, I got it right here."

    Camedyr dug in to his drawer and picked up the parcel full of cards and took out a note with names on it in order.

    "You want to be in the queue?

    "Yes, please master. I''ll study earnestly as long as you allow me." stated earnestly.

    "Of course I will. Let me just write you down here. I''ll tell you when the last guy returns his cards. In the meanwhile you can work with some precious metals if you want or take a break. Or even better have a look at her progress, it should be interesting." Camedyr grinned.

    "Thank you master." Kyrtaar bowed.

    Camedyr turned back to Aleyn.

    "So you''re going to the quarry right? Want me to write you a letter or something?"

    "No need. I have enough money of my own." She claimed.

    "Alright. Go on then you two."

    Aleyn left the room but Kyrtaar stayed, he seemed to have some other business with Camedyr.

    There was still plenty of time left in the day so she decided to visit the quarry, she had already went past it on the way with the caravan so she knew where to go and it wasn''t that far away

 Chapter 17 - The Show

    The next day Kyrtaar was amongst the first people in the shop working on a piece of hardened steel that Camedyr had given him. He was making a soup ladle for his wife, he was actually a family man and had a baby girl as well. His wife had broken their own iron ladle yesterday and he wanted to make one so he had asked master if he could make it out of hardened steel so it would last.

    Camedyr didn''t have any problem with it so now he was at the shop early in the morning making a soup ladle out of a precious metal. Any other person would think its a waste of materials but for Kyrtaar giving his wife something like that wasn''t even a question.

    Since it wasn''t a part of his studies he had to work on the lower ranking side of the forge.While working he noticed  Aleyn enter the front shop, he was about to say good morning to her but she swiftly disappeared to the stair case and Camedyrs office. She was carrying a backpack which looked heavy, but once she left the office it seemed empty.

    Aleyn appeared and disappeared multiple times through out the morning and after her tenth trip she finally entered the workshop with her backpack empty and took post near Kyrtaar.

    "Morning Aleyn."

    "Morning Kyrtaar."

    After the greetings they both went back to what they were doing. Aleyn placed her backpack on the table and dug out her plans and some empty parcels.

    She read through her old notes briefly while shaking her head, she had gained a lot of new knowledge since she had last worked on the project so some of the previous notes were mostly useless for her. She picked up an empty paper and started making new notes and estimations.

    While Aleyn was working on her plans, students started to show up in to the workshop. Kyrtaar frowned, he was still working on his ladle and didn''t really want to draw attention with the precious metal but to his surprise he wasn''t the one drawing attention.

    The workers took post around the lower workshop, but everywhere they went they were taking a look at what Aleyn was working on. It was slightly unusual to see someone drawing plans on the lower workshop side after all.

    Looking through her notes one more time she nodded and put them down and head for Camedyrs office again.All of her notes were spread on the table and were drawing attention.

    "Project? Challenge?"

    Kyrtaar was getting curious himself, thinking there was no harm in having a look he decided to approach her post and have a look. Everyone looked at Kyrtaar approach in curiosity, as much as they were curious they didn''t really want to be the first one who went to have a peak at the lone plans.

    Kyrtaar took the most top paper in his hands and started reading. As he went on he got more impressed by the minute, her planning was very extensive and precise. She definitely put a lot of thought in to her plans of what looked like a large hammer. Having had enough he left the papers on the table and went back to working on his ladle which was almost done. After he had left people started to gather around the plans to have a casual look.

    Aleyn was carrying multiple steel bars down the stairs, taking care not to fall. As she entered the workshop she noticed a group of people gathering around a table. She didn''t think much of it and tried to remember where she had placed her things but after looking around the workshop she realized it, the group was on her spot.

    She approached the group while wondering what they were on about. She got to her anvil but the group showed no sign of leaving.

    "Uhum! She cleared her throat which caught everyone''s attention.

    "I''m trying to work here you know." she crossed her arms an tapped her foot.

    Everyone dispersed in slight panic.

    She took a moment to look at her now in a mess plans and sighed. She tried to reorder them but something didn''t feel right, it was as though a part was missing.

    At that moment she knew exactly which page was missing, it was outdated and had no real use for her but that had very little meaning to her. You don''t take Aleyns hard work.

    "OKAY! Who took the page!" she turned to face the people who had just left her table.

    They looked around each other and one guy especially seemed very protective as he hid his hands.

    "Hey you." Aleyn yelled.

    He shook in surprise as Aleyn approached. The guy was at least three heads bigger then Aleyn and twice as wide.

    "Why are you so scared? You took it didn''t you?" She said with an elevated tone.

    The guy took a look at Aleyn, who was so tiny and not threatening compared to him.

    "No..no I did''t, besides you wouldn''t need that page right? Its so out of date compared to the other ones and someone else could use it in the future" he said with a calm fearless voice yet was too stupid to realize he had just admitted everything.

    "No I won''t need it. But I want it back." she looked straight up at him towering over her.

    "Come on, what good is a page you''re not gonna use." He tried to look menacing and huge to scare her.

    "I want it back." she emphasized every word. Not caring about what he was trying to do.

    As if on schedule, the guy suddenly heard a low calm voice right next to his ear.

    "Give the girl her paper back.."

    The thief jumped in fright and turned around. Cofius was standing behind him and towering over even him, he was the true giant of the workshop after all.

    "Of course of course, I was just tempted before and I was going to hand it back after realizing. Definitely." He muttered fast and scared while giving the page back to Aleyn and scurried away.

    "Everyone back to work!" Cofius yelled.

    Aleyn took a look at the paper to confirm it was the one she was missing.

    "Good. Thanks Cofius." She smiled and thanked him after confirming.

    Cofius averted his eyes and kept walking. Aleyn didn''t care and just went back to her post.

    "Should I put the papers away or just trust that people don''t do that again? Think it''s good if they''re curious, but its bothersome if they go stealing."

    In the end she decided to hold it as an isolated incident. If it ever came down to it again she could always tell Camedyr that they have a thief in the workshop  and they would get kicked out probably. It would be too troublesome to hide her papers every time anyway.

    She put the paper in its proper place and started pre planning before starting to work.

    After a few hours her first iteration was done.

    She lifted it above her head to see it against the light and look it over which drew the attention of the nearby workers.

    The large hammer was quite impressive and since it was made of steel it shone brightly even when not polished. While looking the hammer over she noticed Camedyrs voice in the air and had an idea.

    Aleyn went to Camedyr with her hammer.

    "Hey boss, you got anything I can hit here that wont break easily?"

    Camedyr took a look at her and her hammer and realized what was on her mind. After a brief thought he grinned.

    "Oh yeaa. Follow me."

    Camedyr brought her to the very end of the workshop where there was only one huge anvil that looked as if it had not been used for a very long time. Unlike the rest of the anvils, this one felt out of place with its slight blue glow. He swiped some dust from on top of it before turning to Aleyn.

    "This right here... is my personal anvil. Hit it as much as you want, you''ll never break it."

    He stepped away and gave her room but kept looking at what she was doing out of curiosity.

    "Can I really?" she asked.

    "Yeh go on. It won''t break."

    She felt a little bit unsure but if he was okay with it then there wasn''t much to it. She took pose and a firm grip of the steel hammer. A loud yell was heard across the workshop followed by a large clear sound of metal hitting metal.

    The hammer held strong and the anvil didn''t budge. She readied for another blow, this time a side swing. The result was virtually identical. She swung the hammer a few times and was about to be finished with one final blow to the anvil. Camedyr had kept an eye on her the moment she started hitting the anvil. He had noticed a few things and was curious what Aleyn thought.

    Aleyn took her last swing over her head and hit the anvil. As she did, the hammers handle broke from the root of the hammers head and the hammers head went flying towards Camedyr .

    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    Aleyn was struck with a rush of fear, the steel head was pretty large and would definitely do a lot of harm to a person. But Camedyr himself didn''t show any concern over the projectile heading his way. He took a step away and the hammers head went flying in to the wall leaving it stuck inside. It actually dug quite deep in to the already worn wall but that could be easily be fixed.

    Camedyr pulled the head out and walked to Aleyn.

    "Well its a failure, but what did you learn?"

    "The balance is off, I need to adjust the weight around the head  quite a bit. Looking at the broken part of the handle it seems it was heated unevenly making the handle weak.

    Camedyr nodded.

    "Also you should make the handle longer."

    "Why? This feels fine for length?" She didn''t really get the idea.

    "A bit hard to explain. It''s something you start understanding after making a few weapons."

    "Well. I''ll take the great Camedyrs word for it." she said jokingly.

    "If you''re not gonna use that anymore then could you fix the handle properly and put it in the shop amongst other weapons? Even if its a failure for you its quality should be enough for someone else."

    "Can do." She said briefly and returned to planning while fixing the handle.

    She finished her second hammer before closing time and took it for a test run. It had better balance and the handle had been heated a bit better. But even with all that it shared the same problem as her previous hammer. The balance was still off and after a bit more pounding the handle broke again.

    She fixed the handle again and had a few goes at swinging it on the anvil. It didn''t break, but after fixing the hammer its handle had been left short and it was still uneven in balance. Deciding it was another failure she tossed it next to her last hammer in the shop and decided to call it quits for the day.

    The next day she was early up in the shop working on her next iteration of her project. She put a lot more effort in to the handles strength while taking notes.

    During her test run of the third hammer, she felt she had failed on improving the balance of the hammer, however she was very pleased with the results on the handle. After her 30th blow on the anvil it showed no signs of breaking. She was thrilled until she took her 31st hit on the anvil. The handle didn''t break completely, but it cracked.

    "Dammit!" She yelled.

    Camedyr had snuck away from his overseeing to watch her after hearing the continuous sounds coming from his anvil.

    "I thought that was good myself, over 20 hits on the anvil wasn''t it?"

    "It was 31. But it still broke."

    "Thats amazing. Work on the balance now." Camedyr said amazed and confused.

    "What good is a hammer that breaks after 31 blows?".

    Camedyr shook his head at Aleyn.

    "Girl you''re hitting the hardest thing on this planet. My anvil, if its made of steel and doesn''t break I might as well retire. That thing is made of Hardened Adamantium.

    Aleyns eyes blew wide open and in her shock she dropped the hammer which broke the handle. She knew very well how durable the metal was after she had read about it in the library.

    "Work on the balance." Camedyr left for his patrol in the workshop.

    Aleyn once again fixed her broken hammer and placed it in the shop. To her surprise the two previous ones she had placed on the same spot were now gone. She took a quick look around the shop in confusion.

    "Yeh some guys bought em earlier. What? You wanted em?"

    The lionkin shopkeeper had been watching her place her hammer.

    "Really?" She asked.

    "Yeh really."

    She was slightly shocked as she didn''t think they were that good. Camedyr had said that they might sell but it still surprised her. She let it go and went to work on her next hammer.

    It took her until her seventh hammer until she felt she had gotten the balance right, she had consistently gotten over thirty blows out of the handles and with all of the anvil hitting she had to rest her arms. Her pile of notes had grown double in size which gave her a nice feeling of accomplishment.

    For number seven she decided to let Camedyr have a look at the hammer before she would start hitting the anvil.

    Camedyr stood in front of the top ranker and picked up her hammer with one hand. It was way too small for him to use with two hands but it was alright since he only had to check it out.

    He swung the weapon like a one handed mace a few times in the air and once he stopped his eyebrows rose and he started nodding.

    "Impressive. The balance and quality are superb, but what about the handle eh?"

    "Want me to give it a go? I''ll give it a good ten swings before it breaks in my use." He boasted.

    "Sure go on." Aleyn answered

    Camedyr barely worked in the forge, but no one doubted his skill and strength. Not even Aleyn.

    "Lets see then." He raised his voice.

    The top rankers dropped their work to watch Camedyr hit his own anvil. It was a rare opportunity to observe the master even if he was just hitting an anvil.

    Camedyr walked up to his anvil and before starting brushed his hand over the anvil a few times. He then lifted the hammer to his shoulder level and swung it down like a forging hammer.

    The first hit shook the air around Camedyr which even the audience could feel, his eyes were fixated on the anvil as he was focusing on his blows. On his third blow even the lionkin from the shop had gotten curious over the massive sound reaching his front shop. The crowd stood still in silence as Camedyr proceeded with the test.

    Aleyn had realized what Camedyr had meant with the ten swings earlier. With all the strength he was showing it would definitely strain the hammer far more than in her use. She was eagerly waiting to see the results and when Camedyr reached the seventh swing she was starting to sweat. Would it break soon?

    Camedyr took another swing and smiled.

    "I feel it girl, its starting to break. Think it''ll last?" He turned his head towards Aleyn as he asked.

    Aleyn thought for a moment and looked at her hammer, a smile crept on her face.

    "It''ll last." she said with confidence.

    Camedyr turned back to the anvil.

    "Lets see then!" he yelled and hit the anvil

    The hammer held for its eighth and ninth hit.

    Everyone held their breath as he prepared for the tenth swing. To everyone in the room it sounded like the hardest of the swings, but the hammer didn''t show signs of breaking.

    Camedyr smiled and gave a small chuckle as he lazily hit the anvil softly for an eleventh time which broke the handle like a twig. A lot of workers gasped in shock since to them it seemed that the hammer was completely fine.

    "You pass girl. You still need to fix it though." he congratulated and let out another chuckle.

    All of the workers turned towards Aleyn but didn''t say a word while she passed through everyone to pick up the two pieces.

    "Okay! Shows over get back to work you shits." Camedyr raised his voice noticeably.

    The crowd scattered shortly and Aleyn went back to her anvil to fix the her seventh hammer and made a few extra notes.

    She placed the hammer in the same spot in the shop and again she was surprised to see that the previous hammers weren''t there.

    She took the rest of the day off to have a nice meal and then went to sleep.

    The next morning she went through the front shop again and got a shock to the start of her day. The last hammer she had made was already gone. Who kept buying her weapons? She wanted to have a go at swinging it around a bit before it was gone but that was obviously not an option anymore. Sighing she entered the workshop and went to the high ranker side where Camedyr was already yelling at people.

    He immediately saw her approach, as if he was waiting for her.

    "Ah finally girl. Go to my office I''ll be there in a minute."

    Thinking since she had passed the ''test'' he was going to name his supplier she went to his office to wait. After a few minutes Camedyr stumbled in after falling on the very last step.

    "FUCK!" He yelled in pain.

    "You alright boss?" She asked calmly.

    "Ahhh.... I''m fine, just hit a nerve."

    He walked to his chair while slightly limping which looked humorous for a big guy like him.

 Chapter 18 - Twenty Bars

    Camedyr after sitting down instead of saying something reached down to his side to the floor.

    "This is for you."

    He placed a bag in the middle of the table. Aleyn having no clue what was inside took a look and was stunned.

    The whole bag was filled with gold coins.

    "What the? How much is in there?" She asked.

    "Should be around 450 gold if the shopkeeper said the truth."

    Aleyn was in shock.

    "Why?"

    "Your hammers sold girl. They went quite fast in fact, people sure have eye for quality. Sort of scary" he calmly claimed.

    "Well obviously something sold, why am I suddenly rich is what I''m wondering?"

    "People make offers, we tell them a counter offer. It''s nothing special, is it that hard to accept your hammers sold for a large amount of money?"

    "Yes, yes it is." She said with a sigh as she build a small coin tower.

    "Well, not my issue. You gonna retire? Its not enough to build a castle but you could live your life happily without ever worrying about anything other than theft with this amount." Camedyr asked.

    "Hell no, this is all going in to my equipment." She wasn''t screwing around.

    Camedyr gave a hearty laugh.

    ""I want to improve myself." That''s you all right."

    "Wha?" she didn''t get what he meant.

    "Aww come now. You don''t remember what you told Cybil when he asked you why do you do what you do?"

    Aleyn took a moment to go back to that little town in her head. She had indeed said something like that when Cybil asked her.

    "You know how much strength it takes to destroy those hammers on my anvil? You''re quite terrifying for a little dwarf girl I can tell you that much. If you really want to become an adventurer you almost there." Camedyr said and smiled.

    "And what''s left?" She smiled and asked.

    "Rank one." he said bluntly.

    Aleyn looked him straight in the eyes, he was giving a very serious air around him.

    "And why is that?"

    "Girl you''ve been working with metals, you got strength and technique."

    He paused.

    "But the next ranks work with magic. You know how old I am? Who am I kidding of course you don''t and you don''t care. "

    Aleyn had nothing to say to that so she nodded.

    "Lets just say I''ve been out there exploring the world trying to find ways to improve my arts and to accomplish my goal to craft legendary items. If you pass the rank one exam, you will be ready for adventuring and more. I can guarantee you that."

    She was enjoying blacksmithing, but exploring Land of Irith was indeed her ultimate goal. Cybil had more than gotten her addicted to blacksmithing and Camedyr was just showing her more ways that made it interesting which had side tracked her. It wasn''t a bad thing though, her enjoyment was the main concern in everything anyway.

    "I will be going for rank one, don''t worry about that. I''ll even say I''m probably going to reach it in a month."

    "Pffft. I''ll remind you about that claim when you''re still a rank two." Camedy didn''t seem to agree with her estimation.

    "Anyway. I''m proceeding with my project. I need your supplier to see what they have."

    Camedyr thought for a moment.

    "Yeh you can have her. You got a map on ya ?

    Aleyn took her map out of her backpack and rolled it on the table.

    "Her shop should be around riiiight... there."

    Camedyr pointed towards the north side of the middle city.

    "Her shops a typical alchemy shop, she occasionally sends me some bars of high quality. No real clue how she gets them, probably transmutes them herself. Not my problem." Camedyr said care freely.

    "She got a name?"

    "Oh ye right. She''s called Asha. Shouldn''t be hard to find."

    Camedyr leaned back in his chair and took a look at the workshop from his window.

    "The hell is that idiot doing? Sorry I need to go down there, one of the idiots is being an idiot." he stood up and took quick strides.

    "Yeh it''s alright, I don''t have anything else to talk about either." she said while stuffing the money bag in her backpack.

    Aleyn looked around the middle of the city near the arena since Camedyr had pointed towards that area. Not having any luck she went a bit further north and noticed a house with a billboard which had the picture of a flask on it.

    "That''s an alchemist shop surely." she thought to herself and entered.

    Inside the store was full of shelves filled with different ingredients, ranging from flowers to rocks. There were also some books on the shelves, but she wasn''t here to look at any of it. Her goal was to have a chat with Asha. She went to the empty counter at the back and tapped on the table with some strength.

    "Comiing." A young voice rang from upstairs.

    A woman in her twenties came to the counter.

    "What do you need?"

    "Are you Asha?" Aleyn asked.

    "Yes that''s me."

    The woman in front of Aleyn was about two heads taller than her, had very plump facial features and  long straight red hair which reached her waist.

    Aleyn dug in to her backpack and threw the bag full of money on the counter.

    "Camedyr told me you provide him with precious metal. I want to see what you got."

    Asha took a peak inside the bag and gave an impressed expression.

    "Everything I got is upstairs. You can have a look. Take that bag with you though."

    They climbed the stairs, at the opposite side of the stairs there was a single door. Asha opened the door and let Aleyn in. Behind the door were four stands filled with bars of different colours. Aleyn went to have a look at each of them and was pleasantly surprised.

    Each stand held one certain metal. The first one held a blue ish metal, it very closely resembled what Camedyr''s anvil was made of.

    "Is this hardened adamantite?" Aleyn asked to confirm.

    "No, just normal adamantite. 300 gold per bar if you''re interested."

    She quickly put the bar down. She barely had enough money to make a adamantite butter knife.

    "Ugh.No I''m looking for quantity at the moment from these."

    She definitely wanted to have the best material, but it was very unlikely that she wouldn''t have to learn to work with the material before actually making her gear so she needed more than a few bars. In the end if she still had too much she could just sell em to Camedyr, he probably would happily accept any bars.

    "Ah, then you need to look at the back right one. Hardened Mithrils the cheapest I got in this room. 20 Gold per bar." she claimed.

    She moved to the back right stand. It was filled with clear green bar''s that reflected everything like a mirror.

    "I got 400 gold to spend, you have enough?"

    "Definitely should. Do we have a deal?" Asha asked with an absent smile.

    "Deal. I expect you''re here for a while? I''m gonna carry them all to Camedyrs today." Aleyn stated

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    "I''ll be here for the whole day, but really. Shouldn''t you hire some help?"

    "Naah I''ll be alright trust me. Just keep the door open when I''m moving."

    Aleyn took out 50 coins from the bag and gave it to Asha.

    "Want me to wait while you count?"

    "I have trust in Camedyr''s acquaintances. If I do find that you didn''t pay me properly I''ll get Camedyr to give you a nudge." She emphasized the nudge very clearly. Definitely a threat.

    Aleyn could fit around six bars in to her backpack, but at that point the seams of it started to scream. She took out three bars and decided to make more trips, her other option would have been to carry some in her hands but that would attract anyone who knew what Hardened Mithril looked like.

    It took her half of the day to carry  everything to Camedyr''s shop and at the end she was gasping for air while her back was yelling in pain.

    Camedyr yelled as he took a look at the pile of green bars in his office

    "You bought 20 bars of hardened Mithril? I thought you were making a hammer not a gate!"

    Aleyn was lying on the floor of Camedyrs office sweating heavily and gasping for air.

    "I need some bars to learn how to work with the material and with any extras I can upgrade my armor."

    "Over achiever." Camedyr said bluntly.

    "Rude man." She said with a joking tone as she swiped her face with her sleeve.

    "There''s still plenty of time left for today. You gonna take a break or are you gonna let the fatigue kill you?" Camedyr asked in a sarcastic manner.

    Aleyn frowned at him, but couldn''t really disagree. If she started working right now she would not get much done.

    "Know a place with good food?"

    "Oh do I! Broken horn a few buildings west has magnificent cooking." Camedyr answered, obviously very happy with broken horns service.

    Aleyns breathing had calmed down and she could sit up straight.

    "Wanna join me. I''ll treat ya."

    "You have no idea how much I would love to. Sadly I need to keep an eye on these guys right now. Delicate period." Camedyr sighed and looked out of the window.

    "Well, enjoy I''ll go have something."

    She left the bars in Camedyrs office and headed west, searching for the famous broken horn.

    The place wasn''t too hard to find. It looked to be a small restaurant which had a few tables outside of it.

    She strode in reaching for a few gold coins from her coin purse. Even though the place was small their menu was quite huge, it was quite impressive. She ordered fish stew, potatoes with a beef steak and a jug of freshly squeezed berry juice and went to sit outside.

    It took some time to get her order but when it came it looked to be very worth the wait as the servings were huge. She took turns in eating from the plate and the bowl of stew and as per Camedyrs built up expectations, they were definitely worth the money. Slowly eating and enjoying her meal she took some time to look at the people passing by, everyone was busy going about their day.

    While she was in her own world a person came to her.

    "Hey miss. You have a silver coin to spare? I''m slightly lacking for my lunch."

    She took a look at the guy. He appeared to be a man in his thirties and was wearing armor fit for battle but no weapon in sight. Abnormally tall and a lot of scars on his face with distinct nord characteristic.

    She took a look at her coin pouch and spotted a lone silver coin.

    "Yeh, you can have it."

    She didn''t bother conversing too much as she was more interested in relaxing and having a nice meal.

    "Thank you kindly." The man bowed.

    "No biggie."

    He strode inside and after a few moments strode out and took seat at the opposite side of the outside area.

    Aleyn stretched in her seat, bones cracking loudly. She still had plenty of food to go and enough room to fit them. She was about to continue when she was interrupted again. This time by a different crowd.

    "Wow girl that looks delicious, you wanna share?"

    She didn''t even bother to turn around, she knew exactly what this was.

    A group of men had gathered around her, it felt like a teenage bullying ring.

    "Come on girl share the wealth. We might hurt ya otherwise."

    The man who she had given the silver coin was looking at the scene with sharp eyes.

    "Is this karma? She gave me money and now in exchange I save her. Not the worst deal."

    One of the bullies put a hand on her shoulder and the armored man was just about to stand up and walk over when he witnessed something he wasn''t ready for.

    The dwarf girl took the guys hand and dislocated it without much effort. She showed no emotion when the man fell on the ground screaming in agony. The group supporting the guy took a hold of him and tried to fix his arm while one of them took the opportunity make the biggest mistake of their day.

    One of the bigger guys flipped her table, swinging her plate and bowl on the floor. She looked at the  mess for a second, her face went completely blank. The big guy then took her by her collar and lifted her up in the air, the dwarf girl still staring at her ruined food.

    At this point the Armored fellow had had enough. Even if she had dislocated the guys hand she was obviously in some sort of a shock. He was about to stand up again as he heard another scream, the big guy was now face down on the floor with his legs in the air. The dwarf girl kicked him in the back making him flip over and out of the restaurant area.

    The rest of the group was standing there in shock, not completely sure what had happened. At that point the dwarf girl exploded in anger and started yelling something about paying for her food which made the group disperse and run away. She chased them for a few steps but returned very quickly as they were quick on their feet.

    The dwarf girl returned to her seat and flipped her table which was now completely covered in soup. A waiter who had been watching the whole ordeal came from inside of the house to ask her if she was alright but she just asked for a broom and another bowl of fish soup.

    The armored man looked in awe as the dwarf girl was swiping the tiles with a broom while waiting for another bowl, sighing heavily.

    Aleyn after finishing her soup had taken a breather outside of the city walls as the events at the restaurant had been stressful, she was in a perfect place of relaxation and those guys just had to ruin it. But all she could do was just let it go. It took a bit for her to calm down emotionally but after doing so she returned back to Camedyrs workshop as she still had a little bit of time to try and work with the hardened Mithril.

    She spent the rest of the day with two bars and made skinning knives which she could use in the future.

 Chapter 19 - An Order

    Ken and Nicholas were at the gym. After hearing that Nicholas occasionally goes to lift some weights Ken set up a gym day for both of them. Ken''s build was for a lack of a better word, pretty poor but he had some enthusiasm.

    "Ah, this is far more satisfying with company." Ken said after a bit of benching.

    "Benching?" Nicholas asked.

    "No no, the whole gym thing. I''ve always wanted to start going but any time I try to pull myself here alone its doesn''t end well." He explained as he waved his arms around.

    "Ooh, yeh I can understand that." Nicholas answered as he lowered the weights on the bar.

    He put extra weights on to go with what Ken was lifting. Ken stood behind the benching rack and kept check that Nicholas didn''t hurt himself.

    Nicholas lifted the bar 15 times and then put it down.

    "Too light, is there a smaller weight anywhere?"

    He increased the weights and did two sets of 15 until he had enough.

    "Woah. You''re really fit man." Ken claimed.

    "I try to keep in shape yeh."

    "You got any interest in coming here and helping me work out few times a week? I could really use someone who knows what they''re doing to show me the ropes. Not to mention some company." Ken asked in a serious manner.

    "Yeh sure, I come here few times a week so you can tag a long. I''ll be your personal trainer"

    "Awesome man. No more feelings of having heart attacks while walking up the stairs." Ken made a victory pose.

    "Enough about that then. Next is squatting, you''re gonna be walking up no stairs today."

    Ken gave a questioning expression as they moved to the squatting area. Oh how he had no idea what was going to happen to his little legs today.

    They went through Nicholas''s usual training routine, lowering weights for Ken and letting him take a breather while Nicholas did his own sets, taking turns.

    They were finished with the gym area but Nicholas still wanted to swim.

    "Oh god, my body is dead." Ken cried out in the pool.

    "Quit being a baby. Did you think muscles grow without effort?"

    "I want my mommy..." Ken cried out again.

    "Two laps in the pool, take it slow."

    Ken started swimming and kept bitching for a while until his body felt better and he quieted down.

    Their first gym session of the week was done and both Ken and Nicholas were on a bus heading to the city center.

    "Got to say, props to you for doing this alone willingly." Ken said while sitting in the bus.

    "Think it''s just comes to getting used to it. Next thing you know you''ll be at the gym the whole day and quitting the university to just build muscle." Nicholas winked at Ken.

    "Haahaahaa. Comedian." Ken laughed slowly in a sarcastic manner.

    They chatted around and set up their next session in a few days and once the bus got to the center they parted their ways.

    It was a quiet day in Dvalfgar, surprisingly quiet. It was mid day and the crowd on the way to Camedyrs workshop was a lot thinner than usual.

    Aleyn didn''t think much of it as she entered the front shop. The shop had a few people looking at the merchandise, some looked more fit for fighting and some looked like nobles.

    "Hello Aleyn." the lionkin greeted her.

    "Hello Thucata."

    After the first few weeks of working in the workshop, Thucata came to apologize and properly introduce himself to her. She wasn''t bothered about how he had treated her, it wasn''t that uncommon for ''secretary'' people to do that after all.

    As she was entering the workshop she noticed a few people heading up the stairs in to Camedyrs office. It rose some questions in her head but she realized they were probably just interested in getting something made by the students. She walked in to the workshop and found a spot where she could put her backpack to and start working on her project. That was until she heard a loud familiar voice.

    "Aleyn get in here."

    The voice definitely belonged to Camedyr so she thought he wanted something at the higher ranking side of the forge. To her surprise he wasn''t there

    "No you dummy up here!"

    Aleyn looked up and saw Camedyrs office window open and he was sticking his face out of the window. Without further waiting she strode to the stairs.

    When she entered the office she saw a nobleman sitting in the chair across from Camedyr. A huge well built nord man with a huge beard was bowing down besides him as he was too tall for the room.

    "Yes boss?" she said as she ignored the pair and approached the table.

    When she got next to the pair she noticed a huge hammer on the table and her eyebrows rose. The hammer looked like one of her previous experiments, though its head was more worn than any of the hammers she had last seen.

    The nobleman and the nord at first didn''t really understand why Camedyr had called a little girl in to the office but his next words pretty much explained it completely

    "This is your work yes?" Camedyr said.

    She picked it up and gave a swing or two in the air.

    The nobleman was internally shocked when she saw the dwarf girl swing the hammer around so easily.

    "Yeh this is my work, probably number five or six. Why?"

    "This man here wants you to make another one."

    And at that point the quiet nobleman interrupted their conversation.

    "Pardon me, I haven''t introduced myself. I am Mathias Eldering, you might have heard about me." the noble introduced himself.

    Having been convinced that she was indeed the maker of the hammer he introduced himself with confidence.

    "Nope. Never heard of, sorry." She answered bluntly.

    The noble gave a slight frown but shook it off immediately.

    "Well regardless, yes. I wish to have you make me another hammer like this. My bodyguard Garnot here came to like it and it''s small enough for him to use a second one." he smiled and patted Garnot on the back.

    Aleyn took a look at Garnot and his hands. He definitely could dual wield two of the hammers if he really wanted to.

    "Don''t wanna." She answered bluntly again.

    "Case closed then, sorry to disappoint ya Mr.Eldering." Camedyr apologized to the nobleman.

    "Wait wait, I''ll supply the steel and pay you extra since you''re unwilling." He sounded desperate.

    The last part caught her attention.

    "How much?"

    "75gold.." nobleman said in a calm voice

    "85, no less." She said with a stern voice.

    The nobleman sighed.

    "Fine, 85 gold."

    "And do you want the latest version? If not then I need that one so I can see which one it is." Aleyn asked.

    "Latest version?" nobleman asked in confusion

    "Yeh, that ones probably five or six but its hard to tell unless I compare it with notes. Seven is the latest one I made and my latest master piece.

    "Hehe yea. Took eleven hits for me to break it on my anvil, that was a nice hammer."

    Garnots eyes shot open and he put his hand on the noblemans shoulder.

    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    "Boss.."

    The nobleman took a look at the excited nord and thought for a moment.

    "Could you make two of the best hammers for 170gold?" he asked.

    "Sigh that''ll take me all day... 180gold."

    It was starting to feel like some form of extortion to Matthias as one side demanded more money and the other side really really wanted the hammers. Even though it was only a steel hammer it was still worth it for Garnot since they had never had any real use for a higher grade weapon.

    "Sigh. You''ve been a good bodyguard for these years Garnot. Lets just call it a gift of my appreciation. Fine 180gold for two hammers."

    "Deal. Pick them up tomorrow. Wheres the steel?" Aleyn  asked.

    "My carriage is outside, we should have enough material for both hammers."

    A horse carriage was parked next to the door. It was an odd sight and Aleyn was surprised she had not noticed it when she entered the front shop. Garnot lifted a massive storage chest from the back of the carriage and brought it in. They placed the steel bars at her anvil and took off.

    She had plans to test a few things with her hardened Mithril bars but since she was lacking in money after buying all of it in the first place she was very compelled to take the job.

    She could only finish the first hammer today, the hammers quality was on target and all of its properties were fine. She sighed in relief, it would have been very frustrating if she had forgotten how to make the latest version after her few days of not making them. Being close to closing time she brought the left over steel bars in to Camedyr''s office and called it a night.

    The next day the noblemans carriage arrived at the workshop at mid day and he strode to Camedyrs office to ask if the hammers were done.

    "She finished one of them yesterday and shes been going at the second one for a few hours. She should be done soon. Go and have a look, you can see her from the door."

    Aleyn was working on the hammer''s head, the whole thing looked done but after she gave it a few swings she reheated the head a bit and put it against the anvil again. Aleyn smiled after a few last swings, she felt that the hammer was ready and placed it on the table next to the other one and at that point she noticed the Garnot and Matthias watching her from the door.

    "Your hammers are done sir." she yelled at the pair.

    Garnot and Matthias approached her and Garnot picked up the two hammers and started playing with them.

    "They good Garnot?" the nobleman asked.

    "Very." He answered while spinning the hammers between his fingers like drumsticks.

    "Good work miss. I''ll be sure to tell my colleges about your work." He said as a noble gesture.

    "I''d prefer if you didn''t, though I''m not gonna stop you. I just needed some money for food." Aleyn answered in a very matter of fact manner.

    "Very well then... Come Garot, let us be off." He said and sighed. This girl was very hard to please.

    The pair left the workshop without much fuss.

    Aleyn went to broken horn for a fast meal as she had not eaten breakfast in her absent mindedness and returned to the workshop to do some test with the hardened Mithril bars for the rest of the day.

    The next day she decided to focus more on her project. Aleyn felt that she had gotten a good grasp of hardened Mithril, but instead of making the hammer she decided to make a new chest piece for herself to test out the difference between the materials.

    She took a look at her notes from her previous work and started writing and sketching.

    Kyrtaar entered the workshop, he had spent more than half of the day in the library asking for new candles so he could read for longer. His studies yielded some results and he was happy with his progression he was going to have ago at the exam today.

    On the way to the top ranker side he noticed Aleyn pondering over her paper and got curious.

    "Having trouble Aleyn?" Kyrtaar asked as he stood next to her looking at her drawing.

    Her plans were good, but there were a lot of smudges around the armor like she had tried to erase something.

    "Sort of. I''m ready to start with this but I wanted to decorate it a bit. It turns out I have very low artistic skills."

    "Want me to try?" Kyrtaar asked.

    "You any good?"

    "I''m not bad." He said in a very relaxed manner.

    She gave the paper to Kyrtaar who thought for a moment and then started to sketch on the design.

    He only put very generic zigzag patterns around the collar and the skirt of the chest piece but it looked a lot better than what she had done previously.

    "That''s actually nice and simple. Thanks."

    "No problem." Kyrtaar smiled and walked away.

    She took a look at the overall armor design and cleaned up the mess that it was while thinking how she was going to make the patterns that Kyrtaar had made.

    Few hour''s before closing time, she was done with the chest piece.  She had gotten quite a few odd looks when she stuck the finished hardened Mithril armor in to the forge to heat the parts for the pattern but in the result didn''t harm the armor and it looked a bit better with a little art on it.

    "Looks good Aleyn. Though I''m not gonna say the way you went about decorating it is the right way."

    Camedyr had caught her in the middle of forging the chest and stood around to observe her. He had a huge episode of confusion and laughter when she stuck the completed armor piece in to the forge to heat it for decorations.

    "How the hell would I make any patterns on it then?" She asked in frustration while looking at Camedyrs giggling face.

    "Thats Rank two stuff right there girl. Speaking of which, when are you taking the exam? Kyrtaar over there failed his first attempt and is going to try again tomorrow."

    "I''m not doing any exams until I complete my hammer." she said with an angry tone.

    "You sure? I think it would be a lot better to make if you were higher rank." Camedyr claimed.

    Aleyn took an angry look at Camedyr but after seeing his nonchalant smiling face she took a long deep breath and calmed herself.

    "You going to tell me why then?" she asked.

    "Nope!"

    She looked at Camedyr with a very unimpressed expression. Sometimes she wondered if this guy was really trying to be a teacher at all.

    But wait.. Didn''t Cybil ask her something similar when she was figuring things out?

    ""You really want the weapon right now?"". She recalled back to after her duel with Cybil. He had definitely had said that.

    Were they both trying to hint at her that she should wait with it? Was there some merit with making the weapon later on? All the signs pointed to yes, even if the signs were two weird men.

    "Is the library free today?"

    "No. Kyrtaar went there. I can put you in the queue though. " Camedyr said while pointing up at his office.

    "You do that then. I''ll take the rest of the day off."

    "Will do."

 Chapter 20 - Stubborn

    The queue only had one person before her so she only had to wait till later in the evening.

    She spent quite some time in the library and once she returned to the workshop it was close to closing time. Still she wanted to take the test and Camedyr having no problem with it proceeded to gave it to her.

    Camedyr and Aleyn were in his office and she was about to finish the exam.

    "Faiiled ~" Camedyr said with a slight singing tone.

    "What!? Why? Where?" Aleyn cried out.

    "You don''t heat adamantite in the deep end of the forge, that ruins its durability once it solidifies, Adamantium on the other hand you want to heat as high as you can at the end of the forge because otherwise it will not give in. Also this right here isn''t dranium its hardened dranium, you can see the difference when you put it against light as there''s a slight blue hue when you look at it closer.

    Aleyn had her hands on her face as she thought things through.

    "I failed.."

    "Cheer up, it''s not the end of the world. You can re-try after Kyrtaar has had a go at it tomorrow." Camedyr patted her shoulder.

    "It''s time to close the shop now, go and get some sleep and try and dream of metal."

    Camedyr left his office to shoo the workers out.

    Aleyn couldn''t believe she had failed, she had great confidence in her memory and learning but had it really been too much for her? Would Camedyr go out of his way to fail her for some reason? If he did it would be very uncharacteristic of him. She looked at the table which still had the ore on it and the parcel for the library cards. She stared at the ore for a few minutes and left.

    When Camedyr came back Aleyn had already left long ago. He took some time to clean up the ore from the table while trying to figure out which ones he should use for tomorrows exam. While cleaning up he picked up the parchel and the stack of cards fell on the table scattering them all over it.

    "Sigh, dammit."

    He picked up the scattered stack and started counting through them.

    "Twenty one, twenty two, twenty... wait."

    Two cards were missing. He took a look around the floor even though he was sure that the stack had fallen on the table, yet two cards were missing. He went through all of the cards and as he had gone through them he knew exactly which ones were missing.

    "Did that girl really?" He sighed.

    The next day Camedyr eagerly waited to hear from Aleyn, but she didn''t come in the morning. In the evening he gave Kyrtaar his exam and he failed again, but Camedyr couldn''t give him the cards as they were missing. As time went by he was starting to wonder if Aleyn had done something stupid like stolen the books, they were worth a lot as very few other men had done such extensive research as he had.

    He was doing some paper work in his office later in the evening and a knock came on the door.

    "Come in."

    And to Camedyrs surprise the one he had been waiting for entered the room, but after a quick look at her she didn''t seem okay.

    Aleyn walked slowly and her body wavered from left to right slightly, under her eyes she had the most distinct dark rings he had ever seen and her face looked pale. She threw the two missing cards on the table.

    "I want to take the exam again."

    "You sure?" He asked since she didn''t seem to be alright.

    "Yes, I''m sure." she said with a slight spiteful tone.

    He looked at her sorry state. She looked like she hadn''t slept since they last saw each other. She should have really gone to sleep or at least eaten before she came here. He was thinking of forcing her to retire for the day but it didn''t look like she would go willingly.

    Camedyr reached behind himself and picked a bag out of the nearby chest and stated looking for specific ore. The bag looked to be filled with many ore and bars, it took some time for him to even find one ore which he placed on the table. But at that point it looked like Aleyn had had enough and she snatched the bag from his hands.

    "Thats mithril, you heat it normally like steel and iron. You forge it in the same matter as both as well but due to its higher heat resistance you have to reheat it multiple times more."

    She picked up another piece at random and took a quick look at it then placed it on the table.

    "Hardened adamantite, you heat it in a steady temperature and forge it by hitting the edges first while working towards the middle of the bar. Once its in a flat state you can forge it however you wish to."

    She kept picking up things out of the bag and explaining properties and processes to Camedyr who sat there quietly while listening. Even after the first ten ores she kept taking them out and explaining. The bag had 30 odd something ore and bars in it and once she had placed them all on the table and the bag was empty she shook the bag upside down in the air once or twice before collapsing completely on the table in front of her.

    Camedyr kept looking at her for a while. She had explained all of the ore in an adequate manner, she definitely passed but what had she done since yesterday? Did she really take the cards and read the whole night until now? In the end it didn''t really matter, she was alright and the cards were returned.

    Not wanting to let her lay on his desk Camedyr made a makeshift bed out of some empty bags on the floor and lifted her off the desk.

    "Come on miss stubborn. Lets have a good rest at least." He said as placed her on the bags.

    Camedyr left the office where Aleyn was resting even with all the hammering and yelling in the workshop. Camedyr went to have a quick look at everyone in the forge area and then head out to get something.

    Aleyn slept like a rock and after few hours she started to hear the hammering in the workshop which gradually woke her up. She had a massive head ache and her body felt frail, after a bit of sobering up she realized she was laying on the floor in Camedyrs office which was empty. She looked around for a bit to confirm and then noticed something peculiar. There was a bowl sitting on Camedyrs table and a slight aroma in the air. With her empty stomach rumbling she approached the bowl and confirmed what she expected it to be. Fish stew, it was the fish stew she had bought a few days ago at Broken horn. At that point her self restraint was pretty low so she sat down and started eating the stew without care if it was actually for her.

    While in the midle of eating she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. The door opened and Camedyr stepped in.

    "Awake at last huh. Feeling better? You looked pretty shit earlier."

    "Yes, thank you." It didn''t take much to realize that Camedyr had placed her on the bag bed and brought her some soup.

    Camedyr sat down on his chair and looked at the girl eating her soup.

    "You do realize what you did was pretty stupid right?" He asked.

    "I didn''t take failing the exam too well..."

    Camedyr looked at her sorry expression.

    "No kidding. Do I now have to keep an eye on you if you fail anything in the future?"

    Aleyn had a complex expression while she seemed to be thinking something. In the end she only sighed.

    "You''re right, it was stupid. Blacksmiths are meant to have patience and I after failing went and did all of this."

    "There''s no harm in being stubborn as a blacksmith, but I can''t think of a worse way to treat yourself than reading in a dusty cellar over a night to the point where you collapse." Camedyr frowned.

    "You''re right boss. I''m sorry." Aleyn shrunk down.

    "Now that you''re a rank two you really need to watch it. I''m not gonna tolerate you trying to kill yourself in my workshop."

    She nodded in understanding and then realized what he had just said.

    "Wait, you''re letting me pass?"

    "Well of course. You explained everything correctly and identified the pieces perfectly. No real reason not to pass you." He explained.

    "Thank you boss. I can promise this will not happen again in my life time."

    Camedyr gave a slight smile

    "We can talk more tomorrow. I want you to go and have a proper meal not just soup and after that you''re going to bed."

    "With pleasure." She agreed while finishing her bowl.

    The next day she was up early and immediately left for the workshop. When she arrived Camedyr was already giving instructions around. Camedyr took his time to give orders around in the high ranker side. Kyrtaar was amongst them, he had been there even earlier than Aleyn and took his third try at the exam and finally passed.

    Kyrtaar was working with a small blade and something that looked a diamond the size of a fingertip.

    "Ah girl you''re here early, good good." Camedyr walked up to her.

    "Morning boss. Whats Kyrtaar doing?"

    "Rank two stuff." he said with a straight face.

    "Well I''m a rank two. What is he doing?" she asked with a slight annoyed tone.

    Camedyr rolled his eyes and sighed.

    "Kyrtaar over there is focusing on that crystal and trying to transfer his magical energy in to it just enough for it to  lose a little bit of its structure so he can stick it in to that blade without much complications. If he puts too much in to it, it will most likely explode and cause a small feedback."

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    Aleyn nodded.

    "You don''t have a clue do you?" Camedyr asked.

    "Nope!" she said in an honest manner

    "That''s why you didn''t need to know. You got a long way to go before you get to where Kyrtaar is at." Camedyr claimed.

    "A long way? How''s Kyrtaar doing it today already then? Didn''t he pass just today?"

    "Kyrtaar over there has the privilege of knowing magic already. As far as I know you can''t even operate your badge." Camedyr snorted.

    She couldn''t deny that statement. Any time someone had used her badge she had tried to make it work without any results.

    "Well not everyone learns to use magic without outside assistance so that right there is what we need to fix. Your task for today is to visit little Nancy."

    "Who?" She had no clue.

    "Little Nancy is a friend of mine, that girl has been working in the magic industry for decades. You got your map with you?"

    Camedyr showed a north side of the city.

    "Nancy''s shop is around the north west side of the city, her shop has a billboard with a wand on it. It''s not that big so it might take some time to find. I occasionally send students who can''t use magic to her so shes pretty reliable, give her this."

    Camedyr handed a letter to Aleyn and she took off. The only thing she needed to have was the letter so she left her backpack at the workshop.

    On the way to little Nancy she was in her thoughts.

    "A litle shop with a billboard that has a wand on it at the north west side of the city. Shouldn''t be that hard to find... wait."

    She stood in front of the little house with a bill board that had a wand on it. The first day when she had arrived to Dvalfgar she had taken a tour around the city and stumbled in to this shop.

    "Was that little Nancy back then? But she was a little girl surely... though the name little Nancy..."

    She stepped inside to the familiar store with walls covered in bookshelves that were filled to the brim with books. Walking to the back of the store she noticed the little ram girl sitting on a stool reading a book without a title. She didn''t notice her approach until Aleyn was right in front of her.

    The little ram girl jumped off her stool and stared at Aleyn from below.

    "Ooh its customer! You think you buy expensive book this time?" She asked with her slightly broken speech.

    "Erm no I''m afraid. I''m looking for little Nancy. Are you little Nancy?" Aleyn asked.

    The ram girl looked at her with her gleaming eyes and tilted her head.

    "I little Gilly no Nancy, Granny Nancy upstairs." She pointed at the stairs at the corner of the room.

    "Granny Nancy?" She thought to herself.

    "Erm, can I talk to her? She asked with an unsure tone.

    Gilly took long hops and climbed up the stairs while yelling.

    "Granny, customer want talk."

    Aleyn could hear some muffled talk through the floor but nothing more. In a few moments Gilly hopped down the stairs and came to her again.

    "Granny want know what customer want."

    "Erm, I was sent by my teacher here and he said to talk to little Nancy. Oh and he gave me this letter." She explained and handed the letter to the little girl.

    Gilly took the letter and hopped back up the stairs and there was another set of muffled conversation. She waited patiently until the little ram hopped down the stairs again.

    "Granny ask you come upstairs."

    "Oh, okay. Thank you." Aleyn answered.

    "No problem customer." the little girl raised her high voice in a cheerful tone.

    Aleyn walked up the wooden stairs and at the top took a look around. There were a few rooms but one door at the back of the corridor was open so she went there. Stepping inside the room she took a look around and noticed it was pretty empty, there were a few cabinets and some odd items but the rooms main attraction was a big cushioned chair in the middle of it which was turned away from her as she entered.

    "Come in, it''s been a while since Camedyr sent anyone."

    A clear voice echoed from in front of Aleyn. She took steps inside unsure of anything other than that the voice came from behind the chair.

    Having gotten in front of the chair she could now see the source of the voice. Granny Nancy was not a fitting name is what she first thought.

    The person sitting in that chair was another beast man with rams characteristics. She looked very much like Gilly on the first floor but she was a lot taller and she looked more mature in the proper places.

    Oddly enough her horns were small, usually the older a ram got the bigger their horns got. She wore a thick purple veil over herself that covered her from neck to toe and some odd looking jewelry.

    Like having read Aleyns mind she spoke.

    "Yes, our people have very strong inheritance. Most generations strongly resemble each other."

    Aleyn was slightly shocked but when you thought about it more, it was probably a common occurrence for her.

    "Please, sit down." Nancy asked.

    There was a stool right in front of Nancys chair. It didn''t look like something they usually kept there so Gilly probably had moved it there before leaving.

    "So a little girl like you has reached the point where they need to know magic to advance forward. Tell me, how is Camedyr doing these days, its been a while since we''ve talked."

    Aleyn talked about her days in the workshop. From the first time she met him to yesterday when he had scolded her.

    "Oh, that man never changes even after all. Well, enough about the past. You want to learn how to use magic and theres only one thing to do." Nancy stated.

    She straightened her posture in the chair and gestured towards Aleyn.

    "Pull yourself closer girl."

    Aleyn pulled her stool in front of Nancy.

    "What we''re going to do is. I''m going to transfer my magical energy to you, a common practice amongst magicians. To them it replenishes ones depleted energy, but to a person with no magical power it causes a chain reaction in your body. Awakening your own power."

    She took hold of Aleyns hands which startled her slightly.

    "Don''t be afraid. At first it will feel like your body is being intruded on, but once the reaction starts it will feel like you''ve discovered a long lost limb that was always attached to you." She explained.

    "Once it starts you should naturally know how to control it to a certain extend and after that point you''re ready to advance to different elements of magic or in your case enchanting since you''re a blacksmith." She continued.

    "Are you ready?"

    Aleyn nodded.

    "Then let us begin."

    At first it felt like nothing was going on, but in a moment the air around them started to feel thicker and there was a slight breeze coming from Nancy. It seemed odd to Aleyn, wasn''t she suppose to feel like her body was intruded upon? And that''s when she felt it. It was as if insects were crawling through Nancys hands in to her hands. It felt extremely uncomfortable for a few seconds as it engulfed her whole body. Nancy released Aleyns hands and observed her in silence, was something wrong?

    No, it was just delayed. Aleyns spine jerked in a fast motion and her whole body convulsed in a steady pulse few times, if the bugs under her felt extremely uncomfortable this felt like someone was forcibly bending her.

    The pulses ended and she felt extremely fatigued. Nancy was about to open her mouth, but then something that even she wasn''t expecting happened.

    Aleyn convulsed again and emitted a small wave which had enough power to push around furniture. Nancy already felt it coming and raise both of her hands out to her sides. The pulse was negated by her own. She narrowed her eyes on Aleyn.

    "What are you doing Aleyn?" Nancy questioned her with a raised voice.

    "I''m not doing anything!" She said in a distressed manner.

    To Aleyn it felt like she had lost all control over her own self. She could try and move her limbs, but ultimately the force coming out of her had the reigns as she dropped on her knees.

    A constant stream of energy flowed out and Nancy felt it, she knew what was going on. Aleyn was deflating like a balloon and once that balloon was empty she would go in to a state which could danger her life.

    Nancy quickly moved her right hand towards Aleyn and exerted her will on her at which point Aleyn could only feel her consciousness slip away as she fell on the ground.

    Nancy flipped her on her back with her power over her and noticed something distressing. The flow had disappeared, but even now she was still deflating her power while unconscious. It wasn''t at a dangerous level like before as it was replaced by her own regenerated power. Nancy shook her head and stood up from her chair.

 Chapter 21 - Hindrance

    A piece of paper traveled with the wind, spinning falling and then rising up again inside the cave like environment of Dvalfgar. It traveled through the city and entered Camedyr''s workshops front door. The gust of wind blew through the front door knocking the smaller equipment over.

    "Woah, windy in the mountains." Thucata said and closed the front door slightly.

    Meanwhile inside the workshop, the wind was still traveling through the building while carrying a piece of paper. Some badly balanced armor pieces fell down from the racks which startled a lot of workers and they rushed to pick them up. Meanwhile the piece of paper was being carried to the back of the forge towards the top ranker side. A few times it would come close to the forges flames yet always avoid being burned.

    "Is it colder here than usual?" a worker said.

    "Think the house might need some repairs, air is flowing in somewhere."

    "It does feel like it." another worker replied.

    "Heyhey! That''s nonsense, this place is in perfect shape! Less gossip, more work!" Camedyr yelled.

    The piece of paper flowed through the room towards Camedyr who noticed it approach from the corner of his eye. As it aproached he grabbed it in mid air, first thinking it was just a random piece of trash but a closer look revealed something else.

    "Aahh, I see."

    Camedyr took a look at the workers and deemed he had a few minutes to spare.

    "You guys watch it, I need to go to my office for a bit."

    Camedyr entered his office and took a seat. He took a look at the piece of paper which was worn but completely clear of any text or sketching.

    He enchanted the paper with a small amount of his magical power and let go of it on the table. The paper floated in the air for a few moments and combusted to dust which floated down on to the table but the flame which ignited the paper did not disappear. The flame burned in mid air for a while without anything else happening.

    In a moment the flames parted slightly, forking from the top down.

    "Oh Hello, did it get through?"

    Nancys voice was the first thing to come through but in a moment you could see an image of her inside the flame.

    "Hey Nancy! How is my little girl." Camedyr shouted.

    "You don''t need to yell dear, I can hear you fine."

    "So, hows my little Nancy." Camedyr smiled.

    "Oh you know perfectly well I''m not little anymore. I''m a grandmother and starting to get grey hair as well." Nancy giggled.

    "You''ll always be my little Nancy no matter how old you are girl." Camedyr chuckled.

    "Oh dear. You never change." Nancy shook her head.

    "Is Aleyn on her way here now then? She left quite a while ago."

    "No no, she''s still here. We ran in to some complications.." Nancy frowned slightly.

    Camedyr gave a confused look at her.

    "Eh?"

    "Take a look." Nancy said as the image changed.

    Aleyn was laying on the floor unconscious with her head over a pillow. Camedyrs eyes shot wide open.

    "Hey! What did you do to my student Nancy!"

    "Calm down, shes just asleep. She was turning in to a problem." Nancy answered.

    "What?"

    "She was exploding her power uncontrollably.I almost had to order new cabinets." Nancy sulked.

    "She can''t control it at all?"

    It wasn''t unheard of but still quite rare.

    "Not even one bit. The moment I wake her up she''s gonna start destroying my house again." Nancy explained.

    Camedyr thought for a moment, but having not come up with any answer he turned to the expert.

    "So what do you suggest Nancy?"

    "Well... To save her life we need to either seal her power, in which case she might never be able to use it again. " She said without much care.

    Camedyr raised his eyebrow disapprovingly.

    "And the obvious choice?"

    "She trains to control it.... It would require a lot of effort from her and some equipment but it is definitely something she could do in a week or two."

    Camedyr slapped his forehead. No shit, train to control it.

    "I doubt she wants the first option, I think I know her enough to know that. What do we need to do to help her then?"

    "Well ideally she doesn''t leave my house until she''s ready. No other distraction apart from learning, we have some unused rooms where she can stay so that''s not a problem. Other than that I have all the necessary equipment here. My only problem is if she breaks anything how will she ever pay for it." Nancy said worryingly.

    "Oh, you don''t need to worry about that girl. She shouldn''t have any problem paying for things."

    "Well there''s no problem then I''ll happily help her. Though I might pressure her to buy a book or two for payment." Nancy said while trying to sound evil.

    Camedyr rolled his eyes. She wasn''t too convincing.

    With the matter settled Nancy continued chatting with Camedyr.

    "How have you been anyway then Camedyr? Busy busy working?"

    They talked for a while through the fire and as the flame died down so did their chatter. Once Nancys flame died completely she prepared Aleyn with some equipment before waking her up.

    Aleyn opened her eyes slowly. Her last memories were a feeling of exploding from within which made her scared for her life. She lifted herself up to sit and took a look confused look around the room before noticing Nancy.

    "Had a nice nap?" She asked.

    "What happened?"

    Nancy started explaining everything from asking her what she was doing as she was exploding to her conversation with Camedyr. After hearing her explanation Aleyn had a good idea of what her situation was. She felt disappointed in her self but there was no helping it.

    "So when do we start?"

    "Oh you''ve already started. Take a look at your arm." Nancy laughed.

    Aleyn took a look at her right arm. There was nothing odd about it but when she looked at her left arm there was something weird going on.

    On her bicep there was a tattoo, or was there? The tattoo was moving, it looked like like random splashes on a canvas which kept moving around her arm while changing form.

    "What is this?"

    "Oh don''t be concerned about the enchantment. What you really should be concerned is about the ring on that hand."

    There was a dark ring which looked like a simple loop around her index finger. It didn''t look special in any way.

    "I say again.. What is this?"

    "Well that ring right there is whats keeping you alive. Basically its acting like how a normal persons control should, but in a more forced manner." Nancy explained.

    "And the pattern?"

    "That pattern, is an enchantment. It''s designed to monitor and limit what a criminal can do with their power, though for you I''ve altered it a bit. You should be able to use some of your power due to it, but not much."

    "There anything else? No mystery enchantment in my pants?" Aleyn asked.

    "No no, those should be the only two you need. Unless of course you want something extra in there." Nancy said and winked.

    Without further hassle they started her training. Nancy brought out a bowl of what seemed to be simple water and placed it on a table she had brought from another room.

    "Observe."

    She placed her hands on the edges of the bowl and stared at the center of the water.

    Aleyn took a closer look at the water in the middle, seeing nothing out of the ordinary she pulled her face over the water bowl. She lowered her head closer and suddenly a splash of water hit her face startling her.

    "Hahahaaha. It never gets old." Nancy chuckled.

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    Aleyn cleaned her face on her shirt and gave Nancy a frustrated look.

    "Now now. There''s a reason for this, not the water splash though that was just for a giggle."

    She calmed her own laughter before continuing

    "What I want you to do is try and get a feeling. Try to Influence the water in the bowl. Go on, try." Nancy gestured at the bowl

    Aleyn put her hands on the edges of the bowl and tried but the only thing she could do was small waves which were more likely to be coming from her hand movements than from any power she used.

    Nancy noticed her tense up and focus on her hands more than the bowl.

    "Relax your hands, Focus. What do you want to happen."

    Aleyn tried, she really tried but she couldn''t make anything happen. She kept trying for a few minutes but the only thing she could create was a few drops of sweat on her forehead.

    "Absolutely nothing huh." Nancy thought.

    With no clear results Nancy spoke up.

    "You can stop now."

    Aleyn let go of the bowl and sat down on the floor. Her head hung dejectedly.

    "Tell me Aleyn, what do you feel right now." Nancy asked.

    "Exhausted, confused. Maybe a little depressed."

    "That''s not what I mean. Do you not feel something else, something new? Take a moment and try, breath calmly and try to feel that ''something''."

    She sat on the floor breathing in and breathing out. She kept doing it, and in the absence of distracting sounds she started to hear the commotion around the house, thins like Gilly downstairs humming as she read her book. She heard and felt the ground slightly rumble as a carriage went past the house.  She looked for that little something, something out of place.

    It wasn''t Gilly humming or the carriage and people making noise. There was something else. Something felt out of place, there was something new. Wanting to go deeper she closed her eyes and focused harder.

    While Nancy observed her she could also hear and feel the same things Aleyn could, it wasn''t weird. Anyone  in a absent of sound would start to hear or feel the smallest of distractions around them. She observed her while the sounds and movements of the earth became more clearer,  an experienced magic user like her could feel a lot more than one like Aleyn but that wasn''t the point. Aleyn needed to learn how to sense magic, it would help her learn to control her power.

    The tattoo on her arm started to change, with passing of time it started to look less and less like brush strokes and more and more like thick lines, as if the uneven bits were being ground off.

    "Hard to tell whats happening, but I think she''s getting the idea."

    Out of nowhere the door to the room swung open.

    "Granny ~, I go buy lunch things?"

    The silence was broken along with both of their concentration. Aleyns tattoo returned to its original rough form. Gilly had slipped past their senses while both of them were concentrating more on the outside of the house.

    "Oh Gilly..." Nancy said in a quiet voice.

    "Did Gilly do bad?" she looked slightly worried as she noticed both of their frown.

    "Your timing was horrible but it wont matter, we can always try again. You can go buy lunch ingredients, just lock the door when you leave."

    "Okayy~." Gilly closed the door and skipped away.

    Aleyn while looking at their small exchange gave a light smile.

    "Now then, try again Aleyn. It looked like you were doing fine." Nancy encouraged.

    Both of them went quiet as Aleyn tried once more. It didn''t take long for her to get back to where she was earlier. At this point she could even hear little Gilly skipping away and feel her foot steps, but they mixed in to the noise and other movements once she got away from the house.

    Aleyn tried to expand her area of awareness, she had seen a merchant selling vegetables from a carriage very close to the house as she got there and she wanted to try and find the merchant amongst the noise as it was close by. Filtering all of the unnecessary sounds she searched for the merchants voice.

    At this point Nancy was still observing her. The tattoo on Aleyns arm went through the same motions, the uneven and splattered edges started to sharpen and the pattern started to look closer and closer to a straight line. While that was happening she also had a rough idea of what Aleyn was as she observed her.

    Aleyn kept searching for the merchant but as she expanded her awareness she began to feel something more. She felt people who put out more than just noise and vibrations in the earth, she couldn''t explain it but it felt like she was sensing something new amongst the other senses.

    The tattoo on her arm was now as straight as it had ever been. Nancy kept an eye on it and as the tattoo stayed motionless for a while she decided to test something.

    Making sure Aleyns eyes were closed first she conjured a palm size ball of her own energy without letting its presence slip out and placed it to her left in mid air. She then let the presence of the ball flow out slowly and observed her.

    Aleyn was feeling people pass by, exerting vibrations in the earth and noise. She tried to follow their movement but as they passed the house they mixed in with the background as if they suddenly disappeared in to a wall of mist.

    The balls presence slowly trickled out and finally Aleyn took notice of it. The feeling was close and it definitely wasn''t there a few seconds ago and she didn''t feel it approach, it wasn''t movement or a noise. It was that something she occasionally felt amongst the other senses.

    Without any noise or vibrations, there was only the unexplainable feeling which worried her. If it didn''t leave any noises when it moved or disturb the air, then what was it? It''s presence grew slowly, it felt as though the thing she felt was getting bigger and bigger overshadowing any noise or movement behind it.

    Aleyn opened her eyes and saw the small ball floating to her side. She took a look at Nancy who kept an eye on her.

    "When did you notice it?" Nancy asked.

    "Around 10 seconds ago. Is it yours?"

    "Yes, I wanted to see how much power it needed to show before you would react to it."

    The ball started to lose its form, waves of energy scattered out and disappeared.

    "And?" Aleyn got curious.

    "Well.. You sensed it when it was almost at its full power."

    "So what does that mean, is it bad or good?"

    Nancy went in to thought for a moment and then replied with a complicated face.

    "It''s extremely bad. Normally someone who gets awakened in this way can sense power of such magnitude long before you did as its overwhelmingly noticeable. You''re quite a amazing in a way."

    Aleyn narrowed her eyes in front of her and looked even more bothered.

    "So does that mean I can never advance in blacksmithing because I can''t sense or control magic?"

    "Well no, not at all. It just means its going to take a whole lot of effort on your part to achieve it. I''ve witnessed a lot of people with a similar defect. Some trained hard to cover their weakness, some didn''t. Now you can at least sense it with some effort, we probably need to train that part before we move in to control." Nancy assured her.

    After a moment she continued.

    "What you''re going to have to do first is keep on training your senses until you can sense magic with less effort. Only real way of doing that is trying to expand your awareness, and for that you''re going to need to muster all of your patience."

    "I''m at your mercy." Aleyn bowed her head.

 Chapter 22 - Field of View

    <blockquote><cite>Quote:</cite>If you''re interested in people speed running good old games for charity then tune in tomorrow (26.7)

    on https://gamesdonequick.com/</a>.

    Highly recommended by yours truly as its quite entertaining to  watch and its for a good cause as well.</blockquote>

    <blockquote><cite>Quote:</cite>More on topic note. If you find mistakes in the writing don''t be afraid to point them out. It helps me

    improve.</blockquote>

    Aleyn and Nancy having had their lunch break continued her exercises. This time Nancy had a new addition to it, she brought a scarf from one of the shelves. At first Aleyn thought it had a more fancy magical meaning  behind it but Nancys next words shook that idea away.

    "This time I want you to do it blind folded."

    "What''s that gonna do?" Aleyn asked.

    "Training in different ways is good. Out of all senses I would say sight and hearing are the most useless when sensing magic."

    Without any other objections Aleyn put on the scarf and sat on the floor then started concentrating as the silence fell in the room again. Nancy let her get in the proper groove first and as she saw the tattoos form she said in a quiet manner.

    "Try and follow."

    She conjured another ball of her own energy and let it float in front of her. She gradually let its presence slip while waiting for a reaction from her. It took around the same time as before for her to notice the energy. At that point she concealed the power and moved it further in to the room and repeated. They went through this exercise for a while and then Nancy changed it up.

    "Concentrate on the outside of the building. How many people can you sense in the vicinity except us in this room. Only people you can distinguish."

    Aleyn went in to deep thought as she concentrated.

    "Eleven."

    Nancy thought for a moment as she tried to feel how far she could sense.

    "You can feel the merchant selling vegetables yes? Does he have a habit which shows occasionally?"

    Concentrating on the merchant Aleyn tried to figure out what Nancy meant. She took a few minutes to figure out what sort of a habit he had.

    "When ever he advertises he stomps his foot on the ground a few times."

    "Correct, which foot and how many times." Nancy asked.

    That was a lot harder to answer Aleyn thought, but she tried to see. With all the sounds and vibrations mixing together it was hard to read, but she figured out how many times he stomped consecutively.

    "Five."

    "And which foot?"

    As hard as she tried she couldn''t tell, it was as though the merchant only had one leg and they were hopping on the spot.

    "Does he have two legs?" Aleyn tried to confirm.

    "Yes." Nancy confirmed

    "Then I can not tell."

    "Shame, but you''re advancing at a decent pace. Now concentrate on your surroundings again try to sense as far as you can." Nancy ordered.

    She gave Aleyn a few minutes as she did what she was told.

    Aleyn had a small area which she could sense quite reliably but after that it felt as though everything was a mass of scattered vibrations and noise. She stretched her senses as far as she could, but even then it only improved her area by just a few steps.

    Suddenly she felt something behind her, something familiar. She knew exactly what it was so she asked.

    "Why behind? It''s hard to face there you know."

    "Good. Keep at it."

    Nancy''s ball of energy scattered like the wind.

    "Slow improvement but there''s still quite a way to go." Nancy thought to herself.

    They kept repeating the two exercises, sensing magic and extending her reach. At the end of the day she had improved considerably.

    "That''s enough for today, this old girl needs some sleep." Nancy claimed as she pulled a sheet over herself.

    Aleyn removed her blindfold.

    "And my bed?" Aleyn asked.

    "Gilly should have set you up a room up here, her room is near the stairs so you can ignore that one. When you get to bed try and keep training your reach until you fall asleep. Good night."

    "Night." Aleyn said as she took off.

    She found her room without much trouble. The room was quite small and there were some bookcases and chests but other than that it looked fine for sleeping. She dove under the sheets and tried to get some sleep while trying to  sense what was going on around the house.

    She didn''t usually have problems getting sleep, but trying to train her senses made her fall asleep faster than usual.

    The next day they took a step to make the exercise harder.

    "I want you to keep your eyes open and try to do the same things as yesterday. I''ll give you something to look at since staring at the floor isn''t that pleasant. However you can not concentrate on it. First, try and sense what is going outside of the building. How many people can you sense."

    Nancy conjured a flame in front of Aleyn, it flickered and moved in unpredictable ways but it didn''t radiate any heat while doing so as shown by the floor which didn''t have any scorch marks.

    Aleyn kept her eyes on the flame but she wasn''t really looking at it, her senses were outside of the building. She couldn''t see as far as she could before when her eyes were shut or blocked by the scarf, but she tried her best. Eventually she had a good grasp of how far her senses could grasp at the moment.

    "Five."

    Nancy took a moment to figure out what she probably could see.

    "You can''t feel the merchant this time, correct?"

    "Correct." Aleyn answered.

    "But you can sense a smaller person a few steps from their location?"

    Aleyn took a moment to figure out what she meant. With a little bit of trying she noticed  there was a smaller being close to where the merchant supposedly was, it was moving slowly across the path in front of the house.

    "I can."

    "What are they doing?" Nancy asked.

    At that moment Aleyns eyes had dried and she blinked her eyes a few times which broke her concentration. Nancy noticed this and waited for her.

    "Try again and see."

    Aleyn kept staring at the flame and as she did she could sense the surroundings again. She tried to find the spot she spot again , but they were gone. She took a moment to look and found a slow moving presence a few steps from the location she lost them at. She concentrated on what they were doing, they were moving slowly and rhythmically she could also feel something dragging on the floor tiles.

    "They''re brushing the tiles?" She was slightly unsure but it was the best conclusion she thought.

    "That is true. Now tell me how tall is that person?"

    Having not lost the track of that presence she tried to figure it out. They were taking small steps which would suggest they were smaller than a normal humans height. The brush strokes were quite small as well which reinforced  the idea. While she was thinking of the possibilities she felt it again a small sense of something peculiar to her left side.

    She dropped what she was doing and looked at the ball of energy floating in her blind corner and then looked at Nancy.

    "So how tall are they?" Nancy asked without saying anything else.

    "Slightly taller than me is my best guess."

    "Very good. This time you felt the energy quite early as well." Nancy gave a small clap.

    "Now, try to expand your reach for a good few minutes while I think about things."

    They both went quiet and Aleyn worked hard to try and sense further. Nancy occasionally took a look at her, but mostly kept her eyes closed as she was thinking on something.

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Meanwhile Aleyn had been hard at work trying to sense further in to the city and she advanced a few steps again. She kept at it for a few hours until Nancy interrupted her.

    "Concentrate on the room were in. I''m going to steal your hearing for a few moments."

    Nancy snapped her fingers which echoed in the room for who knows how long. She was suppose to steal her hearing but she could still hear the snap echo through her head loudly, or could she? Aleyn realized she was only imagining an echo of the snapping fingers and once that faded so did the rest of the sounds. After calming down she concentrated on the room which was devoid of sound and movement.

    In a few moments the familiar feeling of magic came from behind her again and she said it out loud. While doing so she couldn''t hear her own voice which startled her concentration slightly as she blinked and took a look at Nancy.

    "Good good."

    Nancys voice echoed loudly which restored the sound around Aleyn.

    "That''s pretty scary." She thought.

    Nancy could manipulate her to sleep without her being able to do much about it and she could steal the sound around her with little effort. She was obviously capable as a magic user.

    "Now then. This time close your eyes and try to sense how far you can go."

    Closing her eyes she tried to force her senses a bit further, but to her surprise it was easier than she originally had thought. She could now feel at least half as far as she could at the start. Nancy saw her expression change and commented.

    "Surprising isn''t it?"

    They took a small pause to gauge how much she had improved after which Nancy prompted her for more training.

    "Come on then, lets continue."

    They spent most of the day repeating the same exercises while raising the bar, but later in the evening Aleyn wanted to have a talk with Nancy.

    "Could you tell me more about magic?"

    "Oh? Gotten curious?" Nancy raised an eyebrow.

    "Hard not to don''t you think?"

    "True true... Well lets see then. Magic.."

    She thought for a moment then lifted herself up a bit to fix her posture.

    "There are many ways to utilize magic. It can strengthen you, it can make you faster and that''s just simply using your own power while enhancing yourself. No outside assistance."

    She raised her hand in front of her which started glowing. The rooms candlelight flickered and an ember floated towards her hand, the ember then burst in to a ball of flame and took orbit around her hand.

    "Fire and other elements can be manipulated through magic. You can give it form."

    The orb of fire started to sharpen in to a more pointy form and in the end it looked like a blade.

    "You can let it engulf you for protection or to enhance yourself."

    The blade wrapped around her hand and burned. You could clearly see it touching her but it left no burn marks or wounds. It was just a layer around her hand.

    "Those are probably the most common applications of elements. Elements themselves are countless, some more clear than others."

    The flaming hand extinguished itself but a single ember floated up and ignited in to a ball of fire again, but it wasn''t the only thing that appeared.

    A more transparent ball which was having a harder time trying to stay as a sphere appeared on the other side of her hand, the ball looked like it was made of ropes of air.

    The mug of water which Nancy was drinking from shook slightly and an orb of water took place between the other spheres and while that was happening the small rocks that had gathered around the wooden floor started to roll towards Nancy as if they were being pulled towards her. They lifted off the floor and gathered in to a small ball which took place amongst the other three orbs.

    "I would personally call, Earth,wind, fire and water as the main elements. How ever its not set in stone. Not at all."

    She paused and took a moment to placed the orb of water back in to her mug as the orb of air and fire scattered. The gathered rocks she placed next to her chair.

    "A magic user can spend most of their life trying to discover and unlock the ways of magic. I''ve yet to find a person who can say they''ve discovered it all or that they are the best. We try very hard though. The very same way a swordsman tries to perfect their art."

    Aleyn having watched the orbs disappear to their respective places had another question.

    "And how do you learn to do all that? Reading books?"

    Nancy thought for a moment.

    "Well.. In theory you could do that. Though as much as you can record these things in detail its very hard to learn magic just from books. Most ways are either taught by a mentor or learned through trial and error."

    "So really those hundreds of books you have in this house are useless?"

    "Not at all. Books have always been used to preserve knowledge. Books alone in most cases can not teach something, but they can make details more clearer."

    Aleyn sighed.

    "You wanted to hear that there''s a book which teaches you all about magic right? There really isn''t one and I can''t recommend trying it either, having a teacher that knows what they''re doing is the best way to learn." Nancy explained.

    In the end Aleyn had no real way to learn magic without spending a lot of time on it which she didn''t have right now, mostly due to already studying blacksmithing. Though once she graduated from Camedyr''s workshop she would have plenty of time unless she thought of something else to do.

    "Where does one find a teacher then? As much as you seem very qualified, you don''t seem like the teaching kind."

    Nancy giggled.

    "Qualified she says.... Well it''s true, I''m no teacher. I only bother with helping people release their power when Camedyr sends them my way. Though in your case I''m doing slightly more."

    She thought for a brief moment.

    "I haven''t heard about my own teacher for a very very long time so I can''t say much about them. However if you wanted to learn magic then you would need to find one for a specific need. Camedyr for one is an excellent person to learn enchanting from. However there is one place that definitely has teachers for magic of almost every aspect and that is Keittwell''s Magic Academy."

    "Magic Academy?" Aleyn questioned.

    "That is exactly what it is. Keitwell''s academy boasts the biggest ranks of capable magic users. Their ranks mostly consist of researchers but they do teach people with worthy attributes or enough money. Oh I know their ways very well, I have some acquaintances and friends in high places who occasionally asks me for insight."

    Aleyn remembered Keitwell from watching Andre fight that bull man during the arena event. Andre won the Keitwell regions rankings so that would mean Keitwell''s influence covered a very large area which in turn meant that it wasn''t anywhere close to Dvalfgar as its influence already covered the mountains and a large area around them.

    Nancy looked at Aleyn who was silent in thought.

    "Anything else you want to know or shall we continue?" She said with a smile.

    "Oh right, yes let''s continue."

    Aleyn spent a few days training her senses. From being blindfolded to being distracted by multiple sources of power, Nancy tried to keep the training interesting. After the few days had gone past Aleyn was finally ready enough to advance to the more important part of her problem.

 Chapter 23 - Control

    Having achieved the first goal of sensing magic. The little magic training group was going to move to control exercises. They even had a surprise guest.

    "Hello Gilly."

    "Hellow Aleyn."

    Nancy had also asked Gilly to attend.

    "So why is Gilly here?" Aleyn asked.

    "What? Can''t I have my granddaughter join in?"

    "I didn''t say that.. Wait, she can use magic already?"

    "But of course! Isn''t that right Gilly?"

    "Yea!." Gilly cheered.

    Gilly made an over exaggerated spin as she raised her palm in the air which started glowing as she conjured a small orb of power just like Nancy. It held form only for a moment until a tiny explosion burst out blowing her hand back down as the ball dispersed.

    "OW!" she yelped and started rubbing her hand.

    "Well sort of anyway. She''s a bit young so her control is not that great so I thought I''d let her join in. You need a partner for what I have in mind anyway." Nancy followed up.

    With the little explanation out of the way they got right to it. Nancy instructed both of them to sit opposite of each other.

    "Gilly, give Aleyn some of your power."

    "Owkay~." Gilly said with her ever cheerful tone.

    She put her hands in front of herself and closed her eyes. Gilly''s whole figure started glowing and sparkles of energy started moving towards Aleyn. It looked as though Aleyn was assaulted by a cloud of dust but the feeling of receiving power was as if you were dipped in to a warm relaxing bath after being completely exhausted. She tried for a moment but she had no control over the process, she was stuck receiving Gillys energy.

    "That''s enough Gilly. Now you try it Aleyn."

    Aleyn gave a confused look at Nancy. How was she suppose to do that?

    "Erm okay, but how?"

    How do you suddenly do something that should be basic instinct? She had every reason to be confused at the request.

    "Good point. How to explain this.... It''s actually quite hard to explain something which is suppose to be inherently learned. Gilly you got an idea?" Nancy asked.

    "Is like sharing!" She raised her voice and cheered.

    Nancy grabbed Gillys shoulder and seemed to transfer some of her own energy to her, after which she thought for a moment.

    "Think shes right actually. Its not exactly the same but it does give you that sort of a feeling."

    Aleyn thought for a moment and put her hands in front of herself.

    "Sharing... sharing..."

    She was trying to think about sharing. What did sharing mean to her? Giving someone else something, maybe it involved a feeling of being happy to provide. Maybe it held the feeling of parting with something. In the end there was a result according to Nancy.

    "I don''t think Gilly can feel it but there was some energy going her way. It was just such a nonexistent amount and most of it didn''t even get to her."

    Aleyn sighed. This was hard.

    "Hmm I think we need a different approach. This seems too complicated for you." Nancy claimed.

    Nancy Opened a drawer and picked up two clear glass balls which were big enough to hold in her hands..

    "Now this here is a energy storage ball. It''s used mostly to store excess power, but some magic users train their own power by letting external sources train it out. Magic power behaves similarly to muscles, when you constantly use your power it changes and grows."

    She placed a ball in front of both Gilly and Aleyn.

    "What I want you both to do is hold a ball until you feel can''t anymore. Once you feel like you really should not hold on anymore then let it go, the ball shouldn''t break unless you really mean it. Gilly have a go first."

    Gilly grabbed the ball with both hands and the reaction was immediate. Sparkles of energy started appearing in the middle of the ball but disappeared soon after. It didn''t take too long for Gillys hands to start shaking and for her to look like she was holding her breath to trying to endure and in a moment she dropped the ball.

    "You okay Gilly?" Nancy asked.

    "Gilly okay. Exhausted."

    "Okay then, Aleyn you have a go. It might be very brief but try."

    Aleyn looked at the ball on the floor and hovered her hands on its sides before picking it up. The moment she picked it up it was as if her body was assaulted by a fatigue wave, but she held on stubbornly for a few more seconds before letting go.

    "Ugh."

    "You okay Aleyn?"

    She had to lean on her left hand to sit straight but otherwise she was fine.

    "Uhh... Yes"

    Nancy picked both of the orbs and started comparing. She gave a small giggle when she took a look at Aleyns ball.

    "Your output is really miserable right now, even Gilly here has at least four times more in her."

    "Encouraging." Aleyn sighed.

    "Now now. Lets not get grumpy."

    As she said that she threw the balls on the floor with force shattering them completely.

    "Hey what are you?!" Aleyn yelled in confusion.

    The moment she did, she felt her fatigue disappear and even the balls had mysteriously returned to their usual form in a blink of an eye.

    "And thats how they work in practise. What I would like for you both to do today is repeatedly let it drain your power, once you can hold on for half a minute or more we can change it up a bit." Nancy explained.

    The process was exhausting and mentally tiring even if both Aleyn and Gilly got everything back if they shattered the orb. It took considerable effort from Aleyn especially but her gain was great as well. With lunch time coming up Aleyn finally reached the half minute mark while Gilly already had done so a while a go.

    They had lunch after which Nancy had a few words to say.

    "So now that you can endure the transfer a bit better, its time for the real point of this exercise, which is control."

    She picked up both of their orbs.

    "Currently I''m not allowing the orbs to take any of my energy. It doesn''t take much control to do that and I''m sure neither of you will have trouble learning it."

    The orbs in her hands started to glow and absorb her energy, however they were not doing at the same rate. The orbs had different brightness to them which indicated a different amount of power being transferred.

    "However what you want to learn after that is more important. What you need to do is control the transfer rate. The fine line between completely rejecting it and completely allowing it. Or even reversing the flow."

    She dropped the orbs shattering them once more. They of course reanimated in to their original glass ball form shortly after.

    "First I want you to resist the transfer and once you both know how to do it, you both need to train in control, only transferring what is replaced by your natural regeneration. Lets say once you can resist it the transfer for two minutes we can move on."

    Nancy made the now reformed orbs roll towards the pair with her magic and they started right away. Gilly didn''t need much time to learn to resist the flow, but Aleyn had some trouble.

    She looked at Gilly sitting and resting and felt slightly frustrated but Gilly just smiled.

    "If someone try take something away you not let them." She said with her cheery tone and hugged her own chest tightly.

    Well of course if someone was trying to forcibly take something from you, you would try and not let them take it. How would you put that in to this context was the real question.

    With a little bit of thinking through and applying the concept she felt she could resist, it was as though her will was a door and it was being forcefully opened but occasionally she could hold the door closed. It took her some time but eventually she could hold the orb without any energy being transferred for some time.

    It took Gilly only a day to get to the two minute mark while Aleyn struggled for a few days, but once she did they were ready to move on.

    "Now lets try controlling it a bit more.  Try to control the transfer, you need to have a steady flow."

    Controlling the transfer in theory shouldn''t be hard, open the door only as much as you need to. But having two people pull at the opposite sides of a door made adjusting how open the door was quite a struggle.

    It turned out to be very hard. Even Gilly couldn''t achieve it faster than Aleyn and they both struggled for a four days to get the hang of it. After the fourth day they both showed promise, the control was there but they lacked the power to keep the reins. Their control training turned in to building power at that point until they could.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Through eager training Gilly achieved control of her energy transfer. She could control it comfortably against the storage orb without issues but after achieving that level she dozed off on the floor. Having witnessed Gillys breakthrough Nancy didn''t mind her getting some rest but she didn''t like her sleeping on the floor so she lifted her up on her chair and placed Gilly on her lap.

    Aleyn progressed slowly but surely and by lunch time she had her own breakthrough. She could control the transfer against the orb and she wasn''t completely exhausted. A small victory over Gilly.

    "Good job Aleyn, you should be safe to leave soon. " Nancy congratulated while brushing Gillys hair.

    "Ah, Finally."

    "Oh you didn''t wanna stay? Is this place that bad? Though I suppose it has been more than a week already." Nancy said with a pouting tone.

    "Not at all. That''s not what I meant. Just that there are things I want to do and this event was in the way. Regardless I actually had fun time staying here and learning."

    "I''m glad to hear that. You''re staying for lunch at least?" Nancy asked.

    "Well if you insist."

    They woke up Gilly who was still very tired and less cheery than usual, but during the meal she perked up progressively and by the time they were finished she was back to her usual cheery self.

    Nancy and Aleyn sat in Nancys room while Gilly returned to watch the shop. Even if she achieved the goal Aleyn still had some walls to climb.

    "We need to remove the enchantment on your arm and the ring on your hand. The enchantment removal will most likely hurt, but try and deal with it."

    Nancy brushed her hand over the tattoo on Aleyns left arm which made the tattoo glow. She could immediately feel a slight pinch which started to intensify rapidly but once the feeling stopped the tattoo immediately stopped its movements and fell off of her arm like grains of sand which disappeared in to thin air. Aleyn felt as if all of her power was taken away, she couldn''t sense or use any of it anymore.

    "You probably lost all the feeling you''re used to, don''t be alarmed though that is intended and will be over shortly." Nancy assured.

    "Because of the ring, right?"

    "Exactly. Now, when that ring is taken off you will be assaulted by a similar feeling from the first time I awakened your power, but this time you know how to actually control it. It will more than likely be more than you''re used to and you will have to take some time to get it under control."

    She paused and looked Aleyn in the eyes.

    "Are you ready?"

    Aleyn took a few steady breaths to ready herself.

    "Ready as I''ll ever be."

    At her mark Nancys hand glowed as she reached to pull the ring off of Aleyns finger and the moment it was off she pulled away while observing her.

    The reaction wasn''t immediate but in a few seconds she could feel an increasing power emerge as if a dam broke. It was as Nancy had said, way more than she was ready for but now she had a way to control it. As the waves hit her surroundings started to fluctuate with power, but it didn''t go out of control like last time. The power assaulted her and occasionally escaped her body, but she kept it under control to the extend where it couldn''t do much more than touch the floor. Over time the fluctuations started to calm down and disappear bit by bit.

    At first it took all of her concentration to keep her power in check but gradually she became aware of the room she was inside and could even once again spare enough of herself to see Nancy observing her while looking slightly worried.  Aleyn tried to say she was alright but the moment she tried she knew she couldn''t talk without losing control, instead she gave a slight smile while still concentrating. Nancy noticed the gesture and relaxed a bit.

    It took Aleyn a few hours before she had gotten to the point where she could talk.

    "This is absurd. Do people really know how to control themselves without training? I can''t believe that."

    "Most people can control it without effort yes. In fact every time I meet a person with this problem I feel as though fate just doesn''t wish for them to learn the ways of magic. Though that theory has been broken so many times."

    "I envy people for having the privilege of not going through this." Aleyn sighed in frustration.

    "Now now. As much as it''s a struggle it''s also very good for you. Compared to a normal magic user you have a much better grasp of what is going on."

    They chatted for some time until Aleyn was comfortable enough to move on her own without losing concentration, her outward appearance was now normal but she still wasn''t comfortable with her control.

    After being stuck in Nancys room for multiple hours she decided to stretch her legs a bit and went downstairs to the shop while Nancy followed to keep an eye on her.

    "Are there any books which would suit my understanding in here or are they all too advanced?" She casually asked.

    "Hmm well everything is just theory, technically you could understand any book in this shop if you understood the meaning of the words. However there are a few books for beginner use."

    She went through the bookshelves, looking through the titles and books, picking one occasionally and putting some way. In the end she had a small pile of books, some older than others.

    "These seem fine."

    Aleyn took a look at the books. Only two of the books seemed to hold any interest to her.

    "Understanding Elements: Earth."

    " Applications of Magic."

    "You don''t have any other elements of the same series?"

    "Probably do, but you asked me to pick books that suit your understanding."Nancy gave a smirk.

    "So at what point would I be good enough for a better element?"

    "A better element? Aleyn, that''s very ignorant of you. Amongst the elements Earth might be the easiest to grasp understanding of, but it also has far more to it than the other elements." Nancy frowned in a very serious manner.

    Aleyn looked at Nancys and her disapproving face.

    "How much for the books then?"

    "Hmmpf. I don''t know if I want to sell them now." Nancy said as she held the books close to herself.

    "Come on Nancy, don''t be like that. Remember that I know nothing next to you about magic so it''s not odd if I say something stupid in your eyes."

    Nancy sighed.

    "Well that''s true I suppose. 50 gold for one book."

    Not thinking much about the actual price she wanted to give a slight scare to Aleyn, but was instead confronted with something other than fear of high prices.

    "Deal."

    "Wha? Wait wait wait. You can''t seriously want to buy these for that much?"

    "Why not? Surely they''re worth it?" Aleyn asked seriously.

    "Both of these are probably worth 50 gold together. Do you just have so much money you can throw it around?" Nancy asked.

    "Well I wouldn''t know how much they''re worth would I? To me the potential knowledge would very well be worth a 100 gold."

    Nancy shook her head while Aleyn was digging through her money pouch.

    "50 gold. No more no less."

    "Fine fine fine." Aleyn handed the coins to Nancy.

    Having chatted and walked around the shop for a while Aleyn noticed she was barely concentrating on holding her power in. She was now doing it just as a reflex.

    "Think I''m ready."

    Nancy gave a glance at Aleyn. Her eyes seemed to be looking straight through her, but Aleyn still felt her sight was on her.

    "Ah yes, you do seem ready." Nancy agreed.

    Since she had not brought anything with her, Aleyn was getting ready to leave.

    "Thanks for all the help Nancy."

    Aleyn gave Nancy a hug

    .

    "Its been my pleasure Aleyn."

    At that moment Gilly came hopping in to their conversation.

    "You going away Aleyn?" She asked.

    "Yes. I''m ready to leave."

    Gilly hopped towards Aleyn and hugged her lower body.

    "Come visit sometime yes?" Gilly looked up to her as she asked.

    Aleyn patted Gilly on the head and straightened her hair.

    "Probably sooner rather than later."

    On that note she gave her last good byes to both of them and walked out of the store.

 Chapter 24 - Fusion

    Instead of heading to the workshop Aleyn had gone to the inn to show her face so that the innkeepers didn''t think she had left without paying. Even though she had been absent for over a week without paying they had kept her room for her since she had consistently payed for the room during her stay so they gave her the benefit of a doubt.

    She left the inn early in the morning. When she had woken up it had felt as though she almost lost control over herself again, but strangely it took very little to get it back. She felt the improvement and was very pleased but she didn''t have much time to be impressed as she had a lot left to do today.

    A new day with new challenges. The few days she had spent with Nancy had opened her eyes to some new possibilities. Possibilities which she would probably hear more from Camedyr today, he was after all the most famous blacksmith and a very capable magic user.

    While thinking about her little experience she arrived to the workshop and strolled in. Camedyr was at his usual spot in front of the forge. The moment she walked to the high ranker side he noticed her in his side view.

    "Ayyy! You''re back girl"

    He said it enthusiastically but did not take his gaze off of the workers.

    "You''re gonna have to wait a bit. These guys are doing some delicate work, if they do it wrong they can potentially blow their arms off."

    A large group of workers were focusing on a palm sized red crystal or stone while holding a small shield on an anvil. Most of the crystals were floating on their respective workers palm and some were even showing the signs of absorbing magic.

    "What are they doing exactly?" Aleyn asked.

    "Same thing they were doing when you last asked. Just on a bigger scale and different material."

    At that moment a loud spark sound could be heard which was followed by some manly yells of agony. A worker had blown up their crystal. Their whole front side had turned in to a scorch mark and he was holding his arm in pain. Camedyr calmly looked over the worker and figured he wasn''t in much danger.

    "You okay there?!" He asked to confirm.

    "Hurts like hell but nothing else. Maybe few stitches." The worker stated while suppressing some tears.

    "Well, go clean up and do whatever you need to I''ll get someone to clean up the mess." Camedyr ordered as if it was a common occurrence.

    The worker left the back area while still holding his arm and Camedyr started looking around for something but after a few glances his eyes shot open and he looked at Aleyn.

    "Could ya clean it up? Just brush the left over shards and place the shield on the table."

    She wasn''t eager but there was really nothing else to do while waiting.

    "Well.. I guess since I''m waiting and all."

    It didn''t take long to clean up most of the mess she saw since brooms were a thing and in the end she had a nice pile of shards and dust. Camedyr handed a small can to her.

    "Put the shards in here."

    "Why? It''s trash now ain''t it?" Aleyn asked.

    "No no, even these broken shards have a good use ahead of them."

    Well there''s no arguing with that. She brushed the shards in to the can and then proceeded to wait again. The wait wasn''t long as rest of the workers either succeeded or gave up shortly after her cleaning.

    "Good job everyone. Even if you didn''t succeed don''t be worried, its just down to practice at this point." Camedyr yelled.

    Once the last worker had gone for their break Camedyr turned to Aleyn.

    "So then.. You."

    He dug in to his pocket and pulled out a small crystal. It was exactly like the one she had seen Kyrtaar use before she went to Nancys house.

    "This here is a just a general crystal, it doesn''t really have any properties or a name to be worth mentioning but it''s good for what you''re gonna do."

    He handed the crystal to Aleyn and pulled out a knife from his belt.

    "Well, you saw Kyrtaar already trying it. You need to put that crystal in to this knife, fusing them together."

    "And how do I go about that?"

    Camedyr thought for a moment on how to explain it to her.

    "When you''re inexperienced it''s a slow process. You feed the crystal a set amount of your energy which makes it destabilize and lose form which lets it be put in to solid objects, though that only lasts as long as your energy is inside of it. The amount is a fine line between overloading the crystal and activating its power or effect."

    "So a steady flow and then push it in. Doesn''t sound hard."

    She took the knife and the crystal to an anvil and started immediately.

    "Remember, a set amount. You should be able to tell when the crystal can''t take anymore. If you go past that point it will give you a feedback and then explode just like earlier."

    Aleyn having heard his last advice started immediately. She poured her energy in to the crystal and it started to emit a slight glow. Following the glow the crystal started to float on her palm and you could see small specs of energy flowing in to the small crystal. It didn''t take long for Aleyn to feel a slight resistance in the flow which puzzled her but it was probably that limit Camedyr was talking about.

    Camedyr watched her work the crystal and was pleasantly surprised.

    "Now press it against the knife."

    She awkwardly placed the knife next to the crystal then moved her hand to the opposite side of it and started pressing her hand towards the crystal which in turn pressed the crystal towards the knife, to her surprise it didn''t take much strength to fuse the two together.

    Once the two were together the crystals light dimmed at a rapid rate and it became its original glass like lump. She tried removing the gem with force and it came to her as a nice surprise that the crystal didn''t move an inch no matter what she did to the knife.

    "Got to say I''m slightly impressed with that, we spent a day and a half with the group trying to do that and most people ended up with very sore hands. You must have been really working hard during this past week."

    "Really? Nancy kept going on and on about how my abilities are hilariously bad".

    "You should really take what Nancy has said with a healthy doze of salt." Camedyr smiled.

    "Well then, whats next?"

    "Honestly. Looking at how you''re progressing I think we can skip some things. Lets get to the good part. Stay here and I''ll be back in a bit."

    Camedyr disappeared in to his office and returned with a very familiar combo of items. A small shield and a red crystal.

    "You probably guessed it already. Next I want you to do what the guys were doing earlier."

    Aleyn was slightly puzzled, if she had spent a good few days at Nancys and the other workers were just doing this today then they must have done quite a lot of other things.

    "How much am I skipping exactly?"

    "Not that much, we just went through different sort of materials and fused them with some items. It''s not as big of a deal as this though, those materials were weak compared to this bad boy."

    Camedyr handed the palm sized crystal to her and she looked it over.

    "That right there, is low grade fire stone. Don''t let the name fool ya, its got enough power to burn this place down if it was made of flammable material."

    "And I need to fuse it with the shield?"

    "Yep. Problem is this needs a lot more power and if you overload it it will create a nasty explosion of flames."

    He put the shield down on her anvil and stepped back a bit.

    "Don''t worry too much, I wont let it take your life. Though that doesn''t mean you''re not gonna get hurt." He gave a grin.

    Aleyn didn''t feel too threatened by the stone, as long as she did it properly the crystal shouldn''t cause any harm to her. She held her right hand out and concentrated, a steady flow was being sent towards the crystal just like with the smaller one. This time though she felt that her hand was getting hotter and the crystal seemed to be shaking in the air as if it was waking up. She ignored the fact and kept going until she slowly felt a creeping resistance coming towards the flow.

    At that point she stopped, the stone was still slightly shaking and warm but she had to ignore it at that point as she was in the middle of pushing it in to the shield. The fusion was going as planned until she reached the half way mark at which point the crystal shook violently and she felt a surge of pain in her arm which made her pull her hand away.

    The crystal fell on the floor and left a small crater in the middle of the shield after falling off but there was no explosion of flames which she was expecting.

    Camedyr picked up the crystal and looked it over.

    "Not bad.  The energy faded too early so you either weren''t fast enough or should have kept feeding the crystal while fusing. Which ever works for you really" Camedyr commented.

    "And the pain I felt? That wasn''t the explosion I was expecting."

    "That was the stone pushing all of your energy back in one push. Go on try again on a different spot."

    She took the crystal and tried to get the feeling back. The crystal floated and radiated warmth just as first time but this time she decided to put more energy to see if that would work. The crystal reacted  violently and exploded, the explosion itself wasn''t large but it had enough power to shatter the crystal which made shards fly out in to the immediate vicinity.

    "Damnit." Aleyn yelped.

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original."You okay there?" Camedyr asked.

    Aleyn took a look at herself. There was a single shard sticking out of her right arm but other than that she was just covered in dust.

    "I''m fine, just need to wrap that up." She said as she pulled the shard out.

    "Well you go and do that, I''ll brush these a bit and get you another crystal. Probably need to have a look at that later though so there''s nothing left in the wound."

    Aleyn went to the front shop to get some clean cloth to wrap around her arm. She first washed the wound with some water and then tied it up tightly and returned. Camedyr had already cleaned up the place quite nicely and even brought a  new crystal while she was away.

    "Lets try again then. A bit more careful with the amount you put in to it though."

    She picked up the crystal and had a look at it first. The crystal was about the same size and form as the previous crystal so she didn''t really need to think too much about a difference. Aleyn focused and started to transfer energy, the crystal woke up again and started radiating a slight warmth as previously. She picked up the shield and placed the crystal between the shield and her palm and started pushing while keeping a slight flow that went towards the crystal. The crystal dug in to the shield and fused without much complications.

    Camedyr picked up the shield and had a look at the fusion.

    "Good job girl. It''s safe to say you''ve caught up with the rest. If not more."

    "Thank you. What''s next then?" Aleyn said eagerly.

    Camedyr thought for a moment but then shook his head.

    "There''s no real other tasks for the students after this point. It''s all about training the technique and understanding the materials. Technically you could take the exam if you wanted to. It''s just using 5 different and higher grade crystals to infuse in to some armor piece."

    "Doesn''t sound too complicated." Aleyn declared.

    "It really isn''t but it does take some mental fortitude and energy. And like I said, knowledge of the materials."

    Speaking of which, Aleyn suddenly remembered something.

    "Oh yea, when I was making the decorations on my chest piece you said it would be a lot easier to do with rank two knowledge. But I still don''t see that. Care to explain?"

    Camedyr tried to remember the scenario.

    "Oh yeah. Well it''s really quite simple. All you have to do is fuse some material of your choosing and sketch on the armor. It''s not really that complicated is it?"

    Aleyn after hearing the explanation sighed and slapped her forehead.

    "I''ll have to remember that for future use then."

    With whole day left unspent she decided to continue working with fusion. Camedyr provided her with quite a few low grade crystals to work with so there was no problem with spending a lot of resources. The other rank two workers eventually came back from their break and witnessed Aleyn who had been absent for a week be at more of less the same level as them. Instead of questioning it, they took it as a challenge and started to work hard with fusion.

    As the day went on, you could occasionally hear and feel unusual things from the high ranker side of the forge. A burst of wind or static electricity which raised the hair on your arms or gave a slight shock when touching the anvils followed by yelps of agony from anyone who had failed their fusion.

    In the Late evening a group of workers were watching Kyrtaar fuse a light blue crystal in to a hardened steel sword. He was taking Camedyrs exam and was now on his last part of the test.

    The light blue crystal was a low grade water crystal but its size was quite large. Even though the sword was huge the crystal covered its whole handle width. If he failed the fusion the handle would be ruined and fall off.

    Kyrtaar had been focusing on the crystal for a good few minutes before he showed signs of wanting to fuse it with the sword. He started pressing it towards the handle carefully and slowly as any unnecessary movement or loss of concentration could make him fail. What made the process more annoying was the effect the crystal had on him. Small drops of water were gathering on his skin and flowing down with the gravity, giving him an uncomfortable feeling.

    Yet in the end his concentration didn''t break and as he lifted his palm from the sword the fusion was complete.

    Camedyr picked up the huge sword with his right hand and gave it a few looks and some hits of a hammer.

    "It was slow, but the results are good. You pass Kyrtaar."

    Kyrtaar let out a long sigh of relief and the workers observing started congratulating him.

    "Thanks guys."

    "My turn now then?" Aleyn asked Camedyr.

    "Yeh sure, just let me get the things from my office." Camedyr answered.

    Once he returned they started immediately and to the workers surprise she didn''t mess around. As much as she had a lot of issues with using magic she had spent a lot of effort in to testing different crystals and different methods to applying her energy.

    Every crystal she used she only spent a few minutes working with and then fused it with the equipment. It looked as though she had no real problems with the process to everyone but Camedyr could easily see that she was putting real effort in to the process. In the end she finished the test and presented the five pieces she had fused with shaking hands.

    Camedyr after having tested every piece of equipment gave a thumbs up.

    "You pass. Tomorrow you can start with enchanting. Bring a sober head and a full stomach."

    And with that the day came to an end as it was time to close the workshop.

    The next day Camedyr started instructing the people who passed.

    "Enchanting. Unlike the other parts of blacksmithing is a very very delicate part of your studies. It requires a lot more than trial and error or knowledge of the material but of course these points are essential as well. One of you will go back to the library today and read a lot while the others have to do something else. You can decided amongst each other who gets to go first."

    Only a handful of workers had passed the exam yesterday so the small group had to decide who got the privilege of entering the library first.The workers discussed amongst each other and decided to just draw sticks. In the end the one who won the drawing was Kyrtaar.

    He departed immediately and Camedyr proceeded on instructing people.

    "Now the rest of you. You will be drawing these in to these hardened steel plates until I feel you''re doing a good job."

    "Shit.. drawing." Aleyn sighed.

    If there was something she had trouble with it was art but when Camedyr showed what they needed to do she felt a little bit relieved as the symbols weren''t that complicated. They were mostly generic symbols like squares circles or triangles. The thing that separated them from normal geometry symbols was that they weren''t exactly symmetric or the lines weren''t straight in all cases.

    "And here''s what you''re gonna fuse the pictures with."

    Camedyr gave everyone a large pouch. Inside the pouch was a dusty substance.

    "Whats this then?" Aleyn asked.

    "That right there is mostly the crystals you guys have been fusing. Re-using materials like these is a smart thing to do."

    In other words their job was to draw symbols with crystal dust. The task seemed easy but it was actually harder than expected. The steps basically involved taking a heap of dust in your palm, holding it there with your energy until it lost its form and became a ball of energy and crystal dust that floated on the palm, after which you had to fuse it on the plates and draw at the same time until they ran out of dust.

    On a plus note fusing dust took a lot less energy than fusing a crystal but on the other hand holding the dust with your concentration was quite tricky due to it having no real form and while all this was going on you needed to draw the symbols.

    They spent most of the morning doing the exercise and during mid day Kyrtaar showed up. Camedyr walked up to him and started talking.

    "Oh you''re back. You feel you got a grasp of it then?"

    "Somewhat." Kyrtaar answered.

    "Well lets see it then!"

    Camedyr handed one of the plates that everyone had been drawing. It showed a square with the lines bending inwards. Kyrtaar took the plate and focused on the symbol, which made it glow a bright and white. He poured a lot of energy in to the symbol and even his face started to pale slowly. In the end it seemed he was very close to collapsing but Camedyr just kept on observing.

    All of a sudden Kyrtaar dropped the plate as he had no more energy to keep his hands straight and he fell to his knees. Camedyr ignored him and picked up the plate and took a look at it before nodding, he then revealed the results to everyone. The inward bent square was now glowing and the glow flowed through the whole square never stopping at a single point.

    "This is the outcome. With more elaborate symbols and material the enchantment would actually have an effect other than glowing, you will learn all about that later though so I won''t say more. Who''s next on the library duty?"

    The workers drew another set of sticks and one of the workers left the shop. Camedyr still kept everyone drawing the symbols on the plates while inspecting them. In the end he was only satisfied with two of Aleyns drawings and once the worker had come back from the library it was already time to close the workshop again.

 Chapter 25 - Complexity

    The next day Aleyn was hard at work reading in the library, the moment the workers had gathered they drew another set of sticks and it was her turn. She took the two books given to her and looked at their titles.

    "Enchanting properties."

    "Enchanting methods."

    Even with just two books there was a lot to take in. The amount of materials that could be used for enchanting was even bigger than the metal alloy department. She had to renew the candles two times before she was done with her first book to the degree where she felt she had understood enough.

    When she returned to the workshop the workers looked annoyed, she had spent more than half the day in the library while the others had spent only half a day, letting two people enter the library in a day.

    "You took a while. Got problems?" Camedyr asked.

    "It took a bit to take it all in, but I feel I get the gist of it."

    "Alright then. Show me what you got."

    Camedyr handed a plate to her, this time the pattern wasn''t as simple as the previous ones. The difficulty of enchanting was determined by the complexity of the design and the materials used so if the pattern wasn''t simple the enchanting process would obviously be harder to accomplish.

    The pattern she was looking at was still the inward bent square, but this time in each of those inward bent lines there was a circle as well. Just by her own understanding she evaluated that the enchantment she needed to do was five times harder than the others needed to do just because of the extra circles.

    She raised an eyebrow and looked at Camedyr who just gave a stupid smirk at her. Aleyn just sighed and gave it a go.

    She focused on the idea of enchanting, giving life to an inanimate object through magic. Enchanting had many applications, from making an item have a beneficial effect to actually making an inanimate object move on its own. Scholars loved enchanted scrolls which automatically recorded writing or had other unusual abilities.

    Her energy was being absorbed by the pattern which started glowing progressively, the square lit up while the circles showed no change but after a short while they started lighting up one by one. Once the fourth circle lit up the whole pattern shone and sparked once before turning in to a living pattern like seen before.

    At this point Aleyn collapsed on her knees on the floor like the others before her but that wasn''t unexpected as her task had been more difficult than the other workers. Camedyr took the plate and looked it over in earnest and then did something he had not done before. He put his hand over the plate just like he was going to enchant it and his hand started glowing. To Aleyn it didn''t feel like he was enchanting the plate, but she had no real idea what he was doing.

    "Good good. Now observe." Camedyr said to everyone.

    He took a grip from both ends of the hardened steel plate and started bending it. The moment he did the plate gave in and started bending until the middle of it cracked and it split in two.

    "The hell?"

    "What?

    "Woah"

    The workers were confused. Even if Camedyr was a big lump of muscle, he just bent hardened steel like it meant nothing to him.

    "Frailty. The easiest enchantment that has very specific uses and is rarely used. You can probably figure out what its effect is." Camedyr claimed.

    Frailty does exactly what it says in the name, it weakens the item. The enchantment itself is quite weak, but in this case it allowed Camedyr to break hardened steel. Something he could probably not do so easily even with his colossal muscles.

    "Honestly I was setting you to fail there Aleyn and you probably realize that. The more complex the pattern the harder the process. Glad that you raised up to the challenge."

    "Yeh I realized. Thanks boss.." Aleyn thanked Camedyr in a sarcastic manner while still resting on the floor.

    "Anyway, no time for someone else to go today. Just keep doing the drawing process everyone."

    Rest of the workers had gotten to the point where they could do all of the patterns properly and were now doing multiple patterns Aleyn herself only had done two so she had some ways to go.

    After her reading session Aleyn had come to realize that these patterns Camedyr was telling people to make actually had very few applications for actual enchanting but it probably wasn''t what they were trying to achieve anyway.

    Most normal enchanting patterns were complex and any book that taught enchanting only showed you how to enchant the patterns, not to draw them. Of course this wasn''t enough for unless you were fine with letting someone else draw the pattern, but that wasn''t up to standards in Camedyrs workshop.

    With occasional breaks, they spent the day practicing the patterns and at the end of the day all of the workers were very glad to get some shut eye.

    After the calm night of sleep, the last person was sent to the library while the rest worked on their patterns. Everyone progressed smoothly and Aleyn eventually got to the point where she could do multiple patterns herself. The last worker returned from the library and showed he understood how the enchanting process worked. At that point Camedyr changed the schedule.

    "Alright then! That''s enough of doing stick figures."

    He had brought a backpack to the shop today. It didn''t look heavy but it did look full. He dug in to the backpack and took out the contents.

    "I''ve brought you all a batch of scrolls. From this point on you will be entering the point of trial and error. You will draw these patterns and then enchant them. Before that you will want to understand what these enchantments do."

    He handed four scrolls to each of the workers and then continued.

    "The first enchantment: Endurance, a common enchantment. It enhances the objects durability."

    "The second Enchantment: Fortitude, another common enchantment. It makes the object enhance your own physical endurance. "

    "The third enchantment: Agility, yet another common enchantment. It makes the object enhance your speed. "

    "And finally the Fourth enchantment: Haste,  amongst the common enchantments as well. It enhances the objects speed."

    Aleyn opened up the scrolls as Camedyr called out their name and effect. To her horror the patterns were a massive step up from the patterns they had been drawing until now, it felt as though she had been wasting her time learning them.

    "So again. Your task is to learn to make these patterns and enchant them in less than five minutes. Once you have achieved this, you can consider taking the final test. Realize this will be the hardest thing you''ve probably ever had to learn. I suggest you master one of the patterns first by breaking it in to smaller patterns. At that point it should become easier to do the next ones."

    All of the workers kept quiet and stared at Camedyr.

    "Thats enough out of me. If you have any questions feel free to consult me."

    At that moment they all started working.

    Aleyn started with the fourth enchantment, Haste. Enchantment complexity had some variance based on their effect. For example, an enchantment that enhanced the item which it was drawn on would always be simpler than the enchantment that was drawn on an item and its effect was to enhance the wielders attributes. Due to this the fourth enchantment pattern was simpler than the second or the third. The first enchantment looked way more complex than the fourth so the choice for her was obvious.

    Camedyr was walking around among the workers and took a look at what they were doing. Once he noticed Aleyn and her choice he shook his head.

    "It''s not always best to start with the easiest you know."

    "Normally I would agree with you, but when I look at the other patterns I really want to crawl in to a corner and cry myself to sleep." Aleyn declared.

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    "Why?"

    "Because I find drawing these patterns hard enough as it is."

    Camedyr looked at her uncomfortable expression.

    "You really do don''t ya?"

    "Yes, I really do.." Aleyn said with a low voice.

    "What if I told you that by doing that Second enchant you would do the rest with ease?"

    Aleyn turned to look at Camedyr who had a serious expression on, no smile no frown. Without saying another word he moved on.

    She couldn''t help but look at the fourth scroll and the second scroll. They were pretty much on different levels, but looking closely at the second scroll you could see some of the fourth scrolls patterns in it. She knew exactly what Camedyr meant, but she was very reluctant. It was probably the first time in her life when she had felt a strong reluctance over something.

    After coming to terms with what was ahead of her she took the scroll she had already drawn on and crumbled it in to a ball which she threw at the back of Camedyrs head as an act of rebellion. The impact of a soft ball of course rose his curiosity and he turned around only to see a ball of paper on the floor and Aleyn picking up a new scroll to draw on. He just shook his head and continued observing everyone.

    She started deconstructing the second enchantment in to smaller portions. It turned out to be quite a task, she either had to make more than 15 small patterns which she would have to build in to the final product or she could make less than five small but more complex patterns. She of course chose to make her patterns a little bit more complex to limit the amount of paper work to remember.

    It took her some time but she made exactly five scrolls that by first glance you could think were separate enchantments them self, however she and the workers had enough knowledge to understand these patterns meant nothing on their own.

    With nothing else left to do she started trying to draw the patterns on some plates. By the end of the day she couldn''t even draw the pattern from her first scroll properly not to mention the rest. She had a long road ahead of her.

    Nicholas sat amongst the students in a full class room. The whole year was having their first written exam in neurosciences and it had been going for half an hour already. The questions were mostly regarding the procedures and processes that a Link did in cooperation with the human brain while working its magic.

    To Nicholas the questions didn''t feel too hard, Even if he had been putting a lot of work in to blacksmithing in game it didn''t mean he was slacking in his assignments and studies. In fact you could say he was matching the amount of effort he spent in game.

    After leaving the class room he head for the cafeteria since it was lunch time by the time he finished his writing. While buying his food he noticed Ken and Elle who were sitting at a table and talking.

    He head for their table and took a seat.

    "Finallly done eh Nic?" Ken asked.

    "Yup, how did it go you two?."

    "Easy." Ken answered.

    "I probably passed." Elle followed.

    "Yeah it wasn''t particularly hard I guess."

    Since the exam was too dull of a subject they instead started talking about LoI.

    "I literally made a killing a few days ago. Some idiot set up a small tent to sell the crap he got from  his few days in the wilderness. Me being the merchant I am, I couldn''t help but look around his stuff. He had plenty of mid grade items in his pile of junk but I noticed something amazing among them." Ken said excitedly

    "And what was that?" Elle asked.

    "There was this one gauntlet. It was massive, like really massive. I could probably put it on my head but that''s not the main point. The point is he had no idea what it was made of, but I sure did. The whole glove was made of some high grade crystal.

    "What crystal?" Nicholas asked.

    "I don''t know quite yet, but regardless of what it is made of paying 50 gold for it will in every case be worth it. If its something rare I could probably retire if I wanted to.

    "So you swindled some unknowing fellow?" Elle stated.

    "I took advantage of someone else''s lack of knowledge. Sue me." Ken said confidently.

    "If you put it like that Elle it sounds evil. But really if that guy had put in some effort to try and figure it out himself then he would be the one hitting the jackpot." Nicholas argued.

    Elle just sighed.

    "Anyway. Hows that blacksmithing thing going for ya Nic?" Elle asked.

    "Good good. I''m currently learning Enchanting and once I''ve accomplished that I''ll be done with all the teachings."

    Both Ken and Elle turned their heads to Nic.

    "Wait..Enchanting? Since when has blacksmithing taught enchanting?" Ken asked.

    "Beats me. But really its an important part of blacksmithing"

    "You know what. Now that you mentioned it, they say Camedyr Tin-flame is one of the best enchanters known to society as well as the greatest blacksmith. So it probably is true. " Elle stated.

    "Oh yeah, now that guy is a legend. You should try and become his apprentice once you''re done where ever you''re working at right now. I hear he has a workshop in Dvalfgar in fact. He would probably have a thing or two to teach you." Ken said.

    "Well yeah, he definitely does. I work there."

    "Oh thats good then you wont even have to go look for.. wait what ?" Ken said confusedly

    "Yeh I''m studying under Camedyr right now."

    "You.. you''re studying under the best known blacksmith and enchanter." Elle said unsurely.

    "Yes. I''ve been with him for a month or two. He''s a nice guy."

    "And you''re not bullshitting us ?" Ken said sternly.

    "Why would I do that?"

    Ken and Elle looked at each other for a moment then turned back to Nicholas.

    "Well you''re right. You''re not the bullshitting type." Ken stated

    "You''re studying blacksmithing under the famous Camedyr Tin-flame and you''ve never thought to mention that?" Elle said with her eye brows raised.

    "I didn''t feel that was important. Sure he is famous but I''m not interested in rumors. Only thing that matters is if he is capable."

    "I for one thought you were just learning from some random guy." Ken stated.

    "Well at first I was, but it turns out that random guy was a former student of Camedyr and he recommended me to him."

    "Ooh so that''s why you left your starter town. I see."Ken said.

    Ken and Elle asked eagerly about his days at the workshop from Nicholas. It turns out the subject was very exiting to them. Once they ran out of things to ask about Camedyr it was almost time for lunch to be over, but they still kept talking.

    "So whats the plan after you''re done with enchanting?" Elle asked.

    "Don''t really have one."

    "You could become a millionaire by selling equipment. I know a certain merchant who could help you with that." Ken said slyly.

    "I don''t need massive amounts of money. Maybe I''ll travel to another city and figure it out from there."

    "Then you have to travel to Keittwell and we can hang out." Ken declared.

    "Hmm, you know what... Maybe." Nicholas smiled.

    The two didn''t notice but Elle had been very uncomfortable ever since they mentioned Keittwell and meeting up.  And the moment they were about to notice ,she hid her discomfort behind a smile. Never bringing up a reason as if there was none.

    At this point the lunch time was over and their class was starting so they picked up their things and left for the next lesson.

 Chapter 26 - Time off.

    A whole week passed while Aleyn worked on the enchantment: Fortitude. And at the end of the week she was still working with the first part of her sketch. Drawing enchants turned out to be just as hard as she had imagined.

    "Son of a shit!

    An angry yell ran through the workshop followed by a hardened steel plate hitting a wall. The workers stopped to have a look at the spectacle for a moment but averted their eyes very quickly.

    A dwarf girl with her head on the table gave everyone a strong feeling of "do not fuck with me right now". Yet one person could not leave her alone, that person was their dear teacher Camedyr.

    "Oi! Don''t go throwing the plates around. If you get hit by one of those its gonna leave more than a nasty lump."

    Camedyr picked up the plate and took a look at it. The plate had a drawing in the shape of a triangle with the bottom line curving inwards and it looked like someone was about to draw more on to it but a big fat line went across the pattern to the very edge of the plate. That line was not a part of any of the designs he knew.

    "So whats the problem here then?" Camedyr asked.

    "I lost my concentration and ruined the whole thing. That''s what happened." Aleyn answered in a calm yet angry manner.

    "You need to calm down and concentrate more then obviously."

    "Obviously." She repeated.

    Camedyr kept an eye on Aleyn as she tried again. In the end she lost her concentration and once again ruined the pattern. Just by looking at her you could easily see she was very frustrated but it became even more clear as she tightened her fist and hit the table. That one hit was enough to break a leg of the said table and the whole thing almost fell over.

    "You''re paying for that." Camedyr said calmly.

    "What ever." Aleyn stated.

    "I''m also banning you from coming to the workshop for lets say.. four days."

    At that point all of her anger turned in to panic.

    "Wait wait wait. You can''t do that when I''m this close!"

    "You''re getting further and further away. You always show up early, you never take breaks. It''s not really a wonder you''re boiling over. You need to let out some steam, it will do you good."

    "But I''m so close!" Aleyn cried in frustration.

    Camedyr didn''t budge.

    "No buts, it''s for your own good. Out or I''ll throw you." Camedyr said in a very serious manner.

    Seeing his resolve she had knew she had no real way out of this. But it was so frustrating! She was so close and now she had to have yet another pause in her studies.

    Aleyn gathered her things and was about to leave, but not before giving a mean look at Camedyr who didn''t flinch. The workers looked at her leave and then turned their eyes toward Camedyr.

    "Having fun?`Get back to work." Camedyr yelled.

    Camedyr received an immediate reaction as the people scurried back to what ever they were doing. Work will not be interrupted over one gear breaking after all.

    In a small room with only a bed and a window, Aleyn laid in her bed thinking.

    "Two days huh.... It''s not much of a vacation if I can''t get my mind off of that damn enchant. Stupid boss..."

    The one thing in her mind ever since she started to work with the proper patterns had been that very enchant. Through tireless work she had almost gotten to the point of finishing her first part, yet it would always slip away and haunt her.

    After Camedyrs ban she had realized it herself though, she was only getting worse. The four day ban was probably right on the mark.

    "What am I going to now though?"

    It was rare for her to have some time off and when she did she usually spent it on her own projects. She could always find another smithy but really, she needed to let out some steam.

    "I could read those books I bought from Nancy."

    But was more studying and training magic really gonna help her relax? Probably not. But reading was relaxing, especially when she didn''t have a time restriction. She had no other ideas anyway.

    "Sigh."

    She stood up from the bed and took her coin pouch along with "Applications of magic" with her and left the Inn. If she had to relax then laying in the bed wasn''t going to go too far.

    First stop, Broken Horn. With the day just starting she had not had any meal apart from breakfast and it was just about to be lunch time. Sitting in her usual spot overseeing the city she watched as the ever busy Dvalfgar lived its hectic life while she chowed down and had a peak at the contents of her book.

    1. Introduction.

    2. Basic applications.

    3. Internal Enhancement.

    4. External Enhancement.

    5. Controlling elements.

    6. Afterwords.

    The book itself was quite thick but the content was small compared to that of the real world. The main culprit seemed to be the size of the letters.

    She skipped the introduction after having a look at it because it was five pages of the author explaining his references and methods as well as qualifications. The typical introduction shenanigans.

    "Energy within ones self which is unaffected by our physical condition, that which we call Magic. It has countless uses, how ever this book will only discuss the most basic parts."

    "Enhancing ones self or others. Through magic it is possible to improve ones own strength by affecting their body."

    "Control of elements. Without magic it is currently impossible to control or understand the elements, but through magic controlling the world around you becomes more than possible."

    She had already heard a brief summary over these subjects from Nancy but as stated, it was brief. Hopefully the book would shed more light in to the subjects.

    ""Internal Enhancement. The act of using magic to improve your own qualities temporarily. Magic has many uses in this category as magic energy qualities in itself are very positive when applied to ones self. For instance, you can use your energy to improve your muscles blood circulation which in turn gives you a limited boost in power as well as reduces fatigue, how ever over compensation through magic can still result in physical injuries.

    For instance, if too much energy is applied to the muscles it is more than likely that you might strain the muscles or even in worst case sever said muscle due to reaching a personal limit. It must be mentioned though that the likely hood of physical injury through proper use of enhancing is as likely as any physical activity done without said enhancement.

    To improve ones blood circulation on a basic level, energy needs to flow through your veins with the blood circulation. This compliments your normal bodily functions, but any extra physical power that is used will deplete the energy.. This includes any energy used to recover fatigue, how ever the lost energy is directly proportional to the work your body has to do.

    It is possible to direct the process to a specific part of the body which lowers the amount of energy needed, however this requires a bit more finesse and skill. Especially for External enhancement which we will be talking more about in the next part.

    There are many ways to enhance ones self. Enhancement through your own energy solely is the most common technique but not the only one. If a person has enough knowledge and training in different subjects of magic such as the elements, they can apply that concept to them self to enhance their own attributes. For example a magic user who has vast knowledge in Fire magic can use the power of fire to multiply their physical power and magical energy temporarily, same concept applies to most if not all elements.""

    On that note the first part of the book was concluded. Aleyn closed the book and started thinking.

    "Blood circulation.. Is it really that simple?"

    She put the book down for a moment and took a look at her right arm. Visually her arms had some muscles showing to contrast her slightly tanned skin, it actually only now dawned on her that after working so much with blacksmithing her skin had gotten a few shades darker from her usual light colour. It was rather weird to realize that she herself had not noticed something like that.

    "Energy needs to flow through your veins..."

    She gave it a go. A little bit of concentration was needed to direct her energy towards her arm but the reaction she felt was quite something.

    It felt as though her right arm was outside of a window on a windy day while the rest of her body was inside in a slight discomforting warmth. Yet that wasn''t the only thing, she could feel a slight throbbing as her muscles swelled up a size.

    Quite curious on the results she stopped the flow of magic to her arm and observed. You could see her muscles shrink back to her normal size and she immediately felt the cool feeling vanish.

    "Really simple.."

    In fact it was quite strange that Nancy or Camedyr had not mentioned it to her since it was so simple. Suppose Nancy would want her to concentrate on learning control but Camedyr could have taught her the trick for blacksmithing purposes. Regardless there was no point going too deep in to it since he probably had a good reason for it. Or he just forgot which is actually more likely...

    Moving on with the reading.

    ""External Enhancement. To improve qualities in another person or object temporarily. External enhancement shares its steps with internal enhancement, how ever some additional steps are included

    To enhance a different person you must know a bit more about the human body as when you enhance your self you can feel your own body and naturally have a guide to where the energy needs to go. The subject can also reject your offer to help through enhancing by not allowing your energy inside of them so mutual acceptance is needed.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Regarding object enhancement. In most cases applying magic to a plain object will not result in a reaction. How ever items which have a magical use by design can be enhanced. This way of enhancing is very specific with the amount of energy used as most magical crystals or ingredients do not gain additional effect if given more than needed energy, how ever there are exceptions.

    Giving energy to a crystal can also be used to enhance your own power. For example, a fire magic user benefits greatly from an active fire crystal.

    We will not be discussing the methods of external enhancement, how ever you can read all about them in "Advanced  Applications of Magic".""

    Aleyn rolled her eyes at the last comment.

    She had already worked with crystals quite a bit and tested some of their uses and even had some ideas for her own equipment but the only thing she had heard about external enhancement was replenishing another persons energy through sharing.

    The subject wasn''t too interesting for her. But what about Elemental control?

    ""Elemental Control. The most iconic subject of magic users. Through magic and understanding the essence of an element one can bend it to their will. As easy of a concept as it is, elemental control is amongst the hardest categories to master as a novice can spend years progressing through the steps to learn how to control a single element.

    Each element is different. One might be easier to control yet the user can have problems with results due to other reasons.

    We can see this phenomenon in fire magic especially. Fire magic is very powerful and easy to control, how ever it requires the user to provide a source from which the fire can persistently draw fuel from. If this source is an item then the power one can extract from it is limited to that items capacities, how ever if the user learns to mold their own energy and provide fuel from them self then the fuel supply is only limited to what the user has to offer. If one seeks to become a powerful in fire magic they must shed the idea of only using items to compliment their element.

    Elements can be combined but you rarely see these combinations as the control you must have over multiple elements at the same time isn''t as simple as having control over multiple elements and never using them in combinations.""

    Now this here was actually interesting. Molding your own energy to fuel fire? If fire needed fuel then the other elements must need something similar right?. How far could you take molding your own energy, was it only relevant regarding elements? Sadly the book did not have an answer to this, suppose she shouldn''t expect too much info from a basic book.

    Multitask reading and eating worked well and she had now finished her reading and her lunch. The book actually shone some light in to the concept of magic to her. Originally she had thought magic was all about control but if it needed different types of knowledge to compliment itself then it wasn''t as simple as it looked.

    With her lunch eaten and the book read, the question was.. what next? Well she might as well have a walk while thinking it through, maybe she might stumble on to something.

    Walking through the city was quite a task in itself. Merchants had their shops set up around the streets and people crowded the roads to have a look at their wears, blocking most of the access. Oh well might as well join the sheep and have a look, maybe there''s something interesting to find.

    From food to accessories to actual weapons and armor, the list of things was quite something even if the quality wasn''t top notch.  Aleyn drifted to a merchant who was selling armor. Claiming good quality and high grade material. He was talking to a tall man who was having a look at a set of dark gauntlets.

    "Yes yes. These right here are hardened steel gauntlets made by a student in Camedyr Tin-flames workshop. They usually sell for 20gold but since I can see you have an eye for good materials and really this fine pair of gloves is a few sizes too large for a normal person. I''ll lower the price to 14 gold just for you."

    Looking closer at the tall man. She noticed that he wasn''t actually just a normal man.

    The man had longer than average eyebrows which stuck out quite a lot and the edges of his face had some sort of a scale pattern that marked the edges of his face and hair line. His hair itself was dark red and looked more like a mane than actual hair as it reached quite far behind his back. The man probably had some dragon inheritance as his build was very muscular and his hands and feet were clawlike yet not quite claws.

    "Hardened steel, that is indeed quite a good material and this design looks good."

    Aleyn had a look at the pair of gloves they were talking about and shook her head.

    "Those weren''t made by anyone from Camedyrs shop, I can tell you that much."

    The merchant turned to look at  Aleyn and gave an annoyed look and the Tall dragonkin man showed interest in her words as well.

    "What?" the tall dragonkin asked.

    "Yeh, if someone under boss made those then he would get their shit kicked in hard by the boss. Also it''s not made of hardened steel but iron."

    She took one glove from the tall dragonkin man.

    "The design is quite stupid as well. When making armor you always think of the use first before you make the item look good. Here for example if you just press hard enough, all of the moving parts disconnect and your glove is useless."

    She pressed the joint of the gloves middle finger and all of the moving parts dropped on the floor immediately.

    Seeing Aleyns demonstration the Merchant had sweat rolling down his cheek but stayed quiet.

    The dragonkin looked at the merchant and was very unimpressed.

    "So you lied about the material and its a faulty product?"

    "No no, its definitely made of hardened steel and that right there is just for safety."

    "Safety? Why would you ever use that?"

    The merchant thought for a moment and then stated.

    "Maybe your fingers got stuck and you need to remove them?"

    The dragonkin narrowed his eyes on the merchant.

    "You know what. I''m not really looking for gloves where my fingers can get stuck in."

    He placed the other glove back in the merchants hands and turned to Aleyn and gave a small bow.

    "Thank you for that."

    "It was nothing."

    Aleyn watched the dragonkin leave and then got a slight shock as the merchant started yelling at her.

    "You! You go away! I''m trying to do business here."

    Aleyn shook her head again. It sort of reminded her of Ken, swindling people who didn''t know better but she didn''t think even he had the guts to pass those gloves as quality goods. She moved on to look at what the other merchants had to offer but in the end the merchants didn''t have anything worth while to offer.

    Walking around the middle of the city for a while and exploring she noticed that people were heading for the arena. With nothing better to do she decided to see what the fuss was about.

    It turned out that a group of people were using the arena to train while the arena had open doors. Few guards were stationed and patrolling but they didn''t seem to mind the intrusion.

    Seeing quite a few people sitting and observing the group she decided to have a break with her stroll in the city and sat down to have a look.

    "Sanders! Straighten that back of yours you slacker!"

    The group was in pairs and taking turns with hitting and guarding at the moment but just a moment ago they were doing push ups. It sort of reminded Aleyn of those gym groups where groups are led by a instructor and they move in the rhythm of music while changing what they were doing. Though the group lacked the music and the over enthusiastic instructors.

    She couldn''t see too well since she was so far away but she could deduce that they were being lead by a dwarven man with short dark hair and a long beard as he was the one yelling at everyone and at the head of the group.

    The instructor stopped and changed it up and now they were doing squats. The people were really pushing it, were they training for something specific?

    "Okay! Stretch and we go again!" the instructor yelled.

    At that point Aleyn had an idea and moved to the seats overlooking the instructor. From a closer look you could see that the instructor looked quite rugged. He had some scars around his face and his skin looked very rough. The man had quite a muscular build for a dwarf but no where close to the lump of muscle Camedyr was.

    "Hey, Can the public join in or do I have to pay?"

    The yell slightly confused the instructor and he had to take a moment to look around where the yell came from, eventually he realized the yell came from a girl who was overlooking him from the audience.

    "Eh? This isn''t easy training you know"

    Aleyn showed a disappointed face.

    "Is that  a no?"

    The instructor thought for a moment then shrugged.

    "Well you can join I guess but like I said. Don''t blame me if you get hurt or pass out."

    Aleyn perked up quite a bit and then dropped down to the middle of the arena. Infact her question seemed to have been on some peoples mind because once she went down some other people decided to join as well. The instructor didn''t seem to mind the extra attention though and continued with his yelling.

 Chapter 27 - Fatigue

    <blockquote><cite>Quote:</cite>I''m expecting there to be more mistakes than usual since I felt tired and I can''t keep my concentration up right now, but I also feel I need to post something so here you go. Any opinions/corrections are welcome as usual.</blockquote>

    They started by jogging in a circle around the stadium lead by the instructor. It was at a quite fast pace as some of the newcomers had trouble keeping up but the instructor ignored them he had warned them before hand after all.

    Eventually all of the people who joined after Aleyn had dropped off and returned to audience as they couldn''t keep up. Aleyn herself had easy time until they reached lap fifteen and the instructor increased his speed. She could hang on for a few more laps but after that point her legs just refused to move anymore and she moved out of the way.

    The instructor having ran past her was quite surprised. He had thought that all of the audience participants had already returned back to the audience but here was a dwarf girl who had stayed until almost the very end of the jog..

    The group did five more laps and then returned to the middle of the arena but before the group could relax the instructor yelled.

    "Push ups!"

    Everyone dropped down and started doing push ups. Having had a few minutes to catch her breath Aleyn took a spot behind the group and joined in.

    "one, two, three..." she counted in her head.

    But after a few minutes and who knows how many push ups she couldn''t keep up with counting anymore and concentrated on the task. Her arms were screaming sweet mercy but she kept going just as did everyone else and in another few minutes the instructor granted them some release.

    "Stretch!"

    The feeling of stretching her legs was divine after that jog. Maybe she should start doing something to help her stamina and legs? She sure didn''t feel her running abilities were up to scratch compared to her arm muscles which was more than likely due to blacksmithing. Very little running around but a lot of strength usage.

    At that point the instructor yelled again. It was time for more.

    The training lasted for half an hour and they cycled through quite a few basic exercises. Aleyn could just about keep up with everyone much to the instructors surprise. Aleyn thought they were about to finish up but then the instructors voice boomed again.

    "Rest and stretch! Next up we do some mock fights!"

    Mock fights, really what are they training for? Aleyn thought and at that moment the instructor turned to her. He had been keeping an eye on Aleyn but never said anything until now.

    "You gonna join? I''m not gonna let you fight for real but that doesn''t mean you wont leave without bruises."

    "I''m not afraid of bruises."

    "Good, then I''ll instruct you for a bit. It''s just basic fist fighting."

    The group was slightly shocked at the last statement and started eyeing between Aleyn and the instructor. The instructor saw their looks and sighed.

    "I''m not gonna beat her up."

    A sigh of relief echoed from the group.

    "What if I beat you up?"

    The group turned back to Aleyn who just said something unexpected. The instructor eyed Aleyn up and down and gave another chuckle.

    "You can try. You thinking the captain of the guard is easy to beat up?"

    "Captain of the guard?" Aleyn asked.

    "Oh you didn''t know? Yes, I''m the captain of the guard Bokham and these are this years trainees."

    Aleyn took a look at the group and then turned back to Bokham.

    "Aah! I get it now. Training the new guards. Got to say, I respect the work you guards do."

    "Thank you. And who might you be ?" Bokham asked.

    "Oh, I''m Aleyn I''m a blacksmith."

    Bokham eyed the dwarf girl up and down then smiled.

    "Nice to have you here Aleyn."

    After saying that Bokham turned towards the trainees.

    "Okay scrubs! Keep an eye on us. See all the mistakes and do not dismiss anything that''s done right."

    He then approached Aleyn.

    "I want you to take a stance you would use for a fist fight. You have an idea how that would look?"

    Aleyn thought for a moment then put her left leg and left arm in front. There was only really one fighting stance she knew of and it was the boxing stance. In real life she had practiced hitting boxing bags in the gym and occasionally gotten pointers from the people around her so she had some clue how she should stand and punch.

    Bokham was eagerly ready to adjust her stance but to his surprise and disappointment there was nothing to adjust. Her stance was what he would call a common hand to hand fighting stance.

    "You know some martial arts?"

    "Not really. I''m just copying what I''ve seen."

    Technically she wasn''t lying. She had very little experience and it was the first time doing it in a dwarfs body.

    "Well it''s a good start."

    Bokham took his own stance in front of Aleyn.

    "Now the main thing to learn for fighting is how to defend yourself. I''ll be throwing some punches at you and I want you to avoid or block them. It''s not particularly hard but you need to get in to a good rhythm yourself."

    He started by throwing his right arm in a long arc towards Aleyns head. The punch it self was awkwardly slow and Aleyn dodged it without a care. He then threw another punch with his left arm, this time putting more speed in to it but it was still too slow to be considered anything threatening.

    Bokham kept throwing punches at Aleyn while increasing his speed and she had to progressively put more effort in to avoiding the punches or in worst cases block them with her own arms. The punches them self were rather light when they did connect, Bokham had very good control over his own strength it seems.

    When the punches started to feel more realistic it became very clear to Aleyn that her movements were quite awkward and clumsy but that feeling started to disappear gradually as she got the hang of it.

    While trying to hit Aleyn, Bokham was quite impressed with her ability to minimize the hits that connected. It was awkward at first but once the speed picked up it felt as though she had found a good flow. At that point he wanted to see how she would handle a bit more so he kept increasing his speed.

    Aleyn was happily dodging and blocking the strikes as they came and even she could tell that the speed and intensity was increasing. She avoided the punches for quite some time until suddenly Bokhams fist reappeared in front of her out of nowhere.

    "?"

    She had just blocked him a second ago, how in the world had he recovered so fast and thrown another one with the same arm?

    She had no elegant way of defending herself so she raised her left arm in front of herself as a shield to block the strike. The danger was averted and he hit her arm but just as it hit she felt another punch coming. With no time to recover she raised both of her arms in front of her, she was guarded against any frontal attack but she couldn''t see in front of herself.

    The fist hit her guard but right after it landed she felt another punch right afterwards. At that point she had no choice but to keep her arms up as the intensity of the punches grew in to a rain of blows.

    Bokham continued hitting Aleyns block for five seconds and then stopped.

    "That is your limit. Realistically if an opponent gets to that point you would lose the fight since you can''t recover and the opponent has free reign. You did very good though, I doubt many civilians could last up to that point."

    Aleyn lowered her arms and looked at Bokham who hadn''t even broken a sweat, while her arms were quite sore and bruised. Captain of the guard was no joke it seems.

    "Next up I want you to keep your guard up and try to hit me. I''ll be looking for holes to strike back." Bokham stated.

    They both took their stances and Aleyn inched forward while Bokham stood still. She threw an experimental punch with her right arm. It was quite clumsy and had no power behind it but that was within her expectations.

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Bokham blocked the strike with his left arm without a care, he got the feeling that it wasn''t much of a serious punch and kept an eye on her. She repeated the punch with her right arm a few times until it felt more natural and then moved on to doing the same thing with her left arm. With the experiments out of the way she had a proper flow about her punches and got more serious.

    From Bokhams point of view the strikes them self weren''t that heavy or threatening but the flow and technique she exhibited was above beginner level already. At first she had thrown some very bad punches but they improved very fast and it had not taken long for him to have anything to add to her technique and with that said, there was nothing else to teach a civilian.

    "How about we stop with a bang? Hit me with your hardest punch." Bokham said while still blocking.

    "Oh we aren''t going to fight seriously? Aleyn asked while still striking his guard.

    "Hmmf. There''s no point for Captain of the guard to fight a civilian seriously. Sorry to disappoint you. Come on, hit me hard."

    She understood what he meant but it was still quite annoying to hear. She kept throwing a few normal punches before getting ready for a bigger punch.

    "What if.." She thought.

    She took a quick breath. Before throwing the next punch she concentrated her energy towards her right arm. She was quite curious on how much it would effect her attack if she was to enhance her strength as she punched and surely Bokham wouldn''t be too effected, him being so confident and all.

    Bokham felt something off as Aleyn readied her next blow and as it came he realized exactly what was going on.

    "Ooh. You still had something like that up your sleeve?" He thought.

    As a response Bokham raised both of his arms in from of himself to block the blow. Aleyn saw it and was puzzled but had no time to think further as her fist connected with Bokhams guard.

    When her fist connected felt like the usual impact force had disappeared on her side. It was as though she had just stopped her fist mid air as her punch came to an end, but in reality something else entirely had happened.

    When the punch connected with Bokhams guard, her fist had pushed him backwards. Bokham had been sent moving back a few meters and even left drag marks on the ground. After seeing the scene and understanding what had happened Aleyn felt a surge of surprise and joy. It was the first time she had used her own power in combat and the results were much grander than she had expected.

    "Hehehe. That''s a good punch girl."

    Aleyn snapped out of her excitement and turned to look at Bokham, was he alright?

    Bokham was pushed back a good few meters but it was as though he had not moved a muscle in his body as he still had his blocking stance. He was completely unharmed and his arms seemed to be completely fine even after the impact.

    "Yet you look perfectly fine."

    "But of course! You think the Captain of the guard would be harmed by some unknown blacksmith? You would certainly be underestimating me if that was so."

    Aleyn rolled her eyes. He sure had a lot of pride in that title.

    Bokham turned to his trainees who had been dead quiet for the ordeal. At first they had no real expectations and felt frustrated that a civilian was eating their training time but after Bokham had given her a few blows without her even being bothered they had a change of heart. None of them expected her to blow him away even if she used some empowerment method.

    He originally wanted to just humor her with a last hard punch while pretending it was stronger than expected, but his expectations had been far too low. Still, she hadn''t been strong enough to get through Bokhams guard in any way.

    "Now then, remember this. As a guard you are never allowed to underestimate. Criminals often hide their true power until they have a sure way of taking advantage of you and in most cases  cause severe harm If It was any of you who had taken that punch without caring I assure you, you would not be standing up for a good few months."

    None of the trainees disagreed. Even though they could probably guard and suffer minimal damage, if they got hit head on without expecting it they would probably suffer greatly.

    "Okay. No time for idling, we''re behind schedule. You two at the back, you''re next."

    The duo took place in the middle of the arena and started fighting. Meanwhile Bokham and Aleyn sat down and started chatting.

    "Got to say, its a surprise to have any civilian join the training. Is it the first time you''ve come here?" Bokham asked.

    "Yes."

    "Work not enough for ya?"

    "Well after blowing up in rage over enchanting. I was given a four day ban to let out some steam."

    Bokham raised his eyebrows.

    "Though exercising today has made me feel a lot better already." Aleyn stated.

    "You ever thought about joining the city guard? You would fit right in I reckon.Your physical condition is good, though you should probably do some endurance training since you couldn''t keep up with the jogging part."

    "Naah. I prefer not being tied to work like that, its far too much of a commitment." Aleyn said and shook her head.

    "Shame."

    **Smack**

    A loud sound of fist hitting skin made Bokham and Aleyn look at the duo fighting. One of the trainees was on the ground holding their head while the other one stood over them menacingly.

    "Okay that''s enough you two! Next two, chop chop!" Bokham yelled and clapped his hands.

    Two different recruits lifted the person from the ground and dragged them away since they had trouble standing up and two new trainees took place in the middle of the ring.

    "Think I''ll head out then. You mind if I join in some other time? I could use some training in fighting." Aleyn said and stood up

    "Well I don''t mind you joining. But honestly if you want to learn to fight then this is the wrong place. You should find someone who can teach you some proper martial arts." Bokham explained.

    Aleyn thought for a moment.

    "I guess that''s a good point. Well thanks for letting me join anyway."

    "Pleasure having you. Don''t be a stranger." Bokham said and waved her off.

    Aleyn returned to her inn room and went to have a bath to wash away her sweat and fatigue after which she dove in to bed early as she didn''t feel like going out for an hour or two.

    The next day she had a new plan. She had woken up very early in the morning at approximately 5am or so as she usually does, but today she couldn''t just stride in to the workshop so she had a different plan.

    Aleyn put on her leather jacket and pants before leaving the inn and left for the west entrance. The west entrance was only a short walk away from her inn and as she reached the end of the west entrance tunnel she took a look at the weather outside. Sun was shining and there was a little bit of snow falling but otherwise the weather was quite calm, just perfect for what she wanted.

    Without further thinking she took off and started jogging at her own pace. The goal was to get back to the inn from the south entrance to the city. After yesterday it had become very clear to her that her stamina wasn''t up to her own standards so she had to work it up gradually and there was no real other way to do it than just start exercising.

    Running around the mountain wasn''t dangerous either as the vicinity of the whole mountain was devoid of wildlife due to animals being scared off by the guards and people living around the mountain.

    When she reached the south entrance she was huffing and puffing but she still had enough energy to jog back to her inn room. While jogging through the city she evaluated that her trip had not taken that long as the stores had not opened up yet and the merchants were still in the process of setting up their tents.

    She reached back to her inn room and washed away the sweat before heading out to figure out what to do with the rest of the day.

 Chapter 28 - Unusual Job

    <blockquote><cite>Quote:</cite>(something that you''ll understand after reading the chapter a bit)<del>The amount of trouble I''ve gone through to make the emphasis visible is quite annoying. At first i started with just adding another S but it became horrible to read so I just settled with Italic which apparently doesn''t transfer from my word document to the forum text area and looks a lot worse than I imagined. If someone has a better way of emphasizing the S''s then please do let me know and if you think the Italic S''s make it too hard to read let me know as well</del>. Reverted back to adding another S for emphasis in appropriate words. Opinions still very welcome.</blockquote>

    "Nothing too interesting huh.."

    Aleyn was looking at the wall of requests in the Adventurers hall.The requests in the big city turned out to be quite different to what she had seen last time. The higher rank requests were a lot more prominent than the lower rank ones and even the lower ones seemed more technical.

    Since she had ignored the requests for a very long time she thought she could go and have a look but to her disappointment the current ones she could do weren''t too exciting. She should probably raise her rank a bit more aggressively once she is done with her current problems.

    ""Supplier in need of bear skulls, bones, pelts, claws, meat in said order.Only accepting large quantities.""

    How would a single person with no experience gather something like that in large quantities? You would need a small group to guarantee your safety and efficient gathering. Maybe that was exactly it though? Maybe the requests in the city focused more on group work as the shops and merchants required larger quantities.

    ""House in need of a thorough cleanup. 14Gold.""

    "Woah"

    Having noticed the reward she immediately grabbed the request. 14 gold for cleaning a house? It couldn''t really be a joke since it had been put on the wall since the adventurers hall had standards. Either way 14 gold was overkill for any normal house, maybe the trick was that the house was actually a mansion? There weren''t many huge houses in Dvalfgar and even the ones she knew of would probably just have maids cleaning them. 14 gold in the end wasn''t a huge amount of money to her but easy money was always welcome and she was trying to find things to do anyway.

    She brought the request to the main desk where the receptionist was waiting. It was the same dwarf woman she had seen the day she had entered Dvalfgar and had a look around.

    The receptionist was about the same height as Aleyn and her body and face were quite plump. She had long red hair that was braided and hanged loosely over her chest which was quite visible due to the huge open neck shirt she wore which highlighted her assets.

    The clerk watched her approach and place the request on the desk. She took a quick look at the paper before starting to process it.

    "Ooh someones finally biting."

    "Huh?" Aleyn said in confusion.

    "This ones been up for a day or so and a lot of people have been having a look but not taking it. It does seem quite strange to be paying this much to clean a house. My guess is that the house is huge!"

    The receptionist made a huge motion with her arms and then smiled.

    "See.. that right there was my first thought. Still I don''t think it can be that bad or people will just refuse to do it."

    "Well suit yourself. If you do manage to finish then come and tell me how big the house is." The receptionist stated and smiled again.

    Having had the paper work done and enough of the requests, she was about to leave but then Aleyn noticed a single paper nailed on the wall near the entrance door. It wasn''t exactly hidden but due to her height she had missed it when she entered the building. Usually requests were put up on the designated part of the wall but this sole paper was at the entrance, was it special in some way? Having had her curiosity peaked she approached the paper and when she got close enough to read it, it became very clear why it wasn''t amongst the others.

    "All drinks at half price for this week at Broken Horn. Featuring Singers and dancers."

    Aleyn smiled and sighed, suppose that qualifies as special in Dvalfgar. If there was one thing that people here loved then it had to be alcohol and entertainment, dwarven culture. Usually the sight of jolly drunk people was quite prominent when ever her day of working came to an end in the past. Especially since Broken horn is right next to Camedyrs workshop as the place usually turned from a restaurant in to a bar after the evening got darker. Maybe it wouldn''t hurt to go and see the entertainment but that would have to wait until later.

    The request lead her to a large house amongst the other houses near the library building. She had not really paid much attention to the buildings before but now she realized that the houses around the library area were slightly different. As much as most if not every building in Dvalfgar had strong traces of dwarven architecture, the houses around the library seemed a lot more crude compared to the rest of the city. Still people seemed to be living here so it must at least be fit for living even if they weren''t as pleasant on the eyes as rest of the buildings in the city.

    The house itself was around twice the size of a normal one. Noticeably different but to Aleyn it didn''t really explain the reward amount as it wasn''t that big of a task to clean up a normal house in the first place.

    She walked to the front door of the house and raised her hand to knock on the door, but before she even got the chance she was surprised by a low gruff voice.

    "Yess?"

    Slightly startled and confused she answered with the only reply she had.

    "Ermm I''m here for the cleaning request?"

    A moment of silence followed. It only lasted for a few seconds before the person replied.

    "The doorss open."

    Aleyn nudged the door and sure enough it wasn''t even locked. After entering the house she took a look around the unusual house.

    The first thing she noticed was that there was only one big room in front of her, just one huge room with what looked like a path or stairway up to a second floor.

    The room itself was quite eye catching. Smooth grey rock walls which had a slight curve to them as well as a lot of holes which were used as storage space and a bigger hole for a wooden window. There weren''t many pieces of furniture inside the room, only one wooden shelve that almost reached the ceiling and a wooden chest on the opposite side of the room. The only decorative thing about the room was the fur rug on the floor which covered almost all of the floor.

    "Sso then."

    Sitting cross legged on the fur rug with a parchment  in front of him and his back towards Aleyn sat a large figure in a robe which covered everything a part from his head.

    Dark Scales and a two quarter of a meter horns sticking out from his forehead which curved backwards. The person wasn''t a human that''s for sure. Aleyn stepped closer towards him and introduced herself.

    "Hello, I''m Aleyn and I''ll be cleaning your house."

    As she got closer she had a better look at the person. She had to assume the person was an older male dragonkin with a strong dragon inheritage as he had no human characteristics other than two legs and two feet and even those were slightly questionable. The mans head itself was lizard like apart from the horns on his head as well as a couple of spikes which stuck out of his cheeks.

    She was admiring his unusual physique when she noticed his eyes. His eyes were completely white, the usual indication of either going blind or complete blindness.

    "The housse hass only two roomss. I would like for you to sstart on the ssecond floor where me and my sson ssleep. Clean up the dusst and dirt in every hole you can find and then do the ssame here."

    He seemed to put a lot of emphasis on his s''s, was that a thing with his species or did he have a speech impediment? Who knows, but every time he did his long lizard like tongue popped out of his mouth for a moment. Entertaining to look at to say the least.

    "Usse the broom if you like."

    The man pointed towards the start of the passage upstairs which did indeed have a broom lying next to it.

    "I''ll be starting then."

    Without anything else to ask she walked to the broom, picked it up and headed up the passage.

    The passage itself was a nightmare, it felt more like a vertical ramp with some badly made steps on it. Luckily enough who ever made the monstrosity had enough brains to put in holes which to put your hands in so you could actually climb the damn thing.

    At the top of the passage she could see the bed room immediately. It wasn''t much different from the room below in anything other than contents. In the middle of the room there were two sturdy looking beds next to each other which were basically the highlight of the room.

    Other than that for some reason there were five swords of different lengths and sizes scattered on the fur rug which raised some questions. She got curious as a blacksmith and picked up the closest sword around her.

    The sword was almost twice her size and required some effort to hold. The strange thing wasn''t that it was huge, but that it was also very wide. Usually if you used a large sword the blade needed to be quite wide, but ones blade was a few steps further compared to its length.

    She took a look at the rest of the swords and they were all unnecessarily wide, it was obvious that they had have to have been made like so, but why? It seemed silly to her but she wasn''t here to evaluate someones weaponry. She moved the swords next to a single wall, opened the window and started cleaning.

    It took a bit of moving furniture but in the end she only had the fur rug to deal with after cleaning the room. When she had started she planned to pile all of the dust and dirt on the rug then tie it up and take it out to dust it.

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    She picked up the rug as best as she could and pushed it down the passage way as carefully as she could to not cause any harm to it. The rug dropped the passage and made a lot of noise but it was perfectly fine and still tied up.

    Aleyn felt slightly amused as her plan hadn''t gone wrong but after descending the passage way she remembered something.

    "Oh crap what about the man?"

    It was quite a loud noise and he might have been confused at the suddenness of it, but it was quite the opposite actually, he didn''t seem to care. The man was still sitting in his same spot with his parchment in front of him and to her surprise he was painting on it with Inky colour.

    "A blind man painting?" Aleyn thought.

    She had a distant look at what he was painting. On the parchment there were a few lines which didn''t look like anything. It wasn''t much of a surprise to her as sad as it is, being blind is a huge problem if you want to do any painting for obvious reasons. Maybe he was painting something only blind people would understand?

    Well as interesting as it might be to watch, she still had a rug and another room to clean. She picked up the rug and brought it outside where she unrolled it and started dusting it.

    The rug was clean and back up on the second floor. It had taken her quite a bit of effort to get it back up the passage but in the end she had succeeded in pushing it up there. After unrolling the rug and placing the furniture she returned to the first room.

    The man was still painting on his parchment on the same spot. Curious on his progress she took another look at his results and was met with something unexpected.

    The drawing of few random lines had turned in to drawing of a room which closely resembled the room they were in. In the middle of the room there was still some random lines which didn''t really form a picture of anything to her. Still it was quite something for a blind man, quite admirable. Her art appreciation only lasted for a few minutes before it was interrupted.

    "You sstill have thiss room."

    The man knocked her out of her absent minded staring.

    "Oh, right."

    The bottom room was slightly more trickier for her as it had a huge bookshelf which needed to be moved when she had to take the rug out. She decided to leave it for last and started brushing the storage holes in the walls.

    It took slightly longer than on the second floor but with the storage holes and shelves done most of her problems were over. The only thing left was clean under the rug and bring it out. Problem was moving it from under the huge wooden bookshelf.

    The bookshelf itself was in quite good condition compared to most of the apartment, it had five shelves on it and it was mostly filled with old leather covered books, urns and plates. Luckily enough the bookshelf wasn''t completely on the rug so she could probably lift and tilt the whole thing while pushing the rug out.

    Aleyn took hold of the book shelfs corner and started lifting the bookshelf. It was quite a tedious process as if she lifted too fast or wobbled the bookshelf the contents might fall out but with a little patience she raised the bookshelf enough to push the rug from under the bookshelf. With the rug now free from the bookshelf she lowered the bookshelf itself and was about to start working with the rug.

    Then she heard it.

    "Fuck..."

    She rushed in front of the bookshelf in panic and quickly looked over the whole thing before spotting the culprit just as the one thing she didn''t want to happen was about to happen.

    On the second last shelf of the bookshelf. An urn which was quite tall was wobbling and just about to tip over the edge. Aleyn was set and ready to save the urn from its dive but the urn had no lid on it so what ever was inside would scatter all over her and the floor around her. Though that was the least of her worries right now as the only thing that mattered was that the urn didn''t break, so as long as what ever was inside wasn''t irreplaceable she could always clean it up.

    Aleyn concentrated on the urn as it was about to topple over the edge, there was no avoiding it.She was ready to catch it as best as she could. But the urn instead stopped and got pushed back and stood still without moving. Still on high alert she was confused on what had happened as an object fell in front of her.

    It wasn''t the urn, the urn was completely safe on the bookshelf, instead on the rug in front of her there was stick. She picked up the stick and gave it a look and came to realize it wasn''t just a stick, it was the brush the man was painting with. Aleyn turned to look at the man who was sitting across the room still looking at his painting.

    He had his left arm extended towards her, or rather towards the urn.

    "Clean it up." he ordered.

    "Clean what up?" Aleyn thought.

    She took a look at the brush, it didn''t need any cleaning although the head of the brush seemed to be  quite flat. With a little thinking she figured it out and took a look at the wall next to the bookshelf.

    On the wall there was a large splatter of ink. He had thrown the brush to stop the urn from dropping and it had then traveled with the rest of its momentum and hit the wall, there was no other reason for him to throw the brush after all. Aleyn first brought the brush back to the man who took it back and started trying to repair the brushes head.

    "Is he blind or am I just assuming?" She thought.

    With a little bit of water and scrubbing the splatters disappeared from the wall and its proximity. It was extra work but she didn''t complain since it was all due to her in the first place and with the distraction out of the way she proceeded to roll the rug and clean the floor before bringing the rug outside for dusting.

    Aleyn sat cross legged next to the man. She had finished cleaning and afterwards asked if she could stay and watch, the man didn''t have any objections.

    Currently his painting was looking quite impressive. The room now had shadows and more detail like content on the shelves and storage holes, but the smudge in the middle was the most interesting development. The random strokes and lines had turned in to more of a figure. There wasn''t many distinct features on the figure but it was starting to shape up in to something at least.

    "So how do you actually paint. From memory?" Aleyn asked.

    "What do you mean?"

    "Well.. You know.. You''re blind aren''t you?"

    With a quick motion he raised his arm and put his brush between Aleyns eyes just inches from her face and answered in a slightly annoyed manner.

    "I''ve never had issuess sseeing."

    Surprised at the demonstration and slightly covered in ink she wiped her face while the man returned to his painting.

    "That doesn''t answer my question though."

    He paused for a moment and gave a small smile.

    "You''re right. It iss true my eyess are blind."

    "So how do you manage to throw a paint brush across a room and hit an urn hard enough for it to stop moving. Painting I would imagine someone could paint from memory with enough practice but that throwing I find more confusing."

    "How did you know the urn wass about to fall?" He asked.

    "Well I heard it obviously, it was making a distinct wobbling sound." Aleyn explained.

    "What elsse."

    "What else?" she repeated.

    The man didn''t explain further so she had to think it through. When she had put the bookshelf down she had definitely heard the distinct sound coming from the bookshelf where a pottery or something similar was scratching on wood as it wobbled around in a circle.

    Going back in her head to the moment she tried to relive the moment. She had just gotten the rug from below the bookshelf and was putting it down and when she did she heard the noise and rushed in front of the bookshelf, those are the facts but what else was there? Retracing steps, she had just gotten the rug out and was lowering it when nothing was out of the ordinary. As she put the bookshelf down she heard the noise and..

    "I felt it." Aleyn answered.

    "That''ss right. You felt it." the man answered.

    When she had put down the bookshelf the noise was coupled by vibrations which she could feel from the floor and the bookshelf itself as she held it. It was very hard to notice if you took it for granted and she had spent quite a lot of time with feeling things through walls and other barriers when Nancy trained her.

    "So you''re saying you felt the urn moving across the room due to vibrations through the ground."

    "Not at all. I felt it in many more wayss than jusst that." the man answered.

    He paused and made a few brush strokes on the parchment.

    "Vibrationss in the air, vibrationss in the earth, ssound, magic energy. All of thesse have molded together in me and given me ssight better than one can perceive through their eyess. In return for thiss my own eyess became usseless."

    It sounded unusual but rather than surprised Aleyn was curious.

    "That sounds very useful for a painter. You can feel all of the details, but what about colour?"

    The man made a brush stroke before answering.

    "Ssadly, that iss the one thing I lack."

    "So you''re not just a painter then right? No painter would sacrifice their sense of colour that freely. Even with those sort of gains."

    "Ohhh. You''re quite clever." the man said and paused for another brush stroke.

    "You''re right. I''m not a painter, it''ss jusst a hobby of mine."

    "So what are you then to need a better view of the world than your eyes can give you."

    "You''re a curiouss one aren''t you." The man said in a questioning manner.

    "I find it interesting. You don''t need to answer if you''re unwilling."

    "Then l will not."

    An awkward silence followed as the man kept working on his painting.

 Chapter 29 - Moonlight Blue

    "Different subject then. What''s with these houses? Compared to the rest of the city they''re far less sophisticated."

    "Ssomeone hassn''t sstudied their hisstory." the man huffed.

    "I admit I haven''t. Care to share?"

    "Ssuppose theress no harm in that."

    The man stayed quiet for a few moments while making a few strokes on the canvas.

    "Long ago when the mountainss were sstill less inhabited. Dwarvess were a ssmall minority of what lived in the mountainss. Traveling and living in packss, hunting wildlife and living in makesshift tentss. "

    "The firsst recorded dwarven clanss were very ssplit across what we now call the dwarven kingdom, not hosstile towardss each other in particular but each were very content with ssticking to themsselvess but at an unrecorded point in hisstory they got together and united the clanss. With the people brought together they needed a place to house their larger numberss and to call their own."

    He paused to paint a few strokes and then smothered the brush with more ink.

    "I can''t remember the specificss of their decision, but they eventually decided they would carve out this very mountain to protect them from the elementss  and to be closer to mother earth."

    "What we call the ssouth entrance was the sstarting point of their dream. Working day and night they mined and sshaped a passage that eventually led to the what we call the west entrance, leaving them eassy access outside and plenty of space."

    "With the mountainss being what they are, cold and windy. The protection of that cave wassn''t good enough for them which made them build sshelter inside of their cave, the people were forced to live in ssmall groups due to the limited new sshelter. At thiss point the identity of the clanss sstarted fading completely ass they worked to improve their shelterss together."

    "Their houssess were at first jusst ssimple cavess insside of that cave which only held the bare necessitiess ssuch ass room for sleeping and sstorage sspace for food ass well ass a cover for the entrance of their cave housse, but when the need for more sshelter grew they had to sshape the houssess sso that they could differentiate them from each other. It wass probably the sstarting point of dwarven architecture."

    Aleyn while listening earnestly tried remembering how the houses around this area looked. They were quite crude and sloppy but held some dwarven cultural spirit to them. The explanation didn''t feel out of place.

    "The dwarven city wass jusst a few cavess which then were shaped in to houssess and the dwarvess were content with that, but when the population of that cave town grew too much they had to expand further in to the mountain to accommodate for the future generationss."

    He thought for a moment before continuing with his painting and the explanation.

    "At that point a lot of time had passed and the dwarvess had made some exchangess with the other racess and gained new wayss to improve their standardss of living. Once they expanded they build more practical houssing made of wood and rock. The firsst houssess were sslowly abandoned and ussed for other thingss than living and Dvalfgar sstarted to sslowly sshape in to what it iss today."

    "Thesse houssess are a memento of dwarven sstruggle to build their home Dvalfgar. Thesse dayss they''re ussed ass cheap houssing for people who do not need much or jusst can''t afford better. Quite a few of thesse original houses have been taken down ass they were risky to live in and in their place they have built newer oness, but until they do become hazardouss they will be ussed and remembered."

    He then turned towards Aleyn.

    "Though from the ssoundss of it, it iss sstarting to become ssomething you only read in hisstory bookss rather than common knowledge like it once wass a few yearss ago.

    She looked him in the eyes, as futile as that might be.

    "History isn''t usually the most interesting subject but that''s actually quite interesting. Why would you live in a house like this then? You have enough money to pay a cleaner 14gold so I''m sure you can afford a better house.

    The dragonkin gave another small smile.

    "Having money doessn''t necessarily mean I want to live in a luxuriouss housse now doess it? I prefer a more ssimple lifesstyle.."

    After saying that he put his brush down and didn''t give Aleyn a chance to comment.

    "What do you think then?"

    "Oh you''re done?" Aleyn perked up from her sitting posture.

    She took a better look at the painting which she had been ignoring ever since the man started his history lesson.

    Monochrome painting with different strengths of black ink. The room which they were sitting in was depicted in extreme detail,  as expected from someone who boasts about his far greater perception than normal eyes can have. The paintings point of view seemed to start from his side of the room and covered the pathway to second floor and the other side of the room. The rug was rolled half way over in the painting and a person was brushing from under it.

    "Oh, I''m flattered." Aleyn said.

    The person of course Aleyn. A dwarf girl with very lightly coloured medium length hair dressed in casual cloth as she brushed the dust and dirt from below the rug.

    "I like it. You did a nice job."

    The man nodded.

    "What do you do with your paintings though? There''s none in the house that I know of." Aleyn asked.

    Turning his head slightly the man answered.

    "The traveling merchantss are eager buyerss. They pay a generouss ssum and then ssell the painting in another city for far more."

    Aleyn frowned slightly.

    "Doesn''t that mean you''re letting them cash in on your work?"

    He shrugged his shoulders.

    "I''m not interested in riches, their payment iss far more than enough to get uss by and if someone is willing to buy my paintingss for a large ssum then they''re in handss that can appreciate them."

    Very simple mindset. Something Aleyn didn''t really agree with, if it was her painting she would go to further lengths to gain an appropriate sum, but really it wasn''t her place to argue.

    "Well as long as you''re happy I guess. I should probably be leaving now then, could I have my payment?.

    The man dug in to his pocket and pulled out a sack jingling with money and stuck his other hand in the bag. The hand emerged from the bag stuffed with gold coins.

    "Here."

    Aleyn put both of her hands in front of the old man and he dropped the whole fist of coins in her hands. Aleyn eagerly started counting them, one, two three.... ten, eleven, twelve...?

    "Twelve coins?" She repeated out loud

    "You almosst broke my urn." the man replied.

    Two gold reduction for something like that was quite unheard of but then again paying 14 gold coins for cleaning a house was as well.

    "Sigh, fine I''ll accept that. Could you sign the paper work as well?"

    Aleyn handed the request paper towards the man. Him giving proof that she had actually finished the request was the only way to let it be recorded as a successful request after all.

    The man took the piece of paper and swiftly wrote down something with his brush before handing it back to her. Aleyn wanting to confirm what he had written took a look at the bottom of the paper.

    "Brevurth."

    It was quite a bit different to what Terry had written as it seemed to be just a signature. Still it was probably the best proof she could ask for.

    "Be off then."

    The man now presumably Brevurth urged her to leave. She said her thanks and good byes and left for the Adventurers Hall.

    "14 gold coins to clean one of those old houses? That has to be the best deal I''ve seen in a while and everyone has been ignoring it. You''re so lucky."

    The receptionist was doing the paper work and transferring the details in to Aleyns badge while chatting. After she was done with adding the cleaning jobs details in she had a longer look at the content in Aleyns badge.

    She eyed Aleyn up and down before shrugging and handing the badge back.

    "All done."

    "Thank you."

    Aleyn was leaving as the receptionist yelled.

    "Come back soon~."

    Aleyn just waved to her as a response.

    It still being quite early in the day, Aleyn floated around the city trying to find something useful to buy from the merchant tents before returning to her room.

    Once she returned she placed the one thing she did buy in her backpack, which was a fire crystal.

    The crystal was small and she could easily fit it in the palm of her hand. It looked like it had seen better days, but the quality wasn''t why she bought it. The merchants selling point for it was how it made starting campfires a nonissue. She had been allowed to test the crystals power since it was quite old and it still seemed to be alive and kicking as it lit the floor tile quite well even with its outside appearance being so worn. A very handy tool for a few coins.

    Lying on the bed she thought of what to do with herself for the next few days. There were still at least two days before she was allowed back into the workshop and her daily schedule was quite empty other than for her morning exercise routine to be.

    "Oh yeah!" She sat up as she remembered something.

    Digging in to the back she found something to pass her time with.

    "Understanding Elements: Earth."

    She had a whole book about one element, though she was slightly reluctant to read it.

    In no fantasy setting had she gotten a good impression from earth magic. Fire, water and even wind were all quite powerful and in most cases were dominant over earth. Water carved rocks and could not be contained by the earth,  wind created  typhoons which shredded hills and tore the earth apart while earth could only hold on.

    Fire on the other hand was quite weak as a counter to earth, earth smothers flames while fire can only scorch the ground leaving burn marks.

    ""Amongst the elements Earth might be the easiest to grasp understanding of, but it also has far more to it than the other elements.""

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    Nancy had thought of earth very highly during the purchase. It wouldn''t hurt reading about it at least would it? No knowledge is wasted and knowledge is power after all.

    Setting her pillow as a chairs back she sat on the bed with her back against it and opened the book.

    Aleyn now outside was walking around with a little bit of frustration in the air. The book had been way too technical and only a small portion of it made sense to her but not enough for it to help her learn anything. She had been warned that learning through theory would be very hard but it had been way more than she had thought. In the end she had just put the book down since it had not given her anything new to work with.

    Drifting from her inn towards the south entrance she started to notice people moving to the same direction

    "Oh right. Broken Horn."

    It had become quite late in the evening and Broken horn had stopped being a restaurant for sometime. People had obviously seen the advert and wanted to take advantage of the discounted drinks.

    "So it has come to this huh..." She despaired when she realized she had nothing better to do than go drinking.

    Yet it was an experience and experiencing things was part of the human life. Aleyn herself had never really been a keen drinker yet not opposed to an occasional drink. Shaking her head she started heading towards Broken Horn.

    Usually when she dined at Broken Horn she had taken the outside table because she wanted to view the city while eating, but the inside of Broken Horn was quite something as well.

    Spacious, at least twenty separate tables were laid inside of Broken Horn in front of a wooden stage where a band was playing some tavern tunes. Near the entrance the bar itself was quite lively, people were ordering beer and chatting up the bartenders be they men or women. The spirit was quite jolly to say the least.

    At first Aleyn had trouble approaching the bar since it was so crowded but by a stroke of luck a group left some seats after a few moments of her trying to find room. She took her seat on a stool and a bartender approached her.

    The bartender was a jolly human girl of the age 17-19, she was slightly taller than the other bartender girls but not by a huge amount.

    "Hi sunshine, what will it be?"

    "Sunshine?" She muttered in a low voice.

    "Huh?" The bartender asked as she thought she heard something.

    "Uh nothing nothing. It''s my first time having alcohol so maybe... Do you have anything that should be enjoyed rather than drunk in bulk like beer?"

    The bartender had a mix of shock and confusion on her face.

    "A dwarf of your age who has never drank beer? And doesn''t want beer? Are you really a dwarf?"

    Her inner self rolled her eyes. Typical.

    "As far as I know I am. Is there a problem?" She couldn''t really give any other answer.

    "Not at all no. It''s just odd." The bartender scratched her head.

    "Something that should be enjoyed... Well its gonna have to be a fancy liquor drink or something and that''s gonna be a lot more expensive than beer." She answered while still scratching her head.

    "Money isn''t an issue. I don''t mind liquor either."

    "Today''s a day to remember!" She yelled and moved to the back room of the bar.

    In a few moments she returned with three bottles and placed them on the table.

    "It''s rare for anyone to order anything other than beer here so we only have these three bottles but their quality should be very good. Lucky for you I know exactly what to make as well."

    She placed a large glass on the bar table and opened up two of the bottles, she poured the first bottles liquor up until it reached one fourth of the glass, she then took the second bottle and did exactly the same and filled it up to half.

    After doing so she did not open the third bottle but reached for a bucket of ice behind her and poured an ice cube worth of ice in the concoction, a reaction immediately followed. The drink started bubbling as if it was carbonating, it was quite a strange sight  and slightly frightening as the ice quickly melted away and the bubbling stopped.

    "If I didn''t do that you would probably get a huge tummy ache after a few sips I can tell you that much, those two are quite potent."

    She then opened up the third bottle and poured a larger portion of the last bottle. The glass was now quite filled.

    "And that''s Moonlight blue. Heavenly taste and enough bite to it to get you drunk if drunk too quickly."

    "That''ll be 15gold." She claimed happily.

    Aleyn raised her eyebrows, 15 gold for a drink was quite something.

    "Aww don''t tell me you don''t have the money after boasting." the bartender frowned.

    "Oh I do. I can still be surprised though." Aleyn stated and handed the money over.

    "Enjoy your drink ~."

    "I''ll try." Aleyn replied and smiled.

    She picked up the drink with both of her hands and took a little sip and the taste was extraordinary as expected.

    A hint of sweet strawberry with a tint of bitter grapefruit and a and after taste that provoked her sweet tooth. It was definitely a drink to enjoy slowly but why was it called moonlight blue when the drink itself had a more red/orange tint to it? Well who cares, it was probably the drink creators name or something.

    Having an occasional sip she turned around to have a look at what was going on behind her. People were singing to the bands tune, some yelling more than singing, some just talking with each other, some were having drinking competitions and some were definitely flirting up the waiters.

    While scanning the room her eyes met with a fellow blacksmith from Camedyrs workshop. He raised his tankard and nodded her way. She then noticed the whole table was filled with blacksmiths she worked with. Aleyn picked up her glass and walked over to them while dodging the other people going about their evening.

    "Hey boys."

    "Ayy!!! Aleyn!!" The workers cheered in their jolly tipsiness.

    She sat down amongst the workers and chatted along while sipping her expensive drink.

    As the night grew darker the people grew tipsier and louder in their merry ways. The jolly evening came to a sudden stop as the pianist stroke a loud note a few times, demanding attention.

    "And now for something a little special." The pianist yelled.

    What followed was a a slower tune from all of the instruments which filled the quiet air. It continued for a little while and then a person walked on to the stage in front of the band.

    A figure dressed in a white gown which covered her from neck to wrists to her calves, it was so white it was almost blinding for the drunken audience. She wore no shoes but had some form of cloth socks on her delicate looking feet. The person under the gown herself was what anyone would call a short elf girl.

    Her blond hair was tied up which showed her face clearly. Even from the distance you could see her bright blue eyes which brightened her sculpted golden coloured face. She wore a slight blush on her cheeks as she moved forward on the stage meekly.

    She was very slim just like elves tended to be, but what was quite odd was her chest. Compared to her body her chest area was abnormally large for an elf. She definitely caught the eyes of most men around the tavern with her body.

    The band changed their tune slightly which seemed to be a cue for her. She opened her mouth and started singing along the music.

    The audience was awestruck and so was Aleyn. Hearing her beautiful voice was so soothing it was mind blowing, her soft tune captivated everyone and most people started swaying softly to her singing or shedding some drunken tears.

    No a single person dared to start singing along or they might taint the feeling they had but as the song went on and on, people started humming along her singing which complimented her performance. After she shed some of her awkward movement she started moving across the stage from left to right with a little dancing in between taking great care to perform to everyone around her.

    She sang a collection of songs. None which Aleyn herself knew of but she imagined to be quite popular or inspired by folklore as most people seemed to know the songs since they hummed along.

    As the night reached its peak, so did her performance and after her last song she thanked everyone with teary eyes. She was beautiful to begin with but with a tear flowing down her cheek she was absolutely mesmerizing, The bars silence was broken as everyone exploded in to applause for the great beauty and her voice as she descended from the stage.

    As she got down from the stage a few more tipsy gentlemen tried approaching her, but were repelled by a tall fellow waiting for her at the end of the stairs.

    "Oh it''s that guy." Aleyn thought while sipping her drink and watching the scene unfold.

    Tall, scaly facial features, red hair and a narrow eyes. She had met this man yesterday at merchant area. He separated the drunk gentlemen from the girl with a tip of his sword, urging them to leave her be.

    "But of course. A beauty like her has a boyfriend already." One of the workers sitting with Aleyn said.

    "Could be her bodyguard." She refuted.

    The worker almost choked on his tankard.

    "You blind or something? Look at her cling on him behind his back! That ain''t no bodyguard."

    With that said, she was indeed clinging closely to the man, they were very close to be fine with such intimacy.

    The drunk men lost their interest and stumbled back to their seats and the girl no longer clung to his back.

    At this point the bar started getting back to its usual rowdiness. Aleyn had a look around and was slightly amused how the air changed so quickly and as she turned back to look at what the singer girl was doing she had already disappeared.

    Her bodyguard or boyfriend, who ever he might be stayed behind and seemed to be looking after the bars safety as he walked around.

 Chapter 30 - A Night of Tragedy

    Outside of the bar not too far away. A young girl was heading towards the housing area while a drunken man kept shadowing her from a safe distance away.

    The man had seen her in the bar when she stepped on the stage and had his eyes on her ever since. As she slipped away after her performance, so did he.

    Walking amongst the houses and greeting the night shift guards she was happily humming her tune and genuinely happy over her performance today, she had finally gotten the courage to perform in front of a larger audience and her reception had been the best she could ask for.

    The guards clanking armor grew more distant and as it disappeared she suddenly came to a halt as she was pulled in to a Alley way.

    With her mouth covered from behind she tried to struggle free until a knife appeared in front of her eyes.

    "Make a move or a noise and I''ll cut you in ways you can''t imagine."

    She immediately stopped fighting and the man pulled her deeper in to the Alley.

    "Such a smart girl. There''s no need to make this hard when it can be so enjoyable for both of us."

    Aleyn, still in the bar had just finished her drink. Slightly tipsy but still very much in control of herself she decided to call it a night and waved to the workers who were getting absolutely smashed and barely noticed her.

    Walking to her inn she witnessed the drunken people staggering around while the passing guards occasionally took some time to make sure they had not hurt themselves. To her the bar trip had been quite nice as she relaxed with her drink and gossiped with the workers, but the best moment was definitely listening to the elf singer.

    "Such a nice singer. Wonder if she used magic to enhance her voice for that effect or was it just her natural talent."

    Strolling between the houses and greeting the passing guards who were quite surprised to see a dwarf so sober, she made her way towards her inn at a steady pace.

    While doing so she came across one of the older houses. Completely made of stone just like the house she had cleaned, a lot smaller than it as well but what interested her was how it was decorated.

    It had the common signs of dwarven architecture but instead of the usual shapes and carvings the house only had two ram heads next to the door, it stood out to her quite a lot.

    Curious, she took a minute to have a closer look at the house and there literally were no other carvings visible on it.

    Slightly confused but not bothered she decided to let it go and have a better look tomorrow but as she was about to leave she noticed something in the alley next to the house.

    A silken sash with a pouch sewed on it. It looked odd and unusual compared to the common trash she had habit of noticing.

    Aleyn walked over and picked it up to examine it. The pouch only had a key with a name tag on it.

    "K.S.A.I. Thess."

    Scratching her head Aleyn looked around herself to see if there was anything else and surely enough there was another cloth piece further in to the alley way.

    Slightly dirty and stepped on it seemed to be a part of the sash but didn''t really have anything attached to it.

    While thinking she heard a small sound, she couldn''t really place where it came from but she knew she heard something out of place. Aleyn closed her eyes and tried to find that sound, it took her a few moments but the sound became very clear. She followed the bread crumbs left by the sound and as she went deeper in to the alley way she found more scraps of cloth and the sound became more clearer, a person huffing and puffing.

    As she turned a corner in the Alley way she saw the source of the sound and with a quick movement she went back behind the corner.

    "Really? In a place like this."

    A man in between a woman''s legs, huffing and puffing intensely. What else could it be? Some frisky couple had decided to make love in an alley way.

    "I should leave them alone."

    But a nagging feeling in the back of her head said she shouldn''t go. Was she actually a perv that liked to watch other people have sex? Slightly curious and tired she took another peak from behind the corner.

    The man was still going quite intensely as the woman laid down motionless on the ground.

    "Wait.."

    The woman wasn''t moving, she lied there motionless and quiet with her arms to her sides while the man held her legs up. Not to mention there were scraps of cloth everywhere with occasional red stain on them.

    "...." she stayed quiet as her heartbeat started intensifying after putting the pieces together. The old picture of lovers having sex disappeared without any objections. The man was raping a girl or what was left of her.

    How did she not notice it immediately. Did the alcohol hit her harder than she had realized?

    She needed to do something and quick, but what were her options? She thought for a brief moment and started looking around the alley way for something to hold and as she did she spotted a shovel lying on the tiles close to her.

    "That has to do."

    Aleyn picked up the shovel gently with minimal sound and started making her way towards the man as silently as she could.

    With every step she grew tenser and her heartbeat faster and faster. She was so close, so very close.

    "haa...haaa, You feel so good girl, ah if only my wife had a body like yours." The man having her way spouted.

    A disgusted feeling surged through Aleyn which made her gag slightly and almost drop her shovel but before it could, she took a firmer grip. She was going to do this.

    She was now just half a meter behind the man. He was too busy having his way with the girl to pay any attention to his surroundings.

    Aleyn raised the shovel above her head. She had to make absolutely sure this wouldn''t backfire on her as it would danger her and the girl.

    "Here it comes~!" the man claimed in excitement.

    With her preparations interrupted Aleyn swung down hard. She even put some of her magic power in to the swing and felt how the mans head gave in under the force of her blow. The man was now motionless on his knees, still very in between the girls legs..

    With little remorse Aleyn raised her shovel again and swung on the side of the mans face which made him tumble on the alley floor with a silence breaking thump.

    With now a full view of the scene, she slightly regretted doing so.

    She recognized the girl immediately and tears started gathering in her eyes as she looked at the husk of a girl in front of her. The singer girl, a great beauty with golden white skin colour and massive chest was now in complete shambles and vulnerable in every way possible as her clothes were torn off.

    Not conscious, still breathing, but only barely.

    Her once beautiful face covered in bruises and her cheeks bleeding from shallow cuts. Her neck had bruises in the shape of a strangle hold, the man probably knocked her out at some point by choking her.

    Her body was completely covered in bruises and occasional cuts which bled, but the man had spent a lot more of his attention on her breasts and genital area. Her breasts were red and bruised as they leaned to her sides, the bruises looked like grasping fingers.

    But the most disgusting thing to Aleyn was what he had spent the most time on.

    From her private area a trickle of blood was escaping as it gaped massively compared to its size and you could clearly see that a lot of the area was torn with muscle showing. Aleyn turned her head in disgust and took a look at what the man was packing and to her horror the size difference was definitely not why this had happened.

    He had used his strength and knife to do all of this. Brutally inflicting harm to her just for his own pleasure.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    She was furious enough to pick up his knife and end his life. But as she was about to, a door opened behind her in the alley way.

    "Calm down dear, it''s probably the cats and dogs again." A tired elderly woman''s voice echoed .

    "There''s no damn cat or dog that makes such a loud noise. Get behind me woman." An elderly voice of a man ordered.

    An old dwarf couple appeared from the backdoor, they had heard the loud banging noise from the shovel and the husband had gotten curious and gotten his sword. They walked down the alley way until they clearly saw Aleyn.

    "Who goes there! I mean who are you." the man yelled while pointing his sword.

    "There''s an injured girl behind me...I need you to go back inside... and bring me something to cover her... " Aleyn said while taking in breaths to calm herself and clear her disgusted feeling.

    The dwarf couple looked at her and eyed the ground as well as the man and the girl behind her.

    "Right fucking now!" Aleyn yelled with all of her fury.

    The woman jumped in fright and scurried back inside.

    "Explain yourself girl." The dwarf granpa said loudly with his sword pointed towards her.

    Aleyn calmed down and started explaining everything. From her finding the two in the alley way until she had almost picked up the mans knife the picture was clear. While explaining the dwarf woman came back with a large white sheet and started sobbing as she heard the story and noticed the girls wounds and bruises.

    "Such a young girl." She said and cried as she placed the sheet on the alley way.

    Aleyn didn''t reply as she raised the girl on the sheet calmly and wrapped her up to cover her as that was the best she could do.

    "Neither of you are a doctor or know healing magic I take it."

    "Retired guardsman and a baker." the granpa stated.

    "Shit.." Aleyn claimed.

    At that moment she heard a familiar sound echoed through the alley ways. Clanking that moved at a steady pace away from the houses.

    "Guards!" she yelled.

    But her voice didn''t reach them. She would have to chase after the patrol.

    "You two stay here."

    Aleyn ordered the couple to stay there while she ran after the guards like her life depended on it. She caught their attention with some yelling and brought them to the scene.

    The guards talked to the couple and listened to her hectic story as she tried to hurry the guards along.

    "Do you have any idea who she is?" One of the guards asked Aleyn.

    "She''s a singer that performed a while ago at Broken Horn. Other than that I have no idea." Aleyn answered

    "Or this man?" The other guard asked.

    "No clue who he is." Aleyn answered again.

    "She needs to be brought to safety, but since we don''t know where she lives we have to bring her to the headquarters but we cant treat her there." The first guard stated.

    "Shit...." Aleyn muttered in a low voice.

    At that point she remembered something and dug into her pocket.

    "You two have any idea what this K.S.A.I might stand for?"

    The first guard took a look at the key.

    "No clue. Is this hers?"

    "Yeh I picked it up at the start of the Alley and it matches the rest of her torn clothes." Aleyn confirmed.

    "K.S.A.I ? Hmm aren''t those the initials of that expensive inn a little bit from here? I''ve been there once, nice place." the other guard stated.

    When she heard the name she had mental image of the luxury inns banner.

    ""K.S.A.I . Kharis''s Spa and Inn.""

    "That''s it!" She yelled.

    "We need to get her home, they should have some ways to treat her there since it''s an inn." Aleyn hurriedly stated.

    She picked up the rolled up girl and was about to start running when one of the guards stopped her.

    "If you''re taking her there then I''m coming with you, sure as hell not leaving her alone without protection."

    He then turned to the old couple.

    "You two go out there and wait for the next patrol and direct them here while my partner keeps this man in check."

    Everyone nodded and started moving except the guard who stayed behind.

    Aleyn held the injured girl in her arms and ran while the guard stayed behind her and as they got the the inn they noticed the huge banner in front of it which matched the nameplate on the key.

    "Open the door and lets wake up people." the guard said.

    Aleyn hurriedly stuck the key in the lock and it opened without any issues but that didn''t stop her from kicking the door and rushing in. She made sure to make a lot of noise while entering.

    Just inside the house there was a huge table with some chairs around it and a desk for reception with some doors behind the desk. Next to the reception there was a dark hallway which you could not see far in to.

    Aleyn put the girl down on the huge table gently and as she did one of the doors from behind the desk opened.

    "Thess for the love of god be more quiet, people are trying to sle... Who are you two?"

    A short elven man appeared from the room. He had bed hair and closely resembled the singer girl in every other way than gender.

    "Are you the owner of this place?" The guard asked him.

    "Yes I''m Kharis, could you two explain yourself.. THESS!" Kharis yelled as he noticed the bundle on the table.

    He rushed to the table and tried to get closer to the girl but the guard stood in his way.

    "Do you know this girl?"

    "That''s my daughter! What have you done to her!" Kharis yelled and threw a punch at the guard in anger.

    The guard ignored his punch which just hit his chest armor.

    "You need to calm down sir and we can share the story."

    At that point the door opened again and this time a woman entered the room.

    The woman was quite tall and had a brown skin as well as short and slightly curly hair as well as huge chest.

    Aleyn after seeing her enter the room immediately thought.

    "That''s her mother."

    The mother after noticing the girl rushed to her side, the guard didn''t stop her and started explaining the facts.

    The girl had been assaulted in an alley and a citizen had stepped in to interfere. That was the gist of it, there was no need for details.  After explaining he deemed the girl was safe in her parents hands and left. He had some paper work to do after all.

    The mother turned to Aleyn who had just been watching and listening while trying to relax after the straining experience.

    "You''re the one that saved her?"

    "I put a stop to what was happening. I can''t say I saved her." Aleyn replied with emptiness in her eyes.

    The mother burst in to tears while Kharis tried to not do the same but shortly after they were both weeping heavily.

    "Thank you.." they both said one after the other.

    Aleyn just nodded. She was tired, and needed to clean herself.

    "I should probably leave now. She is safe here."

    "Don''t leave." The crying mother burst out.

    She then wiped her tears and calmed herself as best as she could.

    "You must be tired,stay in one of our rooms. Clean yourself and rest, we can talk more tomorrow."

    As much as she would have rather gotten back to the safety of her own room. She was way too tired mentally and physically to turn down the offer.

    The mother showed her an empty room where she wiped her hands from the blood that covered them and then immediately went to bed while ignoring everything else in the room.

 Chapter 31 - The Next Morning

    A mild head ache as well as dry eyes, Aleyns morning was somewhat milder than what she had expected from the night before. Outside was noisy and people were moving outside of her room, it was a clear sign to her who usually woke up earlier than most people that she had overslept.

    She looked around the room she was in. The room was quite huge compared to her own inn room, at least three times as large. It seemed to be meant for more than one person as there was another bed across from hers.

    Noticing she wasn''t wearing much she looked around the room and spotted her her clothes on the table. She made sure she had not lost anything before getting dressed and after doing so she could only frown as she was reminded that her clothes were still stained by blood.

    With nothing else to wear for the time being she left the room to go look for the parents of that unfortunate girl.

    While moving through the one hallway that separated rooms she was quite surprised as yesterday it had felt as though the building was a lot smaller. After coming to a T-section she took a better look around and chose to go right since going left seemed to be a dead end. She reached back to the reception area which was more empty than she had expected.

    "You''re up."

    A familiar voice came from her right side. The short elven father Kharis was standing behind the reception desk while leaning on his arms on top of it.

    "Morning." Aleyn replied in a  drowsy and unenergetic manner.

    Kharis gave a weary smile.

    "Sit down, I''ll get you something to eat."

    He then disappeared in to a room opposite of the reception desk. A little bit of clanking could be heard as plates hit each other and he emerged from the room with two plates and a jug. One filled with some lettuce and carrot and the other with some loafs of bread.

    "Today''s the day to restock and we only have these scraps it seems."

    He put the plates down on the table and then sat down next to Aleyn. She took a piece of bread and started munching on it.

    Aleyn looked at Kharis, he had his head between his arms as he held his head up. Looking at the mans eyes it didn''t seem like he had slept much last night. He had probably stayed up through the night.

    She pulled the jug closer to herself and took a quick sniff in before drinking a bit of what she assumed was some berry juice. It was quite similar to what they served at Broken Horn.

    "How is she." Aleyn said as she put the jug down.

    "The ladies have been cleaning her wounds and trying to make her drink a healing potion all night. I''m not allowed inside the room." Kharis pointed towards the closest door behind the reception desk.

    "She hasn''t woken up yet?"

    "No.." Kharis answered with a sigh.

    Aleyn frowned and took one carrot and handed it to Kharis.

    "You eaten anything?"

    It was quite awkward trying to talk to a person she had never ever seen before but shared a tragic event with.

    Kharis had a look at the carrot.

    "No, not really."

    He said as he picked it up from Aleyns hands and started munching. Aleyn picked up another and started doing the same. As silence fell on both of them again she started talking about how she had been in the audience when she performed.

    Hearing about her performance made Kharis crack a weary smile.

    "Ever since Thess was a tiny girl she loved to sing."

    Kharis shed a tear as he munched on his carrot.

    "Around a week ago, she begged for me to let her perform at some bar. I''ve always been protective of my little angels but you can''t keep them in a cage forever so I gave in. Kharis followed up as he wiped the tears away.

    "She even assured Stevarth would be there as a guard for that day."

    "Who?" Aleyn questioned.

    "Oh, right. Stevs a guy few years older than her, they''ve been friends ever since they were kids. He''s good with the sword."

    At that moment the front door opened and a Person walked in

    "The devil himself." Kharis muttered in a low annoyed manner.

    "Whats with the sign outside Kharis? And is Thess still asleep? We were suppose to see each other an hour ago."

    Tall man with long red hair, Scaley pattern around the edges of his face and a muscular fit built. Aleyn had seen this fellow a time or two, talking with a merchant or shooing away people with his sword. It was the young dragonkin, supposedly the girls boyfriend. Though the father says they''re just friends, maybe its not good to assume these things.

    "Ah, were having some renovations later today and can''t have more customers due to it." Kharis answered.

    "Renovation?" Aleyn thought.

    "Come sit down. Tell me about yesterday." Kharis urged.

    Aleyn was slightly confused at what Kharis was doing but stayed quiet and blended in the background.

    The dragonkin or rather Stevarth recalled everything from Thess''s performance, it was almost exactly as Aleyn had already told him.

    "Beautiful, I always knew everyone would love her." Kharis said with a hint of anger.

    From Aleyns point of view she could see that Kharis''s right hand was gripping the chairs leg and trying to crush it with no success.

    "How did your night go after she left then?" Kharis asked.

    "Well I stayed there until closing time. Some people were rowdy but not enough for me to interfere. Though I had to occasionally step outside of the bar when some drunken women tried hitting on me." Stev answered. He emphasized the last part with a soft laughter.

    Suddenly Kharis surged from his chair and punched Stev. He hit him right on his right cheek and made him tumble on the ground.

    "You fucking dare come here to talk about your fun night while Thess is fighting for her life even though you were suppose to protect her! Kharis bellowed in anger.

    Stev lied on the floor holding his cheek.

    "What are you talking about,? Wait fighting for her life? Wheres Thess? What happened?!"

    "Shut your mouth!" Kharis screamed at Stev who was still lying on the floor.

    Watching Kharis''s Emotional breakdown, Aleyn could not help but think Kharis was going overboard but really it was not unexpected, though Stev was far from boasting about his night of trying to keep drunkards in check.

    A low slightly hoarse girls voice came from behind the reception desk and everyone turned their head towards it.

    "Stev?"

    A short bandaged elven girl stood in the doorway with her mother and another girl behind her. Her face was still bruised and eyes now had dark rings under them but her wounds were covered in wrapping which covered some of her face.

    "Thess!" Stev yelled and hopped up from the ground.

    "What happened to .." He asked while trying to approach her.

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    As he did Thess quickly hid behind her mother and sister.

    "No!"

    Stev immediately stopped in his tracks.

    "Stev.. " Thess paused.

    "I''m fine...Could you leave?" She said slowly in a hoarse and tear mixed voice.

    "Are you daft?You''re obviously not fine! What happened to you..." Stev said and tried to approach again.

    "Noo!" she cried out and hid further behind her family.

    Stev immediately stopped in his tracks again as sadness filled his face.

    "Please Stev... Just go away... Please..." Thess was now very clearly crying.

    Stev stared at her direction for a few moments then turned around and left the building without saying a word. As he did he noticed Aleyn but didn''t show any change in his emotions as he mostly disregarded her existance.

    Kharis watched Stev leave then when he turned back to look at his daughter her legs had given up under her. He tried to help her up but as he got close he was met with a similar response.

    "Noo!" Thess screamed again.

    But this time she tried her hardest to scamper away, dragging herself on the floor. She didn''t get far before collapsing. Kharis stood still in confusion, why was she trying to get away from her own father?

    "Kharis! Out!" The wife yelled.

    "What ?" Kharis asked in confusion.

    "Out!" The Wife repeated and shooed him out.

    Meanwhile inside of the room which Thess came out of the other girl was trying courageously to lift her on the bed inside but she was too weak.

    "Need help?"

    After having watched the whole scene unfold Aleyn at the edge of her seat. The amount of drama she had witnessed was not a healthy doze for her morning. The girl turned around and had a look at her then nodded in while holding back her tears.

    The girl was probably a sister of Thess. She had a slightly brownish skin and smaller pointy ears than her sister, she couldn''t be as much of an elf as Thess was based on that. It seems she took more from her mothers side than Thess who resembled her father. Long curly hair, as tall as her mother but weirdly enough her chest was about normal size. Genetics are a weird with what they choose to inherit.

    Aleyn picked Thess up without any issues and placed her on the bed. She then went back to the room where she was eating and noticed the Mother was sitting at the same table as her food. She sat down and took another piece of bread while looking at the Mother who was in thought.

    "Don''t think we''ve actually introduced each other quite yet. I''m Rylee and I''m Thessalias and Adelisas mother. That shorty elf is Kharis and he is of course their father."

    Aleyn swallowed her bread and replied.

    "I figured as much. I''m Aleyn."

    "So Aleyn... How are you faring?"

    Aleyn frowned slightly and stared directly in Rylee''s eyes.

    "Much better than some other people."

    Rylee looked away towards the room where Thess was.

    "Suppose so."

    She then turned back and faced Aleyn.

    "You mind if I share something with you?"

    "No harm in that." Aleyn replied.

    "Did you see the reaction she had towards Kharis and Stev?"

    Covering in fear, collapsing and trying to escape. It was hard to not notice.

    "Yes.."

    Rylee took a deep breath and sighed

    "When Thess was young, she was bullied by the local teenage boys and due to that her reaction to men was to collapse and wet herself in horror."

    "But one day when she was playing with her sister that same group encircled her and made her fear for her life. That was until Stev stepped in. She had never seen him before but that boy stood between her and the bullies. Calling himself a protector or something similar"

    "Stev got beaten up but they lost interest in her. After witnessing him confronting the group Thess wasn''t afraid of him and due to that Thess became friends with a boy which made her slowly lose her fear of men."

    Rylee wiped a tear from her eyelid as she continued explaining.

    "I''m afraid that same fear has emerged after this tragedy... She didn''t use to be scared of her own father but you saw it yourself."

    Aleyn went in to absent thought. Fear like that after what had happened would certainly gain fuel.

    "I wouldn''t be surprised if that was true.."

    Rylee raised her head and looked Aleyn straight in the eyes.

    "Though more importantly. There''s something else that needs to be said."

    She took a deep breath and fixed her slump posture.

    "You saved her, even if you couldn''t prevent ''it'' from happening she is alive and recovering thanks to you."

    Rylee tried to stay composed as she drew in another breath.

    "There''s no amount that is enough to show my gratitude for that." She said and sighed deeply.

    Without hesitation she got a reply from Aleyn.

    "That''s good because I don''t want a reward. I like to think anyone in my boots would have done the same. Reward or not."

    Rylee smiled.

    "If you don''t have a home you can stay here free of charge as long as you want to. We have the best rooms in Dvalfgar and were the only inn with a spa."

    Aleyn thought for a moment. She would save quite a lot of money if she moved in here even if it was temporary.

    "I''m going to take that offer. But I''m paying for anything extra." She gave a light-hearted smile.

    Rylee gave another smile.

    "If that makes you happy Aleyn. To tell you the truth though, I had some other intentions with this offer as well."

    Aleyn raised her eyebrows in curiosity.

    "Bad intentions?"

    Rylee shook her head.

    "If you''re going to live here, could you keep Thess company, I''m sure it would help her a lot down the road."

    "Why is that?"

    "You saved her, I don''t think that''s a bond that severs quickly. And also.."

    "Also what?"

    "Well you know..  I don''t want to offend you but you''re quite."

    "Quite what?"

    As much as she didn''t really care that much what other people thought about her or her looks it was still annoying to hear anything negative.

    "Manly..."

    "What?"

    "You give off a manly feeling with your mannerism."

    Aleyn was stunned, she wasn''t expecting that at all. Rylee misunderstood her reaction and immediately regretted saying so.

    "I''m sorry... Could you forget I ever said that."

    Aleyn started cracked up in laughter. It was a pleasant change to the gloomy morning.

    "Aah that''s funny. Sure I''ll do my best to help her."

    Rylee quite confused at Aleyns reaction tried to reply.

    "O...kay?"

 Chapter 32 - Returning to Work

    After placing her backpack on a chair, Aleyn took a look around her new inn room.

    "Hope I didn''t forget anything."

    She had taken a detour to continue her jogging routine and afterwards gone to collect her things from the inn room before turning in her key. A backpack filled with random things and the armor she had made back in Ironedge as well as her bow, she didn''t really have that much to carry in the end though.

    A lot on her mind she lied down on her bed for a moment to think things over. With her now living in the inn and the previous events Rylee and Kharis had decided on new policies for the inn.

    ""Until Thess can recover. We''re going to have to make a few changes.""

    The place had to be turned in to a women only inn. It would only last until Thess could handle having men around her again but that was still an undetermined time. Not even Kharis is spared, he has to live outside of the house while the girls have to take care of everything. All scheduled appointments which involved men had to be cancelled.

    While in her thoughts Aleyn started hearing a small echo drifting through the corridors towards her room. It sounded as though someone was yelling. There was very little reason for anyone to be yelling in the inn which aroused her curiosity and she took off to see what was going on.

    As she got to the reception area she found the source of the noise. A dwarven man was yelling at Rylee at the reception area and another person who seemed to be a bodyguard stood next to him. The bodyguard seemed to be a nondwarf as his height reached at least three heads higher than the dwarfs but his race was hard to tell through his helmet which covered his face.

    "I''ve been a customer of this place for years and this is how you show me gratitude?!?"

    "I''m sorry Lord Steelbraid. We''re of course very happy that you''ve chosen to use our services for these years but due to an unforeseen event we have to decline you from entering. Please leave immediately." Rylee answered very apologetically.

    "What nonsense! Where is Kharis, I wish to have a word with him."

    Aleyn walked towards the uncomfortable Rylee.

    "There a problem Rylee?"

    Rylee now noticing Aleyn turned her frown to a awkward smile.

    "Oh no. Lord Steelbraid was just about to leave."

    "The hell I was! Who is this girl, a new employee?." Lord Steelbraid yelled.

    The dwarven man was about Aleyns height, but his width was something else. He was probably the chubbiest dwarf she had ever seen. He had an unusually short brown beard, it only covered his neck and it had some silver jewelry which braided the beard. His clothes looked like something a noble would wear, not a surprise for someone who had the title "Lord".

    "None of your business. The lady is asking for you to leave if you didn''t notice." Aleyn replied.calmly.

    "I am not moving until I get to speak to Kharis and dispel this foolishness!" He yelled again.

    The room behind Rylee opened and a slightly distressed voice whispered to her.

    "Mom, he is making Thess scared."

    Thess''s sister Adelisa who stuck to Thess like glue as she took care of her had to say something. Both she and Thess were right next to the reception area and as the argument between Rylee and Lord Steelbraid went on Thess became more agitated.

    "Please Lord Steelbraid, keep your voice down you''re disturbing the other customers...." Rylee tried calming him down.

    "No he will remove himself from the establishment or I will throw him out." Aleyn interrupted Rylee.

    The dwarven man quieted down and stared at Aleyn.

    "Throw me out? Who do you think you are! Guard remove this woman from my sight!"

    The guard next to him sighed through his helmet and approached Aleyn.

    "Okay little girl.. Could you just step outside with me? No one needs to get hurt."

    The guard tried his best to make it uncomplicated for everyone, but he was very ready to get physical if his employer demanded it.

    Aleyn sighed.

    "Just doing your job huh."

    She started walking towards the guard and outside. The guard was pleased that he didn''t have to start getting rough with the girl.

    "I can''t judge you for that I guess." Aleyn said as she got in front of the guard and gave a weak smile.

    After saying so the guards stomach cramped as Aleyns fist collided with it. The guard was only wearing a chainmail vest and leather clothing so her punches effect was not diminished by much.

    The guard dropped on his knees and threw up on the floor before falling on his side.

    Aleyn turned towards the chubby dwarf.

    "Could you leave now?"

    Shocked and  panicking Lord Steelbraid yelled again.

    "How dare you!! Do you know who I am!? I''ll have your head for that!"

    "No clue who you are. All I know is I''m gonna do the same to you if you don''t start running." Aleyn said very calmly.

    He thought for a moment but when Aleyn started approaching him he took off towards the exit as fast as he could.

    "I''ll remember this!" He yelled as his last act of defiance.

    With him gone, silence fell in the room, the silence was broken shortly after by the door behind Rylee closing.

    "Oh dear." Rylee held her forehead and shook her head.

    "Did I go too far?" Aleyn asked.

    "Yes.. Though if you didn''t I don''t think he would have left. It should be fine either way."

    "You should put up an announcement on the front door or something. It might help in future." Aleyn suggested.

    "Suppose so.." Rylee sighed again.

    Their discussion was interrupted by the guard grunting on the floor. He had fallen unconscious for a little while and seemed to be coming to. Aleyn walked up to the guard and helped him up.

    "You okay?" She asked.

    "I''ll.... be fine" The guard grunted as he stood up.

    He then gathered himself and went after Lord Steelbraid.

    "Quite unfortunate for him to be working for that sort of a man." Aleyn thought.

    "That was quite surprising though. Didn''t expect for you to drive them out with force." Rylee stated.

    "Well if they wont leave with words then you have to get slightly physical."

    "That man lost his consciousness after one punch..." Rylee said worryingly.

    "Like I said. Slightly physical. But really if he had expected it then it could have gotten more interesting."

    Meanwhile in Thess''s room Thess and Adelisa were sitting on her bed after seeing the events unfold.

    ""Throw me out? Who do you think you are! Guard remove this woman from my sight!""

    After Lord Steelbraid had yelled Thess had been at the peak of her agitation but shortly after the yelling had halted for a few moments she had gotten a familiar feeling from the reception room which gave her the feeling of relief and comfort.

    "Stev?"

    She walked up to the door slowly and opened it slightly to see what was going on. What she witnessed was quite odd and not something she was expecting.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    A dwarf girl with her fist in the stomach of a much larger man who shortly afterwards fell on the ground, she then proceeded to threaten the other man to leave.

    Thess was confused at the girl who she assumed to be a hooligan of some sort, but she felt a familiar feeling of security, though she didn''t know why as she didn''t know who the girl was.

    "Who is she?" Thess asked her sister.

    "She is.." Adelisa awkwardly trailed off.

    "Who is she?" Thess asked her sister, now slightly more stern.

    Adelisa thought for a moment and then reluctantly answered.

    "She''s the one who saved and carried you here last night..."

    Thess dropped on her knees and closed the door swiftly. It didn''t take much thinking to realize why her sister had been reluctant to answer in the end.

    "Sis?" Adelisa hurriedly whispered.

    "I''m fine.. I''m okay.. Just.. let me get back to my bed."

    Slightly struggling she rose back up with the help of her sister and returned to her bedside. They could hear the yelling of Lord Steelbraid quite clearly before he left for the front door and left in a violent manner. The angry dwarf was finally gone.

    The door to their room opened slowly as Rylee peaked inside to see how Thess and Adelisa were doing. After noticing both of them watching her she opened the door fully.

    "Everything okay in there?"

    Thess raised her head slightly while Adelisa just kept a worrying eye on her.

    "I''m fine mom. Really." Thess answered slightly fidgeting.

    It was hard to take it seriously when watching her bruised and bandage covered face but it was a better sight than her former unconscious self.

    A dwarf girls head popped from behind Rylee''s back and looked at Thess. Thess stared at her for a few moments before the dwarf just awkwardly waved at her and smiled. Thess not knowing what to do waved back at her which made Rylee notice Aleyn right beside herself.

    "Oh, you haven''t really introduced yourself yet have you?"

    Aleyn without any prompting walked in the room and towards the bed which made Thess slightly retreat behind her sister but it didn''t stop Aleyns approach.

    "Hello you two, I''m Aleyn."

    Aleyn introduced herself and extended her hand towards Adelisa first as she was the closest of the pair.

    "Adelisa. Though everyone calls me Adel" Adel extended her hand and they shook hands.

    Aleyn then looked towards Thess who was watching them both from behind Adels. She offered her hand for a handshake but Thess was slightly reluctant to answer the offer.

    "I was there for your performance at Broken Horn. You''re a very good singer, I would love to hear more of it some day Thess." Aleyn said and smiled.

    Thess froze for a moment and looked at Aleyn.

    She was small, maybe a head and a half smaller than herself with muscular arms for a woman. She gave a masculine feeling from herself yet definitely not a man. This girl had been at her performance and later in the night she had found and saved her.

    Slightly tearing up Thess extended her hand slowly and awkwardly towards Aleyns who just waited for her to reach her hand.

    Then she said the only thing she could before collapsing in her wave of emotions.

    "Thank you..." Thess said with all of her heart as she teared up.

    They held their hands together for a while as Thess cried her heart out. Watching her emotions go out of control made Aleyn shed a tear but she kept her composure as best as she could even though it was hard for her to look at the girl without feelings of guilt. If only she could have found her sooner all of this would have been avoided, but in the end all that mattered was that she was safe now.

    "Think that''s enough for introductions. She''ll be living here for the time being so you can talk all you want."

    Rylee interrupted the moment urging Aleyn to leave with her and with that their gentle handshake came to an end as Aleyn and Rylee returned to the front desk.

    Aleyn sat down where she usually did on the table and Rylee stayed at the reception desk.

    "You don''t happen to be looking for a job right Aleyn? We''re gonna need all the help we can get since Kharis can''t be here."

    Aleyn turned back to face Rylee.

    "I have a full time job as a blacksmiths apprentice at Camedyr''s workshop."

    Rylee gave a surprised look.

    "Really?"

    "Yes, really. Though that doesn''t mean I can''t help out during my free time." Aleyn replied.

    Rylee smiled and nodded.

    Two days passed as Aleyn got used to living with the girls and her ban had finally come to its end. In those two days Aleyn had assumed the role of Kharis who mostly did the heavier lifting as well as other menial tasks since the girls were not built for it

    Aleyn took a few long breaths in front of Camedyrs workshop. After continuing her little run around the city she already felt some expected changes.

    Long breaths, her lungs felt a lot clearer and healthier as they had gotten used to accommodating more air. The muscles in her legs had opened up after being put more towards their limits but more importantly, she had a lot calmer mind than before.

    Was it because of exercising or the break from work? It''s hard to tell.

    Inside the workshop was busy as always but oddly enough the front side of the forge had a lot fewer people than she remembered. She strode on towards the top ranker side and realized why that was, it seems that a lot of people had conquered the rank four exam.

    A few of them gave an odd glance towards her but ultimately turned back to their work. Amongst all of the workers the usual lump of beard and muscle was overseeing everyone go about their task. The boss man himself, Camedyr Tin-flame.

    Currently watching a worker handle what looked to be their first bar of hardened steel. Aleyn after noticing Camedyr walked up to the boss man.

    "Yo"

    It didn''t take much to catch his attention. Camedyr after hearing her immediately turned towards her.

    "Ah Aleyn. Has it been four days already? Time sure flies."

    Aleyn nodded.

    "Well? You expecting a hug or something. Get to working." He waved her off very bluntly with a hint of a smile on his face.

    Shaking her head slightly Aleyn turned around to look for an empty bench to work at and started her day.

    A hardened steel plate, a sack of mixed crystal dust and lots and lots of parchments. Even with everything gathered she had to take a good look at her notes to remind her self about everything before before she had the courage to start.

    After a few of her warm up patterns she was quite stunned and pleased at the results. Compared to her previous work she had a lot easier job completing them.The days not spent with enchanting had not made her forget anything.

    And on that note she began her actual task.

 Not a chapter. Traveling.

    I''ll be traveling to England next Monday for a friends wedding for a week so I''m gonna take a break from writing and editing chapters this week as well as the actual wedding week, though I''ll probably write something during down time on my ipad since I can''t be partying up 24/7.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    In short. Don''t expect a chapter this(week 44) or next week(week 45).

 Chapter 33 - Personal Delivery

    "Yes!" Aleyn cheered.

    Going from only completing one of her partial enchantments she had finally finished her second part of the whole enchant after it drove her to madness and eventually being kicked out of the workshop. After reproducing the drawing a few times she was sure of it, the curse was lifted.

    Her accomplishments weren''t that grand in the end though as Kyrtaar and the other workers had progressed quite far themselves. Some had started with the easier enchantments even after Camedyrs advice and were working on new ones at impressive speed. But she didn''t mind since it wasn''t a competition. If anything worrying over something like that would be detrimental to her own progression.

    Speaking of progression looking back at it now her magic control and capacity had improved by huge steps compared to what they used to be. When training with Nancy the amount of magic she could store was quite small compared to what she needed to exert in her work which meant that there was a definite improvement and being able to complete even a portion of an enchantment which in most cases lacked symmetry meant  her control has to have gotten better as well.

    Realizing this Aleyn was quite motivated to keep going for the rest of the day.

    Old houses and new houses. Aleyns work had come to an end and she was walking through the southeast part of the city absent-mindedly. The whole day had been very fruitful for her and future of enchanting didn''t look grim anymore.

    Her train of thought was interrupted by something she had been confused over before. Sadly it didn''t bring her many good memories. An old house with two ram heads on the sides of the front door and an alley way which forked in the distance. The very place where she had saved Thess.

    The old house this time appeared quite a lot bigger than she remembered, but that was probably because she had been slightly intoxicated last time she was here. Still, it was an unusual size house compared to the rest. Though what drew her to it was mostly that it was the most simple and uncharacteristic house amongst the other ones.

    "It was used to store cattle, that''s why it looks like that."

    She had been too in thought to even notice the passerby''s who occasionally gave an odd look at the dwarf girl who just stared at a building quietly.

    But this voice was quite familiar even if she had barely talked with the person them self. Aleyn took her eyes off of the building and turned towards the person.

    The young dragonkin Stevarth stood next to her looking at the building with her.

    "Sorry, I just saw you staring at it for a while and thought you were wondering about it."

    "Is that so? No luxury spent on animals huh." Aleyn replied.

    "Well, back then they had hard enough time living luxuriously themselves I''d imagine."

    "Suppose so." Aleyn sighed.

    They stood there for a minute or so before Stevarth broke the silence.

    "Did I see you in Kharis''s Inn yesterday?" he asked, very unsure of himself.

    "Yes, that was me."

    Another silence followed which was promptly broken by him again.

    "Do you know whats going on?"

    Like walking on thin ice, that''s the feeling he gave her. Aleyn knew perfectly well, if anyone knew it would be her.

    "Oh yes."

    Was Stev finally going to get to the bottom of what was going on?

    "It''s not my place to tell you though." Aleyn followed up.

    Not quite. Stev dropped his shoulders in frustration.

    "Good day Stevarth." She said as she walked away.

    There was no point staying to tease the boy as it was very clear what he was after and it was definitely not her place to share anything no matter how good of a friend he was to Thess.

    She didn''t get too far before Stevarth stopped her.

    "Wait!"

    Aleyn decided to humor him and turned around. Stevarth was still standing in front of that old cattle house and not facing her.

    "Could you try and relay a message to Thessalia? The short blond elf girl at the inn."

    Putting two and two together she figured out he was using Thess''s full name.

    "Depends what you want to say."

    He turned his head towards Aleyn and you could see the sadness in his eyes. It was as though he was carrying a heavy burden.

    "Could you tell her I want to hear from her? After seeing her like that I worry deeply."

    It wasn''t anything out of line. A very sincere message she felt.

    "I''ll let her know."

    Door opens and Aleyn walks in to the inn. It''s quite late so there''s no one around the reception area as per usual.

    As she was about to go to her room someone called out to her just as she was about to leave to her room.

    "Hey Aleyn."

    Turning back from the corridor and back to the reception area she noticed Thess peaking from her room.

    "What''s up Thess?"

    "Umm, you''re good with fixing things right?"

    "Not particularly."

    Thess''s hopeful smile turned to a small frown as her eyes faced the floor in front of her.

    "Why? You broke something?" Aleyn asked.

    Thess snapped back to look at Aleyn.

    "Ummm.. Yeah.. I made an oopsie." Thess answered awkwardly as she scratched her head in embarrassment.

    "If it isn''t too complicated I can always have a go."

    "Umm..."

    A plank with a huge crack in the middle of  it laid on the floor next to a wall inside her room. Aleyn picked it up and had a look at it.

    "What''s this suppose to be?"

    Just a plank of wood? Repairing something like that seemed unnecessary as she could just get a new one without any issues.

    "I put too much weight on the shelf up there and it came crashing down."

    Looking a bit higher on the wall there were two pieces of wood nailed to the wall. Aleyn moved a chair under them and took the knife she carried on her belt to remove them.

    With all the pieces together she had a better picture of what she was looking at. A wooden shelf made of three pieces of wood with the two handles that were nailed to the platform and afterwards nailed to the wall.

    "I can''t really fix this but I doubt it would be hard to make a new and better one."

    "Really?" Thess asked.

    "Yeh. You guys have some spare planks anywhere?"

    "Dad has a wood shed at the back of the house."

    "Best place as any to find some I suppose."

    Aleyn piled the pieces and brought them a long on her search for planks.

    The shed was filled with wooden logs ready for hacking but it was just a tad too bothersome to make the planks themselves so she ignored them and as she shuffled through the pile she found it.

    A lone plank which was about her size and in good condition. She put the old broken shelf pieces next to the new plank to compare and was pleasantly surprised to see she had enough to make it work.

    An hour or so later she was done with the work. With the assistance of Kharis''s shed tools her sawing had been pleasantly smooth and trouble free. Now with her five pieces of different size planks she was ready to assemble.

    The idea was that rather than just having the three pieces where a plank was attached to the bottom of two handles which were nailed to the wall she would use two more to make sure the platform wouldn''t bend under weight easily.

    The only thing she now needed to do was assemble the pieces but that''s when the only problem occurred, there were no nails anywhere in the shed.

    With no idea what to do she picked up the parts and decided to bring em to Thess''s room for now.

    "You did all that?"

    Thess asked as Aleyn entered the room with the pile of parts. She was currently sitting on her bed.

    "It wasn''t too complicated since your father has a nice set of tools there." Aleyn replied proudly while piling them in a corner.

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    "Though there were no nails or anything similar. Where do you guys keep that stuff?" Aleyn asked.

    Thess tried remembering but ultimately she had no clue.

    "It''s gonna have to wait until tomorrow then. I can pick up some nails from the workshop or make them if it comes to that."

    "You can make nails?" Thess said with surprise.

    She was quite happily ignorant of such things so just saying you could make them made her quite impressed.

    "It''s something blacksmiths start their learning with."

    Even if it was something simple Thess still showed that she was very impressed as her eyes glimmered and her mouth curled in to a smile.

    "Wow."

    "Guess this will have to wait until tomorrow then."

    Aleyn was about to leave when she remembered something from earlier.

    "Oh by the way."

    "Hmmm?" Thess questioned.

    "I met with Stev earlier."

    Maybe she shouldn''t have said that. The moment she did Thess''s demeanor turned upside down.

    "Oh..."

    "He said he wants to hear from you, he is worried about you."

    Thess just sat on her bed with a sad expression as she stared down at the floor. Aleyn after realizing the mood change decided to just leave the girl with her thoughts and retired to her own room.

    The next morning as she was about to leave the inn. She was stopped before she even set both of her feet out the door.

    "Aleyn!"

    The familiar yell of Thess came from behind her. It took her by surprise as usually she was the only one awake at this hour. She took a quick look behind her and noticed Thess peeking from her room again.

    "You''re up early."

    It was meant as a half joke but as she approached her Aleyn noticed how Thess was. She had large dark rings under her eyes and her eyes them self looked like they had not had a wink of rest since yesterday.

    "You don''t look so good..."

    Thess tried fixing her posture quickly and bringing an awkward smile on her face.

    "Ah hehe.. I''m just not a morning person."

    "So what''s up then?" Aleyn asked.

    "Umm... If you''re going near the south entrance could you deliver this to Stev?"

    She moved her hand from behind the door to in front of Aleyn, in her hand she held a sealed letter.

    "What''s this?"

    Thess showed an awkward expression as she slightly squirmed in place.

    "Well.. I thought since I told him to stay away and he wants to talk to me. I could write him a letter."

    "And you want me to deliver the letter? Why not Adel or maybe your mother?

    It seemed like a perfect job her sister in fact. Why would she choose someone other than her family for such a personal task?

    Thess went from half asleep and having issues on concentrating to looking at Aleyn straight in the eyes with a very serious expression.

    "I don''t want them to know."

    Aleyns heart skipped a beat as Thess''s change of mood caught her off guard.

    "But you know.. It''s not my job to deliver your mail. What if I just trash it or open it." She gave a mischievous grin.

    "You wouldn''t do that. We''ve lived together only for a week or so but I can already tell I can trust you with something like this and you wouldn''t betray my trust." Thess smiled in a tired way.

    Aleyn thought for a moment. It was nice being trusted  but the task still felt too personal for her to do even if it was just delivering a letter, she looked at Thess and her half tired and sad face.

    "You''ll owe me for this."

    Thess smiled and handed the letter to her.

    "That''s fine."

    It wasn''t hard to navigate to Stevs residence with Thess''s instructions. In fact it was quite a familiar house to Aleyn.

    "Oh so he is his father, I see."

    She was standing in front of  Brevurths house who had payed him very nicely for the cleaning job. Recalling back Brevurth had mentioned he lived with his son and going by how rare of a race the dragonkins were it wasn''t too far fetched that she had met the only two in all of Dvalfgar.

    Aleyn was about to go knock on the door but before she could she was distracted by a sound that echoed around the house.

    "Chop..... Chop.....Chop...."

    The sound seemed to be coming from behind the house. Her curiosity aroused she abandoned the knocking plan immediately.

    Behind the house Stev was chopping wood and a bit further away you could see Brevurth sitting on the ground as he worked on a parchment with his paint brush. Having found the person she was looking for Aleyn started digging pockets while she approached  Stev.

    Noticing the dwarf, Stev gave a quizzical look but continued working on the firewood.

    "Cold night ahead?" Aleyn asked.

    "You could say that." Stev grunted as his axe came down.

    "What do you want?" He followed up.

    "Oh nothing. Just thought I''d come and deliver Thess''s letter since she really wanted me to. Though you don''t seem too interes.."

    With a quick sweep of his hand he had already taken the letter from Aleyns hand before she could even finish her sarcastic comment. His enthusiasm wasn''t that surprising but the fact that he closed a five meter distance in a blink of an eye was.

    Well with her delivery done she was free again to continue her morning ritual.

    Or was she?

    "Wait!"

    She was about to leave but was stopped by Stev. Aleyn turned back towards him.

    "Problem?"

    "Yes. I was thinking I need to write a letter back, but I can''t really deliver it to her. I guess you can see where this is going."

    "Don''t wanna." Aleyn stated.

    "But she wrote right here that you would do it.."

    Stev folded the paper and pointed. She had indeed written that even though it wasn''t part of the deal.

    Aleyn slightly frustrated blurted out as she stared upwards.

    "That wasn''t part of the deal..."

    "Could you though?" Stev stuttered.

    The boy was full of worry and questions which weren''t answered by Thess''s letter, you could see it in his eyes quite clearly. Still, why did it suddenly become her job to be their personal mailman.

    Aleyn took a deep breath and sighed.

    "Fine fine. Once I''m done with my morning run I''ll come back here. You better not keep me waiting."

    Stev sighed in relief.

    "Thank you miss..."

    She was about to say her name but was beaten to it.

    "Aleyn." Brevurth shouted.

    The old man had been quiet for the whole ordeal up until now yet was very clearly listening in.

    "Miss Aleyn"

    Stev said but quickly realized something was off since she wasn''t the one to say her own name. He turned his head towards his father and gave a confused look.

    "Hey old man." Aleyn yelled.

    Brevurth just waved her off without taking his eyes from his painting.

    "You two met before?" Stev asked.

    "Sshe cleaned the housse." Brevurth said loudly.

    Stev jerked back at his father.

    "You hired someone to clean the house again?! I fucking told you I would do it and besides there''s no reason you couldn''t do it yourself!."

    Brevurth showed how much he cared by making a hand puppet to mimic his speech. Aleyn couldn''t help giggling at the scene.

    Stev now the one frustrated gave a deep sigh at his fathers action as he turned back to face Aleyn.

    "How much did he give you?"

    "You don''t wanna know."

    Stev was about to reply but quickly accepted that it was probably better not to know and dropped his shoulders in defeat.

    "Don''t waste too much time." Aleyn said and took off.

 Chapter 34 - Reasons

    A month passed as Aleyn delivered Thess''s and Stev''s letters to each other. It started as something she really wanted to avoid doing but the effort Thess put in to make the job not disrupt her everyday life was quite touching so she gave in.

    Besides her morning jogging ritual and letter delivery job her enchanting progressed by large heaps. She now had finished all five parts of her partial enchantments, however the significantly harder part was still ahead of her which was combining the parts correctly and in succession.

    She had memorized the partial enchants quite well but the moment she had to combine all of them the whole picture turned in to a distorted image that might as well have been a foreign language. The only option she had was to start with combining few parts at a time and then working up from that. Not much different from what she originally had to do but it was definitely a step up in difficulty again.

    Still, today wasn''t the day to think about those things. It was in fact the first day Thess was allowed outside of the inn by her mother and Aleyn was accompanying her. They were on a quest for some parchments and fine cutlery if they could find some. It was nice that Thess was finally let outside the house, though she had been asking for it for a week or two already.

    A lot had happened in the past month for the innkeeper family. Though the most important bit had definitely been that her father was allowed back in the house and with that the inn had returned back to its previous management style where there are no gender restrictions. One thing didn''t change though and that was how she handled Stevarth, she still refused to see him and he wasn''t allowed near the inn.

    The market was full of life early in the afternoon as people went about their business. It shouldn''t be  much of a task to find some nice things to buy with so many different merchants having their stores set up

    "You okay back there?"

    Aleyn asked Thess as she turned around. She was supposed to be trailing behind Aleyn but after turning around she noticed the girl wasn''t there . Her momentary worries were unfounded though as   after a quick glance a bit further she saw where the little elf girl had gone to. Thess was enthralled by a tent filled with rolls of fabrics amongst other clothing material.

    Moving over Aleyn watched silently as Thess looked through the fabrics with a keen eye.

    "Hmmm.."

    Aleyn just stood besides her and watched her. Shuffling through all the rolls. Shifting them left and right very indecisively.

    After 15minutes or so Aleyn sighed loudly and crossed her arms while Thess was still looking through the fabric rolls.

    "You''ve looked through all of them by now, surely."

    Now remembering she hadn''t come here alone Thess flinched a bit in surprise and turned to Aleyn.

    "A girls got to make sure she picks the best colour and fabric. Come on you''re a girl as well aren''t you? Help me a bit, I can''t decide."

    Aleyn moved next to Thess and took a look at the fabric rolls. She had a quick look through all of the rolls, seeing no difference part the colour so she just chose one.

    "That one."

    A light green fabric roll. It was pleasant on the eyes and the fabric didn''t seem bad either.

    "I do like the green but..."

    Thess started comparing the roll to others but Aleyn wasn''t having any of that.

    "How much?" She asked the merchant

    The rolls themselves were at least longer than Aleyn and as thick as her head. Even if she knew nothing of fabric quality she could estimate a decent price for the quantity.

    "1 gold."

    She tossed the man his coin and picked up the roll over her shoulder. Thess had not noticed her purchase and was still going on about the differences on the fabric and colours, but Aleyn had had enough of fabrics so she grabbed Thess''s hand and started dragging her away from the fabric seller.

    "Wait what about..?"

    Now noticing her carrying the light green fabric roll she could only sigh and move on to the other merchant tents with her.

    Thess appeared to be in her element. They didn''t have to look far for parchments so if they could find some good quality dining tools they were set. Browsing and searching, spending hour upon hour looking through what exotic things the traveling merchants might bring to Dvalfgar.

    Behind her carrying everything, Aleyn was growing bored as she was dragged to every tent by Thess. She didn''t mind it that much since it made Thess more lively but her mind did start drifting away and she started listening in on some merchants chatting.

    "A whole town disappeared? How does something like that even happen?"

    "Well they say the whole town disappeared, but I happen to know that they actually discovered some corpses. Or should I say.. husks."

    "Husks? What does that even mean? Like bones?"

    "No no, apparently they were dried up corpses like you would find inside of a tomb."

    "That''s creepy. They got any clue what could have done something like that? A disease? God if there''s another plague..."

    "Well they don''t know so they blocked off all entry to Millbreach for the time being while Keitwell and the elves try to figure out what happened to their outpost. Suppose we have to find another safe route to Shevia."

    "It''s a scary thought that we might have disappeared in thin air if we were just a few days ahead of the traveling schedule to the Elf city"

    "Or turned in to mummified corpses."

    Aleyn snapped out of her eavesdropping and looked around to see that Thess was no where in sight again. She must have absentmindedly thought Aleyn was right behind her as she moved on to other tents.

    Aleyn started searching for the elf girl in a hurry but it only took one turn around the corner to find her.

    Two men with a lot smaller elf girl in between them. They were all facing away from Aleyn but from her point of view Thess had her head quite low and her hands in front of her. Was she trying to cover her face ? Aleyn could see Thess head move constantly, she seemed to be hunched up.

    The two men occasionally put their hands towards Thess''s face which disappeared behind her back.

    The scene was definitely concerning and Aleyn immediately picked up her pace as she approached the three people while carrying the cargo.

    As she got closer the men''s heads kept creeping closer to Thess''s. Aleyn now almost behind the group was very ready to drive them away.

    "Okey guys ..."

    Thess turned around with a map in her hands and as a sudden realization popped on her face she pointed down the merchant road.

    "So if you go down there and then turn left around the corner you should be on a clear road towards this place." She pointed on the map.

    The two men cheered and thanked Thess as she handed the map back to them and shook their hands.

    "Oh Aleyn, you ready to continue now?" Thess said as she realized Aleyn was right next to her.

    "Erm, yeh.. sure." Aleyn said as she watched at the two men walk away.

    Thess took off again to window shop while Aleyn trailed behind, but she still had something on her mind.

    "I really don''t get it."

    "Get what?" Thess asked.

    "You don''t seem to have any trouble interacting with men, for someone with a crippling fear of men."

    "Well I''m not afraid of men anymore obviously."

    "Well sure. Kharis is back home, the inn is back to normal and you can even abandon me at a tent and talk with men you don''t know without collapsing." Aleyn stated.

    "Oh did I leave you behind? Sorry I''m just too much in to this after being stuck inside for so long." Thess giggled.

    After a little pause Aleyn followed up.

    "Yet you still refuse to see or meet Stev."

    Thess froze.

    "I really.. really don''t get why you would do that. Specially to a friend you''ve known since child hood." Aleyn continued while Thess stayed quiet and listened.

    "A friend you''ve known for so long. If I were him I would definitely be sad and worried. Maybe even slightly offended."

    Thess looked at Aleyn straight in the eyes as she kept going.

    "Then I thought... There has to be some other reason than a fear of gender, there''s no way something like that would stay for just one person after all of your recovery." Aleyn leaned the fabric roll to her shoulder as she used her hand to rub her chin.

    Thess''s silence gave Aleyn some confirmation on her ideas.

    "It must be because you''re quite close with him. You two seem far more than just close childhood friends though. Maybe you''re even..."

    "Think you got the idea." Thess interrupted.

    She took a quick look around her, only seeing Merchant tents and people.

    "Lets find a more quiet place.."

    At the edge of the merchant area a lone old merchant woman kept a tea shop tent where she brewed some more exotic brands of tea. In front of the tent she had a few tables and some stools, nothing grand but enough to let a few people sit as they tried some of her brewing.

    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Mostly empty right now as the only two people around were Thess and Aleyn who had taken refuge from the crowd of people in the market.

    Thess and Aleyn took a sip from their teacups.

    "Mmm, that''s good. I have to take some back definitely." Thess said as she put her cup down on the table.

    "Not bad." Aleyn agreed as she took another sip.

    The tea was good but the flavor wasn''t as special as she expected, just pineapples with a sweet after taste. Not necessarily that exotic but growing pineapples or any fruit in the snowy regions of Dvalfgar was surely futile as it wasn''t a habitat where they would survive. Something so simple that you could grow it in abundance at a warmer location would definitely sell for a lot more in a place like Dvalfgar.

    Aleyn took another sip of her still warm tea but her attention was stolen quite quickly while doing so.

    "Stev is my boyfriend. But I guess you already figured that out." Thess confessed calmly.

    "All signs pointed that way." Aleyn nodded.

    Thess sighed.

    "Signs?"

    Aleyn finished drinking and put down her cup.

    "Well the first time I thought about it was after your performance when you dove in to his arms and clung to him like glue."

    "You.. you noticed?" Thess blushed.

    "Yeh, me and the whole table noticed it. I doubt many people in the bar missed it in fact."

    Thess looked downwards and covered her face with her hands.

    "The fact that you treat him a lot differently is also a clear hint. Secret letters when you wouldn''t even communicate with your father in any way." Aleyn continued.

    Thess stayed quiet.

    "I also got the feeling from Stev that he doesn''t consider you as just a friend. He holds you quite dear you know, patiently waiting every morning for a letter and with his questions about your well being."

    "Thats all the proof I needed, though two young people being in love wasn''t the weird part. You avoiding him this hard even when you obviously still like him was... I haven''t really gotten that far yet with speculating though so I have no clue." Aleyn finished as she took another sip of her tea.

    Silence followed as Thess tried her hardest to think. You could see it on her face as her expression changed constantly.

    She sighed deeply.

    "Mother told you about my little event that happened when I was young which made me scared of men right?"

    "She did."

    "It''s not true."

    Aleyn gave a quizzical look towards Thess.

    "Well it''s true that I got bullied a lot by a certain teenage group, but it never made me scared of men. Just those few kids."

    "Then what was the reaction you had towards your father and Stev that day? Or when that dwarf lord what ever came to make a ruckus."

    "Acting mostly. I needed a good excuse to drive Stev away, sadly father had to play a part in it as well." Thess brushed some bangs of hair away from her face.

    "Why would you do that to your boyfriend though? I''m no expert in relationships but surely having your boyfriend helping you through this would be the best thing?"

    Thess turned to look at the passing crowds.

    "We''ve been close ever since we were little kids, but as we got older I came to realize how much he meant for me, I loved that man. He has a gentle heart, good manners, he is strong, we know each other very well. Not to mention he feels the same way.

    During my fifteenth birthday Stev confessed to me, I was so happy to hear he felt the same about me.. We''ve been dating in secret for a year or two now."

    "Why in secret, Stev seems like a nice guy to me?"

    Thess looked towards Aleyn for a moment.

    "Mostly because of our fathers. Dad has always been very protective of me, he never really trusted Stev. Thinking he is too well mannered and is hiding something behind a mask. So we decided to just not make it official until we can figure out something."

    Aleyn put down her tea and crossed her arms.

    "And his father? You said because of both of your fathers."

    "His father... Brevurth is a strict but fair man. Stev doesn''t want to share the specifics but his father used to be a great swordsman. After his wife''s death, Stev was the only family he had left so he started training Stev so that no harm can fall on him."

    "Also." Thess continued as she placed her arms on the table.

    "Dragonkin are also  known to have  a lot of customs that are meant to guide them but Stev has never really heard his father talk about them so he had to find out for himself. It turns out that "dragonkin should only bond with other dragonkin" is at the top of the list."

    "So you think he wouldn''t allow any of it?" Aleyn asked.

    "Exactly."

    ""If they never ask, they''ll never know. Still that''s not the part I''m curious of"" Aleyn thought

    "That doesn''t explain why you''re avoiding your dear boyfriend though. From the sounds of it you''re meant for each other."

    "Do you really care?" Thess asked.

    "It bothers me. You don''t seem like you''re enjoying it any more than he is."

    Thess started rubbing her arms while looking very uncomfortable.

    "I''m... I''m scared."

    "Huh?"

    Thess stayed quiet for a moment and kept rubbing her arms after which she looked at Aleyn.

    "I''m scared of what he''ll think when he sees me and hears what happened.. "

    "My body is scarred, I don''t look the same as I used to. Another man had his way with me so I''m no longer a virgin." Thess continued.

    "What if after hearing and seeing me. He doesn''t want anything to do with me anymore?" Thess shed a tear.

    After hearing her reasoning. Aleyn only had one thought in mind.

    "Are you fucking serious?"

    "Eh?" Thess flinched.

    "You don''t look the same as you used to? No shit, I doubt anyone would after what you''ve gone through."

    Thess frowned and looked down on her lap.

    "But even with that you''re so beautiful, if a man looks at you and doesn''t find you attractive because of some scars they''re so far down the list you shouldn''t even want them to."

    Thess raised her head a bit as she listened Aleyn lecture on.

    "And you say another man had his way with you? Who gives a shit, if Stev really loves you he wouldn''t. It''s not like you had any say in the matter anyway, sooner you forget about it the better it is for you. "

    "If he after hearing the story and seeing you doesn''t want anything to do with you then he is no good." Aleyn concluded.

    Thess stayed quiet thinking things through as tears formed in her eyes. After a little thinking she responded.

    "Still... I''d rather not see him than have everything fall apart. My scars will heal eventually. I love that man, if he would reject me I don''t know if I could live through it..."

    It was Aleyns turn to be alarmed.

    "Thess surely you realize..." Aleyn tried saying before she was interrupted.

    "That''s enough Aleyn."

    Aleyn looked her straight in her teary eyes.

    "It''s fine." Thess said.

    ""How can this be fine?"" was all Aleyn could think. She tried reasoning with her.

    "But..."

    "Aleyn..." Thess whimpered now slightly angry.

    Aleyn froze after hearing the tone of her voice change. She very rarely showed anger towards anyone.

    "You are not not to tell anyone.. Especially Stev."

    What she was asking of her felt silly. Surely the best thing for both her and Stev was to confront him. She stared at her straight in the eyes as she waited for a response.

    "Aleyn... promise me.."

    With no way to change her mind Aleyn could only concede. She wasn''t in any position to tell her what to do in the first place.

    "Fine.." Aleyn sighed in annoyed manner.

    The pair drank the rest of their tea without much more conversation until Thess suddenly realized something.

    "Umm... you''re still going to deliver the letters right?"

    Aleyn stared at her in silence and raised an eye brow. Thess begun rubbing her arms in discomfort again, she knew her request wasn''t in good taste considering Aleyn disagreed with her but she was the only one who knew about their exchange of letters so she had to be the one to deliver them.

    She felt a bit helpless realizing she might lose her only way of communicating with Stev.

    "I will."

    Thess was surprised but didn''t question Aleyn. She just smiled and replied.

    "Thank you."

    Her smile was a nice to look at, but Aleyn didn''t feel very happy about it. The story brought a new perspective to the scenario which she didn''t like at all but there was very little she could do about it.

 Chapter 35 - Desperation

    <blockquote><cite>Quote:</cite>Next two weeks are reserved for worrying/procrastinating over exams and the rest of the year after

    that is reserved for Fallout 4. Though there''s always a possibility I might loose interest in Fallout.

    However I did play skyrim for roughly 3 weeks straight religiously after it came out so the possibility is low-medium :p.

    Happy holidays ladies and gents.</blockquote>

    "What will I do then?"

    Aleyn had just woken up an hour ago and as still very slightly drowsy but already deep in thought as she strolled towards her letter drop at Stev''s house.

    It had been on her mind occasionally, but as her enchanting got better and better and her training at Camedyrs workshop neared its end there was only one thing on her mind.

    "Where do I go from here?"

    The only thing that really held her to Dvalfgar was blacksmithing, but once that was done she had no reason to stay. She was welcome to stay with the innkeeper family as long as she liked to but she strived for more, she wanted to venture forth and experience the world.

    "A goal.."

    There were a few things she had been thinking about. The first thing was travel to Keittwel and visit the academy to see if she could find someone to teach her some elemental magic. She didn''t know what she wanted to learn quite yet but that didn''t matter for the time being, she could always think that through later. Another skill she needed to learn was actual fighting skills, however she had no clue where to start with that. Looking around the city no house stood out as a martial arts school, would it be better to wait until she got to Keitwell?

    At that point Aleyn realized she had already subconsciously decided that she would go to Keitwell. She decided to drop the subject for now as she approached Stevs and Brevurths house.

    It had already been a week since She had her little discussion with Thess and the status quo with Thess continued just as it used to, however not everything stayed the same..

    Aleyn peaked around the corner towards Stevs house,  the young man sat on a pile of firewood as he always did while waiting for his mail.

    "It''s getting more awkward by the day ..."

    Stev was a nice man sure, almost like a perfect gentleman. However when ever Thess was the subject of discussion he can''t help but be very inquisitive, more so as their meetings happened. Sometimes to the point of being pushy.

    Though could you blame him? If the boyfriend is not worried over his injured girlfriend then how much of a relationship do they actually have?

    "Morning Aleyn." Stev smiled as she approached him.

    "Morning."

    She dug in to her pocket and took out today''s delivery and with no hesitation Stev snatched it from her hand with a smile.

    His his eagerness was touching.

    After a moment of reading his smile weakened and he asked.

    "Did.. something happen to Thess? She has been writing a lot less lately."

    "Lately?"

    "6 days ago, that''s when her writing started to differ. She writes a lot less and is more cryptic."

    He was counting the days?

    "6 days ago.. Can''t say there''s been any change.." Aleyn went in to thought.

    "Unless..."

    Stevs head immediately turned to her with full attention.

    ""Well I guess there''s no harm telling him."" Aleyn thought.

    "Me and Thess had a little talk about a week ago."

    "A talk about your and her ''relationship''." She continued.

    Stev turned his head away.

    "So you knew?"

    "You two aren''t hiding it too well."

    Stev had a mix of sad and pondering expression on his face, he seemed to be thinking through something very hard.

    Soon that expression changed as he faced Aleyn and dropped on his knees.

    "Please Aleyn! I understand Thess doesn''t want me to know anything or see her, but this is eating me up from the inside..." He pleaded

    His eyes were watering as if a dam was about to break behind them.

    "I need to know..! I''m sure you can understand my pain.." Stev yelled in tears.

    Having the tall dragonkin drop down to her eye level made her feel very out of place, but that didn''t compare to how sad the scenario was.

    Sadly, his request wasn''t that simple.

    "I understand.. But there''s nothing I can do..."

    "Please... Just.." Stev pleaded again.

    "I''m sorry Stev."

    She had to be calm even if she felt a lot of sympathy for him. Thess''s decision might be wrong but it was still her decision.

    Aleyn turned her back on the kneeling man. Eager to get on with her day, but she knew this wasn''t going to be the end of it. The next time she had to deliver a message it wouldn''t be any better than this.

    About to walk away but before she got too far she was stopped by Stev.

    "Wait..."A hint of anger roared from Stev as he commanded her.

    Aleyn sighed. It was getting very frustrating for her to be there.

    "Look..."

    But before she could finish she felt that hint of anger magnify behind her. A feeling of sudden threat.

    In that split second as she began to turn around she was already too late for what was about to come.

    A burst of force hit her stomach from the side which blew the air out of her lungs and hurled her through the air only to be stopped by a wall of a neighboring house.

    Aleyns eyes shot open as her back came in contact with the wall. She wanted to let out a scream of pain but all she could let out was a painful cough as her lungs were further deflated.

    Now leaning on the wall as she hastily grasped for air.

    "?!"

    Quickly gathering her thoughts she looked at the person who sent her flying. It didn''t take much to figure out it was Stev, but what surprise her was what had become of him.

    Lightly glowing red eyes on his bulkier head. The scales on his face swelled and periodically glowed as if they were pieces of metal being heated. His already red hair flickered a darker shade of red as it waved in the breeze of the mountain like a campfire. The clothes on him looked a size too small as his muscles swelled under them, but the most menacing thing about him was his his hands and feet which now had their fingers and toes bending in to the form of claws.

    "Savage." That''s what Aleyn thought.

    He was currently standing still in a kicking pose. Looking like a statue as he stayed motionless for a moment until he lowered his foot back and looked straight towards her.

    He grimaced and exhaled a tuft of vapor before moving towards her.

    Aleyn flinched and tried to stand up, but before her aching body could do so the sound of shattering floor tiles was already in front of her and her throat was grabbed.

    There was nothing she could do to resist as Stev dragged her against the wall and lifted her up in the air. She tried taking a hold of his arm with both of her hands but all she could do was try and hang on as her breathing became heavier and heavier.

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Stev pulled his head closer towards hers.

    "I.. want... ANSWERS!" He yelled.

    He tightened his grasp on her throat.

    "Why won''t she tell me!! Why can''t I see her!! Why is she avoiding me?! Why why whyy!!" He fumed hysterically.

    "What happened to her...." Stev raged and shed a single tear as he stared Aleyn down.

    She couldn''t answer him not to mention breath, but it didn''t look like Stev was in any state to realize this. Her neck was being shattered, or so it felt. If she had any way of surviving this she needed to get free and fast.

    With the little breath she had left she concentrated on her right arm and struck down on Stevs hold, disrupting him if just the tiniest amount but enough for her to slip out and drop down.

    Stev was caught in a daze against the momentary resistance but as soon as he snapped out of it he launched his hand towards Aleyns head as if to penetrate it in anger.

    Closing in, his hand was ready to pierce her and end her life not caring anymore if she had the answers he was looking for.

    "*cough* She was.." Aleyn said with her raspy voice

    Hearing the three words Stevs whole visage glowed as his scales and hair flared once and he froze.

    He heard the words, he saw the movement of Aleyns mouth. All of them registered, but the meaning escaped him.

    Frozen and clueless Stev just stared at the dwarf girl now gasping for air as she rubbed her neck.

    "After her performance... Probably not that long after it..." Aleyn muttered.

    "I walked down the street towards my inn.... before my curiosity got the best of me..." She continued as she tried fixing her throat.

    "I followed a trail of clothing in to an Alleyway..... where I started hearing noises....."

    Stev still listened quietly but held his angry form.

    "At first I thought it was mutual.... but when I saw how motionless she was...."

    Stevs eyes bulged as he started to catch the picture..

    "After I clubbed the man I finally saw her.... her condition was...."

    As her story progressed forward Stevs form began to change.

    First his legs and arms started to shrink from their light swelling and returned to their normal human like form, then the colour of his scales began to cool off and his whole form periodically shrunk. Lastly his eyes and hair returned to how they used to be.

    "We wrapped her up.. and carried her home.."

    Stev dropped to his knees lifelessly and stared at the ground.

    Aleyn now having recovered her breath continued on.

    "Just a week ago I asked her the same questions you did."

    Stev turned his eyes towards Aleyn.

    "Why would you not want the support of your boyfriend? Shouldn''t you tell him at least?"

    "Her answer was pretty petty in my opinion." She sighed.

    She explained exactly what Thess had said. How she didn''t want him to see her scars or hear how she had been defiled in case he would lose interest in her.

    It might have been a mistake though as Stev appearance swelled again and his sad face turned morbidly angry. Aleyn braced herself for what was about to come., but it wasn''t her he chose to hurt.

    Sounds of rock being smashed was all she heard before Stevs yell almost deafened her.

    " YOU IDIOT!!" Stev yelled.

    His fist was buried in to the ground tiles, he looked angry but he had not transformed completely to what ever that form was.

    Stev pulled his hand out of the ground and surprisingly his hand was completely fine.

    He placed his hands on his knees and took deep long breaths. He sat calmly for at least a minute as he took air in and exhaled it in equal breaths. Every cycle seemed to change him, as if he was transforming in to a calmer person just by breathing.

    Having calmed down Stev rose up from the ground and brushed off the dust from his clothes before looking at Aleyn with some regret. She had not gone anywhere, she wasn''t in any condition to move long distances.

    "We have some ointments and salves. I''ll carry you inside." Stev declared.

    He was about to grab Aleyn but she brushed his hands away.

    "No, no you wont... I''ll walk." Aleyn said with slight spitefulness.

    The notion was upsetting, but he ultimately conceded the argument. It was already a surprise that she was willing to get in to a closed space with him after what he had done to her.

    With slight limp in her steps Aleyn made her way towards the front door of the house while Stev followed behind her.

    Inside the house Aleyn laid down on the comfy rug, her back was killing her not to mention her lungs and throat were screaming after the abuse they had to go through. Meanwhile on the opposite side of the room Stev was digging through a chest.

    It didn''t take long for him to find what he was looking for and in a moment he brought Aleyn some jars, flasks and even some bandages.

    "Any wounds?" He asked.

    "None."

    "Does it hurt anywhere?" He asked again.

    Aleyn let out a hoarse cough.

    "Back and throat."

    Stev gave a frown and dug in to a one of the jars he brought and pulled out some leafs from inside and handed them to Aleyn.

    "Chew on these, it''ll help with the cough."

    A bundle of small Oval shaped green leafs, they gave a soft refreshing smell. Very similar to a mint leaf.

    She put one in her mouth and started chewing.

    Stev then took another jar and opened it in front of Aleyn. It was filled with some sauce like substance.

    "This ointment is made with snowstars. It helps with healing and reliefs some pain."

    "Turn around and lift the back of your clothes a bit."

    Aleyn raised and eyebrow towards Stev who didn''t react to her quizzical look at all.

    She sighed internally and turned around while lifting her leather jacket and shirt enough to reveal most of her back.

    With her back towards him Stev took no time to no time to smear her back with the ointment.

    Having her back covered made her feel very disgusting but that feeling was dwarfed by the immediate reaction she felt as the pain in her back gradually disappeared.

    "It''s done. Your should clean yourself up later and wash those clothes, the ointment has a tendency to stain every fabric."

    Aleyn turned back around.

    "Here, your neck still needs some." Stev held out the jar in front of her.

    Realizing her neck still hurt a lot she stood up in to a sitting position and took some of the stuff from the jar and started rubbing it around her whole neck.

    While she was doing that Stev gathered all the equipment and brought it back to the chest he took them from.

    Having had enough of him avoiding the question that he knew was on her mind Aleyn broke the silence.

    "So are you going to tell me what that was about?"

 Chapter 36 - Resolve

    Stev smiled for  a moment as he heard Aleyn but then continued placing the equipment back in to the chest.

    "Oh you don''t know... That''s a surprise."

    "Hmm?"

    Stev turned towards Aleyn and sat down on the rug.

    "Tell me Aleyn. What are the things that come to your mind when someone mentions dragons or dragonkin."

    Aleyn raised an eyebrow as she pondered what Stev meant.

    "Not that much. To me dragons are strong noble beasts who breath fire and live in caves. Dragonkin on the other hand are humanlike people who retain some dragonic looks and power through inheritance."

    Stev leaned on the chest behind him.

    "I see. Like a children''s story."

    Silence fell in the room for a brief moment as Stev stared at the ceiling with a solemn look in his eyes. This annoyed Aleyn as she didn''t want to be left guessing.

    "This is where you say how wrong I am and explain how it really is."

    Stev snapped back in to the conversation and smiled.

    "I wouldn''t say wrong, not completely at least. You just don''t have the whole picture."

    He looked towards Aleyn.

    "Dragons are strong beasts, yes. They live in caves.... some do some don''t."

    "Noble.. That''s not a word I would describe them with, at least not the huge majority of them."

    Aleyn leaned on her arm while lying down.

    "Oh?"

    "Dragons are beasts who think they''re at the top of the food chain and treat every other life form with no regard. Egotistic to the point where they can''t cooperate. They''re driven by their desire to rule over others and act with that desire as they see fit, it wasn''t that uncommon to hear about them destroying villages just for a snack in the past."

    "Though I can''t say they''re all like that, I''ve heard stories that there have been more humble dragons that even chose to help the other races as they were maturing. Still, their reputation is ruined by the majority which are incapable of doing that."

    "Luckily dragons have become a lot more careful about what they do after other races showed they could fight back."

    Stev sighed.

    "Now you can imagine what sort of an image you might get as a dragonkin when your ancestors are literally tyrants."

    "You shouldn''t be judged by that though surely? What someone else did in the past shouldn''t mean anything when judging the dragonkin." She questioned.

    "You won''t get judged by that no. The moment you are born you are judged as someone with their inheritance."

    "Because of your looks?" She asked again.

    Stev gave a small laugh.

    "No no no, silly dwarf. It is like they say, its not what''s on the outside it''s what''s inside of you that matters."

    "Eh?"

    "No matter how little your inheritance might be, you will always carry the curse of dragon blood."

    Aleyn looked at Stev with a quizzical look.

    "Curse? Magic?"

    "Blood of the dragons. Something all the dragonkin will carry until their death, no matter how diluted it might be it will always have its effect. Weaker willed succumb to its effects, stronger willed train and fight to keep their right minds."

    Curious to know even if she had a hunch.

    "So what happens when they succumb?"

    "Heh. You know perfectly well what happens, though what you witnessed was only my body changing."

    "Oh yea, I''m sure you were in your right mind when you almost drove your whole arm through my head." Aleyn said sarcastically as she laid back down from her side.

    Stev turned his head down and looked at the floor.

    "I can''t say I meant for that to happen. I''ve been training with my father ever since I was a child to control it."

    He paused and sighed.

    "Still... you can see how much it can effect us. Even if we''re accepted in society a lot of people still fear the beast below the surface that we all carry, and for a good reason."

    Aleyn kept quiet for a moment after Stev finished.

    "Does it bother you?"

    "No." He said bluntly.

    It didn''t sound very convincing at all.

    "Doesn''t sound like it."

    Stev huffed some air in disagreement and didn''t continue the discussion. Awkward silence filled the room, but Aleyn knew a sure way to get him talking.

    "Does Thess know?"

    Surprisingly the silence continued for longer than expected, but Stev replied.

    "Yes.."

    "You think shes scared of it? Maybe she thinks you''ll blow up if you two ever talk about the incident."

    "No.."

    A smile crept on his face as he continued.

    "The day I met her.. Oh god... I must have been six years old and she a year younger. She used to play with her sister near these houses and I used to watch them from a far as I was too scared to go talk to the two girls... "

    "One day she was alone and surrounded by some kids who were older than both of us combined, they were calling her names and taunting her... Something older kids do to bully younger kids. Especially us who look slightly different than the norm."

    Aleyn thought this sounded very familiar.

    "She was crying on her knees and her white skirt was all covered in dirt and dust.. When I saw her teary face something lit inside me, I had to do something." Stev continued.

    "So I struggled to get in the middle of them as I put myself between the bullies and her... I don''t know what I was expecting to happen though, I was outnumbered and they were far bigger than I was. "

    "The bullies beat me up enough to show who''s the boss as I laid on the floor trying to cover my face. Luckily some person started yelling from a window and the kids lost interest and ran away."

    "But that''s when it started."

    "Pain my body was sore from the kicking and punches."

    "Hatred.... Their faces and smiles are still carved in to my brain. I hated how they smiled and laughed as they kicked me on the ground.

    "Anger.... The irresistible urge for vengeance boiled in my mind, if only I could make them feel what I felt. If I could kick them so hard to the ground they couldn''t get back up I wouldn''t have second thoughts of it."

    "My young body started squirming on the floor as it began to swell. My first time experiencing the effects of dragon blood."

    "It was painful, far more painful then their assault had been but all I could think about was going after them and hurting them or even worse, killing them."

    "That was until I felt someones arms wrapping around me."

    "I opened my eyes and prepared to throw them away and go after the kids. Then I saw her, the girl with teary eyes and dirtied skirt. For a moment I had no clue who she was and was about to throw her away."

    ""It''s okay, they''re gone now. You don''t need to be scared anymore" she said to me in her quiet sad voice, I''ll never forget it. At this point my little body had swelled twice its size as I remembered how I had felt that little feeling inside of me and rushed to stand between her and the kids. With that thought my anger started disappearing and my body began to turn back normal while I endured the pain."

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    "I came to her aid when she needed it. She was there for me when I needed it." He smiled.

    Stev looked at Aleyn.

    "If shes scared of something it isn''t the dragon blood, but my untempered feelings. "

    His eyebrows twitched as he suddenly realized something.

    "But I wasn''t there for her when she needed me that night...What good am I?." He mumbled in a very depressed tone.

    "You two really are made for each other. Getting depressed over something you have no control over." Aleyn said in a smug manner.

    Stev wiped his eyes with his arm.

    It was definitely a rough situation for both parties. One bottles up his feelings to the point where the explosion was volatile while the other wallows in their lack of self confidence.

    If the situation was to be mended one of them would have to give in. It was the obvious solution, but what could she do on her own?

    Aleyn stood up from the rug and dusted herself off.

    "Think it''s time I go now."

    "You''ve healed up?" Stev asked.

    Aleyn demonstrated by stretching her middle body around. It still ached slightly but she was fine enough to move around.

    "That''s good.." Stev said in relief.

    He then dug up some paper from the chest behind him and started writing.

    "Are you gonna tell her you know?" Aleyn asked.

    Stev stopped writing as he realized the new option in front of him. In that moment she saw the opportunity to get the gears running.

    "You do realize if you do write to her about it she''s going to know I broke her promise, right?  She might not let me anywhere close to her letters ever again."

    Aleyn put her hands behind her back as she looked around the shelves.

    "All you can do Is answer to her letter, really. That''s it."

    "So it seems." Stev agreed after thinking about it for a while.

    "Are you okay with that after hearing the whole story?"

    Stev sat quietly with the paper in his hand.

    "That''s your answer huh, silence. So much for feelings." She bluntly commented.

    Stev quickly faced Aleyn and raised his voice.

    "Well what can I do! She doesn''t want me to see her.! How can I tell her how I really feel when all I can do is send her a piece of paper with some words written on it!"

    He grumbled the paper and threw it at Aleyn.

    "You can''t, can you? How are you suppose to but all those feelings in to words for her?" Aleyn asked.

    "But you could talk to her." She continued.

    Stevs angry face turned immediately.

    "It''s much easier to show her your feelings when you''re talking face to face you know." Aleyn said with a slight patronizing tune.

    Stev jumped up from the floor.

    "Are you an idiot or something? She doesn''t want me anywhere near her! How am I suppose to talk to her." Stev snapped.

    Aleyn faced Stev with her most serious expression she could muster as she laid it down on him calmly.

    "Relationships are a two way conversation. Both of you need to set the rules not just her. If you want to see her, you should see her."

    Stev''s face turned from angry to confused as he stared at the little woman.

    "By not facing her, you''re doing more harm than good. You''re supporting the idea that you might leave her if she loses her looks."

    "But.."

    "But what? Do you honestly think that everything will be alright if you just wait?" She concluded.

    Stev was about to reply but he couldn''t find any words to refute her. She looked at Stev in the eyes with dissatisfaction as he couldn''t muster any words for her.

    With the air of disappointment she turned around and walked to the door and stepped outside.

    "Come and find me once you''ve grown a backbone." Aleyn sneered as she slammed the door behind her.

    Alone and confused. Stev sat on the floor thinking things through. What the dwarf had said was definitely scratching the back of his mind, facing Thess or waiting it out until she was ready to meet him. He had options, but all of them seemed so very frightening to him.

    As the feeling of depression crept in, he shoved away his problems and began reminiscing about the past and the happier times before all of this sadness. No matter how much he tried though, he couldn''t forget the situation. No amount of Thess''s singing or kind words, not even the evening when they had their first kiss could brush away the sadness he felt.

    In a whirl of memories and emotions he remembered her face. Her smile when he had complimented her on her singing that night. Her anger when he had once jokingly said she had an insect in her hair and afterwards was pounded by her fists. The way she always looked at clothes with a keen eye as if she saw more in them than anyone he knew. Her emotions to him were all a part of her which he liked, but there were those emotions he couldn''t or rather didn''t want to see on her.

    Fear and sadness, be it when she first witnessed another living being dying as an owl grabbed a mouse up from the streets and ate it whole or when she lost her favorite necklace. Her sadness was not something he could endure without it tearing him apart.

    How scared must have she been that night? How did she feel when she told him to stay away from her the next day. What did she feel when she wrote all of those letters and wanted to tell him everything, but just couldn''t.

    Stev''s heart skipped a beat and his stomach clenched as his mind was filled with Thess and how he imagined she felt. But then a different scene appeared in his head.

    Lying on the floor with his body torturing itself as it swelled and then feeling those little girls hands wrap around him as he looked in to her eyes. Watching her lips move but not hearing any words, he had no doubt in his mind what she was saying as he remembered them like it was only yesterday.

    "It''s okay, they''re gone now. You don''t need to be scared anymore"

    That little feeling he had when he saw Thess in the middle of the bullies crying. The feeling he had to do something to save her. That feeling overshadowed every feeling of fear and sadness he felt that moment. Stev opened his eyes, he felt as though it was the first time he had opened them today.

    It was now clear to him that there was only one option left and it was not waiting, he had to talk to her and there was only one person he could rely on to help him.

    He jumped up and rushed to the door about to start running after Aleyn but the moment he opened the door he noticed his path was blocked.

    The dwarf girl was sitting in front of the door with her back towards it. It was a gamble but if Stev really did feel for her as strongly as Thess felt for him then he would eventually see what needed to be done.  Aleyn was just glad it didn''t take longer than a few minutes for him to see it.

    Stev realized he had played right in to her hands, but he didn''t care,

    Aleyn turned to look at Stev and smiled.

    "Ready for the plan then?"

 Chapter 37 - Leading on

    Two towers of ceramics and a girl between them. Thess was spending her morning cleaning dishes while the rest of her family tidied up the rooms.

    "What in the world were they eating to make such stains?" Thess huffed in frustration as she scrubbed.

    As much as it was a tedious task, her mind was somewhere else completely as she waited for Aleyn to come back. She had sent another letter today and was eagerly waiting for his response.

    She placed the final plate on the tower of dishes and carried them to the cupboard and while she did she heard the front door open.

    "Oh she''s early..."

    Thess put down the plates quickly and went to meet Aleyn. She was hoping none of her family members heard her come inn as if someone were to be there as she receive the letter it would raise too many questions.

    She entered the room and was about to greet Aleyn and offer her something to drink but her train of thought was interrupted right as she saw Aleyn.

    Ripped clothes, hunched back and a slight limp to her walk.

    "Aleyn?! Wha.. are you alright?" Thess yelped as she rushed to her.

    Before she could get too close to her though Aleyn stopped her by raising her hand in front of her. She looked at her straight in the eye with an angry look.

    "Yeah.. just freaking dandy." She said with a sarcastic tone.

    She then started walking towards her room. Meanwhile Thess was slightly taken back in shock as it was the first time Aleyn had shown any animosity towards her.

    "Do you..Do you need something? Bandages maybe?

    Aleyn turned her head and gave an annoyed stare at her for a second then disappeared in to the corridor.

    Thess very surprised could do nothing but return back to her dishes while thinking what had happened to Aleyn.

    "Did she get mugged? It sure looks like it. But why wouldn''t she want to talk about it if she did?Why was she so angry towards me? I''m confused..."

    She placed some dishes in the cupboard and kept thinking it through.

    "She went for a run and brought my letter to Stev then returned back for a quick bath. Thats what she always does doesn''t she?"

    At that point she realized something she had returned early and not given her any letter. Was Stev at fault? No, she could have just forgotten.

    "She needs some rest... But I need that letter..."

    Deciding to ditch her work for a minute she took off towards Aleyns room but before she got too far Aleyn was already walking towards her. She had changed her clothes but still had a slight limp.

    "What are you doing?" Thess asked.

    "What does it look like? Going to work." She said.

    "But you''re injured! You need to rest."

    "Im going to work." She emphasized every word in annoyance.

    Thess was taken back again. Why was she being so mean to her? Aleyn strode past Thess as she headed for the door.

    "Wait! Could you at least give me Stevs letter?" Thess asked.

    "He didn''t give me one." Aleyn said bluntly

    She then left the inn and went to work. Meanwhile Thess stood in the corridor in confusion. Why wouldn''t he send a reply? What''s going on? With many questions on her mind she returned back to the cupboard and continued placing the plates back in while a dark feeling started to creep in to her mind. Something was very wrong.

    Even though the few months in Dvalfgar had been quite eventful, it was the last month of the year in real life and Nic as well as other students still had their hands full. It was the final rush for students to finish their courses so most if not everyone''s tension was at their peak.

    Today was one of those days where stress was so thick you could practically grasp it as the virtual reality studies students sat quietly and worked on their exam for link programming. As it was their first year the subject wasn''t so advanced that it was impossible, but since it was the main subject of their studies it was very crucial that they got the best grades they could on the subject.

    Without much hassle people tapped away on their computers and completed the task and since it was the end of the year there were very few actual lessons in which case most people just went home after the exam.

    "That condition could be sought in a while loop...  which would actually make that line useless and I can remove that item not to mention that whole thing.. Sigh."

    Nic was at the end of his exam as he noticed that some of the parts he had already written he could do in a less round about way. He had actually already finished the task but since now he had noticed the flaws Nic was very reluctant to turn the exam in until he fixed the parts.

    There wasn''t that much to fix but he had already spent most of the given exam time so he had to get to work quickly. He spent the next 15 minutes rewriting some of the code but he only had time for one test run.

    When he observed the output he could only be relieved.

    "Zero errors."

    A more relaxed sigh escaped his lips as the clock struck 13:00.

    "That''s time. Submit the exam boys and girls." The teacher interrupted everyone.

    Quickly uploading his program Nic spent a minute or two closing his computer then took off. Surprisingly enough there was a person waiting for him outside of the room even though the said person had left the room almost thirty minutes in to the exam.

    "Whats wrong with you Nic!? How freaking long do you have to take with that crap, that test was easy?"

    A furious Asian man known as Ken.

    "Well sorry mister perfect. Some of us like to do things at our own pace."

    Ken didn''t seem amused as he huffed at Nic.

    "No one told you to wait for me anyway. Why are you here?"

    Ken perked up a bit as he remembered.

    "Oh right yeah. Elle had some movie tickets and thought we could go and watch something so she told me to wait here for you."

    "Ever heard of texting? Could have saved you an hour of waiting." Nic said sarcastically.

    "Yeah yeah... You in or out? Were going in an hour."

    "Sure, why not." Nic agreed after a moment of thinking.

    Later in the evening in the city the two were wasting time at a computer store, checking whats the newest new while Elle took her time to meet them.

    "Holy... Look at this one. More than twice the processing power than my setup put together." Ken gasped.

    "You have more than one computer?" Nic asked.

    "But of course. One for business one for pleasure as well as two screens for both of them."

    "Couldn''t you just have one computer? And what good are four screens?"

    Ken looked at Nic with disgust.

    "If you knew the joys of dual screens you wouldn''t be saying that."

    "Well I only have a laptop so I wouldn''t know."

    Slightly shocked, Ken was about to say something but was interrupted by his phone going off.

    "Oh Elle is already at the cinema. We better get moving."

    Standing alone in the middle of a crowd Elle waved at Nic and Ken who just entered the cinemas hallway.

    "Hey guys! I''m glad you decided to come."

    "I''m not missing out on a free movie." Ken spouted.

    "So...What are we going to watch then Elle?" Nic asked.

    "Anything! I have three tickets for any show until the end of the week."

    "I''ll leave that to you two then. I haven''t got the faintest idea." Nic sighed.

    The two left to have a look at what was airing while Nic was stranded amongst the crowds of people. With not much else to do his eyes started to wander around the billboards. There were quite a few movies being advertised.

    ""My loved one. Story of two people very different people in the middle of a battle field.""

    ""Izawrick. The lone wizard of Keitwell.""

    "Keitwell? So they''re bringing ideas from LoI to the real world. I see." Nic thought.

    His eyes swept across the walls some more but a certain billboard caught his curiosity. Cover adorned with a blond elf man wielding a sword and shield covered from neck to toe in armor, he instantly recognized Andres character.

    ""The Tomb of Izawrick. Journey to the unknown.""

    Nic gave an odd look as he stared at the billboard, not very sure what to make of it. Ken came to fetch Nic as their movie was about to start, only to find the man staring at a billboard of Andre like it was some kind of a crop circle.

    "Oh...  They''re making a movie out of that now? Oh lord, the fan club will be buzzing like a beehive

    next year." Ken said.

    "What is this exactly? Is it related to that other movie over there." Nic said and pointed towards the billboard of Izawrick.

    "Oh,  I suppose you haven''t heard about it at all since you live in a cave." Ken said sarcastically.

    Nic wasn''t very impressed at the comment.

    "...."

    "See..  An underground maze,building,catacomb whatever was uncovered while mining in the Keitwell region. The miners tried to have a look inside but were slaughtered by some sort of animated constructs.Some officials made a raiding party with Wymer leading and cleared up the place and discovered quite a lot of books and research left after by a mage called Izawrick."

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    "I don''t know much about the guy but I do know he is praised as a legend in LoI." Ken concluded.

    "So they''re making a movie about it? They really seem to love Andre" Nic asked.

    "Well rumors say the raid was quite exciting. I guess some movie producers thought after hearing the details that  it would be a money maker and then decided to tell Izawricks story and bring context to Wymer raiding Izawricks summer cabin." Ken shrugged.

    "You know what though? The market has never been the same since that raid. I''ve made a killing with crystals." Ken rubbed his hands together.

    Nic rolled his eyes.

    "The hell guys are you coming or not?!? The movie is about to start!." Elle yelled from amidst the crowd in distress.

    The crew hurried to their seats in the theater. Sadly their seats were not in the center of the rows but at the very left. The room was packed so the movie must be new Nic thought.

    "What movie are we watching exactly?"

    Ken hussed him and ignored his question.

    "It''s starting...."

    The curtains opened and the whole room went pitch black. Guess he just had to see.

    Opening the door to his flat Nic was famished after the movie. No offense to Elle and Ken but the movie had been really forgettable for Nic, he had not really felt much for it though he did like some of the parts. It''s quite amazing what they can do with special effects these days. Nic strolled to his kitchen and prepared a bit of pasta as he looked at the clock.

    "5pm huh.. Should be about time soon."

    He brought his late lunch to the living room and started munching while checking his email. With his stomach sated he put his plate aside and reached for the Link.

    Meanwhile in Kharis''s inn a lone elf girl was thinking things through in the corner of the dining area. The events in the morning had gotten her imagination running at high speed.

    What had happened to Aleyn to make her so pissed?

    Why was she so reluctant for help from her?

    But most importantly.

    "Why didn''t he write me back?"

    Their exchange had been going on for months without any interruptions. He had never skipped on a reply. Was it something she said? It was a possibility, she had been a bit reluctant to share too much after her talk with Aleyn. Though was he that perceptive?

    Aleyn entered the inn and took a look around the room and as she spotted Thess who in turn spotted her. She tried to hurry to her room but was stopped by Thess who latched on her hand.

    "Aleyn please!"

    Aleyn sighed and frowned as she looked at the girl hanging from her arm who was about to cry.

    "Fine... Just get off me."

    They moved to the dining area and took a seat away from others. Thess placed a basket of bread on the dining table and sat across Aleyn. Aleyn having had very little to eat couldn''t really resist so she took a lump of bread and started munching.

    Thess stared at her for a moment before asking.

    "So?"

    Still reluctant to answer Aleyn took a big bite out of her bread lump.

    "Aleyn..." Thess sighed.

    "I''m done with delivering your letters." She said bluntly after swallowing the bread.

    Thess jumped from her seat like a rabbit and yelped.

    "Wha?"

    "I''m done with being your mailman."

    Thess now noticing some people having a look at their direction sat down and tried calming down.

    "But but.. Aleyn... Why?"

    "I''m not going anywhere near that guy. You can deliver your own freaking messages to that monste.."

    "Don''t say that!" Thess interrupted loudly drawing some more attention.

    "Don''t call him a monster." She said in a calm manner.

    Aleyn looked at her with some disgust.

    "What ever."

    Their talk came to an awkward halt right then. She kept munching on her plate of bread until Thess gathered her courage to ask her.

    "Did.. did he do something?"

    "Oh did he? You think I got these bruises from a squirrel?"

    Aleyn lifted her head to show her neck, around it you could see some pinkish bruises that circled around the whole neck.

    Thess''s eyes shot open.

    "After I gave him your letter and he read it he started accusing me. Saying it wasn''t yours, he then attacked me and choked me while searching my clothes. I had to sacrifice some of my shirt to escape his strangle hold." Aleyn explained.

    Thess started biting her index finger she crew concerned.

    "Are.. Are you alright?"

    "Yeh.. I''m a sturdy girl.. My back still hurts though."

    Thess sighed with relief but it was short lived.

    "It has to have been a mistake though. Maybe something I wrote? I need to explain it to him, let me just write to him and.."

    "No.."

    "Explain... But how else am can I tell him that you wouldn''t do that."

    "I don''t know. But I''m done with this. Either you go to him yourself or get someone else to be your mailman."

    Aleyn pushed the plate away she then stood up and started walking towards her room.

    "Wah? Wait!" Thess yelped and scampered after her.

    Though her chase was slowed down by her tripping on some chairs. She only caught up to Aleyn when she was about to open the door to her room.

    "Wait!" Thess yelled.

    "There''s nothing more to discuss." Aleyn said bluntly.

    "Please Aleyn, you have to help me!"

    "I don''t have to do anything." She said without much emotion.

    "Please... I''ll do anything." Thess wept.

    "..Anything?"

    The air around Aleyn changed. From her slightly annoyed demeanor seeped a more menacing feeling.

    "What If I said I wanted you naked and tied on my bed. Would you do that?"

    "What are you.." Thess whimpered.

    "I''m saying. If I asked you to do that, would you?"

    The dwarf girl usually so much smaller than her started to grow in her eyes. It was scary feeling and reminded her of that night. Why was she doing this to her?

    "Why are you doing this Aleyn?" Thess dropped on her knees and started crying.

    "Maybe I''ve always thought I''d like to have a go with you or maybe I''ve been faking my nice attitude to get in your pants." She smirked.

    Thess stared in to her eyes, it didn''t feel like a joke to her. Thess stared at the floor for a moment as tears flowed from her eyes, if she wanted her to be her relationships lifeline she would have to offer her something.

    "No... This can''t be you."

    "What''s that?" She said angrily.

    "You''re always helping around the inn, you work tirelessly, you''re a nice to everyone. You just can''t be like this...Please Aleyn. I don''t want to make a choice like that." Thess covered her face as she wept.

    A moment of silence fell in the corridor as Thess cried on her knees. Aleyn didn''t say a word for a while either as she watched Thess''s small figure on the floor.

    Suddenly while crying she felt a hand on her chin and was compelled by it to look up from the floor. It was of course Aleyns hand, there was no one else in the corridor, but surprisingly she didn''t feel menacing as she did just a few minutes ago.

    "You have no idea how sad I would have been if you agreed."

    Thess''s crying eyes shot open.

    "Huh?"

    Aleyn gave a light smile to her.

    "I''m sorry. I needed to see if you would go so far that you would be willing to lose your dignity ."

    Thess cried in relief. A bit of weight was lifted off her shoulders as she realized what Aleyn meant. Strengthless she wept on her knees while covering her face until Aleyn took her by the arm and lifted her up. It was strange, such a small girl yet she had so much strength in her.

    "Come on Thess. Lets go inside, I have some paper and ink so you can write to Stev."

    Thess still crying nodded and moved through to the inside of Aleyns room.

    "Though I don''t think you''ll get much writing done." Aleyn said bluntly.

    "Eh?" Thess sobbed.

    The door slammed close behind her and Aleyn was nowhere in sight. Thess a bit dazed in confusion yelled through the door.

    "Aleyn what''s going on?

    A quieter voice came from right behind the door.

    "You''ve been running for far too long Thess."

    Still not understanding she tried asking.

    "What do you..."

    "Thess?"

    Her heart skipped a beat as a familiar voice she had not heard for many many weeks came from behind her.

 Chapter 38 - Warmth

    Inside of that small room was a bed and on that bed sat a young man. It wasn''t of course some random man, no other man could make her heart jump like he did.

    "Stev?" She whimpered.

    A muffled voice whispered from behind the door.

    "You''ve can''t avoid him anymore."

    Stev stood up from the bed and looked at the little elf. Which in turn made Thess cover her face with a scarf she wore on her shoulders. She backed up in to the door and tried the handle, but of course it wouldn''t budge.

    "He knows everything Thess, everything. Talk to your boyfriend." Aleyn said with a low voice.

    "What!?!" Thess yelped.

    "I told him everything." She continued.

    "You! You promised!"

    Thess yelled at the door after which she followed up with a few pushes trying to get out of the room.

    "You promised me Aleyn!" Thess yelled angrily.

    She didn''t get a response, at least not the kind she wanted.

    "Thess..."

    Her heart skipped a beat again. She was too focused on Aleyns betrayal to remember Stev was here, and now he was behind her.

    She tried pushing the door open again but slipped on her dress and fell on the floor. Sitting on the floor on her knees she had nowhere to go to get away from Stev. He crouched down to get closer to her.

    "Thess... You have no idea how much I''ve missed you. After that day when I saw you covered in bandages I was tormented day by day by that very image of you."

    Thess didn''t respond she just cried quietly on the floor. Stev reached for her shoulder.

    "I''ve heard everything Thess I know you don''t want me to see it."

    He tried to turn her so he could see her face.

    "Look at me Thess."

    She still refused. She was now facing him but her face was facing down and her face was still covered by the scarf.

    "Look at me!" Stev yelled.

    His appearance flared, as if he emitted a heatwave. The elf girl slowly raised her head until her bright blue tear filled eyes met with Stevs, even now he could see some scars around her eye sockets and nose bridge. It slightly caught him off guard but he had to shoulder that shock

    Stev carefully removed the scarf from her face as she kept staring at him. As he exposed her face he began to realize why she was so conscious of the scars. The scars were distinct and plentiful, the original wounds have to have been deep to leave such rough scars and to think her whole body was covered with them, some worse than this.

    Stevs face broke in to tears as he embraced the quiet elf girl on his chest. It was a surprise to her as it wasn''t the reaction of disgust she was expecting. The girl seemed so small, so much smaller than the world around her, but her fear started to disappear slowly as she laid in his embrace.

    "I''m so sorry...." Stev wept.

    "If only I could have been there for you. You needed me and all I could do was ask what happened the day after." Stev muttered in agony.

    He held her for some time, not wanting to let her go anymore or she might disappear.

    Two hands crawled along his sides and took hold of his of him.

    "It''s okay Stev.... It''s okay... It''s fine..." Thess finally broke her silence.

    Comforting, she was trying to comfort him as he held her close and tight. They held each other for long, they had no idea how long but it didn''t matter to them.

    Maybe her thoughts had been exaggerated, no they definitely had been. Stev wouldn''t be so superficial as to be disgusted by injuries, no matter how grave they were. Had she instead been semiconscious about her own looks? That might have been it after all.

    "I was so afraid my looks were the only thing keeping you with me. I ended up tormenting you." Thess whispered.

    "You''re a fool Thess, a stupid fool.... But you''re my dear fool.."

    Stev pulled her face from his chest and looked her in the eyes.

    "The day I met you, I fell in love with you, not your body."

    Thess still very teary eyed gave a sly smirk.

    "Oh, is that why there''s something pointy poking my stomach?"

    Stev was too caught up in the moment to notice all the blood flowing down his pants. He was pitching a full tent that any bystander could see and Thess definitely had of course also noticed. He distanced himself awkwardly from Thess and turned away in embarrassment.

    The idea that she was the reason for Stevs little.. no big, definitely big problem put her on a little playful mood. She lunged and pressed her whole body on Stevs broad back as she hanged on his shoulders with her head right next to his.

    "Did you get hot and bothered ? Aleyn is just behind the door you know."

    He turned his head slightly towards him and looked at her. Stevs was blushing as he looked at her scarred face and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

    "If I didn''t I would be very worried, there''s no man who wouldn''t get excited when feeling the one they love so close to them."

    It was Thess''s turn to show her embarrassment as her smooth skin turned red from the touch of his lips. The suddenness of it all caught her off guard and she in her surprise lost her grip on his back and dropped on her knees. His words were sweet poison which ran through her body making her feel warmth and joy.

    She took in a deep breath and readied herself. She nudged herself in front of Stev while his eyes followed her in confusion.

    "What are you.."

    But he was interrupted when Thess''s hands took hold of his cheeks and before he could do much else she closed her lips on to his, it was their first proper kiss. They stayed together for quite sometime as they exchanged affections but it was not something that could go on forever and when Thess pulled herself away from Stev she tried to keep her cool as she playfully noted.

    "Delicious."

    Stev having had enough of her being in the lead too her by the waist and forced himself on her lips, though force might have been too strong of a word as the person wasn''t reluctant at all but instead welcomed it enthusiastically.

    He leaned towards her to lay her on the floor and when they separated his eyes were glued on her. Thess opened her eyes to meet the gaze of his. No... The glimmer in his eyes showed something else to her.

    Lust, desire, need. He was like a glass of water ready to spill over at any notice, but he was keeping himself together and it showed in his eyes. It felt as though he was frightened.

    Why was he scared? Was he afraid he might lose himself? No.. He was afraid, afraid of the delicate girl in front of him. He was afraid of hurting the one he loved. Not to mention Aleyn was just behind the door.

    Maybe it wasn''t time for them quite yet.

    "We can''t do this, not with Aleyn behind the door." Thess whispered quietly.

    "She''s gone."

    "How do you know?"

    "Her part ended when you no longer tried to leave. She''s probably somewhere in the town right now."

    That reminded her of something. The two of them went so far to get her to meet Stev, was all of what happened to Aleyn today just acting and means to get her here? They went that far for her, especially Aleyn. It was touching, very touching for her. Thess definitely needed to have a talk with Aleyn to thank her, though she deserved so much more than that.

    She snapped back to reality with her still on the floor and with Stev on top of him gazing affectionately at her. This man as well, he waited months in agony and with no information to go by as his loved one refused to see him and in the end he showed no change of heart even after hearing what had happened.

    "Take me." Thess whispered quietly.

    "Wha?"

    But his breath was taken away as Thess started to undo her dress and show herself to him. He leaned closer in daze as Thess mesmerized him by showing her body, all of the scars, all of the curves all of her imperfectness, all of her.

    He looked at her body and more blood started rushing through his head as his heart pounded away but he still held his composure like a gentleman. Or at least tried to.

    "Are you... Are you sure Thess? Are you sure you''ll be oka..."

    Thess pulled his face towards her and enveloped him in another kiss, her tongue swirled and assaulted his mouth like a lustful beast, much different to the first two kisses but not in a bad way. It conveyed her feelings to the note, she wanted him.

    "Take me." She whispered again.

    Stev swallowed hard and his stomach turned as he picked up the girl from the floor and laid her and on Aleyns bed never breaking eye contact. All it took was a nod from her, the message was sent, received and filed.

    Tonight would be just for them.

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    Next to Aleyns room was another smaller inn room which was supposed to be empty for today, but through some trickery Mr.Dalbert Sutton had booked and paid for it, Inside of the room a dwarf girl was reading on the freshly made bed.

    The name of course was a fake one Aleyn had made up as explaining another booking to Rylee or Kharis would have been too troublesome so she instead had bent the rules a bit when neither of them had been watching. She of course paid for the room as well since she didn''t want either of them to notice and barge in with questions as Stev and Thess talked through their issues.

    She had left the door to them unblocked the moment it was clear Thess wasn''t going to run away and went to this room to have a read as it was way too late to go out for anything other than a walk which she didn''t feel like doing. Not after all the crap she had gone through today.

    Through the wall she could hear Thess and Stev talking in murmurs, a comfortable compromise as she didn''t really want to hear what they were saying but she did want to know they were okay. Though their chatter had died down for quite some time now and she was getting worried.

    ""They didn''t strangle each other did they? Should I go check? God this is so awkward."" She thought.

    But then suddenly she started hearing something, it was quite muffled but she definitely heard two voices. She was relieved to know they hadn''t done anything drastic but as she listened on the voices started to become a lot clearer, not to mention louder.

    It was becoming quite clear to her what was happening. She felt slightly distressed as the memory of what happened last time crept in her thoughts.

    Did she misevaluate Stev and his intentions? If it was mutual it would be extremely good and it would be horrible if she charged in. But if it wasn''t and she didn''t then Thess could suffer such a shock she could never be the same again.

    She decided it was better not to take chances and stood up from her bed but as she did she was hit with a sigh of relief as a familiar girls voice roared through the wall.

    "Yes! Yes! Oh Yes!"

    It was muffled, but clear enough for her to understand. Aleyn sighed in relief and smiled as she deemed there was no worry.

    ""That could have gone horribly wrong. Think I''ve grown too cynical because of last time.""

    Problem now was she had made different mistake as she wanted to go to sleep. Deciding to let the couple have their fun she zoned herself to some ''Understanding elements: Earth'' trying to make sense of it all.

    Two hours later, she laid under her blankets but with eyes wide open and in slight distress. It was late, so very late. She would usually get up in a couple of hours but right now she had not had a wink of sleep.

    "I''ve made a terrible mistake." She said out loud in a quiet voice.

    A mixed sound of groans and moans still echoed through the walls around her.

    They had been having sex for more than two hours! They had not stopped gasping and moaning ever since they started. Aleyn was in pure agony as her sleeping rhythm tried to force her to sleep but Thess''s voice would wake her up every time.

    She was so ready to just barge in and kick Stev out of the inn. This was not part of the plan! No amount of sacrifices can fix this injustice that had been dealt to her sleeping schedule.

    She threw her blanket off and sat up in anger about to go to them but as she did, all of the sound disappeared. No more groaning, no more moaning she could only hear the blood rush in her ears.

    She was too happy to notice she was falling on her pillow as she was finally taken by the sweet embrace of sleep.

    The next day Thess woke up in Aleyns room. She was momentarily confused but then remembered yesterday night, all of it. She blushed in happiness and looked around the bed only to notice Stev not being there. A moment of distress overtook her but she then noticed a piece of paper on the side he was sleeping on.

    "I have something I need to do. I''ll be back after Lunch. Make sure you eat well Thess."

    She sighed with relief and decided to do just that.

    Thess took a quick bath and put on her clothes, after which she felt like a new person completely. The weight of her worries had been wearing her down for quite some time but now that they were lifted she could go on with her normal life with the one she loved, that very fact made her ecstatic.

    She took a look at her clothes, they were slightly ripped around her waist but that was probably because of the last nights floor crawling. It wasn''t anything she couldn''t fix with a sewing kit and normally it would have annoyed her as it was one of her favorite dresses, but she ignored it as she was too filled with happiness and went for breakfast.

    The dining area was practically empty in the morning, only one person who was just sitting there reading a book.

    "Aleyn!" Thess yelled.

    The dwarf girl jumped up in her seat having lost her concentration on the book in front of her.

    "Not! So loud.. Thess."

    Thess was a bit confused but as she saw Aleyn turn towards her she didn''t look okay. Her eyes had massive black rings under it and her eyes were bloodshot.

    Thess asked with a smile which she couldn''t help.

    "Didn''t sleep well?"

    She tried to not sound annoyed but some of her feelings slipped out as she replied.

    "You could say that yes..."

    Thess being too high on emotions didn''t even notice her slightly angry mood.

    "That''s not good. Everyone needs a nice quiet night of sleep."

    "Oh yes..."

    She then left to for the kitchen with a fresh spring in her steps.  Aleyn watched her go and shook her head but couldn''t help smirking slightly.

    Thess returned with a large plate full of fruit and some cooked meat and started munching.

    "Stev told me about your plan Aleyn. You made me realize how wrong I''ve been to neglect Stev. You''ve done so much for me I don''t know how I can ever make it up to you."

    As much as she had been annoyed at Thess for ruining her night of sleep it was very hard not to smile and be happy for her.

    "Well first of, don''t do it again." She said with a smile.

    Thess agreed with a nod.

    "Second of, and this is the important part. I think it''ll be the hardest thing you''ve ever endured." She said with a serious tone.

    Thess waited patiently without moving.

    "Give me that apple."

    Aleyn smirked and swiped the apple off of her plate.

    "Nooooo! I love apples! Give it back!" Thess said with playful distress as she reached for the apple.

    "Nope, it''s mine now." Aleyn concluded and took a huge chomp.

    Thess giggled, if Aleyn wanted all of the apples in the house or even the city she would go through every length to gather them. Though it still wouldn''t be enough to show her gratitude.

    "But really Aleyn, you''ve done so much for us. You saved me, you helped me even when I was selfish and then this... There has to be something I can do for you."

    "I don''t need anything right now but I''ll think of something since you really want it. It can wait though, seriously." Aleyn sighed.

    Aleyn leaned over to her side of the table.

    "Did you two get it all out though?"

    Thess gave a nod and smiled as she started telling her about everything.

    "Sounds like a steamy romance story." Aleyn huffed.

    "If you think that was steamy then you should guess what we did after that." Thess winked.

    "You two had sex, probably your first time. Right?"

    "Yes it was! It was so good, like... Wait.. how did you know?"

    She replied with a slightly annoyed tone.

    "You could say I just have inside information..."

    Thess moved away from Aleyn slightly in a nervous manner.

    "You... You peaked?"

    "I didn''t need to. I stayed in the room next door. You two kept me up all night."

    Thess turned bright red.

    "You listened on us?!" She whispered angrily.

    "You think I wanted to? You know that the walls aren''t that thin right? You two.... were loud as hell for two hours... Two hours!"

    Thess now so red it was a surprise she didn''t erupt in a volcano of blood, she covered her face with her hands. She hadn''t even thought about other people while doing the deed and the aftermath was so embarrassing. The passing of time was also lost to both of them completely.

    "Forget everything you heard!" She said sternly

    "I can''t! Your moans are burned in to my mind! ''Touch me!'' ''Yes right there! Right there!''"

    "No! Stop! Stop! Aleyn!Don''t!" Thess yelped in distress.

 Chapter 39 - Success.

    <blockquote><cite>Quote:</cite>7.6k views on chapter 38? The hell happened there? This puzzles my little brain.</blockquote>

    Aleyn focused on her palm as sweat rolled down her forehead. Line after line appeared on the plate, massive pattern  formed as her hand moved across the plate of steel in front of her.

    In her head she was repeating the list of notes she had taken over the process.

    "Curve left not right... Don''t over do the circle... Don''t rush after....."

    She had made countless errors, countless miscalculations and numbed her whole arm more times she wanted to admit, but there was no error or mistakes which she didn''t learn from. Through

    countless errors her magic capacity also improved going from barely being able to draw a portion of the enchant to having the power to do the whole thing, however her technique was lacking so she could never do it before. That couldn''t continue forever though, the enchant was amongst the least elaborate ones so it was not an impenetrable wall in her way.

    A blanket of confusion enveloped her. She had the picture of the whole enchant in her head but she could not pinpoint where she was at the moment. Had she forgotten what she needed to do next completely? She had to concentrate on where her hand was and had barely any idea about the rest of her pattern and couldn''t be sure.

    Should she stop and check her bearings on the plate and take a note of it?At this point the idea was a bit dreadful to her as the enchant had to be done in one go or it wouldn''t work at all and she had been working on it for a while already so she felt very reluctant to stop. There was another feeling along side the dread though, she felt she was close as her hand kept moving in a straight line. That straight line was coming to an end though, she had to concentrate on her hand but she could still vaguely see that there was something in the way of that line. If she continued to follow the itching feeling it right it could ruin some of the enchant.

    In the moment of indecisiveness the line connected with the pattern. She had spent way too much time contemplating and lost her chance. A rush of disappointment filled her heart, but as she pondered over the whole thing and took a look at the plate her disappointment turned to curiosity as her eyes opened wide.

    "Did I?... Did I actually?

    Swiftly without any more consideration, she put her other hand on top of the plate and started focusing and gathering her energy towards her hand. The window of opportunity was not large after the pattern was made, the longer she waited the further that window would close. Magic poured in to the pattern and the plate started shaking lightly but as the process of enchanting progressed that shaking started to become more violent.

    It had been quite some time since last she had attempted enchanting. She wouldn''t be satisfied with failure this time either.

    "Contain... Seal!"

    The pattern on the plate started glowing, the glow intensified until it almost blinded her and then a single jolt ran through the plate which made her drop it on the table in front of her.

    The plate no longer vibrated or glowed it was just a slab of metal as it was before. Aleyn picked the plate up and immediately felt it. It was the first time she had felt the presence of magic in an item and it showed as well.

    Lines of light ran along the plate, never stopping at a single point as it cruised a long the pattern.

    "I.. I finally did it?!" Aleyn cheered.

    No, it wasn''t the time to jump in to conclusions even if the results looked promising. She needed to test if there was an actual effect.

    ''Enchantment: Fortitude: Enchant the item to improve the wearers endurance.''

    Her eye turned to her hammer on the table, she picked up the hammer and put her left hand on the table next to the steel plate and raised the hammer in to the air. If the enchant worked then it would definitely make her endure the impact.

    She took a quick breath before slamming the hammer to her hand quite forcefully.

    ''Wack''

    Her inquisitive smile grumbled very fast.

    "Fuuck!"

    A quick squealing pain ran through her left arm like electricity and made her drop her hammer. There was no effect.

    "Shit... Why didn''t it do anything? It''s right there next.. to.. my...."

    "Oh..."

    She slapped her forehead and took some leather straps from her pocket.

    Enchantment: Fortitude: enchant the item to improve the wearers endurance....The wearers. How would the enchant do anything if the plate just sat on the table?

    Aleyn crudely tied the steel plate to her arm and immediately felt a change. Almost like a numbing feeling, she blew on her arm to see if the enchant had actually numbed her but she definitely felt a cold breeze. She ran her right hand across her left arm and confirmed she could feel her own touch and as she tried pinching her skin she felt slight resistance. It was an odd feeling as anywhere she pinched her body felt tougher.

    After a little consideration she picked up her hammer again but this time she chose her right hand. She took a deep breath again and readied herself for the pain that was possible coming again.

    ''Wack''

    "Tchhh....."

    Her teeth clenched slightly as she felt pain run through her hand. The feeling of pain didn''t disappear completely but compared to her left hand the right one got the better deal by far.

    The enchant worked, though not as potent as she had originally expected it was still a massive improvement to not having it. Aleyn was filled with a sense of success, after months of trying her hard work had payed off. That sense of success didn''t last for very long though.

    She untied the leather straps and took a look at the steel plate. It was rather hard to concentrate on it with all the moving lights but she still kept doing so as she needed to find something. She rebuilt the pattern from scratch in her head and finally found the spot where she had lost her bearings and made a note of it. It wouldn''t take her by surprise the next time that''s for sure.

    Happy as she might have been about finally finishing the enchant, one time success wasn''t enough to convince her. She spent the rest of the time she had trying to replicate the results. Failing a few but ultimately managing to make a number of succesfull enchants, her energy was completely spent by lunch time.

    It was time for a bit of rest and food but today she wasn''t having her usual lunch at broken horn. Instead she headed for Kharis''s Inn where Thess was working hard to show her gratitude. Earlier in the morning she had pretty much forced Aleyn to join her at the inn for lunch.

    Aleyn sat in the dining area as Thess was busy in the kitchen. In a moment Thess emerged from the kitchen room with a large plate.

    "Lunch is served!"

    A large plate was shoved in front of Aleyn and she was in all honesty quite frightened at the sheer amount of food.

    Three fine brown roasted steaks the size of her head covered in a sweet reddish sauce with a side of two corn cobs and some potatoes. On the plate there was also a big bowl filled with what seemed to be soup and  four loafs of soft white bread right next to it. It was enough to last her for two whole days at the very least.

    "Enjoy." Thess said with a smile and sat down opposite of Aleyn.

    Aleyn stared at her blankly.

    "You really expect me to eat all of this?"

    "Oh no, you''re not the only one who''s having their lunch. Just so you know, I''m a big eater." Thess giggled.

    Aleyn let out a internal sigh of relief. If she had to eat all of that alone she would have burst in to tears.

    The two started happily dining and enjoying the produce of Thess''s cooking. Aleyn had no complaints about her cooking as the meal was simply divine. Broken horn had good food but Thess''s cooking had a certain personal touch to it which gave Aleyn a pleasant feeling as she relaxed and enjoyed her meal.

    She was happily eating but about half way through her eating was interrupted by Rylee who just entered the dining room.

    "Oh Aleyn, I''ve been looking for you."

    Aleyn turned around to face Rylee.

    "Oh? What''s up?"

    "Earlier in the morning some residents were complaining about some, * ahem * ''noises'' coming from your room. Next time you bring a guest over could you keep it down a bit?"

    Aleyns head went blank for a moment. She took a quick glance at Thess who was frozen in place with a loaf of bread in her mouth as her face started to turn red. Rylee obviously didn''t know much about what happened last night so she wouldn''t know Aleyn didn''t spend much time in her own room.

    "Oh, I''m sorry. I didn''t think we were being that loud. " Aleyn replied with a cheeky smile.

    Rylee gave a hearty giggle.

    "It''s alright dear... How was he then?" She winked suggestively.

    "Oh that man kept me up all night. That''s for sure." Aleyn winked back.

    "Ahh. Youth." Rylee blushed.

    She then took a look at Thess whos face was bright red as she tried to eat the meal in front of her. Rylee gave a smile as she mistook the sign of embarrassment as meekly innocence.

    Suddenly the front door opened and a certain young man stepped inside, the young dragonkin Stevarth. Just as he did Kharis entered the room as well.

    He took a quick look around the room but as he noticed Stev his mood turned sour.

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    "What are you doing here?! Thess told you to stay away. Get out!" Kharis shouted.

    "No no dad. It''s fine, I''m fine." Thess quickly assured her father.

    Kharis watched her for a moment but saw no abnormal reaction from Thess.

    "Hmph, fine."

    Without further discussion Stev bowed down in front of the irritated Kharis which caught him by surprise.

    "I wish to take your daughters hand in marriage."

    "What?!"

    "I love her, I love her so much it pains for me to be apart from her. "

    Thess gasped loudly while Kharis put on an annoyed expression.

    "You have some nerve boy. You thought I would just give my daughter to you if you bowed in front of me?"

    "No I didn''t, but I value your opinion. Even if you dislike me I would rest easier knowing you aren''t against it." Stev replied bluntly.

    "Oh but I am."

    "Father! But I love him too. Please." Thess yelled and shot up from her seat.

    Kharis turned towards his daughter and gave a confused look.

    "You can''t seriously expect me to allow this and what do you mean you love him? You two are close but not that close. You can''t make a decision like this on a whim."

    "Actually... We''ve been dating for two years now dad." Thess muttered.

    "What?!"

    "We''ve been dating in secret for a long time. "Stev said.

    Kharis''s face grew angry.

    "It wasn''t really a secret though to be fair." Rylee refuted.

    Stev and Thess quickly turned their heads towards Rylee who had sat down at the dining table next to Thess.

    "You two were way too obvious. Though I did find it quite cute how you two were trying to hide it. Almost like forbidden love story."

    Aleyn shook her head and sighed.

    "Am I the only one who didn''t know?!?" Kharis yelled.

    "Probably dear." Rylee answered.

    Rylee stood up and moved to Kharis side.

    "You know Kharis... Stevarth is a nice boy. A well mannered young man who I''ve never seen do anything dislikable as well as someone dear to your daughter. You should be happy a boy like him wants to marry her."

    "How can I be happy Rylee? This boy himself said he was flirting with other girls while my precious child was hurt. What sort of a father would let scum like that marry their daughter?" Kharis yelled angrily

    "Actually. I never said I was flirting with anyone. I merely said I had to run away from women who tried flirting with me."

    That was true. Aleyn was there so she vaguely remembered what Stev had said. Kharis seemed to remember it himself as his eyes widened in realization.

    "Also, that was a lie. I was surprised you were so interested in hearing how my night had been so I tried painting the evening a bit more colourful. I actually spent most of the night moving washed out drunks out of the bar."

    Kharis''s anger started rising.

    "You see this is exactly what I don''t like about your kind! You spin lies to seem normal. To hide that  angry beast you house in that little head of yours. Forget it! I''ll never give my daughter to.."

    His angry rambling was interrupted by a swift slap from his wife. The whole room went quiet as the echo of that slap disappeared.

    "Kharis..." Rylee sighed.

    You could see that her eyes were starting to become teary.

    "Ah.. This brings me back.. "

    Rylee sat down while everyone attending just stared at her as she wiped her eyes.

    "Dear.. Do you remember... when you asked my fathers approval to marry me all those years ago?."

    Kharis hurriedly tried answering.

    "Of course I do, it was the happiest day of my life Rylee."

    "Then you would remember it wasn''t the happiest day for me..." Rylee sighed in sadness.

    "''An elf? You can''t marry an elf! I''m not letting my daughter be just one conquest on the road of an elfs life time!''" She reminisced

    Kharis''s face lit out in shock as he remembered. Her father had indeed been very cross about their marriage. The reason was that Elfs far out lived humans so their sense of time was a bit different. One human woman for 60 or so years wasn''t much for an elf and after they died the elf could just move on to their next partner.

    "That night. I escaped through my rooms window and we ran away. I never talked to my parents again. They''re most likely dead, never to see their daughter again, never to see their grandchildren."

    "I like to think my father regretted his decision as I regret never speaking to him again, but I will never know now. I should have tried to contacting them, they probably missed me as much as I missed them. Knowing they newer got to see their beautiful grandchildren... " Rylee paused as she wiped her tears away.

    She turned towards Kharis and looked him in the eyes.

    "Kharis.. My dear husband. Do not make any decisions you will regret in the end. I support their marriage, I feel you have no reason to not do so as well.

    Kharis after listening to her story couldn''t muster a word. He had never realized how much in pain she had been over this, their love had brought much happiness to them but also grown roots of sadness in her mind which he had never realized existed.

    If Thess ran away and never spoke to him again he would be devastated, but he shouldn''t just give away his daughter to someone he didn''t feel was suitable.

    Kharis sighed deeply.

    Problem was, he couldn''t deny that Stev was a good kid. The only thing he had against him was that he was a dragonkin. Fate was cruel in how it played its tricks.

    He had to make a decision, but he knew he couldn''t be the deciding factor of it.

    "Thessalia.. Do you truly love Stevarth?"

    Thess smiled as she stared at Stev.

    "I do. I want to marry this man."

    Kharis sighed and looked towards Stevarth concedingly.

    "You can have her hand in marriage."

    Thess cheered and threw herself in Stevs embrace. Rylee broke in to tears of happiness as she watched her daughter. Stev smiled and as a tear fell down to his cheek while he held Thess in his arms.

    He then turned to Kharis with a smile.

    "Thank you Kharis.. Or should I say father in law?" He asked.

    "You are to call me Kharis. I still don''t like you boy, you have to work hard to gain my approval."

    He replied slightly annoyed.

    Rylee and Thess sighed deeply but were ultimately content with his decision. Stev would surely gain his approval in due time.

    Rylee congratulated and hugged her daughter in tears but couldn''t stay for more as she saw Kharis leave the dining area.

    "He must be feeling quite emotional as well, I better go and comfort him a bit." Rylee smiled.

    "Yeh, you should mom."

    Now with just the three of them left Stev joined Aleyn and Thess as they finished their lunch, but as the plate emptied Aleyn was more than ready to return back to the workshop.

    She stood up from her seat and brushed the crumbs from her shirt.

    "Ahh that hit the spot. Thanks Thess and congratulations to both of you."

    "It''s all thanks to you Aleyn." Thess smiled.

    "How can we ever repay you?" Stev followed up.

    "I''m sure you''ll find something. I have to get back to work now though, I''ll be leaving."

    "You really love your work don''t you?" Thess asked with a smile.

    "Well I do, but it''s mostly a means to an end."

    "Oh? So you have a different reason?" Stev asked.

    "She wants to travel the land." Thess answered.

    "Oh? Why are you working with blacksmithing then?" Stev asked again.

    Aleyn raised an eyebrow.

    "The world is a dangerous place. I want to go to the most exotic of places that this world has to offer and for that I need to be able to defend myself. Armor and weapons are a good first step don''t you think?"

    "There''s no point in having a weapon if you can''t use it though." Stev snarked.

    "That is true. I''ve been meaning to look for someone who can teach me."

    Thess after hearing that had a surge of realization. She leaned over towards Stevs ear and whispered something which made Stevs face light up.

    "I think we might have found a way to repay you." Stev realized.

    Aleyn could only ponder what he meant but she was interrupted before she could ask.

    "Could you come with us tomorrow when we go meet my father and tell about our engagement?"

    "Shouldn''t you be doing something like that today?"

    "He isn''t back home until tomorrow, he went out of the city to find some inspiration for painting." Stev shrugged.

    "Okay then, but why do you want me there?"

    "It''s a secret. It''ll be worth your time though if everything goes according to plan." Stev explained vaguely.

    ""What''s with all the secrets these two need to keep?"" Aleyn thought.

    She wasn''t tied up with anything other than her enchanting but that could wait a day if needed. There was no real reason to decline their show of gratitude whatever it might be.

    "Okay then fine. Just tell me when."

    "We''ll pick you up tomorrow." Thess concluded.

    With everything settled she then returned back to the workshop and spent the rest of the day with enchanting.

 Hiatus.

    For the past 1 or 2 months I''ve been facing quite a slump. University works been pulling me down and the stress has piled up enough for me to not be able to progress the story. Which in turn has given me some stress as well as I''ve been trying to brainstorm it quite a bit but just simply can''t put anything in to writing.

    So since I value my university work and want to lessen the stress I''ve accumulated  I''ve decided to just not worry about writing/releasing Land of Irith until further notice. I''m not giving any estimates as It''s my last year and I want to do as much as I can to finish my studies. I know I don''t have much of a release schedule but going for multiple months without a release with no word would have been rude in my opinion.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    I would like to thank all the readers for sticking around even if it didn''t really get to the interesting parts quite yet. It was very encouraging to see that people were interested in my little story. It was a huge surprise considering I was not expecting much interest for my first writing.