Section 5

  Part II A noise in the land/ to make your acquaintance

  Clank, rnnnnng, clank, rnnnnnnng, clank, rnnnnng. This had been going on for a quarter of an hour already. It wasn't that bad since I got used to the ringing, but Swarf, on the other hand, looked like she was repeatedly shaken and disoriented. Well, she was since she had struck that metal plate scores of times by now. I raised my voice and stepped forward. “Aye, you don’t have to keep testing the metal if it's going to affect you as roughly as it is now.” Swarf lowered her hammer, however, not from my request but from fatigue. Swarf set the hammer down on the anvil, resting it on the long part of the hammer’s head, and then she leaned over the anvil with both hands on opposite ends, keeping herself from falling. “Are you all right, Madam!?!” asked Swarf’s assistant a moment before I asked myself. “Are you alright, Madam Swarf?” I asked, concerned that a shockwave from testing the metal would wound her or that she had possibly been made deaf from the noise of her labors.

  Swarf began breathing heavily, which didn’t help to alleviate my worry at all. “Huffff, Huffff, Hufffffff, whew! That was exhilarating. I ain’t never had this much of a challenge in my 13 years of blacksmithing…” Swarf said loudly, then she abruptly stopped and reached for the glass flasks on her waist and clinked them together clink clink clink… “Aww, much better, I thought I went deaf. No need to worry about me, you two. I didn't hear what you were saying, but I could still feel the vibrations. Now that I can hear again, I think I’ll swing at it one more time with the hammer, both hands this time, and if it doesn't break it, I’ll cut it with my great sword.”

  Swarf said, stowing her hammer in one of the loops in her belt, giving it a gentle pat, and smiling to herself. Swarf reached for the great sword from the sheath she wore on her back and drew it free after she popped off the button clasp. She brought the great sword fully free from its sheath and held it, blade upward in front of her with her right hand. Swarf then opened the satchel she wore on the left side of her waist and, from it, retrieved a shiny, somewhat silvery-hued metal bar about half the size of a book (*think of your average gold bar, and when I mean half the size of a book I mean thickness of about 3 inches by 3 inches wide by 5 inches long) and set it down on the left side of the anvil by the unbroken mysterious metal plate. She dug into her satchel again and retrieved another silvery bar; she set this one on the right side of the anvil.

  Swarf silently closed her satchel again, grabbed the left bar with her right hand, and whispered another spell, “Smithing improvement form 0\3: Amalgamate.” Swarf brought the bar to the blade and began coating the greatsword with it like it was butter. She rubbed the bar evenly up and down the blade until it dissipated, well, more like combined with the blade. Swarf shifted her blade to her other hand, picking up the other bar as she held it and coated the right side of the blade like the other.

  When she was done, Swarf examined the blade for a moment, and as if a sudden weight was added, she stumbled back a few steps as the blade began falling to the ground under the additional weight, bringing its wielder (Swarf Blite) to the ground with it. Swarf caught herself from falling by striking the ground with her sword and holding the hilt of the great sword she wielded with such ease, but now she could hardly keep it in her hands without dropping it. The blade shifted from its 45-degree angle, threatening to bring down Swarf with its unleveraged weight. I strode over to catch Swarf if she fell, but Swarf fixed her angle and shifted her grip on the blade hilt. “Aye ye don't need to worry about me young lad, I can handle this blade, even though it’s near twice its original weight now, I’ll just have to reforge the blade back to normal later…” her thoughts lapsed for a second then returned “Ah sorry forgot you were there for a second, I got lost in how much of a hassle and joy it's been to test this metal you've brought me. It’s got me completely stumped, I don't know what to do if this doesn't at least dent the metal, I might not even be able to find out how strong it is, and I’ll be failing my duty as a blacksmith if I couldn't fulfill a clients request< but I shouldn't think like that I’m sure this will work. I’m just going to skip hitting it with my hammer again and slice it since this heavy blade is gonna kill my back if I put it back in its sheath. Oh no, sorry, I got carried away in thinking like a blacksmith again.”

  Swarf said awkwardly, smiling back at me before she spoke again. “Please step back, Treelif. I’m going to slice this annoying metal plate, and I don't want you to get hurt by any fragments.”

  “Okay, Madam Swarf, I’ll step back and let you do your work.”

  I said, backing away a few paces further than where I previously stood and at an angle away from the blade in case something went flying.”

  “Okay, here we go, Blacksmith slash,” Swarf said, bringing her raised greatsword down on the troublesome ingot, splitting it in two with a loud Shink and a loud bink from contact with the anvil, succeeded by the loudest ringing noise today, RNNNNNNNNNG. That one, I'm sure, made me deaf.

  There was silence. The world was quiet. I felt at my ears; there wasn’t any blood pouring from them, which I guess was a good sign. Still, the problem of not being able to hear persisted. I snapped my fingers to see if I could hear anything but silence. Still nothing. I could feel my fingers slide off each other, but I couldn't hear the snap they made, even when it was right up to my ears. What’s wrong with me? Did I finally go deaf from Swarf testing the metal? How am I ever supposed to accomplish my mission if I’ve been maimed? How will I be able to do anything with my reduced observation abilities?

  Those were the thoughts running through my mind until rationality returned to me. A voice manifested in my mind and told me, “Stop this incessant and meaningless rambling of inability. You have been granted enhanced and rare abilities due to your pact, and you swore to do everything within your power and from the power you would borrow for the good of the land. Not for humans or the like, not for monsters, not for animals, not for Plants, but for the good of the world's ecosystems. You are not alone in this; rely on the power you were granted, fulfill your oaths, and, most importantly, live."

  The voice left me afterward. I haven't had much communication with the spirit of Meealvegr, but I would heed it regardless because it spoke with the reasoning I should always have.

  I took a breath, gathered my majic for a moment, and relocated it to my hands, then I calmly and slowly placed my hands on my ears, cupping them. I began a spell chant while holding my ears: “Bring nature's sweet voice to my ears and imbue me with the ability to perceive its guidance.” I uncupped my ears and breathed before snapping my fingers again, still unable to hear. I took another deep breath and snapped my fingers again, still nothing, until suddenly, some pressure escaped from my ears, and I began to hear Swarf's muffled speech. “TrrreeLifff. Hey, Treelif, can you hear me?” Swarf slowly asked. I opened my eyes, Swarf’s face was not far from mine, looking at me with motherly concern. “Ye okay?” Swarf asked. “Yeah, I'm okay, I can hear you again. It all just sounds a little fuzzy.” I said, closing my eyes and rubbing my ears.

  “Madam Swarf, do you know what happened? Is it some effect of the acoustic shockwave?” I frantically asked. “Calm down, lad. It was an effect of a noise isolation spell we had protecting your ears. Which kept you from hearing yourself snap your fingers. My assistant slammed the spell on you when the sound escaped from our isolation spell on the metal. It was made a bit stronger than usual since we don't risk the health of our customers. Sorry for worrying you, TreeLif. I got that metal split for you, want to see it?” Swarf said, pointing at the split metal plate sitting on her anvil, masterfully distracting me from my dilemma. “Yeah, I want to see it. Sorry for causing so much trouble with this plate of metal. Since there isn’t a name yet, I guess we could call it “ToubleOre,” I said jokingly, following her to the anvil. I stood right in front of the anvil. Swarf and I were on opposite ends, looking down on the split metal plate. Swarf picked the metal up and held it for me to see the clean split.

  “So now it’s been split, and you see how durable it is, what would ya like me to make of it? We won't be able to make much out of this, but with more days of forging, we could make you a sword or a piece of armor.” Swarf said, examining the metal pieces through the goggles on her face. “I still have some more, but I want something different than a standard weapon or piece of equipment, I want something that can easily pierce and break similar metal plates,” I replied, looking up from the metal plates to meet Swarf's bright, wonder-filled eyes. “Hmmm, since I already have an idea, all I would need is to see how much metal I can work with. Let me try something out real quick,” She paused, then continued, “This should take about an hour or two to make, but I'll make something out of these plates that will hopefully prove useful.” Swarf said, waiting for my response.

  “That’s fine, I can wait for some time while you work. I guess now would be a good time to start discussing how much your services will cost me. If you don’t mind taking a moment from your work.” I said tentatively, “Ah lad, that ain’t even a problem, we can talk about the cost as this metal plate smelts, so I don't keep you longer than need be. Just give me one moment,” Swarf said before turning around and speaking to her assistant. “Oi, can ye go fetch the furnace for me real quick, Siddud?” “Aye, I’ll do it, boss,” Siddud replied, walking off to where he was instructed.

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  Swarf turned back to me, shifting her goggles to her forehead to look me in the eyes. “Alright, lad, I only have a few questions for ya before we get to discussing the price. First, how much stuff would ya like to be made, and how soon?” Swarf said, smiling at me, waiting for my response. A moment passed before I realized she had already asked her question, and I responded with what came to mind. “I want only a few pieces made of the metal for now, though my first request would be for a metal spear about this long,” I said, extending my arms to the side. “ And if you can, I would like it to become a chaneling weapon for spell casting. No particular elements or spell affinity, just like a wizard's staff. And for the time I would need it, it is not really an issue, a few months to three-quarters of a year works just fine, no reason to push yourselves over my request.” I replied, turning my gaze to watch the pattern of the passing winds as they swirled about.

  Swarf followed my gaze, probably wondering why my eyes kept shifting up, down, left, and right in my sockets. She shrugged and spoke up. “What ya looking at?” she asked, and I immediately replied, “The wind. I’m watching the patterns in the wind.” I turned back to look at her. “I do apologize, though. I get easily distracted by such interesting things.” “That’s alright, lad. Anyways, we were talking about the price for ma services, right?” “Yes, sorry for getting off topic. How much would your services cost me?” I asked, catching a gleam in Swarf's eye.

  “Aye, now that's the fun part. The thing is, I don't exactly know what I should charge ya since I've never worked with such a material and as such have no idea the effort it would take to make weapons out of it.” Swarf paused, wearing a thoughtful look as she thought of what to say. “Since ya brought me such a fine piece of work and yer willing ta further supply me with such high quality metal, I think we can strike up a deal and a partnership. I think a hundred gold would suffice for this project, with the rate of 10 gold per extraneous alteration after completion. What say ya, do we have a deal?” Swarf asked, her eyes glistening with excitement, as she extended her hand to me.

  I took her up on her deal, clasping her hand and shaking on our agreement. “I look forward to working for you, Madam Swarf. I have a few thoughts on our partnership that I want to propose to you after you finish smithing, thereas not to distract you from your work- Partner” I said as I let go of her hand.

  Swarf chuckled, patting me on the shoulder, “Aye, good judgement there lad, it's been a pleasure speaking with you. You know you're not as callous as I thought.” She said that, staring into my eyes, her silver eyes searching within me.

  “I'll get back to working, lad. I'll be ready in about an hour, so go enjoy yourself before the event vendors leave.” Swarf said. Without any further comments, she turned back to her work. I watched for a minute as she poured some molten metal into some trays before she began striking her hammer on something. She didn't notice me watching her; she probably would have waved me away if she did, but she was deep in concentration.

  I left the artisan to her forging, setting my mind to move on to the next step of my plan.

  I pulled out the book I won from the contest. I was ready to give it to Swarf to inspire a partnership, but that seems to have resolved itself. I was glad that she was interested in working with the metal I brought her; things will probably go better with a mutual interest in working together. I walked around the area towards the vendors selling to the competitors of the earlier tournament; they looked quite cheery for having lost the tournament. Their mood confused me. I thought at least the humans would be upset about losing…maybe there was something more important than winning to them.

  In all of my life, I never felt as isolated as I did then. I had closed the book I was distractedly skimming through. I looked around at the people around me, they were talking happily together, not downcast, not angry, but happy and laughing. Just like my friends and I would, even after scoring the lowest in our ranger competitions.

  I looked over to one group in particular, and they stood out the most on account of one of their members being literally a fountain of color. The Dragon Elf/whatever you call it, I defeated for the championship, and the cat beast kin girl I defeated the round prior, Sopheia, I think her name was, along with another girl, one of them that specialized in the bow, who had also been eliminated early in the tournament. They were all walking away from a shield they were supposedly using as a target. Evident by the splintered arrows on the ground around it, I always thought it good to take note of what happens around me, so I noted the strength of the shield against different types of arrows. I wanted to observe the whole thing and better gauge Draxson and his team, but I decided now was not the best time.

  I thought against approaching them too soon; it'd be best if I didn't disrupt them while they were having fun. Guess I'll try to recruit my teammate from the qualifiers. Hope she accepts, but we'll see. I thought to myself as I approached Defita Nela, she was quite the formidable ally in the beginning of the qualifiers; it was a shame to see her eliminated before the finals.

  “Helloo Defita, how are you doing? Are you ready for a spar now, friend?” I said, offering a fist bump to my friend. She bumped my fist back, mischievously smiling back at me before she said. “I'm doing mighty fine, TreeLif, how about you? Did you find what you were looking for?” Defita asked me, bright purple lines flowed across patterns of her grand dress, then thin purple lines swirled across her Starry Night like sky skin.

  She was wearing a form-fitting granddress, the ribbons that would wrap around her arms and come together by a clasp fluttered in the breeze. I wouldn't really take much note of what people would wear, but what she was wearing fascinated me. It wasn't every day you saw someone in a grand dress. I wondered how she was able to effectively move in such a hindering garment, extending away from her, the dress spanning as long as she was tall in every direction but forward.

  Anyway, the dress hardly matters; she seems to have a technique for traversing the world in it.

  I was so transfixed on the flowing dress that I nearly missed what she said. “ How I would love to duel you, but alas, I hold back for fear that my abilities would unravel your very existence as you are now. Unfortunately, my answer is still no. Nice try, though, friend. Sooo?” Defita Said waiting for a response. Oh my quest, I forgot she asked me about that. I thought to myself, finally remembering what she was asking for.

  “My search went well, I found the first thing I needed for the mission I am to embark on tomorrow. You wouldn't happen to be interested in joining me on my mission? I promise it will involve challenging opponents.” I said hopefully, smiling at Defita, gagging her mood. Then that smile came across her face again, the one telling me that I was about to be rejected.

  I exaggeratedly sighed, looking at the ground, feigning sadness at her coming response. “Hmm, as interesting as that sounds, TreeLif, and how fun it is to be around you, I don't want to join you on your mission at the moment. I have a few other things to attend to before I'd have the free time for something like that. Sorry, but no, I can't join you at this time. Don't be too upset. I would still like to keep in contact with you via your bird companion.”

  “Yeah, I expected you to say that, and it's only a tad upsetting that I couldn't have such a mighty fighter like you on my mission with me. Oh, well, you're busy, and I understand that. What's next on your agenda today?” I asked.

  “Eh, just got to find me the tastiest dish being sold here today. Want to come with TreeLif?” Defita asked before she went, suddenly serious, placing a hand on my left shoulder. “You don't have any food problems, right? Or do you only eat leaves?” The colorful and cheery woman jokingly asked me.

  “Ha ha, you're the funniest ever, Defita, my friend. I don't have any qualms with any particular food, so I do not mind joining you on your quest for sustenance. Let us make haste before you or I collapse from hunger.” I said, placing the back of my left hand to my forehead, faking exhaustion. “Oh no, I can feel myself slip away…”

  “Oh, you stop that, TreeLif. You don't have to dramatize getting some food, and don't be holding me up while I'm hungry.” She said before lightly shaking the back of my head. “Come in already, let's go before I leave you to faint from exhaustion, you faker.” Defita Said before she began walking backwards towards a food cart, radiating with its enticing aroma. I hurriedly walked to catch up to her.

  We walked for a few minutes together without much happening until Defita suddenly tripped over a rock and caught herself by wrapping her arms around my left arm. “Hey, what are you doing, Defita, my friend? I know you could easily run in this dress. I hardly believe a mere rock would stop you.”

  Defita harrumphed at me, turning away, still holding onto my arm for support. “Fine, whatever, I'll let you stabilize until we get to the food cart. Looks like we won't have to wait long in line.”

  Defita perked up at that, turning back to me. I extended my arm out to her to hold onto as we walked to get food. “Hmm hmmm hmmmn hmmm. Hummm hmmm hm.” Defita was melodically humming to some tune as we walked together. I didn't mind that she was holding onto me and that we looked like a couple; it was actually quite nice. Until Defita roughly pulled me forward, nearly breaking into a run at the sight of the line being freshly emptied.

  Defita let go of my arm, probably thinking I was hindering her quest for sustenance. I almost burst out laughing at the sight of her nearly tumbling to the ground.

  I caught her like the gentlElf I was. I was unable to stifle a giggle at her shocked face. I was promptly smacked in the back of my head.

  Then I was hit again when I noticed someone got in line before us at the food cart. "It's your fault that someone got in front of me, TreeLif, so now you gotta get me lunch as an apology tournament champion."

  "Ha ha ha ha, sure thing, Ms. I trip over common rocks because my dress is so unweildy, speaking of which, what part of your dress was even causing you to trip? It's all like flowing behind you." My friend replied to my question with a serious expression on her face that one might employ when someone asks a very dumb question. "That's a secret, now let's get some food before someone else takes my place in line," Defita said, roughly pulling me by the arm towards the food stall again.