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Abraia unlocked the door to her workshop. Natea was almost dozed off with her head laying on a pile of paperwork.
"You're home!" she said when she looked at the door.
"Yes I have an order to fill."
Abraia didn't make any conversation. She went through the second door to get to the forge and anvil area. She was tired and determined to make this weapon for Aehti. If he was still following her she would ask him to "kindly make all the metal and ruby you want me to use" so she could get to work.
"It will probably take me a week to get it done. I will come deliver it to you so no need to come get it."
It would be an inconvenience but she knew that Caelum would make use of an excuse to visit Aehti. Then the three of them could hang out for a bit.
༺༉❁ April 7th year 124 of the third age ❁༉༻ <notes>
Æhti followed along with Abraia into the Arcane Anvil, waving to Natea as he passed through the threshold. He wouldn't say anything to her unless she spoke to him, but he did give her a polite smile, appearing cordial enough. But as Abraia kept moving, so, too, did he.
They both ended up going into the forge room, and once there, Abraia instructed him to conjure up the materials necessary to make the mace. Fair enough; he was here, after all, no need for her to use any of her own metals with a Terrari present. And while Æhti wasn't bound to metals, that didn't actually matter– all he needed was any sample of something and he could just multiply it.
"Alright, just a moment, then," he'd reply. "And thank you for offering to deliver it; I never know what my schedule will be like, having to keep up with Velho's errands and all," he'd say with a dry laugh.
He would look over the selection of different types of steel she had on hand and selected one with a good balance of strength and weight. Once he'd done that, he took a sheet of it over to a work table and muttered an incantation. It would briefly glow, then one side of it would liquify and begin to expand. After a moment, it would have grown roughly double in size, and then the metal would liquify again in the center, dividing the sheet in two. At that point, he'd return the original sheet of steel back to the shelf it'd been stored in.
The next step was to make the ruby itself. Uttering another incantation, he held both his hands out in front of him a few inches above the work table. A spark of magic appeared between his hands and the table at first, chromatic and radiant, before it shifted ruby red and then solidified into the gemstone. It began only about the size of a walnut, but it grew rapidly, Æhti having to lift his hands as it grew roughly to a size just a bit bigger than a large watermelon. In shape, however, it was more of a rectangle than a sphere– hefty, but still beautiful.
"Do you need more of the steel made?" He'd ask, turning back towards Abraia.
"It is no problem at all. I like to travel after all" she said to him as he laughed.
She watched him go over to her steel. She winced when he touched it and made it expand. She did not say anything but she did not know whether he could reproduce the steel exactly. Steel came in many varieties so a small change could be bad. She preferred to make her own steel especially when making blades. Since this was not a blade she did not mind as much. Aehti must know what he's doing so it would be fine.
Abraia burst out laughing when the ruby was made. A watermelon sized ruby was going to be very heavy. Maybe more than he could pick up. She would need to hire some help just to carry it during her delivery not that it was a big deal.
"How about you put that thing on the table over there so I don't throw my back out trying to pick it up?"
She realized how easy this was going to be now that she had all the materials. The blade was what she spent the most time on usually but she didn't have to worry about that. The ruby was already done so all she had to do was attach a metal rod to it. A grip and some design work then it be complete.
"I don't need any more steel made, thank you though. I will get to work on it today, you can leave if you want or stay and watch, your choice." She took her gold out of the bag and dumped the misshapen metal out. She wanted to get started on her jewelry project too.
It was good she liked to travel, he supposed, because he imagined she must bounce back and forth between here and Cælum's Paradise with relative frequency. That sort of arrangement would be miserable to somebody who didn't enjoy travel, at least.
"I do, too– the silver lining to Velho's errands is that I've gotten to see more of Ælheim than I ever had before," he'd comment.
The steel he'd cloned of her stock was an exact replica, as Terra reproduced whatever material one manipulated with it exactly. This was certainly convenient for manufactured metals like steel and its many alloys, finicky as some of those could be to manufacture normally. "While I'm here, I can multiply any of your material stock if you'd like. My Terra can reproduce any metal or the like with precision– might save you some work later on," he offered.
The ruby Æhti made was about forty pounds in total, which for him wasn't that much of a pain. Swinging it around would take some getting used to, probably, but the man was already much stronger than the average person, so he figured it would be fine. He chuckled, a wry smile on his lips in response to Abraia directing him to move the thing– he did so without much trouble.
"If I wouldn't be too terrible a burden, I wouldn't mind watching the process," he'd reply afterwards.
Even though the process of sculpting a handle, grip, and mount for the ruby didn't sound too terribly complicated, he was nonetheless interested in watching her work. In part, this was because he was curious if she'd use Crest at all, and he was interested in seeing more of that, unfamiliar as he was with most Pact magic.
She looked at her stock and shook her head. "I don't need any more. I enjoy the work as it keeps me busy."
"Feel free to watch, but it's not going to be quick"
She started by starting up her forge. Bringing it up to heat would take a while. While she waited she pulled over some steel and made some notes on some paper. She put in more coal and wood as she needed to for a while but eventually she would stand there with her hands outstretched. She fed the forge anathema until it reached the right temperature. The forge would not give off any light during this time.
She tossed the steel in and nicked her wrist, letting blood drop into a small silver pan. While the blood filled the pan she used her other hand to grind into the ruby to make a way of attaching the rod to it. By the time that was done she had drained enough blood so she wrapped that up.
She flicked her blood onto the hot steel when it heated up. She evenly distributed the blood. She couldn't do anything about the ruby but she could make sure the steel was special.
It would take hours but the steel rod would be finished and cooled. Well made, but not notable because she hadn't used crest on it yet.
"This is enough for today. I used up a lot of spell reserves already with my proprietary hardening methods."
It was only partly true. She had spell reserves to spare but her dominion magic was fueled on rage for the elves and she could only stay angry for so long before she petered out.
Æhti chuckled at her first comment. "Aye, there are some positives– would've probably gone mad by now if there were none."
Velho wasn't sadistic– at least, not to Æhti. He was cruel insofar as he was callous, careless, and valued efficiency over comfort. If the boy suffered in pursuit of whatever tenebrous goal the elf sought, then so be it, but he didn't go out of his way to cause Æhti misery for the sake of it. Whether Æhti was special in that regard, however, he wasn't sure.
The young Galdr would watch the smith work, taking a seat if there was one nearby, and remained quiet for the most part, finding her process fascinating. He was curious about how exactly some of the processes she employed worked, but figured it'd be better to ask when she was less busy– wouldn't want to interrupt her process.
And when she said she was done for the day, he nodded before getting up again. "Ah, alright– looks good so far. How long did you say it would take again? I could find a place to stay until it's ready if it'll only be another day or so, otherwise I ought to return home lest Velho become impatient." He really didn't mind staying in Græntún for a few days– it was a nice change of scenery when compared to the boggy climes of his home.
"But before I go, I was wondering, do you think I should go with a blunt hammer or shift the ruby to be sharp, or even jagged, at the ends? I think the latter idea would help with puncturing armor and the like," he'd ask.
"How long? This drains me more than just physically. I don't know exactly. Days, weeks, I am still somewhat new to my new methods. I would not wait. The good news is that I have come to know a girl who is quite good at making portals now that I think about it. I think I could have it delivered to you so you wouldn't have to come back."
"Blunt or sharp, that is a good question. I would say sharp because I like sharp weaponry. But… We could have the best of both worlds. Sharp on one end, blunt on the other. Then you could have some options at your disposal."
She was glad he brought it up as it would save her some thinking later on.
"If you do want to stay a few days, there are spare rooms right here in this building. My employee can fetch things for you to eat as well."
Æhti was ever the more curious about how Abraia's magic worked, as he was fairly unfamiliar with Pact magics– or anything that wasn't Galdr, to be fair.
"Fair enough. Velho also uses a strange postal service run by a Rakshasa– they're called Mailcats or something equally silly? They're more reliable than one would think, too, since the Æld'Norai never usually trust anything that they themselves don't run," the young man suggested.
Æhti liked Abraia's suggestion about the hammer's design. "Ah, yeah, like a regular hammer just…bigger, and…prettier. Smart." He felt stupid for not having thought of that on his own.
"I probably will stay a few days. It's…nice to get away from Velho, be around other Fælnir that aren't bent beneath him, too, you know? I can't really get a break from him without an excuse, and this works well enough," he said, sentiment punctuated with a short, dry laugh.
"Plus, watching you work is genuinely fascinating– but I'll go if you find my presence imposing or you can't focus or something." He didn't want to be a distraction to her, but he did want to use this errand as a distraction for himself– living with Velho wasn't terrible, but it did make him feel exceptionally isolated, on top of how oppressive living there was by its very nature.
