Here’s a fun fact about any bronze age civilization; standardized education was nonexistent. Children relied entirely on their parents to learn and develop a craft, remaining a generally ignorant troglodyte for the entirety of their lives. Sure there were universities, but those were reserved for the privileged, everyone else had to be content with their generational scraps. It made a little special, my knowledge from a past life bringing my education to a realm that even nobles likely didn’t attain. I did good on hiding it, strange knowledge was a great way to start a witch hunt, but fuck did my background make suffering dumbfucks a test to my sanity.
Bronco puffed out his chest, purple toga draped over his features and a smug smirk adorned a full face as he literally tilted his head back so he’d be looking down on . “Why, my eyes must deceive !” he said. “Is that you Yir? How’ve you managed to surpass yourself in beauty since we last t? Has Estia decided to grant you a boon?”
I glared at him as I placed down a blade of heated tal on the anvil. I hadn’t seen him in the past week since the caravan ca, and was hoping it would stay that way. “You’re a cunt for implications as always, the fertility goddess, really?”
“There is no god of beauty or overwhelming cuteness, so I have to assu the next best thing,” Bronco shrugged. “But how have you been, thief of my heart? You know not how heavy was the ache at the distance between us.”
“I was better when I didn’t have to suffer your presence,” I grumbled and turned to raise my hamr, bringing it down on so iron. Bevelling was a careful process, you were essentially creating an edge in the tal to increase durability and sharpness…or sothing. I wasn’t very inford on how it worked, just that it did, my father preferring practicality over studious pursuits.
A clang echoed in the smithy and I raised my hamr again, Bronco waited patiently in disgusting admiration as I finished a layer, putting the knife back in the furnace. Not for too long, but enough to make the tal malleable.
“It’s always a wonder to watch you work,” Bronco said.
“Creep.”
“Is it strange for to find the tallurgic craft as a rival to your beauty? If so then I am a strange boy and will flaunt that fact proudly. Better to be yourself than play pretend,” Bronco said.
“You’re a rchant's son,” I rolled my eyes. “And a prospective rchant yourself, being fake is your whole job.”
“Perhaps.” He shrugged.
“No ‘perhaps’ about it,” I grumbled out as I pulled out the blade with my tongs and got back to bevelling. My ears had long accustod to the sound of beating tal, courtesy of being exposed to it since I was a newborn. It was fucking weird at first with baby hearing, almost nauseating, but it settled once whatever growth was responsible for adjusting hearing kicked in.
I turned the blade around and got to work on the other side, evening out the slant on either end to enhance the edge. Smithing involved a lot of patience, I had to do this over and over again multiple tis to get sothing that’d cut and retain so durability. Bring tal to a grindstone without having it worked on properly and you’ll find it rather useless.
I put the blade back in the furnace.
“Why are you still here?” I said without turning to look at Bronco.
“Well,” the boy said. “I was hoping you’d be willing to part with the blade once it was done forging? I am in desperate need of a new knife and that looks to be coming along beautifully, if you don’t mind of course.”
I huffed. “You say ‘beautiful’ a lot. eight copper pennies.”
“A silver.”
“Don’t patronize , boy.”
“It’s simple appreciation,” Bronco smiled. “And silver’s nothing to soone of my position.”
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“Flaunting your wealth doesn’t make you attractive,” I said.
Bronco shrugged and gave a cheeky grin. “Perhaps not for you, worth a try at least.”
I grunted and got back to work on the knife, chipping away at the edge until it was just right. I attached the guard and handle, then got to sharpening it over the grindstone. It was a soothing experience. Then I finished, and handed the boy his knife. He admired it, giving his complints before heading off at my insistence, and then I was left alone in the smithy.
“Not a horrible suitor,” Asna said from behind . “He’s honest in his love for you at the very least.”
“Even I could tell that,” I grumbled.
Asna walked to her side and I looked up into the woman's eyes, they were a vibrant ruby, almost glowing in their intensity. She stared back and gave a faint smirk. “Purple, that’s the colour of mages.”
I blinked in surprise. “What?”
“Your eyes, they’re finally switching from their dull grey.” Asna smiled. “Perhaps it would be best to wait for you to awaken to mana before we discuss marriage? It shouldn’t take the centuries it normally does if you’ve been blessed with such a sign.”
I blinked, oh shit.
Asna’s eyes widened as she tilted her head in communication. “You’ve already awakened mana,” she said breathlessly. “Why didn’t you tell ?”
Great, not even a month in and my secret was fucked.
Sotis I hated having an elf for a mother, hiding shit from her was almost impossible. Which ant that lying now would be a foolish endeavour, I’d tried plenty of tis and the woman could always tell. Half-truths though? I rembered when my mother asked why I was so sure that the world was going to End, back when I first divulged that information.
At the ti I’d said that I had…mories of what would happen, and that satisfied the woman. She didn’t believe my prophecy, but it got her to stop prodding, which was good enough for .
A little weird that she didn’t care to look any further actually, but I took the boon for what it was.
“I don’t want to go to the universities,” I said, there was no point in hiding behind a small voice or false ekness, so I said it bluntly.
My mother blinked owlishly, tilting her head this way then that. “What makes you think I would make you go?”
“Because it’d be what’s best for ?” I hedged.
“Please,” Asna snorted. “Your grandfather could teach you more than anything those paltry institutions can deliver. I just need to get him a letter. Speaking of, you’re going to have to start learning your letters.”
“I…have a grandfather?” I said.
“Silly question from a silly girl, of course you do!” Asna chuckled.
“I ant…whatever. Why haven’t I t him?”
Asna shrugged. “He doesn’t like to attach himself to people who haven’t survived their first century, he’s a hermit and recluse, but having awakened to mana should convince him to take you as an apprentice.”
“Shouldn’t dad get a say in this?”
Asna waved off. “That oaf would agree with , in all my life I’ve never felt the touch of mana. It’s an inevitability for elves but not one that cos quickly. Many have waited for centuries in order to communicate with the mystical.”
“It isn't really communication,” I said.
“I will defer to your expertise.” Asna’s eyes glittered. “Now co, we have plenty of preparations to make now that this wonderful developnt has occurred.”
“Can we at least keep it a secret?” I said.
“Not from your father, but the rest of the village doesn’t need to know. Have you started experinting yet? We’ll need to build a schedule! And figure out how everything works, magic society is dreadfully secretive. Even I don’t know the first thing about the process! No matter, we’ll have years before that sloth of a man replies. Now, tell everything.”
So I did, once we’d gone back inside. My mother’s eyes glittered with excitent as I described my training process, there were a few questions I had to be careful answering. Like how I know what I was doing wasn’t spells. Or what I was doing at the ti of my awakening. Telling Asna that I was in the forest was certainly a test in tongue lashing, but that didn’t last for long.
“Hmm, I want you to try condensing the mana again,” Asna said after a while of pointless theory crafting. “Pain in the body isn’t necessarily the sa as pain in the spirit, but don’t go too far.”
“What if I damage sothing?” I said.
“You won’t,” Asna shrugged, and I could feel the World project her confidence. “You’ll notice if anything is going wrong, just be observant. I doubt you could even break anything so easily.”
“Alright,” I sighed.
Asna nodded with a wide smile, teeth bright and sharp. “Alright indeed! We’ll have to reserve so ti from smithing for training going forward.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I feel like it’d be better if I got used to using mana for sothing, like recovering from fatigue.”
“Perhaps,” Asna stroked her chin and scrunched her brow before a light seed to shine through her eyes in revelation. “I have the perfect idea.”
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