When he first arrived, Rain had been surprised to discover a forging in the mansion while out on his first run.
After asking about it, the response he got from Cassie was "Sure, you can use it! No one’s been in there since Aunt Iriel, so have at it! Oh, but can I watch sotis?"
She had never co to watch.
If there was one thing Rain was learning about angels, it was that they tended to stick to what they were comfortable with unless there was sothing they wanted.
Today, however, Rain arrived to find soone waiting in the forge. An angel whose arms bore many scars, and whose face had a look that was very similar to Zariel. Her hair was silver, and her wings were grey like steel, with just a hint of yellow at the base of her feathers.
"Are you the one who’s been playing in my forge?" the woman asked, her wings ruffling with expectation.
Rain dropped to a waist-high bow, "No ma’am, I’ve been using it to maintain my weapon."
"Hmph. Let see this weapon," she said.
At once, Rain rose and drew his claymore from its storage.
She took it without hesitation.
"Solid reach. Excellent balance. Twisted steel for the rippling effect. Minor enchantnts inset for durability and material retention... and a forgemaker’s mark. This is an Aytherian blade."
"It’s a blade from the forgemaster Enumasam," Rain said.
"Never heard of him. But it’s better than the stamped-out shit they give to kids nowadays."
"Are you... Iriel?" Rain asked.
"Oh? Who told you that na?"
"Cassiel, ma’am. She’s my squad leader. I’m an Executioner in training."
"Hmph. I’m surprised she rembers . Always hanging on my feathers, that one was, when she was five... I thought she’d grow up to be another vapid hedonist like the rest of this house."
Rain barely held onto his smile. Sure, Cassiel could co off a bit... ditzy. But when it ca to her training she did it well, and often looked after Rain and Ozzy - his other squadmate - from behind the scenes.
"And who are you?" she asked.
"Rainier Eros, ma’am. From a lesser branch."
"You wear your smile like a shield, Rainier Eros. Smart. I take it this House does not have what you want?"
Rainier swallowed, considering her question. It seed sincere, if sternly stated, so he decided to risk letting his face assu a more normal position, but still smiling, and telling a near-complete truth. "What I want is on Ayther, ma’am." The complete truth was that who he wanted was on Ayther.
Since his engagent to the Princess of Amrita had ended with his elevation to Heaven, he was technically free to wed whoever he wanted... As long as he avoided his family long enough and moved fast enough to avoid them engaging him to soone else.
"Haha! In that, you and I are the sa then. Co, show this old wing you know how to start the forge. I was wondering who had kept this place clean, though I can tell you disposed of my grandfather’s bucket." Her voice beca stern and heavy.
Rainier flinched, biting his lower lip for a mont. "It was rusted in half... should I not have?"
The woman stared at him angrily... then puffed out a laugh. "It was a just bucket. I care not for it. But it was worth the ruse to see your true face for a mont."
Rain felt relieved. He didn’t like having to navigate pleasing everyone, especially when the angels treated him like a puppy to claim and the Elevated expected him to worship the angels as hard as they did. There were so exceptions. Malzael - who everyone called ’Malky’ - was a black-winged angel who liked books and avoided the other angels like the plague, just as they avoided her, and a handful of the most recently Elevated from Ayther.
These thoughts passed through his head as Rain started up the forge, more careful with the bellows because he had company and she was standing right at the mouth of the circular device.
"Co on, boy, give it so real air," the woman challenged when she noticed how slowly the fla was rising.
Rain worked the bellows harder at once.
"There we go," she chuckled. As soon as Rain stood, she stepped over to the nearby wall and touched the panel there. Imdiately, the fans on the circular do began to charge the forge with even more air, and the coals glowed hotter. "You could have just used the fan from the start."
"I... did not know that," Rain admitted.
The woman waved a hand dismissively. "Don’t worry about it. Now, what’s wrong with your blade?"
Rain placed his sword on the workbench and started pointing. "The edge holds, but the swords the other trainees use tend to be sharper, so I have to identify and work out the nicks before they beco cracks. Most of the ti I just use the grindstone, but it’s getting to the point where I might have to add material..."
"I see. The shit they stamp out of the manufacturing plant is all disposable... but wicked sharp on first use. Were you a blacksmith, back on Ayther?"
Rainier shook his head. "My family are midnobles... Everything I know about smithing, I learned when I ca here..."
"Hmph. So they kept all my books then. Hard enough getting them up here with all the mass restrictions," she griped.
A thought returned to Rain. "Are you Iriel? You never answered my question."
"I answered your question with a question. It’s a surefire way to take control of many situations, especially up here where everyone is always so prim and proper, don’t you think?" she grinned.
"You just answered my question with another question," Rain said, smiling a little.
"And a statent. But yes, boy, I am Iriel. A Lone Wing Executioner specializing in large ga."
"Lone Wing?"
"It ans I work alone. However, if you want my rank, I am an ’Honored’ Wing. A nice way of saying ’Too old to fly,’ but no I still pick my own assignnts, and I show them up every year, hehe." She ran a hand through her silver hair.
"May I ask how old that is?" Rain ventured.
"Careful you don’t do that to any other woman around here, but yes," Iriel said.
After an awkward pause, Rain realized what she was doing and asked, "How old does one have to be to beco an Honored Wing?"
"At least two centuries as an Executioner. I’ve been at this job for three. Mostly in Diurnus, but one of my best hunts was this ti an ibex mutated into a pyrehorn... I think that was in South Thera. Might have been in Ardon."
Rain was new to the concept of mutation. Conventional wisdom said monsters just appeared, typically out of dungeons, but in Heaven they taught that animals with sufficient mana exposure and corruption could take on elental traits. And that result was typically detrintal to the environnt around it, as the newly mutated monsters outcompeted other species if not outright killing anything that moved.
Rarely, a mutated animal would reify itself into a spirit, and the Angels hunted spirits for their mana crystals, or to keep as pets in even rarer cases. One of the other Elevated had bonded a spirit-mouse as her familiar.
As Rainier got lost in this recollection, Iriel grabbed an apron off a peg. "Well now, will you do this old angel a favor and let see if I rember how to restore an edge? Hopefully, we get it as well-forged as that smile of yours," she laughed, but the sledgehamr she picked up was shaking in her grip.
Rain smiled a little, a genuine smile, and replied. "Would you like to see my technique instead?"
Instantly the sledgehamr stopped shaking in her hands, and she shouldered it with ease. "Good, Rainier Eros. You learn fast. But if you learned forging up here, then your technique is my technique." She chuckled, then answered, "Show what you know."
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