So Aestus has sent you for water again! Normally, you wouldn't be surprised at this – Aestus is only the owner of one of the most prestigious smithies in Atna and he sends you to fetch water at least three times on a slow day – but this was supposed to have been your morning off. Not to mention he woke you before sunrise. Before sunrise! On purpose!
You'd be totally mad at him, except after you had woken up all the way, you noticed that Aestus was super-nervous: his hands were shaking when he took the inventory, and he messed up on the same sword three times before he sent you out to get more water. Aestus told you to hurry this time, and to take the back door when you brought the water to the forge.
You use a spare supply bag to draw water from the ocean when you hear a splash. You look up and see a human girl floundering in the shallows, struggling with a barrel that's even bigger than yours.
"Atia!" you shout, dropping your bag and rushing over to her. You help her up and grab the barrel, putting it back on her cart. "Are you okay?"
She's beet red, but she nods and gives you a little smile.
"You came here for water, too?" you ask.
She nods again.
"Well, duh," you roll your eyes. "You're at the ocean with a barrel. What else would you be doing?"
Her shoulders shake with this silent laugh-breath thing she does. She scoops up a handful of sand and wiggles her eyebrows like a champ. It's not fair that she's so much better at that than you are.
"Okay, sure," you say, "A barrel of sand. No, wait – what about a barrel of air?"
She does that silent laugh again, shaking her head. She struggles to pick up her barrel again and makes like she's about to fill it up in the ocean.
"Oh, hey, hey –" you take it from her and put it back on her cart. "You'll break your back that way, 'Tia. Here, let me."
You show her how to fill up the barrel with the supply bag and you say you'll bring an extra one for her next time you're sent for water.
She nods, smiles, and splashes you , all in one move. It's pretty impressive, but you can't let it go without splashing her back and before you know it, the two of you are caught in an EPIC WATER STRIFE.
You admit defeat when Atia surprised you from behind and forces your head under water. I mean, yeah, you are the master and you taught her everything she knows, but you've got to let her win once in a while, just to encourage her. After all, the most important part of being a teacher is to know when to let your student win, and to know when to let her suffer a merciless defeat at the hands of–
Oh, crap!
You forgot about the water, and the part where Aestus was all, "Hurry up bluh bluh" and dropping swords all over the place. You apologize to 'Tia, tell her goodbye and fill up your water barrel. You run that thing home like nobody's business.
"Aestus! Sorry, I totally forgot!" You burst in through the front of the forge, pulling the water behind you. "I saw 'Tia at the end of the ocean today, and I lost track of…"
You've only ever heard about them in stories, so the sight of the troll towering over your master stops you where you stand. You don't move – you can't – not even when your heart starts beating again. Not even when the troll turns to face you, a crooked grin like a gash in his black and white face paint, indigo eyes boring into yours.