The fire cracked and roared as he pumped the billows, his muscled forearms bulging in a steady rhythm with the fire.
He stopped for a moment and moved the coal around, exposing the glowing red ones underneath.
He grabbed a pair of long, thick, tongs from the wall, and knocked them against the stone kiln, letting a burst of ash billow from them. With the tongs he picked up a small boulder sized piece of ore he had collected from the mountains, and placed it in the fire, nesting it in in with the red hot coals. The fire hissed as the cold ore was placed on it.
He watched as the ore started to move and change shape, he used the tongs to pick up some of the red coals and put them on the ore, but paused, squinting at the ore, was that something green inside? With quick efficiency, he pulled a hardened steel bar from the rack next to him, he softly pushed the ore around with the bar, uncovering what was inside.
It was a small orb, around which two gears interlocked, it glowed with a soft green gold light. Before he could examine it any closer, it sunk into the ore, and seemed to melt into it. He shook his head, and blinked a few times, and concluded that he must've imagined it.
"Father?" the man turned and saw his daughter, he smiled, though was somewhat forlorn as he saw his little girl had changed into a woman. How the time flew.
"Hello Roe," he said, a soft smile spreading over his square features, she smiled in reply, and hung her hood on a nail next to the door, and placed her hat over it. It was still jarring, and somewhat saddening, to him to see her long silver hair cut short. Hut he smiled anyway, she had never liked it long, it had only been a matter of time before he cut it herself. As she turned he noticed a new feather hanging on a strip of hair framing her face. Her witch hazel eyes sparkled with cold.
"You found a new feather I see." he said, reaching up a hand, and brushing his thumb over the new pitch black feather that stood out blatantly next to it's white companion, kept on by three tight blue beads.
"I found it this morning in an old crows nest." she said, walking over to join her father at the kiln, tying a leather apron around her waist as she went. "you started without me!" Roe said, as she saw the ore already becoming soft in the fire.
"The kiln was hot, the ore ready" he said, "it would've been foolish to wait." Roe sighed, and then smiled at her father.
"That's ok," she said, "i should've hurried." they stayed in a friendly silence, only interrupted by the occasional need to pump the bellows. Roe looked out the small window, and was glad for the warm fire, the world outside was a stark white, the snows had come early, and already the days had become short.
Years of instinct brought them to their feet, the ore was ready. Roe grabbed the tongs and started to move the coals away from the buried metal. her father readied the anvil and his hammer, the smooth handle fitting perfectly into his aged grip.
"Ready?" Roe asked, the orange ore gripped in the tongs. her father nodded, stepping back as she swung around and placed the ore on the anvil. his practiced hands shaped and pulled the ore. he resolved that he had been imagining things when he saw the strange green orb in the ore. it must've been nothing, either way, it was gone now.
more coming soon, but i'm going to take a break for the holidays, :P sorry, i'll be back in two weeks.
also, if any of you guys is interested in being a beta for this story, please PM me. :) i will get back to you shortly...
hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! :)
