The next morning I snap awake with the incident with the furnace in the back of my mind as I eagerly recall the success of my runes. Even if I melted down a furnace, I was now able to craft runes. Runecraft was far more similar to mana control than I had anticipated. Mana, the unique energy it was, could only be influenced by willpower and someone’s affinity.
I move into the kitchen and start prepping breakfast. Callia wakes up a short time later and joins me in the kitchen. Most meals tend to be a mix of fish or vegetables. Things like bacon or eggs could only be harvested from nature, as humanity had never successfully domesticated any species, with most animals naturally being extremely aggressive to acquire the stats that would enable them to resist predators or be predators.
As breakfast is finished, Grandpa shows up with perfect timing to enjoy it without contributing. The smug grin on his face shows he intended this, and he casually mentions it.
“Thanks for the breakfast.” While stuffing his face and continuing on. “Apparently Callen got his master in a spot of trouble yesterday, so Yoren wants you to meet with him first thing in the morning.” Memories of Gam sobbing at his forge, which he had named Cinder, came back, and chills ran down my spine. If there is one thing to know about Earthkin, it’s that they are quick to violence. About half of my memories of Yoren involve him throwing or hitting me while providing guidance. I suppose despite his typical violence, I don’t mind it because while painful, it isn’t malicious; it’s just his nature.
Callia looks at me, and I feel the intentionally shaped curiosity of a gossipy old woman. Clearly she wanted details, so I leaked to her a memory of Gam crying at his forge. The foreboding mood of mine is broken when Sis breaks into hysterical laughter, clutching her stomach as she spits out the water she was drinking right into Grandpa’s face. I can't help but join in quietly as the image of Gam crying for Cinder while hugging his forge with tears pouring down his face gets stuck in my mind.
As Callia’s hysteria clears, she notices Grandpa’s soaked face and beard and freezes.
“Well, I was thinking of letting up a bit on you today, but since you're in such a good mood…” Grandpa nods stoically while grabbing Callia’s collar. “I guess since your brother will be busy, I have to give you my full attention for today’s endurance training!”
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I pass along the smug feeling of shared suffering to my sister before I clean up the dishes and head out to Master’s home. I arrive and am greeted by my master and his brother.
“Right 'afore we begin, I just want ta mention I be very impressed by your work, boy. I suspect I'll be focusing on safety measures in runic work going forward, but other than that, I can tell ye have nearly all tha fundamentals for a runemaster. I just need ta teach ye runic compatibility an' ye will have every skill ye need. As your master, I'll still help ye with any problems that come up later, but exploring will be your own responsibility.”
Master Yoren finishes his intro and takes a breath before continuing. "Your grandfather told me he intended for ye ta apprentice under a number o' different masters ta properly utilize your 'skill.'" Yoren winks as he tries to cover up my trait as a skill, but it clearly fails completely. Gam just glares at Yoren like he’s an idiot. "So ta make up for hurting Cinder, me brother intends ta teach ye proper respect for a forge. Therefore ye will be an apprentice ta both o' us going forward.”
Gam just looks over me with appraising eyes and simply states, “I won’t let ye go so easy, boy. Me brother says you’re fine with picking up tha skills so I intend ta take this seriously, but if I feel ye slacking, aff, I'll just saddle ye with tha debt o' fixing me beloved cinder an' be done with ye.”
It doesn’t take me long to nod along in acceptance. Runemaster and Smithing are both compatible in similar fields of work; the brothers built their library/forge into a combined workplace. It made working together easier, as they often had to collaborate.
After that Gam skulks back into his forge quietly mumbling about his intent to ‘treat his future apprentice with great care.’ I can only hope that wasn’t sarcasm.
Yoren steps forward and drags me by the ear to a portion of the library that had been particularly dusty before I had cleaned it. Yoren grabs 4 thick tomes, piling them into my arms until they are stacked too high for me to see forward.
"Read these an' write a book o' your own regarding tha safe use o' runes. If it’s worth something, I’ll pay. If nae, I’ll have ye read another four an' edit your own.”
As an afterthought while walking away, he adds, “An' nae rune work until yer done with that!”
With resignation, I get to work reading the first book. It's apparent my punishment isn’t a new one. Its title is ‘I’m Sorry, Master, I Won Play Wit Fire Runes!’ I briefly look over the titles of the books and notice all seem to be similar in nature, each with a different author. It appears this alcove of the library is filled with countless mistakes and apologies of different runic smiths.
Amused with the notion, I quickly scan through the shelves and find “Tha Result of Being Dumb” by Yoren. Although my pile of books is already monstrously thick, I added his book to my pile. Looking at the reading I’ve been saddled with, I can only sigh, but the thought of adding my own to this legacy fills me with a strange sense of satisfaction. I wonder what I should name my book, maybe ‘I Didn’t Mean to Hurt Cinder.’
Should I keep the spoiler translations for Dwarven accents?
