He lit up as he watched the Blacksmith move around, his eyes catching on the rings before he returned his attention to answer questions. "Aren't they great? It's way nicer than all that rusty stuff in the one tunnel. I could get some of that, too, but it would take me longer." He watched the Blacksmith run his fingers over it, feeling proud of himself. "I found it in the snowy cave with the mountains -- there was some other stuff I found, too, but it didn't have more than a little metal in it." He'd thought about bringing his goggles so that they could be enchanted, but he was thinking about if there might've been enchantments to help him at a forge instead, so he'd refrained.


"Oh, sorry! Did I forget to introduce myself?" he said with a slightly self-depricating chuckle. "I'm Talys! I don't know much about smithing, but I know it's possible. I've seen armor and weapons in all sorts of weird shapes in the one tunnel, like I said, and in the Underforge," he said, pointing behind him. "I know they're made of metal, and I know you can melt metal if you get it hot enough, because I've found a couple of rocks with shiny parts that melt down if you stick them in a fire. I have trouble keeping track of those, though." He trailed after the Blacksmith but still kept a safe distance, peering over at the anvil. "I've been meaning to come learn from you for a while now, but I've just never really gotten around to it. Which is funny, considering I hatched like, right on top of your volcano."

'Did I forget to introduce myself?' The Blacksmith gave a quiet little laugh. "There were... many of you," he admitted. Had Talys introduced himself-? Perhaps; perhaps not. "But now... I will remember you." The snowy cave, hm? He tucked that bit of information away; it didn't mean anything to him, really, but it was interesting to ponder. He might have to have a look later, then, himself; who had lost the astrolabe, and how-?

Hammer came down a few times, curling the metal into a ring. Words came between each strike atop the anvil. "An important aspect... of blacksmithing... is your tool. We have... many tools. Tools to shape steel... tools to hold it." The hammer was set down; the tongs were lifted, their tips red-hot. "Heat and cold... to temper your metal. Some metals... are brittle, if cooled improperly... not treated correctly..." The tongs were swivelled around to the trough of water and the red-hot ring lowered in; steam plumed up in a loud, hot hiss. "There are... many kinds of metal... with many properties. Do you know... how to make a fire? And then... an oven, or a forge?" he asked, looking back to Talys.

@Talys

Talys shrugged. "I don't know how to make an oven or a forge, but I could probably figure it out if I saw one, and knew what it needed. I'm pretty creative." He scanned the forge for a not-burning coal, and grabbed one when he found it. A grin split across his face. "As for fire, though..." He waited a moment, and... nothing happened.

The grin fell. "Damn. That would've been cool if it had worked." He tossed the coal back to where it had been. "Yeah, I can do fire -- that's my magic type. Usually I start fires by setting pieces of wood on fire and throwing them into the pile I've made." It was certainly a shortcut, and it definitely wreaked havoc on his hands if he did it too often, but mostly it worked out fine.

He glanced over at where the glowing metal had been. "I'm not sure if this stuff is any hotter than the fire I can make, but I do know how to control fire in a pit. It needs heat, fuel, and air. If it loses one, then it dies."

The Blacksmith's faint smile was audible in his words, if not visible on the mask--or was that a face? He moved around to the side of the forge, and pumped the bellows there, which led to a gap in the lower rear of the forge. "Magic... is that way. Practice... it will come in time," he offered, gently reassuring. "It is hotter... than a simple fire. A forge," he clarified. "With experience... one may learn how hot... a metal needs. And learn... how to make the forge hotter. Cooler. A forge... can take many shapes," he went on, hurrying around to pick up another piece of metal.

The billows sounded like great lungs: gasping, heaving, huffing. And with it came a brightening of the embers in the firepot, a gleaming hellglow that illuminated the forge in a pleasant, hot light. "You may... design your own, in time... But what is important, is that it is enclosed.. and that it has... air. Fire is... as a living thing. It needs to breathe... and more air is a better, hotter flame..."

The piece of metal was taken up in the tongs, and inserted into the firepot, laid there for a moment as he spoke, as he watched it gradually take on its red glow. "The coals, the wood, it may lay... on a grate; in a pot. It is... often covered... but there must be a place... for the smoke to go," and a gesture upward, if Talys ducked down, would show a gap in the top of the forge leading, in a chimney, up through the stone ceiling to who-knew-where. "The air for this... it may come in from the back... from the front... the sides. From beneath. That is harder to design," he added, "but it... can be done. With grates. Small holes. Big coal. You see-?" He glanced back, still gentle, earnest, as if hoping to be genuinely useful. Ahh, but how good it was to have an attentive, enthusiastic student-! It had been so long...

"Your element is... lucky. Or you are--drawn to this work? Come, and... take these tongs... Remove the metal, when it is red. Lay it... on the anvil. But be careful... it is hot." He set the tongs on the edge of the forge, and moved away; he came back a moment later with crystal goggles, and attempted to place them atop Talys's head. "Over... your eyes, if you wish to... keep them," he offered, kindly. They would fit, if barely; but a little tight, and the eyepieces a tad too small to see very freely.

@Talys

If he'd had a pen, he would have been taking notes. As it were, the Blacksmith had Talys's total attention -- he was absolutely riveted, and took notice of the bellows. To control the flame... he had been able to sort of control fire in the past. He could put it out with water when he needed to, or cover it with rocks if it was small enough. But to be able to properly control it was... appealing. He scratched uncomfortably at the burn scars on his wrists.

If he were to make his own forge, he'd need something to shape, he guessed. A way to put rock together so that it trapped heat, or a way to use a different material altogether. In any case, the Blacksmith was discussing something else now, and Talys's eyes followed him to the piece of metal and the talk of coals. He angled his head to peer upwards, and whistled lowly. "Does that go out the top of the volcano?" Talys tried to remember if he'd ever seen it smoking before -- probably, but one could never be sure. He squinted up at it, and made note of the structure. "Yeah, I think I get it! Sure don't want this room filling up with smoke." Anyone who'd ever sat at a campfire knew how much smoke sucked.

He turned towards the Blacksmith. "I've always liked to make things," he admitted. "I first saw metal in the ruined tunnel, and I got a little bit obsessed with it. I'd never seen something that could be shaped so smoothly; everything I'd worked with always looked kind of jagged and rough." He gestured to his walking stick. "I think my magic is kind of all over the place, though. I don't use it very often, mostly I work with my hands. I've made my staff, and some cord, and a few other things here and there. I've been trying to figure out how to make, like, a knife? I had one made of gemstone, but it shattered."

Talys reached for the tongs, a little unsure, and then looked back to the Blacksmith at his approach. He ducked his head so that the Blacksmith wouldn't have to straighten, and grinned. "That's so kind! I'll just borrow these, 'cause I have a pair that's similar that I got from the snowy cave, but thank you so much." He returned his attention to the work, and waited for the metal to turn red before transferring it to the anvil. "Were these your goggles when you were a kid?" They were a little small, and he didn't imagine they would have fit well over all those horns. Were the Blacksmith's arms even long enough to reach that high--?

The Blacksmith tilted his head to see the vent, blinking. "Yes... or... in that direction. It may join... with other vents," he explained. He then looked back to Talys, and waited; he stayed quite close at hand in case the elf--just a child, really, to the Blacksmith's mind--stumbled or otherwise risked a burn.

"Smooth... comes with practice. It comes with... grinding down... the excess. Sharpening... edges. If they are meant to cut," he explained. "A knife... hard gems... do not necessarily mean strong," he said, turning and pacing over to a small pile of scrap nearby. He rummaged, but didn't seem to find what he was looking for, after a moment giving up and returning. "Something... that can cut, may not be... strong, all the way through. It is the same... with metal. With what it is made of. 'Metal' can be... so many things. What you add to it... where it came from... how you have heated it. Cooled it, these can all... change how strong. How sharp. How hard." He nodded slowly, staring into the forge, as if lost in his own thoughts.

At Talys's question he tilted his head some. "I have... several pairs. Others... have come and gone. To learn. To watch. Eye protection... is important." He was not wearing any, himself, but then again his face was rather mask-like anyway.

"Now... while it is hot; use the tongs... hold it down. And now take this hammer... and shape it. However you want. A circle for a band... a ring... we can smooth it later. Or a knife. Anything. With... longer pieces... you need no tongs. You can heat one end... hold the other." He fidgeted, and glanced briefly at the tunnel mouth, as if expecting Farina to burst in any second demanding a progress update.

Was it a terrible thing to slow, just for a little while, to teach another his craft-? He hoped not. He was still working, after all.

@Talys

Talys listened carefully -- "Yeah, I know that hard stones tend to be brittle." He internalized the lesson about grinding and smoothing; "How do you do that? Smooth it down and make it sharp?"

Everything seemed to be so crucial in this process. A matter of careful balances and delicate movements -- one had to work quickly and with confidence, while also making sure that things went smoothly. And making sure that you didn't burn yourself.

He hummed slightly. "Well, I can tell -- you're a good teacher." He held the metal down like he was instructed to, and began to hit it with the hammer. He struck it rather hard at first, frowned at how deeply it marked the metal, and then started to strike it more carefully -- the metal was beginning to elongate slowly, forming more or less the shape of a double-sided knife, albeit shorter than the one in the picture. Talys needed one anyway, especially with a fight coming up, so he'd figured that it might be a good idea to work on it now -- even if it was probably going to be kind of shitty, since it was his first work.

Talys didn't notice his nervousness; he was too focused on his work and on trying to make it look good. "Is this too thick? This feels too thick." Even if Farina had shown up, he would have been quick to point out that the Blacksmith was still being plenty productive -- in fact, showing Talys how to use metal would increase his productivity in the long-term.

"It is not... that they tend to be; but that they... can be," he corrected gently. He was at Talys's shoulder, then, peering down at the elf's work.

"To smooth it... it must be grinded. For this... a grindstone... works well. But some metals... are rougher, than others." He studied the bit of metal Talys was working; there wasn't so much raw material that it would make a sizable dagger, even; it had been like the other, enough for perhaps a thin collar or a broad arm-band. But it could make a smaller knife, and he nodded along as he watched. "Whether it is... too thick, or thin... it depends on what you want to do with it. If that is... a spear's head; it is good. If it is... a knife... knives come in many shapes... for different purposes."

His mind was whirling through the possibilities, even then. A blade thin and curved; straight and thick. Serrated, or sleekly honed to a razor's edge. Double-edged, or single; prong-tipped, or pointed. Which was Talys making-? He was not entirely sure. So lost in thought was he that he nearly missed Talys's complementary remark, but he did catch it, and murmured a quiet thanks to it.

"You can return it... to the fire, if you wish to keep changing... the shape, and it grows too cool. Do not... strike it when it is no longer red... Return it to the fire, then. And when you have... the shape you want, put it in the water--fast... and deep. And lean back... the steam is hot."

@Talys

"What kind of shape would I use for a knife for cutting or carving?" he asked, tapping at it a little more and then sticking it back into the fire like he'd been instructed to. Talys turned it over slightly to make sure it heated evenly, mulling it over while he waited. "Something that could be a weapon in a pinch, but is mostly just a tool." He wondered distantly if there were any enchantments that would be useful on such a thing, but he really didn't know much about it. Magic didn't come as easily to him as, say, making things did.

He kept working at it, his head tilted to the side. He had an idea of what he was to make, of course -- he wasn't a fool stumbling in blind, he just required some help in the matter. He sort of wanted it to be flatter than it was. "Can you mess it up if you reheat it too often, or is it malleable enough that it shouldn't matter?"

He considered. "There are many shapes... one could use for carving. For beginning... I would form a knife... with one edge. Straight edge... With serrations at the bottom. I can show you how... but for now, only that." He paused, eyeing Talys's work. "For such... precise shapes... we would use a mold. This metal was intended... only to make a ring, a collar... A blade will be harder. Much grinding," he mused, "but we can... work on that."

The Blacksmith turned, wandering off to pick through a pile of what at first glance might look like stacked hunks of vaguely-rectangular metal, varying in size. At length he selected one, pulling it free (the one atop it falling with a quiet clang), and then carried this over to show Talys. "We would normally... make a mold... of stone, or sand. It must be strong," he added, "and not crack in heat. But the metal is heated... to liquid--and poured within. If you want a true weapon... we can create a mold for you, when you are... progressed that far?" he suggested. The offer was given in a quiet, calm voice, almost uncertain; was this a welcome offer, or an unwanted one? He seemed concerned that it might, for whatever reason, be the latter.

Ahh, as for the other question--he pondered it, for a moment. "Each metal is... different. You must learn them... as friends. They have... quirks, and likes. Dislikes! Some can be... reheated. Melted, made solid. Melted again. Some grow... brittle. There are impurities in each metal-... Do you know of... flux?" he asked, and then set the mold down to wander off again. This time he brought back what looked like a stone cup filled with white sand. "Some coal burns... hot. Some doesn't burn... hot enough. Different metals... need different heats. This--flux--is laid on the metal. Bubbles. Melts. Draws out what does not belong. Strengthens the metal. But if the fire is hot enough... you do not need it. 'Hot enough' is... different, for each metal. For each coal. Learning each... comes only with trial, with error. With experience. But I will teach you... what I know."

That, it seemed, would come with time; for right now, the Blacksmith had set down the flux and merely stood, hands clasped together, watching Talys work on the crude blade.

@Talys