Longing (Open)

[Aeliris]

Aeliris loitered around the workplace for a moment, staring across at the tools hung on the walls, arrayed before her. She knew what some of them were for, but she lacked the necessary co-ordination to use them with any degree of success. So here she was, cleaning out the leftover volcanic ash and charcoal. A sign of the life she had aspired too. Sweeping the remnants into the sack she was to use to collect them. She sighed, that was the easy part. "Why can't these artisans try to minimise the mess they make." she whispered to herself. I was never this bad when I practiced. Was I?

She moved over to retrieve the tools kept in the back of the workplace; a brush, and a composition of steel threads for removing the rest of the grime. She passed over to the first furnace, hesitantly touching her finger to its exterior to make sure it had cooled down sufficiently for her purposes. She then began to scrub the surfaces with as much force as she could muster, attempting to dislodge the most heavily set intrusions before the attempt to collect the remaining dirt.

Her sense of time seemed to warp as she worked, and it felt like she was making little progress. Nevertheless, she eventually finished with the first furnace before turning to the second. Only two more to go, and then...and then what? I'll be drafted out to do some other job until I literally collapse from exhaustion. what little enthusiasm she gained from the completed step dropped, she was nowhere near done, and it felt that she never would be.