32 Summer 515 Crylon watched as the other apprentices at Thorin's hammered at the forge. Today he was on assisting duty, rather than smithing himself. He had been given time to learn and train before under the supervision of a more skilled apprentice, and so now it was the trade off. He would spend time, as all of the apprentices did, fetching and helping and assisting. One of the apprentices called out for fuel, and after his half chime break he was back into the thick of it. Running over he grabbed a shovel and loaded some coal onto it. Then turning to the forge he fed it in. His bare torso was sweating from a mix of exertion and heat, and glistened on his back in the light cast by the forge. Rather than taking the time to grab another tool to tamp it down and level it off, Crylon casually stuck in his left hand and waved his hand about to make it all flat and even. While this might have been a sight or surprise even ten or twelve days ago closer to when he had started, Crylon using his special Isurian arm in place of various tools was old hat now and taken in stride. The coals leveled Crylon pulled has arm loose, shaking away from himself and the human to remove any excess embers or bits of burning material. He then pumped the forge bellows for the apprentice to get the fire going. Once the new coals were nicely burning he raced off again, leaving it to the man working the forge to get it all even and to the right temperature. In the time that task had taken him, another forge was in need of some more metal. Crylon raced off to a supply area and grabbed up a case of iron with both hands, more of the load resting on his left arm than his right. He dropped off the load at the forge, and grabbed up the almost empty one. Once he had done that he moved about the room to other forges, distributing the small excess left in the first iron case to top off some of the ones not full but not as empty either. All of his exertions were tiring him, the task of assisting being perhaps just as if not more so exhausting than actually directly working the forge. But helping in such a way made it possible for the others to keep working, and they all took it in turn to do so for greater efficiency of the smithy as a whole. Either way his shift was nearing its end, then he would be back to his room at the inn to collapse onto the bed after a quick wash and rinse. He would sleep for awhile, rise and eat, get some more sleep. He had the next day off to rest, and then would be be up early the next morning to work the forges again. On that day of his return though he would be actually working and smithing, and another would be running fetch. While he had been thinking about this, Crylon had been sitting resting on a closed box full of a mix of tools, resting for a chime or two to catch his breath. That break done though, one of the apprentices shouted a customer was there. Crylon nodded, and headed for the front to see what the person wanted. Grimy and sweaty in equal measures from his work that day, Crylon grabbed clean cloth to wipe down the greater excess from his bare chest. Bits of gunk stuck where his thick leather apron did not cover, and sometimes found their way in under that as well. Somewhat cleaner Crylon headed to the front of the business to greet the customer who had been wait for service for several chimes. WC: 645 |