50th of Spring, 484AV
Dawn
Dawn
Jervis awoke at dawn, as the chicken pen was right beside the tiny crude room the old hag had forced him to carve out himself. At least he'd been able to make it where ever he had liked so he made it near the front off to the left side of the shop proper.
Still why take on an apprentice if you didn't have anywhere for him to stay.Jervis queried mentally as he arose with a stretch and a yawn.
He washed his face and arms with the simple stone jug and basin he'd made himself cleaning himself with a towel. The only possession she'd given him so far. Still he couldn't help but be anything but grateful to the woman who had charged in and saved his life. Giving a final stretch he set off about the duties he'd been assigned knowing he wouldn't eat until they were done.
His first stop was the chickens that woke him, so he grabbed the bucket used for chicken feed filled previous and set off out front of the shop.
Passing through the front onto a small sculpted cliff with recently added lift. It was a new addition designed to boost sales as now the barbarians could come up to the shop. He wondered why she dealt with them at all most times while taking a moment to admire the glorious sunrise. This was part of the reason he'd made his room where it was, To look out at the world his parents and even Coli had explored.
His stomach started to rumble interrupting the tranquil scene and brought a slight frown to his face but he decided to get his work done quickly to avoid getting hit today. First he removed the stone slab that compromised the door and release them. It was heavy but had a handle so only really kept natural predator's away. The shop had other defenses to keep human predators away, he thought casually tossing feed onto the small cliff.
He took a moment to admire last month's work on the coop. He'd added a few windows as it'd simply been a stone box when he'd shown up here. He'd taken some scrap bronze wire to keep them inside the large front window facing the dawn while allowing them a view and slotted some crude holes in the side to allow better airflow now that the warm weather was approaching.
Though Jervis didn't know much about keeping chickens he wanted them to be happy as they were they closest things to friends he had here. At least half of it had been an attempt to impress Coli but that had failed miserably. He still recalled what she had told him bitterly.
Wasting time on chickens when you should be learning your skills better and you wasted my bronze wire on the filthy things. The wires coming out of your pay if a pathetic excuse for a smith like you could ever earn any money at it.Coli had scolded him angrily though not torn his work down or made him do so.
Her comments made him wonder why Tenni would make him come to such a horrible place but he didn't have time to waste with bitterness as he wanted Auntie Tenni to be proud even if Coli hated him. He went to the makeshift garden he'd been forced to build next.
He was most proud of his work so far on this even though it had been forced upon him and he had no gardening knowledge himself. He'd built it at the beginning of spring after being told that keeping him fed was costing her to much so he'd have to spend some time extending the garden. He'd not been given a deadline to be finished so he'd spent a week on it thinking it out carefully, and working diligently.
The cliff was thick and about 50' by 50' in width and length all together and he'd been given no instructions other than to build it. Determined to impress her this time he'd dug a grand garden into the cliff working even longer days than Coli herself. The garden was only 12 feet wide and centered on Coli's window as gardening seemed to be the only thing she enjoyed other than smithing.
He'd made it much longer, tripling it's original length at 36 feet and doubling it's depth to three feet because he figured more dirt was better. He'd taken nothing from the shop after the last incident instead using the stone he removed to make crude round posts and gathered some wood to make a crude fence to keep the barbarians from trampling it. Though his lack of skill was obvious, he thought his effort showed through as well. After a week of work he brought her out after dinner to show her.
"Done wasting time are you, I said make it bigger not build a field, though maybe feeding you I need a field." Coli had said coldly before turning to walk in he recalled.
He'd snapped then. "If you want something a certain way then tell me I can't read minds." He'd screamed grabbing her arm planning on spinning her around, wanting a confrontation at this point. He never saw the kick coming slamming into his crotch with vicious force, dropping him in pain. It was amazing she could react strike so hard with her injury, the mark of her warrior days, the thought passed through his mind to late.
"Ever scream at me again like that and you'll get more of the same, Your only here because Tenni made me so I won't send you away but don't feel I'm keeping you. I won't tolerate such insolence in an aprentice so if you plan on staying try to remember that." She said coldly as reached down patting his cheek tauntingly. Coli had dropped it at that, simply putting back to his usually work of setting out the tools she'd need, holding things when she'd need it and polishing weapons. She had driven him even harder that before adding more duties as the weeks went by.
She'd filled the garden with plants and was spending much more time their but had never given him a word of thanks. He had no complaints about how she tended it, she tended it as carefully as her forge and seemed truly blissful the one time Jervis had spied on her through his window. Still it was his creation and wanted to be part of it so he set to work picking weeds that had grown. It didn't take long as Coli had most but a few new sprouts picked already.
That finished he quickly gathered the eggs now that the chickens were up and headed inside to set up the forge. Setting up the forge had been a more recent addition to chores, he'd hoped it meant some sort of trust but if just felt like more work. Still he was determined not to let Auntie Tenni down so he dropping off the feed bucket with the 6 eggs on the kitchen table, not even saying anything to Coli as he passed her on his way to the forge room.
Once inside he checked the forge, noticing it had almost gone out again so he quickly added some coal and got it fired up merrily with the bellows before filling it and returning to repeat the process with it filled. By the time he was done he was covered in a sheen of sweat, he removed his vest tossing it over the anvil.
Coli had mentioned making arrows today but she hadn't said what type or anything, So he thought about it, they were running low on bronze tipped hunting arrows and steel tips after that last barbarian merchant that had come up to make a purchase three days ago. Those would probably be what she meant so he got out the molds for those arrow heads. He also got out the remains pieces of arrows they had in stock. Feathers, glue, shafts all set neatly on the counter. He returned to the forge stoking it again, hoping he'd gotten set up right this time. He took his vest and headed to the kitchen for breakfast collapsing in a chair opposite Coli her meal already finished and she sat sipping some tea. His stomach let out another loud rumble after the work he'd been through.
"Took you long enough boy, your foods gone cold. I'm going to check my plants before starting in the forge. Eat quickly I have work for you in the forge today and need you get to at it right away." With the Coli left the kitchen leaving Jervis to eat alone. We are both victims of Tenni's will, he thought as she walked away indifferently turning to his food to quell his loneliness.
He ate fast and returned to the forge knowing that calm indifference Coli showed him could change in an instant if he angered her.
"Good your here, Take one of the shafts and get some pine. I won't need you today so maybe you can make a workable arrow shafts for the bronze hunting arrows and bird arrows. It's a simple task any isur can do so don't pester me with questions." With that she waved him off to his task.
Jervis dove into his task with vigor it as it beat doing nothing. He followed her instructions exactly taking one of the shafts and a block of pine and setting up at the counter furthest away from Coli. He grabbed handfuls of pine using his isurian arm and rolled into shafts of the same size and length, every time he got to ten he stopped and refined them trying to match his model as close as his skills would allowed, using a saw to cut it to a straight ends. The wood was different so the shafts were lighter though the same size but he assumed this was what she had meant. When Coli came over at the end of the day he had fifty shafts which she took to her bench.
Coli inspected each piece carefully before setting them aside in three piles. One he new was scrap the second he thought good arrows and the third where his best pieces near exact copies save for the wood. She tossed the first pile into the forge which surprised and angered him.
"12 hours and two working arrows. I'm wasting my time and materials with you. The rest I'll have to stay back here and fix to save the wood. From now on each morning before breakfast you'll gather your own pine, you can spend your free time practicing on that til you can do it right. Also keep you from trampling my garden. If I need you I'll ask." Coli said icily to Jervis. It was an all out lie but he didn't need to know that. She wanted him gone and he'd continued to cling to his promise no matter how hard she had made his life so far.
Coli had known Tenni a long time and her nosy, overbearing ways. The boy had been forced to promise to stay and work his best. She had promised that she would not send him away. So it had come to this battle of wills. She trying to make the boy run away to Tenni so he'd be out of her hair. His presence only reminded her of what she couldn't do anymore which is why she made her shop out here among the barbarians.
Jervis half opened his mouth to speak angrily but she cut him off her voice rising angrily."Want some more of what you got the other week boy. I'm game for that." She glared angrily and smacked her cane against her hand for emphasis. Jervis broke, storming out crying, slamming the door behind him. This was the reaction she had been going for now if he'd just leave she could get back to her life.
Still it was hard on her emotions and she turned around, dropping her cane and leaning on the counter with Jervis's work, looking down at it. She'd meant the two arrows part but of the remaining only a third would need any serious work. She'd set him up to fail, given him no instruction or training and still he'd worked diligently all day without a word trying his best. It was hard not to respect the boy a little.
And then the garden he'd built here trying to earn her respect. It was crude but again she had set him up to fail giving no instructions. He'd not taken a single material from the shop instead gathering supplies himself. He'd taken a week and the fence posts were sloppy but she felt herself loving him a little bit for it and knowing it would only grow in beauty as his skills improved. Still he had to go, it was too hard being reminded of her former life.
She left and checked his room only to find him asleep. She prepared dinner for herself and the boy quietly. It wasn't his fault and she felt a little sorry for what she was going to have to put the boy through but he had to go by the end of this week. She placed the stew in a covered bowl and placed it by his basin. After that she didn't know if she'd have the heart to continue with it, She thought looking down at his peaceful sleeping form.
