Completed Work after the Storm

[Syveris]

87th of Fall, 513 AV

Technically, it was her day off, but she still made her way to the Glass Reverie, her steps slower than what she was used to. She had been working faithfully even after the storm, although she supposed it was mostly because she really needed the calm glassworking gave her. And she needed it even on her day off.

Virat had worked around his schedules when she became his apprentice, so his days off would coincide with her own. However, she knew her mentor would be in the Reverie, since he seemed to be really devoted to his work ever since the year after she had become his apprentice. Well, he had always been devoted, but after something happened, something Syveris wasn't aware of, her mentor became almost obsessed with it, spending the majority of his free time on the Reverie.

Usually, the thought of it would have worried her, but right then a obsessed mentor was what she needed, so the Avora who would be working during the day wouldn't complain about having an apprentice without his mentor to oversee what she was doing.

Maybe she was overreacting. A lot of people had seen the deaths the storm caused, and none of them were suffering too much by it. At least, they weren't showing. But although Syveris had heard about the many deaths that occurred in Wind Reach, specially in Winter and amongst the Dek, she hadn't actually seen anyone die before, and the image of it was imprinted in her mind. And more than that, it wasn't a mere Dek that had died, it was an Endal. One of the people who were supposed to be the most powerful of the Inarta, who could survive anything and still guarantee the survival of Wind Reach. And yet, it was an Endal that fell to the ground, and never moved again.

Just the thought of it made her throat clench once again, and she wondered why that had to happen. The Fall had been bad, but she would never have guessed it would be that bad. Syveris didn't thought it could get any worse.

When she reached the Reverie, she sighed, with evident relief. The warmth welcomed her, like it always did on all those years she had been an Avora. It was soothing already, and she knew that she could get the worries out of her head at least for the hours she would spend inside the place, working with glass and focusing only on that, and nothing more.

The Avora took her tools, and turned to search for her mentor. He was on the far back of the Reverie, arranging his own tools on the workspace. She walked there, placing herself besides him.

"Hello." she whispered, not really wanting to talk this time. Something weird for her, but she really didn't feel like it. "What are you going to do today?" when Virat looked at her, she saw the worry in his face, but she knew he wouldn't ask.

"I'll be helping to make some replacements for the dishware of the Kitchens that were broken because of the storm." he answered, turning to look at the tools again. "You can help me, if you wish to do so." The Avora nodded, grateful. He would ask her later, that she was very sure about, but right now, he knew she just needed to work to feel better. "Great. We will need to do many, so there are some molds for the plates. You can do some of them and then you can do some glasses." Syveris nodded again, organizing her tools and preparing to work.

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[Syveris]

Syveris didn't liked to work with molds: they were too easy, offered no challenge, and what was worse, they made the pieces look exactly the same. All of them. However, she could focus enough to forget about everything else, so she didn't complain.

The Avora took one of the molds and opened it, looking at the inside shape. There were some few details, but nothing too elaborated. It was probably the same mold they always used to do the Kitchens' dishware, since Syveris recognized the pattern. Closing it again, she turned the mold around, seeing the small hole to pour glass. Well, she might as well begin.

Taking the mold with her, she got closer to the Batch Oven, grabbing a long ladle. Syveris looked inside, and was glad to see that it seemed to be hot enough for the mold. She couldn't be exactly sure, but she also trusted that, if Virat had said that she could use the molds, the glass would be hot enough for it. She submerged the ladle in the hot glass on the batch, and took it off, smiling when she saw the texture of molten glass. It's like cool honey. The phrase from the book had been completely random, and she tried to focus on what she was doing.

She poured the glass inside the mold, slowly, until the cavity was completely filled. And that was it. Sighing, she took the mold to the Annealer, to store it inside to wait for it to cool down enough so she would be able to take the plate off.

"Hey you." she turned. Another Avora, spinning his pipe with an almost finished glass in the end, motioned to her. "Take this piece to the Annealer over there. This one is already filled with dishes. And, after that, take the molds in this one off and then take off the plates from the molds." Syveris nodded, taking her mold to the other Oven and storing it there. Returning, she opened the first Annealer after putting a glove on her hand, careful taking off the molds already stored in there. Twenty pieces. Well, the storm had really shaken the Kitchens.

Shaking her head and storing the dangerous thoughts about the storm away, Syveris let the Annealer open, as she carefully opened each mold and took the glass dishes off, before storing them in the Annealer once again, so they could cool down completely. She looked at the other Avora, waiting for more instructions, but he just shook his head, showing that he would adjust the temperature. Syveris sighed again.

Taking the empty molds, she filled each of them carefully with hot glass, storing them in the Annealer that was already holding her first mold. Then, she returned to her mentor's side. Virat was still pouring glass into the last molds, but he smiled to her, and nodded.

Syveris frowned, wondering how he could know what she wanted to ask. But maybe it was because it was written on her face, like always. Well, she should just focus on doing the glasses, then. The Avora smiled. Finally, the fun would begun.

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[Syveris]

The Avora looked at the Inarta that had called her attention, and watched as he made the finishing touches in his glass. Raising his head, he saw her, and raised his pipe, showing the glass. Nodding, Syveris prepared to do her own. She had seen the Kitchens' glasses numerous times, but she wanted to make sure that it was in the same style as the ones they were making now. Fortunately, they were, so she shouldn't have too much trouble with it.

She took the blow pipe, and walked to the Batch Oven, reaching inside and gathering the glass with the tool. Then, she put her mouth on the other end of the pipe, and blew. Substituting her mouth for her thumb, she watched as the bubble began to form inside the oval-shaped glass. It had the same problem as the dish: too much pressure and the piece would be ruined, too little, and she wouldn't get anywhere. However, this time her mind was more focused than ever, as she was trying as hard as she could to just forget the events of Fall, and she didn't had too much trouble getting the right amount of pressure.

Syveris walked to the Drum Oven, reheating the piece. She turned the pipe around, so that all the piece would be evenly heated, and returned to her worktable, to polish, blow and press her thumb once again, so the air bubble inside would grow and make the piece the size she wished it to be. This first part was much like making a plate.

The Avora walked over to the Batch Oven once again, and gathered a thin layer of glass on top of the piece that was already on the blow pipe. And once again, she blew, this time turning the glass pipe during the blowing process. Remembering what Virat had taught her, she took the jacks and used them to mark the place where she would cut the glass off the pipe later. Syveris had told her mentor about her little problem in getting the glass to get off the pipe during the time she had done the plates, and Virat taught her this trick, so later on she wouldn't have too much trouble with the cutting process. It would make the glass thinner near the pipe, which in consequence would make it easier to break once the piece was ready. She hadn't thought of it, but was a useful trick and she would be using it from now on.

Only after the piece was thinner enough did Syveris put the jacks away, and heated the piece again, to blow it one last time. She looked at the glass. It was almost round, big enough for what she wanted, and so, she heated the glass again to begin the shaping process. She smiled while she turned the pipe, waiting for the glass to be heated enough for her to work. The shaping process. The Avora loved everything about glasswork, but she loved to shape the glass into their final form the most. Taking the pipe off, she kept turning the pipe, so the heated glass wouldn't fall or deform.

Syveris then turned the pipe upside down, pointing the hot glass to the floor, and swung the tool while still turning it, watching as the sphere elongated. She blew and swung one more time, until the shape satisfied her. The glass cooled down a little, and she could see the transparency already. She smiled. It was exactly what she was looking for.

Heating the glass one last time before the shaping truly began, she twisted the pipe, evening the heat on the piece.

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[Syveris]

When she grabbed the paddle, her shy smile grew to a full one, all her worries momentously forgotten. It was now, the true beautiful art of glasswork. Syveris had to chuckle a little. She had finished reading the The Art of Glassblowing and she was thinking about the author's way to describe things a little more than she initially thought. Well, maybe that wasn't a bad thing. After all, glassworking really was an art form.

Focusing once more on the present, Syveris used the paddle to flat the bottom of the piece. She took it slowly, not putting too much force on it, and little by little, the curved surface flattened. She kept turning the pipe and pressing the paddle against the glass until she was satisfied, and a very flat bottom was in place. It was ready to be transferred to another pipe.

Syveris heated the glass again, but waited for it to cool down very slightly, only so it wouldn't melt to one side or another, before resting the pipe on its support, so she could grab another one and make the punty to transfer the piece. This technique she had learned in the book, and unfortunately, it was very near the end, so she hadn't found out about it before the 81st, and by then, the last plate had already been done. After that, Virat and her had tested it on practice pieces, and it had worked just fine.

Gathering more glass with another pipe, Syveris ran the small punty on the Marvel. With the still hot little slug, she held the pipe where the glass was with the jacks before approaching the other pipe with the punty. She placed it in the middle of the bottom of the piece, twisting the pipe a little to see if the piece had glued to the punty. It had, and so, she took the shears to cut the glass of the other pipe. The trick had worked really well, and she had no trouble taking the piece off when she tapped the pipe. Putting the now empty tool away, she looked at the glass. It was coming out alright, and so, she continued.

Heating the glass once more, Syveris began to think on how much she had to heat it, and wondered if once she develop her skills more, she would need fewer trips to the Drum Oven. Probably. But also not so little as she would have expected. Well, it wasn't as if she didn't like it anyway.

Taking the puffer, Syveris placed them on the place where she had cut the piece off, and blew on the other end of the pipe, creating an opening. Placing the puffer away and taking the jacks, she placed them on the opening, and opened them carefully. The opening widened, and the piece started to look more like a glass. The Avora repeated the process with the tweezers again, until she was satisfied with the size of the opening. Evaluating the piece on more, she smiled. It was good.

Taking the piece to the break box, Syveris used the shear to cut the piece of the punty. She put a glove on her hand, taking the piece and storing it in one of the empty Annealer. When she turned, she saw Virat watching her, with a smile on his face.

"Well, I guess you did learn everything I had to teach you." at her face, he laughed, and shook his head. "No, I'm not releasing you from apprenticeship. Not yet." well, Syveris was actually relieved. With everything that had happened in Fall, she wouldn't really want anything different to happen. It was enough as it was.

"Just a question. Why mold the glass by hand? Why not just use the molds?"

"We're using molds. Well, most of us, anyway. I just let you do one without the mold because it looked like... You needed it. Besides, the form of the glass is pretty simple." The Avora could have hugged her mentor for being so wonderful, but it wasn't the time or place. She still had work to do.

"Why don't you keep working with the glasses? Do one more, and then start using the mold. I would let you do more, but we need it finished as quickly as we can." Syveris nodded, and focused once more on her work, now aware of Virat watching her. Well, she should know he wouldn't let her work completely alone yet.

Focusing on the task in hand, Syveris gathered once again the hot glass from the Batch, glad to repeat the process. She smiled to herself. Coming to the Glass Reverie had really been a wonderful idea. Relaxing once again, she began the crafting of another glass.

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[Taylani]

XP Award!

Syveris:

XP Award:

• +3 observation
• +3 Glass working

Lore:

• Replacing broken glassware after a storm
• Glass working: Molds make everything identical.

Notes:

Comments :

Don’t forget that you can PM me if you have any concerns with your grade, and don’t forget to edit/delete your grade request.

TAYLANI