Among Metal

by **Syveris** on February 18th, 2014, 3:36 pm

71st of Winter, 513 AV

The Despised had been executed, and she was still alive and still a citizen of Wind Reach. Everything had passed, and now she was able to walk through the Inner Warrens without fear of feeling excluded, or without people opening the way to let her pass.

Or that was what what supposed to happen.

For some reason, Syveris felt almost as hopeless as she had before. There were few people she truly trusted in the city, mostly because they hadn't hesitated in shutting her out when Zulrav accused her of helping the Despised. How could she trust them again? Wind Reach was her home, and she had fought a lot to defend and protect it, working as hard as she could to help the domain, even if almost everyone in the city hated her for a while. Turrin, Azira and Virat were the only ones she completely trusted.

Syveris adjusted her katinu around her body, as she slowly made her way to the Arms Gallery. Day after day, she had worked and helped there, to give a hand to the blacksmiths so the hunters would always have tools to hunt and provide food for the city. However, after a while, she was feeling like she didn't want to help anymore. No matter what she did, she was judged, and now that she wasn't anymore... She felt tainted.

The Avora shook her head, sighing, noticing how confusing her thoughts were being. Maybe it would be best not to think about it, but Syveris couldn't do much about her thoughts anymore. They kept swirling around her head, the stress of Winter almost too much for her to bear.

She had to force herself to take each step, and when she entered the Arms Gallery, all she wanted to do was turn around and leave. But she knew she couldn't do it, no matter how much she felt like she couldn't help being there.

There were few glassworkers helping on the afternoon, maybe because they all preferred to be done as early as possible, and then do something else to forget they weren't doing much to help the city. Virat felt that way too, at least.

"Hey, you." one of the glassworkers called her, and Syveris turned to look at him. "Help me fill this barrel with water again. We need to go to the Kitchen."

The man was waiting besides the big barrel of water that stayed on the center of the room, from where Syveris had filled her bucket to go and fill the smaller barrels located on the side of the workshops. The Avora approached it, easily holding it up. The weight would only be significant once it had been filled, probably.

Slowly, the Avora made her way towards the Kitchens, the man quietly walking behind her. Syveris wasn't in the best of moods, and she truly didn't want to talk right then. Thankfully, the other seemed to understand that, or he simply didn't want to talk either, and they made their way to the Kitchens in silence.

by **Syveris** on February 26th, 2014, 3:04 pm

The whole way they were silent, each thinking about their own problem. Only when they stepped inside the Kitchen did the glassworker that was accompanying her spoke.

"Hey, girl. I don't know what your problem is, but Winter is almost over. Cheer up! We will go back to the Glass Gallery soon enough." when Syveris only grumbled, the man shrugged, and began to discuss with an Avora about the water.

It was true. Winter was almost over, and soon she would be able to do what she loved the most. But still, now she would never get her life back, not the way it was. She had seen so much death already, she didn't trust most of those in Wind Reach anymore and she had a feeling that there was still something waiting to happen. It seemed like everything had taken a big piece out of her, specially because she had trusted Wind Reach her entire life, and now... Well, something had changed, and it seemed like she could do very little about it.

Her attention returned to the present when the discussion between the two Avora got louder. The glassworker was trying to make the cook understand that they needed the barrel to be filled with water, and the cook refused to do so, saying that water would have a better use in the Kitchens.

Syveris sighed, not sure what to say to speed things up. Yes, water was scarce, but she could predict another discussion if they returned to the Arms Gallery without any. But truthfully, she had no interest in the discussion, no interest if the blacksmiths would be able or not to do weapons.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to her, the cook brought water, but only enough to fill half of the barrel. The glassworker grumbled and snarled at the other Avora, but all he got was a scowl.

Syveris sighed once again, and grabbed one side of the barrel, helping the other glassworker lift it. It was only half full, but it was still very heavy. Slowly, they made the way back to the Arms Gallery, the glassworker grumbling and complaining all the way.

"That imbecile! There will be no food to cook if he doesn't let the blacksmiths do their job!" when Syveris didn't answer, the other huffed. "Girl, show some joy! You have been declared innocent, haven't you? You're alive, so stop sulking."

"Yes, well. So what?" she growled, her grip on the barrel tightening with anger. "I'm not exactly innocent, and not everyone seems to think so. Am I supposed to be happy because..."

"Yes, you are." the glassworker interrupted her. "You are not the only one to go through difficult times right now, so don't act like you are! People have died, lost others, and faced just as much as you did. What makes you so special?"

At that, the Avora dropped the barrel in the middle of the Arms Gallery, making Syveris yelp in surprise, the sudden weight making the barrel escape her hands. But it only shook a bit, before quieting down on its place. She looked at the other, her lips pressed together. What makes me so special?

"Stop sulking. We will get through. All of us. What kind of Inarta are you, if you aren't a part of Wind Reach?"

Syveris watched the man walk away, and just stood there, looking at the moving water inside the barrel and thinking. He was right. There was nothing different. The Avora sighed. She was still part of the city, and she still could help.

by **Syveris** on March 3rd, 2014, 11:33 pm

For now, helping meant that she needed to fill all the smaller barrels around the Arms Gallery. It wasn't really a job she needed to do by herself, but the other glassworkers that were helping in the Gallery didn't seem very eager to go to the center of the location and help her. Not that Syveris blamed them. Filling barrels with water was the most boring and repetitive work she had ever needed to do.

With a sigh, she took a bucket and filled it, carrying the water to the first workplace. It didn't fill even half of it, but the water was scarce, and the blacksmiths would have to work with what they had. Syveris could see the displeased looks on the faces of the Avora when she failed to fill their barrels completely, and some even made some rude remarks about how she was incompetent, as if it was her fault that the water in Wind Reach was scarce. The memory of trying to help fetch water and the avalanche returned to her, and she shuddered, a feeling of fear making her chest heavy. It happened sometimes, when she remembered being trapped under the snow. She would then have difficulties to breath, and would start shaking. It was fairly manageable, though, and rarely ever did the fear evolved to panic attacks, but it was still uncomfortable.

This time, her shaking made the bucket escape her hands, spilling water over the floor. The closer blacksmith yelped in surprise, jumping out of the way and hitting his worktable. Syveris closed her eyes, trying to control her breath and anxiety. She wasn't trapped. She could move. The Avora needed to remember that.

The anger voice of the blacksmith reached her ears, and the fact that the world wasn't in silence around her helped. Her breath finally became steady, and Syveris opened her eyes, facing the blacksmith, who was pointing a finger at her and throwing accusations.

"What is wrong with you?" the Avora spat. "As if the water isn't scarce enough! Clean this petching mess and go do something useful!"

Clean it? The thought made Syveris bit her lip, anger apparent in her eyes. She turned around, ignoring the other, and resumed the boring and tedious work of filling the barrels around the Gallery. Clean. She was an Avora, not some Chiet or Dek. She wouldn't waste her time with such a degrading job. No, she still had her pride as an Avora.

by **Syveris** on March 4th, 2014, 12:25 am

The work wasn't a challenge in any way, and it was tiring only because she needed to walk all over the Arms Gallery, while hearing the stupid Avora complain about not having enough water. As for her, she was fairly sure that she would hate blacksmiths and weaponsmiths forever.

The Gallery held no interest to her, simply because she wasn't a blacksmith, so this wasn't her place. She wanted to be at the Glass Gallery, working to create beautiful pieces of art, not filling stupid barrels and hearing to stupid Avora complain about things she couldn't change.

Syveris sighed in frustration, throwing the small bucket in the ground after the last barrel was filled. Her arms hurt a little, but not enough to be a bother. The Avora looked around, unsure about what to do now. She could always offer help to someone, but then, what help could she really be?

"Hey you!" Syveris turned, looking at a small but strong woman wave at her. The Avora sighed, and walked towards her, knowing it was good that she would have something to do but, at the same time, not wanting to do anything at all. "Come on, come on! How about learning how to make arrow heads?"

"It will be of no use to me." Syveris said, frowning at the overly excited blacksmith. At least the woman wasn't complaining.

"Well, you never know, right? You might be surprised!" the woman said happily, before pointing to a few pieces of metal. "This is steel. Take them and sit here."

Feeling like she didn't have much choice, Syveris grabbed the pieces, and sat besides the woman in the bench of the worktable. The blacksmith was small, and Syveris wasn't large, so they both had enough space to work. It wasn't comfortable, but she wasn't going to get in the way, so it was alright.

"Now, see this mold? Use it to draw a line on the steel, so we can make an arrow that will be just the perfect size." the woman took one that was already marked and began to work.

Syveris looked at the mold, then at the tiny pieces of metal, before putting the mold on top of the first one and taking a thin pencil soaked with ink. Syveris carefully painted around the mold, marking the steel. It wasn't nearly as fun as working with glass, but way better than just filling buckets with water.

by **Syveris** on March 6th, 2014, 2:57 pm

It took longer than she initially thought to mark all of the small metal pieces, and it was only half way through the process that Syveris noticed this was a different way to make arrows than she had seen before in the Arms Gallery. The Avora didn't ask, though, just kept focused on her task, marking as perfectly as she could. While it didn't take much from her, she did it very carefully, both because she didn't want to ruin it and because, once she had finished, she would probably have nothing to do again.

But eventually, she did finished. With a sigh, Syveris turned to the young blacksmith, watching as she cut the metal on the marks. The Avora waited for a moment, before curiosity took the best of her.

"Why are you doing it that way? I mean, normally... Well, I don't know. It's just that a metal that can be cut so easily don't seem like a very good one to make an weapon."

"It's not a very good one." the blacksmith nodded, without turning away from what she was doing. "But this one is easier to find, specially in Winter, when other cities aren't very eager to trade good metal with us. It's good enough, though."

Syveris shrugged, and watched the other work for a while more, before finally getting tired and bored again. It was interesting when it was new, but Syveris didn't had much patience, and she started to fumble with the still uncut pieces, waiting for instructions. It only came when the blacksmith raised her head, finally noticing that Syveris had already finished with the task.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Why don't you take some of these pieces to another blacksmith? Divide them into three groups, and leave one here. Then find other two that need the pieces."

Syveris sighed once again, before dividing the marked pieces into three equal groups, like the other had instructed. The Avora then took two buckets and placed one group into each one, before finally leaving the worktable of the blacksmith. She looked around, trying to identify someone who wasn't working. There was none, everyone focused on a task. It was understandable, specially since Winter and the famine was still going on, but it only meant more trouble and more work for her.

Shrugging, the Avora went to the first worktable on the right. If she couldn't guess, she only had to ask everyone whatever they needed metal to work with.

Another boring job. Syveris couldn't wait for the end of the season.

by **Una Tanta** on April 8th, 2014, 9:07 pm

Syveris :

Please don't be afraid to PM me with any questions ^-^ and please don't forget to edit your grading request to "graded".

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