Completed [Job Thread] Walls of Icestone

[Levali]

Levali Rödal Iceglaze 20th of Summer, 516 AV The summer morning was just as any other in Avanthal. Cold, dark, and with the ever present trace of light snowfall. Small flakes of frozen crystal fell against Levali's face as she did her best to keep up with the one who was supposed to be her teacher for the day. His name was Forden Iceglaze, her boss and co-worker all in the same. The man - who was easily double her age - always had an impressive spring in his step, such as he was on his way to a reward when he reached the icewall gates they had been tasked with repairing. This was to be her lesson on combining ice reaving with masonry, which Forden had made sure to tell her multiple times separated the Novice masons in Avanthal from the experienced ones. She wasn't all that interested in getting much better at the slave-like task, but developing this technique would result in an increase in pay. Overall, it was certainly worth it. The icewall gates were not actually made of ice of course, but repairing it with ice was just how it was done. After all, using mortar to attack clear bricks would look odd to say the least. Despite this, it was Levali's task to bring a large bucket of the stuff. She had been told to mix the previous day for reasons she would soon find out, and she doubted that whatever it was for was worth the weight of the large pail. It was about as tall as her knees, and as wide as two thirds of a doorframe; Almost completely full of mortar. Luckily it had a steel handle along the top, but is almost bent with the weight of it's contents. The struggling worker waddled over with both her hands holding the thin wire of a handle, her weight obviously shifted forwards from how heavy it was compared to her general lack of strength. A few minutes later she arrived by the wall, dropping the bucket by her feet and feeling a great deal of tension alleviated from her person. Standing back up almost felt like a blessing, except that her job to do was apparently quite large for a repair. A whole chunk of the wall was missing - The bricks either shattered or lying in decently thick layer of snow beneath the gap. It was wide enough to fit two horses, and it seemed everything from the ground up in that section had fallen over with the wall, forming a neat V shape where the damage was. ..And leaning alongside the broken wall was Forden, pretending to have fallen asleep waiting for her. She could see a small smirk on his face as he angled his head downwards, his eyes shut and slightly and his greying hair covered in snow. It was not until just recently that the greyish taint had started to form over his head. For the most part his hair was a dark brown quite similar to her own, with a shimmer of green whenever the light shone at the right angle. He rested a hand on his short beard, twitching slightly when he heard the bucket drop against the ground. Forden was smaller than most in terms of both height and size, making him quite nimble. It was known to her that he also had an interest in carving, which his more fine hands would certainly help with. "Fallen asleep waiting for me? I hope you didn't get too bored waiting for me to bring this over for you." The girl called playfully. There were no other people around where they were aside from the icewatch guard posted to protect the small gap, way out where nothing had yet been built. Her eyes were a dark amber, indicating interest or playfulness on her part. His opened slowly in response, reaching out his arms as he stood and stretching them, faking a yawn while his worker waited blankly. He smiled at her crossed arms, gesturing to the array of tools he'd brought that lay in a brown leather satchel beside the wall. A trowel was one among a flat mallet, and a regular iron hammer. These were all tools she knew well, and was quite familiar with from her day to day employment. Forden's voice came warm in contrast to the cold weather, a usual deep and jolly tone as it always was. "Only for a couple minutes I suppose.. Did you crawl here or something? " He chuckled to himself, waving it off in response to Levali's raised eyebrow. "No matter. We've got work to do. Training, to be specific."

[Levali]

The following task consisted of getting Levali to dig out one of the bricks from the sheet of snowfall on the ground, which was completed easily enough. She brushed it off with her hand, holding the thinner side as she did. "I want you to guess what we're going to do with it." He told her, to which she responded, "Are we going to use ice to reseal it to the wall?" The man nodded, but stopped her as she moved to place the brick against the others that were already on the structure. "Not so fast. It's not quite that simple. Let me guide you here.. You start from the bottom as always, but make sure that all of the existing things are still in good quality. This wall isn't only to protect us, it's also a symbol of our loyalty to Morwen. If visitors see this wall and find flaws in it, it doesn't look good on any of us." As he spoke, Levali kneeled and cleared the snow off of the bottom layer of ice. She wouldn't need to be putting any foundation against the ground, but she would still need to be sealing the bricks against one another on the existing wall. His advice was met with silence, which he took as a sign to continue. "There. Do you see how the bricks here are chipped? Whatever hit this must have hit it hard. After all, this is icestone we're dealing with. ..Do you remember what I taught you about icestone?" "Aside from it not actually being ice, not really." Came her reply, the worker still cleaning the snow off the 'stone' that it was made of. "Well you're not wrong. Icestone is only found here in Avanthal, and happens to not be able to melt or the like. That's why we're here, and not the more advanced Ice Reavers. ..But because it looks so much like ice, we can get by with a bit of a trick here." Hearing of this trick piqued Levali's attention, and she gestured for him to tell her what it was. "You see, we can actually use the ice to fix all the chips in the blocks. We bring the mortar to make sure they stick together, and nobody knows the difference. We attach the bricks back together in the same way; Three lines of mortar on each one. One for every fifth, not including the outside. We then fill the rest with ice, and you've get a solid wall that looks like it's brand new." He finished his short lesson, a contented look on his face matched with emerald green eyes that she knew represented his satisfaction. It seemed like a pretty sound strategy, and obviously one he had used before. Her main question was if it's actually allowed or not. It often seemed like when things were convenient to a certain point they were often against the rules, and this time she decided it would be better not to ask. Regardless of what she said, her eyes flashed a green of her own in doubt. The girl was by no means hard to read with both her eyes and her lack of questions. She tried to think of something smart to say, but only ended up with 'Nice. That's not too hard,' as her answer. Her boss leaned over her kneeling figure, watching as she scooped the greyish mortar out of her bucket and coated the corner of a damaged icestone in a thin layer. Carefully, she picked up a small amount of snow, placed it against the brick and then started to melt it with her blessing; Making sure to quickly refreeze it in the correct position just as too much for it started to drip down. Using this skill, she shaped it back into a smooth surface that she couldn't even tell the difference for when she ran her hand along it. "Do you think this is alright?" Levali asked, handing Forden her work. She had spent almost a minute crafting the repair just for the one chip, and she was content to see her boss nod in approval. "Not bad at all." He said, feeling it. "There's a bit of a difference in texture, but not much you can do about that. ..And if you were wondering, this is allowed. We're putting the wall back together, not building a new one." Taking it back with a blush, she sheepishly fit it into the slot at the bottom of the wall. She was quickly corrected to wait until a thin layer of snow built up on it from the weather they were in, just so that she could use that for the ice instead of getting snow off the ground. In that time she managed to smooth out several more bricks, filling all their dents and chips with ice just like she was instructed. "You're doing alright, Levali. Tell me when you finish this and I'll come check it out. After all, I hope you know how to lay bricks after two years."

[Levali]

"You're the one who said this was a technique for experienced masons - We both know I can put some bricks together." The girl replied in good nature, humorously overstating her skill while she started to lay the first line of mortar onto the bottom layer. The sound of footsteps crunching against snow slowly started to grow softer, accompanied by Forden's signature chuckle. Her back was turned to him as she worked on the wall, down on one knee with her trowel carefully shaping the glue so that it would be even. Another line was paved, and just when Levali had placed the block overtop it's gap she was met with a sudden cold, soft object slamming against the back of her head. She staggered forwards slightly, feeling the chill of what she quickly discovered was a snowball lingering on her once dry skin. As she turned, bits of snow clung to her hair, and she was met with the sight of her boss' grin as he lightly jogged away. "Remember to put that blessing Morwen gave you to work!" He called, trying to escape the range of the snowball he knew that Levali was certainly going to try and throw back at him. In a single swift action the worker dropped her trowel, scooped up a small mound of snow into her hand, and turned. As she rose to her feet she spun her hair, shaking out most of the snow that was trapped inside it from Forden's playful attack. Throwing snowballs was something she was very well acquainted with from her youth, and by the time she was up the frozen powder was already a sculpted orb between her two hands. Levali lunged forwards, tossing her half-second masterpiece across the distance between him and striking him harmlessly in the back. This time the snow didn't stick quite as much, but it was a clear hit to his back. "Only if you remember to bring something tasty when you come to check on me!" A smile crossed her face as she played into his game, finally submitting to his attempts to get her to relax a bit during her work. "Fine! Fine! But no throwing things at me! You can't throw things at the guy who pays you; Even if I threw it first!" He continued his escape, pushing the snow from his back. "Deal!" Levali yelled to him, sighing happily. For a moment then she was left alone, standing in the snow with only silence to keep her company. It subtly reminded her that she had a job to do, and thus the girl turned back around and set to work. Reaching into the blessing of Ice Reaving, ice was melted and shifted and frozen again. This required a good bit of focus from the mason, as she was relatively inexperienced at using the ice formation powers. She held her hands over the block, placing both her palms over the top. It was chilly to the touch, and almost felt smooth unlike most stones. Her eyes were closed in an attempt to 'feel' where the ice was, and to freeze it through the layer separating it from the cool Avanthal air. Then a moment later, it was done; and Levali opened her eyes. From a glance it would seem that the entire block was crafted solely of ice, just as it was initially intended. An experimental push would reveal it to be more solid than she had expected, prompting a 'huh' from the novice mason. Things started slow. One brick at a time was laboriously completed. Sometimes she would have to redo something if she tried to complete it too quickly and found that the ice wasn't frozen enough. However, as time went on and more of the wall was repaired she had found herself doing large sections in only a few steps. First she would gather or unbury some bricks; Usually five or six at a time. By the time that was done, enough snow was set on top of the other blocks for her to reshape the ice. Any imperfections on the damaged objects would be combed over and repaired before being placed back on the ground in a long line. Her attention would then turn to the mortar, which she scooped out and lay over as many bricks as she had just taken; Just as Forden had instructed her. With the set of building blocks then ready to be attached to the wall, she would take them and flip them so that the mortar would connect to the icestone beneath it; And thus it would settle. Each one was exactly half off the last one, giving the wall an even look to it. Finally, she placed her hands overtop each one and manipulated the snow beneath it to melt and then turn to ice - Finishing that little part and then moving to the next.

[Levali]

Levali had no idea how many hours had passed when she finally reached the top layer of the wall; Mostly due to how the sun was at the current time of year. It was often dark, and thus she was working by the light of a lantern during most of her day. As if by magic, Forden came strolling back in the same clothes as before, just as the final bricks were being frozen over. She was standing by that point, as she had long since moved from her kneeling position to only barely being able to reach up to the top of the last blocks. Her boss stopped in front of her newly completed work, holding two cups of what appeared to be hot chocolate in his hands. He scanned the wall before speaking, and a second passed. Two. And then just as she was about to say something he placed the two cups atop the wall before taking a step back.. And kicking it as hard as he could. Levali's blood froze as his foot slammed against the ice structure, making the traditional thud noise that stone does. She felt her entire body tense up. He was about to destroy her entire days work.. Gods, would she even be paid if it didn't work? The single second felt like ages, though it passed all the same. Forden's kick only served to push him off the wall, making him stumble before he only barely saved himself from falling into the snow. The worker's nerves relaxed all at once, and she let out a small sigh of relief. The wall had held. From on top a drop of liquid had spilled out from the cup and onto the ground, but it was nothing compared to how the entire thing would have fallen if the wall had broken. With that the older man picked up the cups with a smile and extended his hand outwards to Levali. "It held! I think you've earned this.." The girl graciously accepted the cup, taking a sip and feeling the still hot drink against her lips. It was hot chocolate just as she had guessed, which wasn't necessarily her favourite drink. Still, it was good nonetheless; There was a higher concentration of chocolate than usual, which made it taste sweeter and generally more appealing than she might otherwise find it. "Thanks.. But why the hell would you kick it like that? All my work could have just.. Tumbled over if you hit it too hard, and then I would have wasted another day trying to put it together.." With two hands around his cup he took a long gulp of the drink, looking up to her after and smiling knowingly. "If our cities defences would fall to a simple kick in from an old man, what chance would we have against those who would want to hurt us? You would be better off doing it over than letting it be completed poorly." He chuckled, turning and already starting to head back into town. "Now get all your stuff, I've a family to visit before the eleventh bell." Unable to argue with his logic, Levali simply nodded; Taking a breather before following through with his orders. "I suppose so.. Just give me a warning next time so that I can brace it next time, yeah? I was thinking more about how it looked when I built it than what would happen if someone were to kick it in." As she gathered up her things to depart including her trowel, bucket, and hammer, her boss granted her a final tidbit of wisdom for the day.. "As long as you work as a mason, the walls you build are living representations of how skilled you are at your craft. The only two things we have to make them are good looking and strong - And without one the other doesn't matter. Now lets head back, I meant to get you earlier - But I had some troubles in the market.."

[Maro]

Levali Skills +Body Building +1 +Endurance +1 +Intelligence +2 +Intimidation +1 +Masonry +3 +Negotiation +1 +Observation +3 +Persuasion +1 Lores -Forden Iceglaze: Boss and Mason -Amber Eyes: Levali's Color of Playfulness -Forden Iceglaze: Fun Loving -Masonry: Always Work from the Ground Up -Ice Reaving: A Simple Way to Fix Chips in Icestone -Forden Iceglaze: Green Eyes Signal Satisfaction -Green Eyes: Levali's Color of Doubt -Masonry: Mortar Must Be Level -Ice Reaving: Patience Is Required -The Kick Test: How to Tell if a Wall is Sturdy -Walls Should Be Good Looking and Strong Notes : This is a great job thread and the Ice Reaving gives it a unique flare. Remember to submit this along with your other job thread in the Wages thread to get your pay for the season. Also, please make sure to edit your request to 'graded' in the queue. I am relatively new to grading, so feel free to PM me if you have any questions or concerns about your grade or if you'd like any of your lore rephrased.