by Danyella on March 3rd, 2011, 4:39 am
Danyella looked into the beautiful depths of the mine. To Danyella not only did she see the beauty of sparkling gems that rested in a sea of crystal clear Icestone, but she saw the path of her future lay out before her. As she took in the wonders, her amber eyes changed to a clear, icy blue, specked with various colors to match her surroundings, and her mouth slowly dropped open in awe.
She silently whispered to herself, "Dah never told me how beautiful it was..."
She quietly gained her composure and began examining the structural parts of the tunnel. Even though she was short, the tunnel ceiling was too low to swing overhead with her pickaxe. She then attempted to examine the wall hearing her father's advice once more.
"Cavern walls tell many stories, you must read these stories and decide what ending you want, and through your own actions, achieve the ends to the means."
She could tell that due to the fact that the gem stones were still in the wall, they mustn't be of great quality. Which led her to the conclusion that the Icestone was her primary target, and the gems were secondary. She continued to study the wall face, her eyes shifting to a dark, studious emerald, but wasn't able to make out many more details. She stepped back from the wall and hefted the pickaxe off her back, with more grace than would be expected of a female of her size. Having been trained to be ambidextrous with her tools she settled for her right hand to rest atop the low end of the handle, while her left hand gripped the middle of the shaft. She tightened her grip, firm but kept it a bit loose due to the shock the impact would cause. Another tidbit her Dah taught her. She visualized where she wanted her pick to strike, took a deep breath, raised her pick diagonal, so it was about chest level, cocked it behind her back, then in one swift motion she quickly let the breath out as the pick swung deep into the wall. She missed her desired strike point by a few inches, and noticed that the pick had sunk into the wall but didn't send out cracks like she would have thought. She pressed upward on the handle, causing the imbedded spike to pull a chunk of Icestone outward, sending the desired cracks across the rock face like the lightning her Dah told her existed in other lands. The chunk fell to the ground and she nudged it out of the way with her foot. She lined up again for another strike but quickly rotated the handle so the flat end was her desired tool. She made sure her stance was proper, her hips parallel to the rockface, and cocked the pick back once more. She made sure to swing a bit lighter this time sacrificing some strength for accuracy. The flat end struck home and wedged itself into a crack. She chuckled slightly with satisfaction as she pushed up on the handle once more, watching as a much larger chunk of wall deposited at her feet. She knelt down to clear out her workzone meanwhile in a slightly excitable tone asking, "How was that sir?"