Chink, Chink, Chink.
The sound of metal on steel echoed around the quiet clearing in the middle of the Forbidden Lands where the blacksmith's people were exiled long ago. A small dirt path led the way from the front door of the forge all the way to the small village that was the only town for miles near the border of their lands. The sound of clanging paused as the blacksmith of the forge paused to wipe the sweat from her brow as she nearly completed the day's orders from the nearby village when she heard the quiet sound of footsteps approaching.
She halted her work completely to listen to the steady rhythm of the footsteps approach the door and knock before stepping in. "Excuse me," A deep, warm voice said from the shadows, "I was wondering if you could help me. You see, my son's birthday is coming up soon and I was wondering if you could make him something since I heard that a blacksmith in the closest town to the Boarder specialized in magic objects." As the owner of the voice emerged from the shadows, the blacksmith quickly suppressed the small hint of surprise on her face as she nearly jumped out of her skin.
She took a deep, steadying breath before answering the man, "I'm terribly sorry sir, I stopped making those types of objects not too long ago." The man waited for the blacksmith to give an explanation, but when she gave none he sighed quietly and examined the girl before him. Her age was difficult to tell, but he could see that she wasn't much older than 15 and was very interesting to look at since her hair was two different colors. He could see that her long, brown hair had streaks of red in it that was barely visible through her messy ponytail, as if she were trying to hide it, and he could see that she was covered with a combination of soot and grease, making it easy to tell what her craft was.
"Ah, well... Thank you for your time anyways..." As the man turned to go the smith ran her hand through her hair, making it even messier before she asked him a simple question that caught him off guard.
"What's wrong? You look really sad. Why don't you come closer to the fire and tell me about it." He looked shocked for a moment and looked as if he were going to refuse her offer, but he changed his mind as the blacksmith waved her hand and two chairs scooted themselves so that they were sitting slightly turned to each other in front of the fire.
He shook his head, recovered from his shock, and gave her a wry smile, "I'm not very good at hiding things, am I?" When she shook her head he sighed, "Where should I start?"
She smirked, "How about the beginning and end at the end?"
The man laughed for a moment, lighting up his dark blue eyes for a moment before returning to the troubled gaze he walked in with. "I guess it all started with the day my wife gave birth to our son," He sighed, " I can still remember that day, we were so happy... Until a stranger came into our lands and into our home in the pretense of friendship. He watched our son grow up with us, but he was always hiding in the shadows and he was always watching my wife. It took him almost 15 years of false friendship, but," he paused for a moment sadly, "he finally got enough power to take over our kingdom and banished me from my loving wife and my son while wrecking havoc on my kingdom while I sit here... helpless to do anything."
They were silent for a moment before she whispered, "That's so sad... But why would he banish you from your home? You're only one man, how important could you be?"
He gave her a bland look, but he didn't answer her. "Oh....well... That might change things a bit..." She murmured as she ran her hand through her hair absentmindedly, trying to think.
He gave her a slightly worried look, " So, does that mean you won't help me?"
She looked up with a confused expression, "Oh, no, no it doesn't. I'll try to help you, but I just don't see how... You see, I have some problems of my own too." At that she looked down as if ashamed to admit it and studied her hands for awhile when all of a sudden her face lit up as if she had an idea, "Wait... I can help you."
"How?" He asked, his face a mixture of relief and anticipation.
"You came here asking for a magic item for your son so I'll make you one for your son and one for yourself... And this time I'll teach you how to use it, but," she warned, " most of the magic items I create tend to develop multiple uses based on the person it was made for. The reason why I stopped making them recently is that I made one for a customer when he wrote me a letter so I couldn't see whether he was a good person or not and trust me, he wasn't a good person." She sighed as she looked at the time, "But I'll have to start on it for you two in the morning since it's too late to make something new now."
"Thank you, thank you so much. How can I ever repay you for your kindness?" He stood up and shook her hand.
"Don't thank me just yet, thank me after you get your wife and your son back." She told him as he beamed a smile at her like she had just handed him the greatest gift ever, "By the way, you never told me your name."
He paused mid-stride and turned around, puzzled, "I didn't? Oh, I'm sorry, my name's Xavier. I'll come back in a week at sundown to see how everything's going, is that okay?" When she nodded, he waved goodbye and left the rather overwhelmed blacksmith alone in the night to ponder the day's events to the sound of Xavier whistling tunelessly as he walked along the path that led deep into the forest.
