The Silversmith

As soon as you smell the hot metal of the smithy, it feels like you've come home. The blacksmith's shop where you spent twelve years as an apprentice is at the center of the "Smithyard," as it is called; and you can see Omar, the blacksmith, discussing his craft with visiting smiths. It has been nine years since your old master's heart gave out while he slept, and you note with satisfaction that while Omar's mark now adorns the sign above the door (as it should), the mark of Methodius remains emblazoned on the forge. Your hand brushes your sword hilt; it is the last sword Methodius made before dying, and though is is not as ornate as the swords of most kings, you prize it very highly as a gift from your master.

It seems only fitting to take just a moment to greet Omar's guests; it is not often, after all, that a king is also a blacksmith! Omar is pleased to see you as always, and the other smiths seem astounded at the familiarity with which he greets the King; it is well-known that you were once an apprentice at the forge, but the reality of seeing a king pick up the smith's hammer and swing it just like one of them still amazes the visitors. You leave Omar with your best wishes, and his guests a great deal more impressed with him than they were before.

It is not Omar who you have come to see, however. Around the other side of your old smithy, built right up against a great granite stone, is the workshop of Johann, the silversmith.

Suddenly, you are no longer a king - you are a boy of twelve, dumbstruck by the lovely girl who has just moved in with her father to the shop across the street. Then, a boy of thirteen, who has finally worked up the courage to say more than three words to her. At fourteen, you sat together on the stone wall overlooking the valley, dreaming of far-off places together. And then, that autumn day when you learned she was leaving... and a single kiss in the alley behind her father's shop, your first kiss with anyone, and your last with Pia. Since then, she has traveled to those far-off places, while you remained at home. True, you became a king, but sometimes you wonder whether you should have run off after her, however dishonorable it would have been to abandon your master.

Somehow, nothing you have done in your ten years as king is as difficult as opening Johann's door... but you summon the courage nonetheless, because otherwise you could not call yourself a man, let alone a king.

"I'll be with you in a moment!" you hear from the back of the shop, where a wide window lets in the light that Johann needs to do his delicate work. The bars on the window, necessary to protect his valuable wares from thieves, were forged by your own hand.

Captain Navarre starts to announce your presence, but you wave him down; in Johann's shop, you do not care to be treated like a king. After a moment, Johann completes the task at his hand, hops down from his chair, and makes his way over to the counter. Although his eyes have been unable to focus more than ten feet in front of him for years, he recognizes you almost at once.

"Xavier!" he says, smiling broadly. "Why, I haven't seen you in the Smithyard for months, if not longer! Come here, my boy, come here!"

You step around the counter and accept Johann's hug of welcome - the top of his head barely reaches the bottom of your breastplate, but the hand he shakes yours with is large and strong. It pleases you no end that he calls you only by your given name; Johann is one of the scant few who has never treated you differently once you became king, save the time that he bowed before you at your coronation. The crown upon your head that day was the work of his hands, a masterpiece in silver wrought by a true artist, forged by a secret process known only to Johann himself such that it would remain forever untarnished.

"I'm afraid I only have a moment," Johann says as he pulls out a bottle of white wine and pours cups for you and himself (for Captain Navarre, he pours water, knowing that the Captain does not touch intoxicating drinks while on duty). "So much to do, what with the festival and all. I've been putting the last touches on a piece I hope to sell to the Sultan. What brings you down from the castle, Xavier? I would imagine you to be a busier man than any of us today!"

"Truth be told, Johann, I had hoped to see Pia - if she is here."

"Yes, of course, she is here - even Pia's wanderlust had to be put in check for the festival. She went out to the meadow to gather some wildflowers for the shop window. I'm sure she'll be pleased to see you, Xavier. Why, I don't think the two of you have even spoken together since you were children - you must have so much to catch up on!"

Normally, you might take your leave right then - you're certainly anxious to see Pia again! - but it occurs to you that if Pia really is someone you're considering as a potential queen, it's really only fair to tell Johann as much. Pia is not just his only daughter, but the only family he has in the world - and there's also still the question of whether she is married already. It would be most unusual for a maid as comely as she to still be a maid at the age of twenty-seven summers, after all!