Chapter 102

With the first part of the anvil finished, it was time to take the next step.

Fortunately, Elise’s library - formerly Master Edavane’s - covered nearly every subject imaginable. The shelves ranged from the history of Ilvarion to the techniques of forging starmetal, from the foundations of magical theory to the biology and reproductive habits of the Peri - the winged people I’d once seen in Northgate. There was even a small section of fiction tucked into a corner, easy to miss unless you were looking for it.

It was late in the evening when I headed for the library. Just as I reached the door, a shout rang out from inside - followed by a scream.

I rushed forward, hand reaching for the knob. Then I froze.

“Y-yes! Yes! Right there! D-do not stop! Do not fffff-” The cry cut off abruptly. A moment later I heard Elise mutter to herself in a thoughtful tone. “No… that is not right. I cannot say that.”

My racing heart began to settle, but my confusion only grew.

The door didn’t open when I approached. Elise had clearly locked it, though I suspected that if I really pushed my Will against it, I could probably **** it open. I’d never tried overpowering someone’s lock inside the demesne, but I was fairly confident the outcome wouldn’t be in doubt.

Still, the question remained. Why was Elise practicing… sex noises?

It wasn’t the analytical approach that surprised me. That was entirely in character for her. If anyone in the world would study intimacy like a technical subject, it would be Elise.

What puzzled me was the reason she felt the need to rehearse it. Wasn’t that the sort of thing that just… happened?

Shaking my head, I quietly stepped away from the door to give her some privacy. My anvil could wait.

* * *

“Mirri, have you ever faked an orgasm with me?”

The moment the words left my mouth I realized it was a stupid question. What woman - other than one actively trying to crush your soul - would ever answer that with a yes?

Mirri burst out laughing. Then, oddly enough, she went very serious. “I never fake orgasms,” she said with the tone of a Bond villain delivering an ultimatum.

A second later the intensity vanished and her usual grin returned. “If a guy isn’t good, I just let him finish and that’s that. No reason to fake anything if you’ve got the right partner.” She smiled sweetly at me. “If there was a problem, we’d work on it. I’d coach you. We’d figure it out together. But there isn’t a problem, so you don’t need to worry.”

Then she narrowed her eyes. “So why ask?”

I sighed. “It’s embarrassing.”

Mirri hopped onto my lap without hesitation and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. “If something’s bothering you, you can tell me.”

I chuckled. “It’s not embarrassing for me,” I said. “I… heard Elise earlier. In the library. She was making noises. It sounded like she was practicing.”

Mirri blinked. Then she laughed. “Oh! That.”

She waved a hand dismissively. “Girls do weird things when they’re young. Or inexperienced. We try to prepare, even if we don’t actually know what’s going to happen.” She shrugged. “Most of the time you guys just stumble around until you figure out where to stick it.”

I snorted.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” she continued. Then her grin turned mischievous. “Although it might mean she found someone she wants to practice with.” She wiggled her eyebrows dramatically.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

But once the laughter faded, a new problem settled into my head. How was I supposed to act around Elise now? If she was practicing… was it for me?

I mean, Nim was the only other adult guy around. Unless she’d started something with one of the wizards back in Morentis. Maybe she was planning some kind of long-distance thing.

Or maybe she wasn’t interested in men at all. Maybe she liked Ashlara. Or Mirri. Or Serah. If I had to bet, Serah seemed the most likely. They probably had the most in common.

Then again… Elise blushed whenever I was around. Did that mean it was me?

By the end of the conversation I was just as confused as when I’d asked the question, just for entirely different reasons.

* * *

The next morning, after breakfast, I headed back to the library. I decided the best course of action was to ignore whatever Elise had going on and let her sort it out in her own time. If she was interested in me, she’d eventually say something. If she was interested in someone else, she’d tell them.

Either way, it wasn’t something I needed to meddle in.

Elise was shelving books when I stepped inside, her back to me. Her long white hair had been braided with meticulous care, and her simple white dress was as pristine and wrinkle-free as ever. I greeted her and headed toward the metallurgy section.

She turned, met my eyes, and immediately flushed bright red, mumbling a quiet greeting.

I smiled, retrieved the book I needed, and settled at one of the tables to read.

The next stage of the anvil required steel - which, as it turned out, was simply iron with the right amount of carbon mixed into it.

There were two main ways to make it.

The first method started the same way I’d already been working - producing a bloom of iron in a furnace. A bloom was mostly iron with only a small amount of carbon, though sometimes the outside hardened into steel where the heat and charcoal had unevenly seeped into the metal.

If you wanted reliable steel, though, you had to cut the bloom into smaller pieces and put them in a forge. There they sat buried in charcoal, slowly absorbing carbon from the fuel as the heat worked its way through the metal.

It was a slow, stubborn process that could take hours before the iron transformed into usable steel.

The second method relied more heavily on magic.

Instead of stopping at the bloom stage, you pushed the heat higher - until the iron actually liquefied. This was generally only possible because of magic.

Liquid iron absorbed carbon rapidly, soaking it up from the charcoal and furnace atmosphere. Unfortunately, it absorbed too much, which made the metal brittle. To correct that, the molten iron was poured into molds to form bars. Those bars were then reheated in a different type of furnace, where the excess carbon could slowly burn away until the metal settled into the proper balance.

That process also took hours.

In practice, the first method was what you’d usually find in small towns and villages. It was slower, but it didn’t require much magic.

The second method was more common in cities, where mages were easier to come by and furnaces capable of reaching those temperatures weren’t unusual.

While I read, Elise approached with a stack of books and sat down beside me. I glanced up and gave her a friendly smile.

She blushed again - her pale skin turning a vivid pink - and quickly looked away, opening one of the books in front of her as if it might shield her from view.

I suppressed a smile and went back to reading.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed her peeking at me over the top of her book. Every time I shifted or looked in her direction, she snapped her gaze back down to the page with exaggerated concentration.

After a while she cleared her throat.

“You have been… coming to the library more often recently,” she said, her cheeks coloring again.

I looked up from the page. “Yeah. I’m trying to get a forge running. I really appreciate you letting me use the library. It’s been a huge help.”

She smiled shyly.

An awkward silence settled in.

“Are you… okay?” I asked after a moment.

“Hm?” She looked both surprised and embarrassed.

“You’ve just seemed a little… off lately. I just want to make sure everything’s alright.”

Her blush deepened as she nodded. “I am well,” she said.

She was definitely more flustered than usual. And embarrassed. She didn’t know I’d heard her yesterday, did she? The thought made me blush a little myself.

“Good,” I said.

More silence.

“Everything running smoothly in the library?” I tried.

She nodded again.

We were both awkward. Conversation felt like pulling teeth. I understood why I felt embarrassed, but I had no idea what was going on in her head. She was never particularly talkative, but things usually weren’t this strained.

Eventually I returned to my book, hoping that if we both focused on reading the silence might become less uncomfortable.

It didn’t.

I spent another hour or two studying the process - how to shape the remaining parts of the anvil, how to attach them, and how to finish the surface properly. By the time I was done I felt reasonably confident I understood the steps.

I closed the book and stood. “Thanks again,” I told Elise as I returned the book to the shelf.

She blushed and nodded.

I was almost at the door when she spoke up behind me. “Are you- I mean… do you plan to return again tomorrow?”

I turned back and nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

I gave her a smile and stepped out of the library.

* * *

I checked on the smokehouse first, tossing another armful of wood onto the coals and making sure the racks of meat were still curing properly. The air inside was thick with the scent of smoke and salt. Everything looked fine.

After that, I returned to the workshop.

I’d decided to go with the first method of making steel - smelting another bloom, cutting it apart, then reheating the pieces in the forge until they absorbed enough carbon from the charcoal.

The first step meant building another furnace. Bloom furnaces were essentially disposable - you had to break them apart to extract the iron. So I shaped a fresh one from stone and clay, packed charcoal into the bottom, and got the fire roaring.

Once the heat built up, I began feeding it crushed ore and more charcoal. Ore, charcoal. Ore, charcoal. Over and over, letting the furnace do its slow, patient work.

Eventually the bloom formed - a glowing, spongy mass of iron and slag fused together in the heart of the furnace.

I broke the furnace open and hauled the bloom free.

Using my new hammer, I began pounding the glowing mass to drive out the remaining slag. Without tongs or proper tools, the process was still heavily dependent on magic. I had to use magic to hold the bloom still while I struck it, humming under my breath as the metal rang with each blow.

It was awkward work, but it got the job done.

While the iron was still hot and pliable, I split it into smaller chunks so they would absorb carbon more evenly once they went back into the forge.

By then the sun was already dipping toward the horizon.

I cleaned up the workshop, brushed the soot from my hands, and headed back to the keep to clean up and spend some time with my family before dinner.

* * *

“We should check on the Hordes,” Ashlara said between bites. “If they’re still coming, we need to prepare.”

I sighed and leaned back in my chair. “You’re right.” I turned to Serah. “Are you willing to give me a hand with that tomorrow?”

“Yes,” she said without hesitation. “We need to keep everyone safe.”

“Great. We can head out after your classes finish tomorrow. Does that work for you?”

She nodded gracefully.

After dinner we all pitched in to clean up, then drifted into the common room like we did every night. It had become something of a ritual - one I’d grown surprisingly fond of. I played a little music while the children spread out around the room. Some played games, some listened, some curled up with books.

When it was time for the younger ones to head to bed, I helped tuck them in.

It was a simple routine - brushing teeth, washing hands and faces, climbing under blankets, making sure everyone was safe and comfortable. Simple as it was, it always calmed me. There was something deeply reassuring about knowing everyone under my roof was cared for and accounted for.

Once the little ones were settled, I checked in with Vel and Thae.

They’d counted seventeen Bloodchildren today.

The number still bothered me. They kept arriving, one after another, and we had no idea why they were gathering here or what they wanted.

None of them had spoken so far. Most likely they’d never been taught language, which made it impossible to question them. That left us guessing - and guessing was rarely comforting.

I asked Vel and Thae to restock the shelters with meat tomorrow so none of them went hungry.

I also decided I’d take a trip around the villages in the morning. The walls should be doing their job, but I wanted to see for myself - and make sure the Bloodchildren weren’t causing problems we hadn’t noticed yet.