A blacksmith and his apprentice

Introduction

Elyelen has already worked for almost half a day in the hot workshop and sweat is running down her face as she hammers the steel blank into the desired form. Her black hair sticks to the side of her face as she continues to work tirelessly. Today is the first time that Master Bricio not only gave her small tasks to do, but today she is supposed to the first piece all by her own as a test of her abilities. The first piece is going to be a small dagger and Bricio has high hopes, that his apprentice will do a good job. Meanwhile, Elyelens thoughts go back to her family. She has moved far away after the much too early of her husband. ~Oh Aewethor... I miss you so much.~ She has always been a bit of an outcast in the elven society due to her lack of magical talent. Her family was always supportive of everything she did, but even they could not always hide the disappointment in their eyes. Blacksmithing, however, seems to be something that she is actually pretty good at and she intends to be as good as Master Bricio one day.

Bricio also has his own work to do, but sometimes he looks over at what his apprentice is doing. He is still rather young, in his late twenties, and from the blacksmithing work he is in very good shape. He keeps his hair short and has a full beard. It feels like ages ago for him, but a long time ago he was a conscript in the imperial army. Thankfully, he did not have to fight in any major wars and afterwards he was slowly able to build up his business here in Nel, one of the bigger cities in the empire and known for being a hub of trade with the biggest port of all the cities. For a moment he looses himself as he watches his apprentice work. She looks determined, but at the same time strangely elegant as she hits the steel with the hammer. Only her voice rips him out of the thoughts that he has.

"Bricio? Can you take a look at this?"

The blacksmith chuckles a bit as he walks over to his apprentice. He has long given up on teaching her that the correct way of addressing him would be 'Master Bricio', at least for the duration of her apprenticeship.

"Of course, what is it?"

The elf looks at him, smiles a bit, and then looks down to the blade she has forged.

"Do you think the shape is good?"