[Mkguild] First Steps (15b & 16/?)

[Nathan Pfaunmiller]

After posting my last story, I realized that I forgot to add the last
part I had intended to post with it.  Since I had time to add to it, I
started to, only to run up against the curfew.  A few days later, here
are two parts; the last section of part 15, and the new part 16.

-LurkingWolf

________________________

	Lois and Drift sat near the forge again resting from the day’s work.
It had been a strange, impromptu day of work that had ended with far
more failures than successes.  They had been attempting to cast a thin
rod of metal that would still provide enough support to handle a man’s
weight.  Their luck had been mixed at best; most of the rods had some
subtle fault that caused them to fail under any sort of pressure.
Now, however, Lois turned their final attempt over in his hands,
smiling.

	“It holds up quite well,” the ermine commented.  He had rolled up his
wide sleeves and belted them just below the shoulder to keep from
ruining them while he assisted Drift.  He had not planned to work in a
forge for most of the day, but in the end it had been quite a good
day, despite its many failures.

	“Finally,” Drift griped, mostly to himself.  “I know how to forge a
solid rod, but for some reason the ones we have been casting all day
have found ways to fail.  My infernal luck, I’d say.”

	Lois shrugged.  “Honestly, the fact that you were willing to work on
it on such short notice was a surprise.”

	The samoyed shrugged.  “As I said, I needed something to take my mind
off of that contraption in my workshop.  That, and I certainly think
that the idea has merit.  While the original idea has specific
application to your friend and his leg structure, I believe that it
could be applied to other types of leg.  Human, other animals…
Perhaps any legged creature who might need something of the sort.”

	Lois nodded.  “I still intend to help fund this project,” he commented.

	Drift nodded, rubbing some dirt from his fur.  “I would appreciate
that.  I don’t think that I will need much for materials, but it will
probably take quite a while to get a working prototype, especially if
today’s luck continues.”  He took the rod from Lois and turned it over
a few times.  “This is a good start, but I’m going to need more exact
measurements from your friend before we can really move forward too
much.”  He stood, grabbing Lois’ pencil from where he had placed it on
a workbench and scrawling a few notes in the margins of one of the
nearly-full parchment pages that he had been working with over the
course of the day.

	“I’ll need at least this much information from your friend,” he said,
handing it to Lois.  The handwriting was different from what Lois
usually saw, but he managed to decipher it easily.

	“I think I’ll be able to find a way to get this information.  Most of
us were already planning to help him come by a wooden leg if nothing
else, so getting the measurements should be reasonably inconspicuous.”

	Drift frowned slightly.  “Why are you keeping it a secret from him?”
he asked quietly.

	“Insurance,” Lois answered with a sigh.  “I cannot guarantee that
this will work for him, so I do not want to get his hopes up.  He has
had enough of his hopes dashed as it is.”

	Drift nodded, heaving a bit of a sigh.  “Very well.  I will certainly
do what I can to make this endeavor a success.  I will caution you
that, even with the measurements this will likely take several weeks,
if not a month or two, to complete.  This rod,” he gestured with their
small success for the evening, “is just enough to show that we can
support a great amount of weight without causing an unreasonable
burden on the wearer.  There are still other issues like… like
pivoting and how the hoof reacts to being set on the ground in various
types of terrain—“

	“Wait, hoof?” Lois asked.  “I didn’t know we were going to pay that
much attention to details.”

	Drift nodded slowly.  “I hope to do as much as is reasonably possible
to make this feel like an actual leg.  No need to skimp on details
unless there really isn’t a way to make it happen.  That said, working
on some sort of joint that will work correctly in most situations…”
And like that he had retrieved another piece of parchment, and this
time began amending the drawing he had sketched on it before.  Lois
smiled, but cleared his throat to get the attention of the smith.

	“Unfortunately, I must beg your leave at this point,” he announced.
“I do have some other business that I wish to attend to before I turn
in for the evening.”

	The dog nodded.  “It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” he
replied.  His hands were too occupied by his work to offer a
handshake, but that suited Lois well enough.  He stepped quickly
towards the door, retrieving his vest from where he had haphazardly
draped it sometime before and pulling it on.  With a final wave, he
exited the samoyed’s tinsmithy.

	Unfortunately, as soon as the door closed behind him, Lois ran into
something and tripped, causing him to stumble several steps before
regaining his balance.  Though he was able to regain his balance,
however, he was unable to react quickly enough to save his ears from
the panicked scream he heard.

	He whirled in time to see who it was that he had collided with, and
when he had identified her he quickly stepped to her side.

	“Paula!  What are you doing here?” he asked.

	She babbled incoherently for several moments before finally calming
herself and speaking.  “I’m sorry—so sorry I…”  She looked up finally
and saw who it was.  “Lois!  I’ve been looking for you everywhere, but
the Keep hasn’t been—oh, you must think I am such a fool I—“

	“Paula, calm down,” Lois instructed.  He reached a hand towards her,
but she flinched back, snapping at him as she did.

	“Don’t!  Don’t touch—Don’t—I’m fine just—“  She was unable to spit
out anything coherent before she took a second to take a few deep
breaths.

	“What’s wrong, Paula?” he asked quietly.  He had only seen someone
react like that once before, and that was—

	“It’s nothing, I’m fine.”  Her voice was level once again, as level
as it had ever been, even if there was still a tense edge to it.  “You
just frightened me.  I’ve been walking in these halls alone for a
while now.  You came out of nowhere.”

	“I just came out of—“  Lois stopped, turning to the side as he
realized that the door to the smithy was gone.  That at least
explained why Drift had not reacted to Paula’s screams.  He turned
back to her and shook his head.  “I just stepped through a door.  Kyia
really wanted to have us meet, I suppose, so she made certain our
paths crossed.”

	Paula nodded, pulling a few loose hairs behind her ear.  She shivered
for a moment like she had felt a cold draft, then turned and smiled at
Lois.  “I’m sorry I’ve been absent at our practices for a while.
Some… things came up at home.  I wasn’t certain what would happen if I
tried to get out for the last few nights, so I played it safe.”

	Lois nodded.  “You’re very jumpy, are you sure you should be here?”

	She laughed uneasily.  “Sure?  No, I’m not sure.  I just know that if
I didn’t try now I probably wouldn’t be able to work up the nerve
again.  So, are you able to train me for a little while tonight?”

	Lois considered.  He wasn’t dressed for it particularly, but he
hadn’t been dressed for smithing either.  At the moment, there was
little he could do to further harm his clothing, so he nodded and
smiled.  “I think I could put in a few hours,” he replied.

	The two walked in an awkward silence for a few minutes, which was all
the time that Kyia needed to redirect them to their usual training
area.  Lois quickly dropped his vest and started to adjust the belts
that held his sleeves up, but he frowned.  He had not worn this shirt
with training in mind.  Sighing, he pulled the laces loose and pulled
the shirt over his head.  At least he had his fur to keep the winter
chill from freezing him.

	As he turned back from depositing his shirt to the side, he caught
Paula staring off to one side blankly, her eyes unfocussed.

	“Paula?” he said quietly.

	She turned back to him, eyes slowly focusing.  She seemed strangely
uncomfortable for a moment, but she managed to quickly regain her
composure.  “Are you ready?” she asked.

	Lois nodded.  He was certain that something was wrong, but he didn’t
know just what it was.  Something was bothering her.  She had been
uncomfortable since her change, but he had never seen her like this.
Hopefully it would pass.  For now, they had plenty of time to make up,
and there was no time for that like the present.