Enzo quickly covered his hand with the rag, but it was no use. The strong blacksmith gripped his arm and pulled the rag away.

“My god, it is! I haven’t seen one of these in… must be 30 years now,” Tobias said, astonished. “What clan do you come from? What are you doing this far south?”

“Uhh, I’m with the Geschmolzen Red,” Enzo replied hesitantly. “How do you know what this is?”

Tobias turned back to the workbench and tossed Enzo a pair of worn gloves. “Keep these on while you’re in town, not everyone needs to know you’re from a dragon clan.”

“Thanks,” responded Enzo, as he slid the gloves on.

“So that must be what you did with the furnace. Reds are closely related to fire and heat, you must have some level of control over it if they’ve brought you into the clan,” Tobias said contemplatively. He removed the glove on his own hand. “S’pose since I’ve seen yours, I’ll show you mine.”

A hammer and anvil sigil was burned into the back of his hand in the same way Enzo’s molten lava sigil was. It had faded with time, but was unmistakably the mark of another dragon clan. Enzo stared, his mind racing.

If I can control fire, what’s his power? I’ve got to watch out for him, but he knows so much more about my situation than I do. What do I do? I don’t want to press him for information, and I definitely don’t want to piss him off.

“Tell you what, boy. I can see you have questions. How ‘bout this, you come and work with me. Help keep this furnace burning, and maybe we see what else you can do with that heat control. I’ll teach you what I know about the craft, and you can ask your questions, and I promise I’ll answer some of them if I can,” Tobias proposed.

It is tempting, but then I’ll have to commit to being in this town, and I don’t know what Talwen will do. I need to talk to her before I agree to this, she can probably tell me more about his clan and who I’d be working with.

“I’m open to it, but I want to think on it before I commit,” Enzo replied carefully. He pulled the scale from his shoe. “I came to this village looking to sell this scale and pick up some provisions. A…colleague of mine is still in the area and I would speak with her before making any commitments.”

Tobias’ eyes shot wide. “You don’t mean…? That is an issue. You can trust I won’t say anything. I like my life here, I have no desire to see it all burn. Let me see that scale.”

Enzo handed it over to him. The old blacksmith looked it over carefully, taking several tools to measure its size and strength. After noting the results of his examination, he tossed the scale into the furnace.

“Hey! That’s the only bit of money I have!” Enzo shouted but Tobias just chuckled.

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“It’s a red dragon scale, boy. If a bit of fire could damage that scale, how could it possibly have any use to your colleague,” Tobias explained. “For that matter, how could we use it for anything either? No, best to check it this way before we discuss selling the scale.”

The scale sat unbothered in the center of the furnace. The flames had cooled since they’d finished burning the iron ore, but Tobias still reached for his tongs to pull the scale out. It shone in the light of the furnace. Tobias held the tongs in one hand and removed the glove from his other and held it up to the scale.

“It remains untouched,” he stated. “Hold your hand up here, boy.” Enzo did as he was asked. “See how no heat radiates off it? This is a real scale. The scratches and scuffs have been buffed away in the heat, leaving a clean, polished surface. If you had more, we could make a dragonfire shield that would sell for millions of gold pieces in the capital. A single scale alone can’t be made into much, but could be sold on for a good price.”

“A million gold… sounds like a lot,” said Enzo. “Is this something that you could make if you had the materials?”

“Sounds like a lot… You could buy all of this region and be king of this territory for a few million gold,” Tobias said. Tobias walked around Enzo and led him through a side door and back into the shop side of the building. “As it is, I’ll buy this scale from you for 50 silvers.”

Enzo looked around the shop. Swords and shields hung on weapon racks spread around the room, each with a level of craftsmanship and style slightly different than the one next to it. A full coat of armor with intricate purples and golds worked into a lion crest stood behind the counter opposite the front door. Tobias moved behind the counter and gathered up the money. He looked at Enzo expectantly.

“How much would one of these swords cost me?” Enzo asked, stalling. 50 silvers sounds like a good price, but if a shield is worth millions, I might be getting ripped off. No idea how many silvers go into a gold either, this is tricky. I need to sit and ask Talwen questions like this when I get back.

“These?” Tobias asked, gesturing to the weapons hanging around the room. “These are my proof of skill. I’d only sell them to the nobility, and even then for hundreds of gold.”

So the scale is worth quite a bit more than 50 silvers. “Tell you what, I’ll sell you the scale for 75 silvers and a sword,” Enzo responded. “Doesn’t have to be one of these, but I know the scale is worth more than just the silver.”

“Clever boy, I like you,” Tobias responded with a shrewd grin. “How ‘bout this, I’ll teach you to make your own sword and gift you the materials for it. I’ll even throw in the original 50 silver, just because I like you.”

He really wants me to work with him, I can use that. I need to get back to Talwen and talk about this as soon as possible.

“Loan me a sword until I can talk to my colleague, and I’ll return it when I can give you an answer about the apprenticeship,” countered Enzo. “And the 65 silver tonight, I still have some other things to take care of.”

Tobias smiled and shook his head. “Damn clever boy. Fine, it’s a deal, but I won’t be loaning you one of these masterpieces.” He drew a basic, steel straight sword from under the counter and counted out the coin. “This’ll have to do for you, no one carries one of my works of art unless they’ve earned it, and son, I don’t have to be a great warrior to see you’ve never swung a sword before.”

“Alright, fair enough,” Enzo said as he took the sword and coins from the counter. “So, uh, how exactly does money work here?”