Sett was sitting up on his bed. He was still a bit drowsy but he’d mostly shaken off the sleep. He had pleasant dreams about his mother which were slowly fading away, and a lingering dream about the Rainat he killed all those years ago. He figured by now that that probably wasn’t the Rainat that took his mother, and neither was its mate his father killed. They were too far from the spot where she fell, and it had apparently fled in a different direction, away from the mountain. Rainat weren’t common even in the Fidar mountains, but they weren't rare either. It's quite likely that the two Rainat they had killed back then were not the one they wanted.
After that day, Sett had processed his emotions healthily, and he didn't hold any resentment towards the species. That was an absurd thought, though it seemed very reasonable to his rage-addled mind back then. He knew there was no malice in the attack that killed Saecca, only hunger and instinct. The beast hunted for sustenance and his mother just happened to be near it. Just like his parents hunted in the woods. He didn't feel any guilt over killing the two Rainat that day, but he did learn to control his emotions better, especially his anger. He had never been that enraged ever before, so lost in emotion that all thought or reason had been abandoned.
He tucked his mother's knife, now his, onto his belt as he left the house. He had no use for a hunting knife in a smithy, but it felt good to have a piece of her with him. The sun had just begun its journey to its zenith, as Sett briskly walked through the garden surrounding the residences. There was a slight chill in the morning, and the clouds were thick. The path wasn't crowded but it was fairly active. The early farmers were on their way to the farms, his father would be joining them soon. Thane was always early to his smith and Sett had willingly inculcated that habit himself.
As he reached the commercial district, he noticed a lot more activity than before. Specifically, the activity of the Sheriffs. Their black full-sleeved shirts, thick leather body armour, and their crests bearing the round shield symbol were instantly recognisable. He hadn’t seen this many Sheriffs at once before since Mupnal doesn’t get many instances of serious crime. They were walking in and out of stores, clearly investigating something. A fair few were even armed with wooden batons, and Sett even spotted a rifle in an important looking Sheriff's hand.
The Sheriffs were the first sign of something brewing, and Sett spotted the second as soon as he entered the main street running through the district. There were at least a few dozen soldiers wearing the red plate armor of the Krakarian Military Corps walking around the street, their round helmets glistening in the morning sun. Most were armed with rifles, but Sett spotted a few with melee weapons. There were at least 3 officers he could see, recognisable by the golden colored runes on their chest plates, and capes of darker red. He imagined Brec would have the time of his life seeing so much imperial red, but Sett was immediately wary.
He knew something big was happening, something bigger than Mupnal usually dealt with. He walked cautiously, keeping an eye on the troopers. He wasn’t the only one, as most citizens had a look of displeasure. He spotted a familiar Sheriff, and ran to gather some intel.
“Hey! Jonran!”
“Sett? Good morning. Are you headed to the smithy?”
“Yeah man, do you know what’s going on?”
Jonran, brother of the butcher and Sapp’s hunting mate Jon, sighed. He had joined the Sheriffs after failing the Military test to spite his parents for naming him ‘Jon 2’.
“You don’t need to know, kid. We’ll take care of it.”
“Don’t be like that Jon 2… you can tell me,” Sett drawled, grinning as he saw Jonran’s expression change.
“Call me that one more time kid, and I’ll drag you to your father.”
“I’m just kidding Jonran, I’m sorry. Come on, tell me, maybe I can help?”
Jonran sighed again. He held out a paper with a detailed drawing of a messy haired man with a tense expression.
“This is a fugitive from Central City. He stole something from an important alchemist visiting from Krakar II. They wouldn’t tell us what, only that he got on a train and ended up here.”
“Who is he? Why here?”
“The military intercepted the train here, so he got off to escape. We’ll bring him to justice right here in Mupnal,” Jonran declared with a determined look that Sett found amusing.
“Who is he though?”
“That’s classified kid, nothing you need to know,”Jonran said with a stern expression.
“Thanks Jon 2! Tell your brother I said hi!”
“You little shit, I’ll-”
Sett grinned and ran off in the direction of the smithy before the Sheriff could finish his threat.
The smithy was locked when he got there, which was strange because Thane was usually earlier than him. He held the key against the locking runes and opened the door. He channeled a little Ether into the activation plate, and lit the forge. As it heated up, he brought one of the half completed plows onto the workbench and began his day.
A whole hour later, when the forge was emanating adequate heat, Thane burst through the door, carrying his laughing daughter in one arm. Big Man Thane fully lived up to his moniker, a towering giant nearly 7 feet tall, with equally large muscles adorning his frame. He had the upper part of his gray heat-resistant jumpsuit tied around his waist, exposing the black vest he wore within.
Sett smiled as he saw the morning light reflecting off of the big man’s bald head. Thane had, at one point, boasted a thick mane of hair and a beard that touched his belly. A blacksmith’s skill is measured by the length of their beard, he had once declared. Until one day in the forge a year before Sett began his apprenticeship, a few embers found refuge in his thick beard and started a fire. Since then Thane kept his head and face shaved, his views taking a complete turn. A blacksmith who keeps his beard exposed to the flames is worse than an apprentice, he then declared.
“Sett! You are early!”
“No man, you're late. Hi Aiya”
“Yes, it seems I am! Aiya wanted to stare at the red plates and I stared with her”
Thane’s booming voice was amplified by the layout of the smithy. It took Sett weeks to get used to it when he first started working.
“Hi Sett aba! The soldiers were scary! I asked them if I could shoot their guns and they made scary faces at dad!”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Aiya had climbed up to Thane's shoulders and made them her perch. Sett pitied the poor troopers who had to deal with the little gremlin.
“I asked Jonran about it. Apparently there's some fugitive from Central”
“Yes, Alia had informed me. She said the alchemist was…a bad man”
“Mama said he was a fucking asshole!”
Sett grinned at Thane's expression. It was inevitable that the 9 year old would pick up her parents' colorful vocabulary.
“So what brings you here you little gremlin? School kicked you out?” Sett asked the kid. Thane would normally never let anyone speak to his daughter that way, but Sett had earned some big brother privileges over the years.
“There's no school today and auntie Mary and auntie Jas couldn't take me in”
Sett could guess why auntie Mary and auntie Jas couldn't take the curly haired devil in, but he held his mouth. He turned back to the plow he was shaping on the anvil as Thane let her down and adjusted his jumpsuit.
“I heard you finished Laira’s commission. She called me last night and gushed for hours. Good job, Sett,” Thane said as he patted Sett on his back, a gesture that would've knocked Sett to the ground a few years ago.
“Auntie Laira wears ugly clothes. My eyes hurt sometimes,” Aiya added.
“Yeah, she liked them. I've finished my first commision so…” Sett looked at his mentor expectantly.
“Yes. You have. We shall start Ether Crafting tomorrow.”
Sett slapped the anvil in elation, continuing his work with a huge grin.
By afternoon, mentor, apprentice, and distraction stared at the completed plow together. The trio wore well-deserved smiles.
“Aiya and I shall head to Fen’s Patisserie for lunch. You should get some food too Sett, but also head to Luke's store. I am expecting some raw iron, and we need more flux too. He will know what you are there for.”
“YESS!! CAKEEE!!” Aiya screamed with the power of a voice that was clearly an inheritance from her father.
Sett made his way to the metal dealer’s store with a sandwich in hand. He hoped Luke had some water as he was beginning to choke. He cursed when he realised he hadn’t shown his new hunting knife to Thane, and heard his opinion about the craftsmanship, but all thoughts of that disappeared as he stopped in his tracks. He noticed a commotion near the intersection with the road going to the eastern farms. A woman screamed and ran, and a few people retreated away from the road hurriedly. A crowd of red plates, an officer, and Sheriffs were rushing towards the junction, brandishing their weapons.
Sett saw the Ether blast first, coming from the East road and crashing into a store, shattering glass. A man with short, uneven hair and a face that seemed slightly familiar rushed out of East road, and sprinted towards the direction Sett had come from. A soldier shot once more, missing his target but grazing a pedestrian. There was a shout from the officer, and the soldier who shot stayed back. Another rifle blast rang out and this one hit true, however a translucent shield popped up to block it.
An ability? Or a mage?
By this point Sett had concluded that the cops had found their man. The military officer, clearly frustrated, drew his sword. It was a proper longsword, with a knobbed hilt. Sett watched as it glowed a deep red akin to the cape the man was wearing. The man held the sword above his head as he ran, swinging it downwards in a quick arc. A crimson crescent shot out of the swing, brimming with energy. The semicircular attack moved faster than any Ether blast, and shattered the target’s shield like it was paper. The criminal was sturdy enough to not be split into two, but he had come close. In a fountain of blood, the man’s body was barely being held together by his skin as he collapsed, lifeless. The officer resheathed his sword calmly as the crowd watched without a sound.
Sett looked around and saw the citizen who was hit by the blast. He was clutching his arm like it was broken, but his skin hadn’t been pierced. Sett concluded they hadn’t used lethal blasts, although they came dangerously close. The crowd, which had hushed their angry protests when the officer displayed his power, slowly began cursing again. A lady threw a vegetable at a red plate, and the shopkeeper who’s window was shattered confronted a Sheriff about his damages. The crowd was agitated, and the soldiers quickly retrieved the corpse and withdrew, leaving the Sheriffs to handle the fallout.
Sett watched as the crowd gathered around the Sheriffs, consciously avoiding the pool of blood that had once been the fugitive. He imagined most shops would close up soon, especially on this corner of the district. His gaze lingered on the East road for a few moments, but he shook his head and ran to Luke’s before the man closed shop.
He had managed to catch Luke as he was locking his door, and they chatted for a bit about the recent scene. After finding out the status of the raw iron delivery, and obtaining a promise of flux early the next morning, Sett jogged back to the smithy. He noticed the crowd around the East road intersection had thinned, and a couple of Sheriffs were cleaning up the blood. The injured man had presumably been taken to the hospital, and two Sheriffs were taking the brunt of the vandalised shopkeeper’s anger. He didn’t linger in the area for too long, though his thoughts once again drifted to where the criminal came from.
It appeared that either news of what had happened didn’t reach auntie Fen’s patisserie or the relish of her cake was so strong that it blocked out any commotion happening around, because Sett opened the smithy doors to see father and daughter sprawled across the floor, snoring loudly enough to shake the very foundation of the smithy. There was no chance Thane would leave his daughter around firing rifles, so they clearly were oblivious.
Sett debated waking them up, but he judged the danger over, and decided to let them sleep a little more. He gently lifted Aiya and adjusted her position so that her head rested on her father’s arm, and began his work. He picked up another plow to begin shaping, but switched to a scythe for a little variety. His hammering barely matched the duo’s snoring, and it wasn’t nearly loud enough to wake them. He didn’t mind the solitude though, and he had to admit Aiya seemed less like the devil and more like an angel when she’s asleep.
It took another 2 hours before Thane emerged from his slumber, Aiya was still out cold however.
“Ugh. Fen’s cakes are laced with slumber leaves or something,” Thane said as he blinked off his sleep. He shuffled to the canister of water beside the storeroom and drank, before splashing some on his face.
“A lot happened when you were snoring away. Didn’t you hear anything?”
“I was sleeping Sett, I do not hear in my sleep”
“I meant when you were out. The cops found their guy. Killed him in the streets, some civilians caught strays too. I watched it all happen”
“What?! They shot people on the streets?!” Thane’s voice rose with anger.
“Yeah, they were aiming for the criminal though. I reckon most shops are closed now.”
Thane had a fuming look, clearly upset at what happened.
“It’s over now though. The crowd was upset and the Sheriffs got a good deal of that anger,” he added, trying to diffuse the situation. “Oh, also Luke was closing up when I reached him, and he said he’ll bring the flux himself first thing tomorrow morning. And the iron will be ready in a week.”
Thane barely nodded, still in deep thought. He then turned around and left the smithy without a word. Sett assumed he had gone to investigate the situation himself. This was the first time Sett had seen the big man in such a serious mood, but it was understandable. He didn’t have a great opinion on the Military to begin with, and this was an unprecedented incident in the history of the commune.
Thane returned almost an hour later, looking exhausted. He sat down on a stool and explained, “They are done with the clean up. Citizens are being compensated. Apparently, people were knocking on the doors of the Council members, so they have called a grand assembly tomorrow at Trent Park.”
“The compensation’s not from Krakarians or the military I’m guessing?”
“No. The Council is arranging it themselves.” The big man signed and added, “Most shops are closing up. We should too. Go home Sett, we shall figure things out tomorrow.” Thane slowly woke his daughter up as Sett prepared to close up.
Sett cautiously made his way back home, noticing a few Sheriffs plodding about looking drained. This was the most they’ve had to do in a single day since Sett could remember. He reached the East Road intersection and paused.
After less than a minute of thought, he turned and hurried into the East road.