“So I’m on the right track then. I should be able to make it smaller no problem, but how will I get it sturdier? Is it just a question of what materials I use?” He looked up from his mutterings and turned to Thera. “How did it feel to use? Was there any issues?”

“Nothing major, I was able to use that spell about as well as I can with Falk’s staff.”

“That's good, but you could only do it once. I would like you to at least get four uses out of it before it breaks to put me on par with what Falk thought I could do. I’ll have to experiment with some of the materials in the shop, maybe try something that has natural earth resistance? Or should I try to make a better composite material?”

“Um, so you think you’ll be able to make something stronger then?”

“Without a doubt, it’s more of a question of how long it will take. For now let's head back to the shop.”

As they wandered back into town Ben decided it was time to ask a question that had been on his mind for a while now.

“So just to be clear, do you not like being touched in general or is it something about me in particular that bothers you?”

“What? Where did that come from?”

“I mean it’s pretty obvious. Any time I’ve come close you’ve backed off immediately. It’s not a problem or anything. I'll totally respect your boundaries, I just want to know if it’s because of me in particular.”

“It’s not you, I just… I’m not one for physical contact. If you’ll respect that then it’s fine.”

“Alright cool,” A small load felt like it had been lifted from Ben's mind. Everyone has their preferences, he was just happy to know it wasn’t anything against him as a person. “In that case, want to grab a bite?”

“I say I don’t have a problem with you and your first thought is to make a move on me?” She responded, going on guard immediately.

He raised his hands in defense of himself. “Woah now, nobody’s making a move on anybody, least of all my teacher's niece. I just thought it would be nice to try and get along since we’ll be working together for a while. I don’t really know anyone in town aside from Falk.”

She let out a long sigh at his response, it would be easier to reject him if he was trying to flirt instead of just wanting to make a friend. “Look, you seem like a nice enough person but I’m not looking to make any friends. All that does is complicate things.”

“Fair enough,” He responded with a smile, though inside he was more than a little crestfallen. He really didn’t have much of an idea on how to meet people and currently his only social interaction was with Falk and Myriad.

It would just be nice to have some more company outside of my head.

Still, he was hungry anyway so he stopped at a food cart for a bowl of… well it was something and the taste wasn’t bad so it probably didn’t matter, before scarfing it down and making it back to the shop.

They greeted Falk and Ben went back to the storage room to grab some new materials. At this point he had a pretty good idea of the properties of what was around so he grabbed a few that seemed like they could be useful and got experimenting.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

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Thera had followed Ben back to the shop without much thought, but now that she was there she honestly wasn’t sure why she had come. She had just finished telling him she wasn’t interested in making friends and now here she was wasting her day hanging out with him.

Well, it couldn’t strictly be called hanging out. “Does he always get so absorbed in his work, uncle?” The moment he grabbed everything he wanted from the storage room it was like nobody else was there.

“Why do you think he keeps falling asleep in the shop? Before I gave him a key I would always have to pull him from his work by nightfall or he wouldn’t notice the time himself.”

“Seems like he needs a hobby.”

“He has his own problems just like you Thera, be nice to the boy.”

“I’m not the one always calling him a brat,” She said, giving her uncle what he suspected would be a pointed look if her face wasn’t covered.

“Bah, I do it with affection. He’ll start to grow on you. So are you going to head back and help Sonya at the clinic or stick around for a bit?”

“There's not really any reason to stay, I just thought I would say hi.”

“Well why not watch the boy work for a bit? You might enjoy it.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Let's say it's to teach you to appreciate the amount of work that goes into one of your staves. Besides I remember when you were a kid you’d always fall asleep after watching me work for hours.”

“I’m not a child anymore,” She replied reflexively, before giving it a little more thought. “But I guess it couldn’t hurt to stay for a little at least.”

Falk gave her a smile which she ignored and went to sit a little way from Ben. He really didn’t notice she was there and she had to remember he had the focus skill, though she personally wasn’t sure of its effects it seemed clear enough, and she had to wonder if he could tune out the world like that because he had the skill or if he had the skill because he was so naturally good at it.

Whatever it was he was completely absorbed in his work, which at the moment entailed grinding a variety of horns and bones in a mortar and pestle into a fine powder. She remembered watching Falk do the same when she was younger and thought he had been able to do it a lot quicker, but then again her uncle’s levels were probably a lot higher than Ben's at the time, she shouldn’t compare.

He was thorough in his work though, not taking his eyes off each material until it reached his standards, before putting the finished powder into a bowl off to the side and starting on the next one. Once all of that was done he went to the forge and pulled out some metal bars he must have put into it before she had come over and started pounding it out into a flatter sheet, and sprinkled some of the powdered bone or claw onto it before folding it in on itself, pounding it down again, and adding more.

The process repeated for six or seven more times, reheating as necessary before he was apparently satisfied with that particular sheet. It was left just outside the forge, but close enough that it would keep some of its heat. From there he repeated the processes again and again with different powders and different metals.

Thera would be embarrassed to admit that Falk had been right, this really was reminding her of when she would watch him work as a child. Seeing Ben's focus on his task helped the time flow by easily, it was at least more entertaining than helping clean for her aunt.

Once all the metals were apparently done, at least in his eyes, he started to cut a few smaller strips from two of them while leaving the other three in their original state, and started to wrap one around the other, and then the next on top of it and so on, until he had something a bit more thick and stout than the staves he had given her to use earlier that day.

When she saw what he’d made she thought it was about done, that it would still be a while before he could get it any smaller and she would just have to get used to using a bulkier tool for a while, but he continued to process it. It was put back into the forge and once heated was hammered and rolled out, stretching the material in length.

Once he had it a little longer than twice the length she would normally use, he hammered a wedge into the middle of it, breaking it in two before taking some time to round the ends off both into a nicer shape.

With that done he took a second to appraise his work, before stopping and yelling.

“Ah god damn it!”