“Duncan?”, Anu stuck her head through the door of the forge.

“Come in!”, a voice yelled back.

Anu, spider in tow behind her, wandered around the forge in search of Duncan. She found him kneeling over a large unfinished circuit, oblivious to Anu behind him.

“Duncan?” “Oh! Anu! Let me just finish up here”

Anu knelt down to help. A difficult junction to wire up. Crossing lines in a circuit was a ‘very bad’ idea, and a large part of the skill was being able to untangle the necessary connections.

“If we move the inducer inside the main ring, and then set up another one outside in resonance, the connection won’t be as good but”, Duncan finished Anu’s sentence, “but it will hold together far longer. Ha! Serves me right for trying to cut costs”.

He had a smile, but his face looked exhausted. He was happy for Anu, but he realised work would be a lot harder without her. A lot less fun, too. Having an apprentice was a well needed dose of enthusiasm, and his escape from this dull mountain town.

“I didn’t know I’d be laughing the day my best assistant left”, Duncan sighed. “I’m not sad you’re leaving Anu, I’m sad because I’ll be stuck here. Speaking of...”

Duncan put his tools away, covering the unfinished work in a tarpaulin. Anu’s suggestion would work, but it could wait.

“I suppose you’re here for your earnings. I can hand them over now, but, I can also arrange for my Brother to pay you when you arrive in Verse, and give you a little, now”

Anu agreed readily.

“I didn’t say it explicitly, but yes, you can keep ‘The Mechanics of Mana’, oh! that reminds me. The Library might have parts I and III of your other keepsake too, but anyway, I was going to ask, could you let me gift it to you properly?”

She pulled out the handbook, handing it over to Duncan. There was at least eight pieces of paper sticking out, stuck between the pages, and the leather binding had cracked in several places. She’d scrawled all over Duncan’s copy, adding her own notes and calculations. It was meant to be the reference copy for the forge.

Anu was a little embarrassed. Duncan tried not to laugh at her. He flipped open the book, and wrote a quick note. Closing the book, Duncan had an idea

“Oh!”. He rushed off to a corner of the forge, and rushed back with a thin sheet of leather.

“and a binding, right, here it is.”. On a nearby table, he spread the sheet out, positioning the book atop of it. Marking out several points first, he glued it over the original cover, cut it to shape, then folded in the excess.

Duncan was proud of his tiny victory. His forge, being one of the few workshops in the mining town, had to be prepared to fix almost everything.

“Fixing both the magical, and the mundane, Ha! A gift for you that’s a little of both. I put a bit of extra glue on the spine too.”

“Thank you Duncan”, Anu beamed. It was her copy now.

“Well, that’s almost everything, but, Anu, I was really hoping to see your Familiar before you left. Everyone’s talking about the spider in a bow.”

Anu stared at Duncan, spun her head around trying to find where it had gone to.

“It was with me outside”

The two walked outside, No spider. Inside the forge, off towards the storage, they discovered the spider examining the products on display.

“I see you found something more curious than you Anu”

Anu pouted, ignoring Duncan, she walked over to the spider, tugging on its bow. Anu nodded in Duncan’s direction, once she had the spider’s attention.

The spider, it seemed, could understand what she said, even when she didn’t say anything.

When Anu had asked about it, through a long, long series of yes or no questions, she had come to understand two things. The spider wasn’t reading her mind, but, when she spoke, she would be thinking ‘at’ the spider. The spider was also thinking ‘at’ Anu, but anything more complicated than Yes or No answers gave Anu headaches. The spider promised it would get easier in time.

“Duncan, This is my familiar. A mana weaver. ”

“Nice to meet you, um... Anu, does it have a name?”

Anu turned to the spider, with a look of ‘Do you?’

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The spider lifted it’s legs to say Yes, then paused. Then went to cross. Then paused. The spider had learned to be moderate when answering.

Duncan interrupted, “Anu, if I could. Does your hive have a name?”

The spider waved enthusiastically. “That’s a yes, Duncan”, Anu interpreted

“... and you, this spider here, do you have a name?”

“That’s a no. Thank you Duncan. I think the spider is saying thank you too, yep”

“While we’re all here, Anu...”, Duncan walked over to a chest, pulling out a short sword, “remember this commission? The barrier ward? Follow me back to the workshop”

Looking at the spider, he added “You too”

The sword was engraved with a barrier circuit, activated by plunging it into the ground. Designed for travellers, and used by workers at the mine, for temporary defences overnight.

“Anu, I had you make one extra. This is yours. Don’t refuse. The textbook, Sure, that’s been effectively yours for years now, the new book is a birthday gift, but this, this is from Teacher to Apprentice. You don’t get to refuse.”

Duncan explained that as a Smith, she should have a piece of her work acknowledged by the Teacher.

“Pretty much any of the stuff you’ve made would be fine, but I wanted to you to have something a little more practical. I just need to get my guild stamp.”

Duncan disappeared into a corner of the workshop, returning with a leather bag. Inside was a solid, heavy, polished wooden box, with a metal plaque. Duncan fumbled with the box to retrieve a small golden rod.

Putting it to one side, he clamped the sword onto a workbench. Using a mallet, he used the rod to stamp out his mark onto the blade, just above the hilt.

“You’ll need to stamp the other side, but you can do that when you register at the City.”

Handling the sword over to Anu, he added, “It’s meant to be ceremonial, Anu, but i’m not sure you’d like a sword you’re not meant to use.”

As Duncan put away his stamp, back inside the box, he took out a small dagger. “See? You’d probably think this was pointless, but, anyway.”. Duncan placed his ceremonial tools carefully back in the box, clearing the workspace.

“That’s it. Your earnings are waiting for you with my Brother, You’ve got your mark of an apprentice too. Congratulations Anu. “

Duncan beamed. “I am so proud of you. Make sure to cause plenty of trouble at the Academy. And it was wonderful to meet you too, Anu’s Familiar”.

“Anu, before you start thinking of names”

“Yes Duncan, I am pretty sure ‘What name would you like?’ is already the right question to ask”

“Uhuh. Well, let me ask one last question, my final act as your teacher. Have you tried asking it to write things down? I’ve only seen you playing twenty questions.”

Anu paused. Looking at the spider, she started to ask “Can you write?” but the spider had already responded, ‘No’.

“Well, I see the two of you have much to discuss, and, the journey to Verse is at least a month away by foot. You’ll have plenty of time to work things out”

It was time to go.

Anu packed away the sword, along with her now repaired book.

She herded the spider out of the workshop, Duncan following behind. He was enjoying watching Anu bicker with the spider, if only overhearing one part of it.

“Here’s the letter Anu, my brother should look out for you.”

Anu took the letter, tucking it inside a book before packing them away.

“Thank you Duncan”.

“You too. Oh and don’t take any crap from my Brother.”

Anu stretched up to give Duncan a hug, “I won’t”

“and uh, I have friends in the Smith’s guild, but I did leave behind some grumpy customers in Verse. I’m sorry if it gets you into any trouble”

“I’ll make my own trouble, Duncan”

Anu smiled, Duncan laughed, she joined in.

“The student has become the teacher. Just one more thing and I’ll finish being your teacher, Anu, if you would be so kind?”

“Sure”

“Anu, contracting an animal is a responsibility, a duty of care. I know the spider is quite smart, but you can’t expect it to work out everything for you. When you teach, you have to be extra careful to check your assumptions. Like ‘this spider can only answer yes/no’ questions”

Anu frowned. Duncan was right, but she didn’t want to explain that the spider, not her, started the contract. Anu felt the spider should be the one being lectured.

“Or, I have to be the one to give you a name. I’m not the only one who thinks your names are terrible, Anu.“

“Finnneeee. Thank you teacher”

Her names *weren’t terrible*, just, straight forward, she felt. “Partitioned space device” was a perfect fine way to describe a barrier. The spider didn’t like her suggestions of “Fam”,“ider”,or “eight”, or “leggy”, and she wasn’t enjoying Duncan’s giggling in the background either.

“and to you, her familiar. Anu is a headstrong, determined girl, almost an adult. Both of you have the opportunity to grow, and support each other. Every lesson for the teacher is a lesson for the student too, and vice-versa. Even if her names are rubbish”

The spider waved eagerly, stopping once Anu glared at it. The spider made a much quieter wave of ‘yes’.

“Good luck, the both of you”, Duncan nodded towards the pair, and returned to the workshop.

“Come on, you.”

Anu shrugged towards the town exit.

As Anu slumped towards the exit, she bickered. Duncan could make out the last of it, as the two disappeared.

“What’s wrong with ider?”

“How about S?”

“Do you have any ideas?”

Duncan smiled, returning to work. Some pride, some envy, but mostly, he was happy for Anu. He also felt that a familiar as stubborn as she was made for a good fit. It was at least three week’s journey to Verse, and at least Anu had interesting company.

It might be another 3 years before he would see her again. His forge was a little bit lonelier.

The workshop still had a few of Anu’s items on display, now she was gone, Duncan thought it best to put them to one side. He collected the handful of wards and weapons, and found a suitable trunk, storing them safely along side his other valuables, including his guild stamp.

He told himself that he was being sentimental.

Really, he a little too embarrassed to admit that Anu had outdone him, once or twice.

He was a better smith, but Anu had a real knack for laying out circuits. Circuits were designed on paper, but were inscribed onto objects. Duncan had learned to just strengthen the circuit, but Anu would come up with sightly bizarre modifications to fit.

Sitting at his desk he went over the circuit from earlier.

Anu’s offhanded suggestion would work. After testing the numbers on paper, it came out as expected, a little lower in efficiency. Unfortunately, he hadn’t asked her about the crucial details: how to lay out the circuit in practice.

He was too embarrassed to ask her for help on the last day he was a teacher. It was an important day for him, he’d prepared his words in advance, just to make sure it went perfectly..

“Well, I deserve this. ”

Duncan spent the rest of his evening working through the possibilities Anu had meant.