After two weeks of sailing, and many, many conversations about magic, the ship arrived outside Verse. Arriving a little earlier than planned, but a little too late, as the city gates and canal locks had been closed for the night.

Anu was planning to camp outside the city walls, but Agwa wouldn’t allow it.

She used her status as a professor to bend the rules, arranging for the city guard to escort the ship further inside, and for some academy staff to unload the cargo too. With the unloading in progress, and someone else in charge, she dragged Anu back to her home.

Her son was also joining the academy this year, but until he arrived, Anu could temporarily use his room. She lived in a small apartment nestled into larger buildings, tucked away in a corner of the old town close to the fortress.

The next morning, outside Agwa’s house, Anu stared at her todo list.

It was misleadingly small.

* Register as a smith at the city Guild

* Register for the Academy Examinations

* Meet Duncan’s Brother

* Pass Exams

* Find Accommodation, Work

* Visit Agwa in the Gardens

Anu pocketed her list, pulled out the crude map Agwa had made.

First, exam registration.

Anu found the process pretty straight forward. She took a form, handed it back, and was assigned examination slots for the next week. A standard physical test, magic test, smithing test, and the familiar examination. The clerk was a little confused by the latter.

“Familiar exam?”

“Yes?”

“You are aware that your familiar will have to fight, it’s very combat oriented”

“What?”

“Your first is smithing, right? People tend to pick art or scholar for second, rarely soldier, although many soldiers pick smithing for the second. Familars are a little ...”, he coughed, “.. posh. The magicians who take it as a second choice, have a summoned beast, The soldiers who take it, sometimes have a contract”.

Apparently, the newly rich and wealthy families would buy a contracted beast, although in some cases it was some tradition or some-such. A few summoned beasts too.

“Either you, with your familiar as support, or the familiar itself will have to demonstrate combat skills and potential”

Anu was starting to panic, but a gentle tap from Kay stopped her thoughts.

> it fine. grow big. fight

“... anyway, that’s everything. The smithing exam is an interview, remember to bring the work you’re proud of. “

“Thank You”

Anu, collected her examination schedule. Making her way out of the academy office, and towards the smith’s guild, she searched for a quieter spot to stop and talk to Kay.

“Um Kay?”

tap

“Are you sure about fighting ...”

> fine. kay strong.

“Are you?” “I don’t want to ask” “are you sure?”

Kay had no worries, and repeatedly insisted that they would be ok, despite Anu’s repeated questions.

> contract. kay protect anu. anu help kay

Anu smiled.

“Right. Speaking of which, is there anything I should be doing for you?”

> fine. smell. good.

“Good. Agwa says they’ll make me a real shampoo later, but I’m happy the oil is working out”

Kay tapped out a happy pattern

Anu smile, “Agwa also said you wouldn’t have to remain small”

> no. fine. carry. good anu.

“Fine. But the examinations”

> fine. carry. go.

Kay tapped with a ‘Let’s go’ as if Anu was their mount.

Muttering under her breath, Anu made her way to the guild of smiths.

“I’d like to register”

“We don’t handle examinations miss...”

Anu sighed and clumsily dropped her ceremonial sword onto the counter.

Flipping it over to reveal Duncan’s seal, Anu restarted the conversation

“I’m an apprentice. That’s the seal of my teacher. I need the other side stamped”

“Oh”

“Yes”

Anu heard someone yell from behind he, and turned to see an older man marching towards the desk.

“Geoff, you little bastard. Causing trouble for the students is going to ...”

The old man paused mid sentence, staring at the sword.

Picking it up, he pulled it up to his face for a closer view.

“What has that little Lucian been up to. “

He lowered the sword, and turned to Anu

“Oh I’m sorry. You must be that troublemaker’s apprentice. “

Anu nodded.

“This doesn’t look like his work. You made this sword, correct?”

“I don’t suppose he wrote a letter or ..“

Anu shook her head, “He told me to come here to get the other side stamped”

The old man rolled his eyes, “Typical”, handing the sword back to Anu.

“Got a design yet? For your seal? Good, follow me. Geoff, I’ve got this”

The old man waved at the clerk, and walked back into the corridor he appeared from.

Anu looked at Geoff.

“That’s the guild leader, Adam. Follow him, he’ll handle everything”, he shrugged, “You might want to hurry, he isn’t slow for an old man”

Anu, sword in hand chased after Adam.

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“Ah there you are, what was your name?”

“Anu”

“Excellent, right, this is my office. Come inside, take a seat.”

Anu sat while Adam searched his office for tools.

“Right”

Adam sat down at the desk, putting two boxes down.

“Let’s see the design”

Anu had sketched out a design, tracing it from a book during the journey.

Adam gave the same close look, pulling the design up to his face and scanning over it slowly.

Placing the paper upon the table, he took out a small knife, a small drill, and a white marbled cube from the boxes he had just found.

“I hope you don’t mind, but, I’ve embellishing your design a little. The guild has a style“

Anu watched his hands move quickly and delicately across the ston, carving something that resembled her idea. Without looking away from his work, he continued talking.

“How long have you been Duncan’s apprentice”

“Four years. “

“and you’re off to the academy, too?”

“Hopefully. My exams are next week. The standard tests and then one for smithing, and the other for my familiar.”

“Oh?”, Adam smirked, “I hope you’re not worried about your smithing exam? This sword is a fine piece of work”

Anu blushed, “Thank you. I’m hopeful, and even Duncan said i’d find them easy. The first year is apparently bringing everyone up to speed, but my backup plan is to find a local smith to take me in”

“Haha, well, if you want work, come find me after your exams.”

“Really?”

“Duncan was my student, You’re my grand-student. I wouldn’t let you work for anyone else”

Anu smiled awkwardly. She wasn’t sure if that was an offer of employment, or a mild show of power.

“Right before I stamp this, Did he tell you anything about this sword?”

Anu shrugged.

“He stamped one side, and left the other blank. Since I was coming to the Academy, he said I could get it stamped here. Said that it was the mark of an apprentice, and with it it would be easier to find work”

“I see my student is as sloppy as ever. Anu, this sword isn’t what you think”

Seeing Anu panic, he added “No, no. Yes, this is technically an apprentice’s sword, until I stamp it“

“So?”

“As an apprentice learns a new skill, a weapon, usually a sword, is created by the teacher for the student to finish. As the apprentice grows, they begin making the weapon, and the teacher finishes it. Eventually, all the teacher does is stamp the final product”

Picking up the finished stamp, he punched the design into the sword.

“This was your last sword as an apprentice, Anu. Now, it is your first sword as a smith”

Handing the sword over, along with her seal, “Congratulations Anu, You’re a registered Smith of the city”

Seeing Anu’s look of confusion, Adam laughed, “He really didn’t tell you anything, did you? He probably picked up that habit from me. Typical. My troublemaking student seems to have outdone himself. Anyway, there’s some formalities and forms to handle but I will find someone else to do that for me. Oh that’s a point, do you know your examination number?”

Anu rummaged in her bag, and handed over her schedule.

“HEEEYYYYYYYYY”, Adam yelled into the corridor, “WHERE’S JESS”

A minute or so later, Jess appeared.

A little taller than Anu, and still wearing face mask.

“Whmm tmmm fmmm dmmm mmm mmmt”

Anu couldn’t make out anything Jess was saying, but she had a bit of a feeling as to what she was saying, something like ‘can’t you see i’m busy’ and ‘what do you want, now?’

Adam turned to Anu, “Your sword, please”, and handed the schedule and sword to Jess

“Could you sort this out now?”

“Mmmmmm?”

“No, this isn’t a favour, I just want to speed things up. Yes I checked, and Yes I trust her teacher, Duncan”

“MMMM?!”

The helmet turned to face Anu, and she watched Jess fumble around to find something in one of her eight-and-counting pockets.

Finding a punch, she clipped part of the schedule, and handed it back to Duncan. Offering the sword to Anu, Jess mumbled again.

“Thanks Jess and no she’s going to work for me.”

“Mfft”. Anu could make out something that felt like ‘Typical.’

Jess reached for her mask, stopped, and mumbled again before running out of the office.

“Uhhh”. Anu was first to break the silence.

Adam was still smirking from Jess’s hasty exit.

“Oh. That’s your examiner. Being a city smith is enough for the entry requirement”

“Did she know Duncan too?”

“Yep”

Anu decided not to press for details.

“So, the exam?”

“It’s done. Come back after you’ve done the other exams. We’ll talk about jobs then. Oh, I guess you’ll need a rulebook too”

Adam stuck his head back outside the corridor

“GEOFFFF, GET OVER HERE”

Anu heard something fall over, then hurried footsteps

“Er, Hello?”

“Geoff, Anu here is our newest smith, go give her a rulebook”

Geoff returned to find Adam fitting Anu with a belt.

“.. and this is for your sword. You can’t just tie it to your bag every time. I don’t care that it has a scabbard. I don’t care so much for rules, but there is something about taking pride, and care of your work. Geoff?”

“Yes”

“Rulebook, that’s all”

Adam took the small book and dismissed Geoff.

“Most people take a lot longer to be recognised by their teacher. Duncan will have taught you about everything he cares about. Making equipment, designing circuits. He will have taught you nothing about working in a forge, or running accounts, or negotiation. Being a smith is more than just being good with the auto hammer and knowing the 106 basic circuits. Although to be fair to my old student, he was very very good at both of those.”

He handed the rulebook over to Anu.

“Every forge has rules, and only some of them are written down. You’re going to need to catch up on these parts if you don’t want to step on people’s toes. Don’t worry. I wasn’t kidding when I said I wanted to hire you”

“Thank you”

Anu looked down to admire her new belt, wide and sturdy, but made from delicate leather, it was a fine piece of workmanship.

“Do you have somewhere safe to put your seal yet?”

Anu stumbled to answer “Well I have sort-of but“

“Just leave it here. Pick it up after you’re done with exams. I usually here in the mornings, and if I have enough time then, I’ll take you around the forge. In the meantime if you need to prove you’re with the guild, the chain on your belt will do. Guards here will recognise it.”

Anu picked up the ornamental chain, attached between the belt and the scabbard, loosely dangling between them.

“Your sword tells me you’re recognised as a smith, but the chain tells everyone else you’re part of our guild. The seal is only for work you’re proud of Anu, when Duncan stamped your sword, that meant that he was proud of you.“

Anu blushed.

“But until you’ve read the rule book, try to not to get into any trouble. On the other hand, if trouble finds you, let me know quickly, ok?”

Anu nodded.

“Let me check. Seal, belt, chain, sword, book. Yep. You got everything?”

“Yes, thank you”

“Any last questions?”

“Um, Everything? Especially about Duncan.”

She learned that being recognised by Duncan was both a reward and a punishment. He had a reputation for detail and also a reputation for sloppiness. He’d run a forge inside the city, but had to sell it to cover debts. No-one had complaints about the quality of his work, but his time keeping wasn’t exactly popular.

Anu cleared things up before leaving the guild, and had gotten to meet Jess without her mask too.

Adam had promised her plenty of work, and the chance to earn the trust of some of her peers. The guild would handle the paperwork. She could come in, pick work off the common board, and complete it within the deadline for a reward. The guild would pay her a stipend, enough to live on, to be available for work.

By the time she left, it was nightfall. Getting lost earlier hadn’t helped.

Getting back to Agwa’s was less difficult. She’d remembered enough of the dead ends, and where the main bridges were. Agwa had already retired for the night, leaving a note out saying that she would be disappearing early, but to meet her tomorrow for dinner.

Anu felt that sleeping would be a good idea, too.

Putting her bag and sword away, she undressed and crawled into the guest bed, somewhat oblivious to Kay, still perching in her hair. She’d gotten used to Kay occasionally fidgeting, and manoeuvre around them. She’d even taken the hairclip off and gotten into bed before remembering to say good night.

She had four days until her beast/familar exam, and the other tests had been booked for the same day.

They opened registration for a month, scheduling candidates one week, and testing them the next. Each school did examinations on a different day. Some of the more popular classes took examinations on the three days that followed.

She’d arrived on the last day of registration, and picked an unpopular course, and passed the other by accident. Timing was on her side.

There wasn’t much left for Anu to do but wait. She’d found a job, she’d found temporary accommodation to last until her exams, and there wasn’t much she could do to prepare for them.

The physical examinations was more of a technicality, left over from the academy’s early days as a military institution. Kay had reassured her that the familiar exam wouldn’t be a problem. She’d planned to revise her circuit basics, but also took the time to find Nathan, Duncan's brother.

She found his studio easily, the new town was a lot more organised, but it was deserted. She left the letter Duncan had given her, and instructions on how to find her through the guild.

With nothing else to worry about, she spent the remaining time exploring her way around the city, chatting to Kay, and, when no-one was looking, she’d pull out her sword to admire her new seal.

Anu had drawn a single hibslock petal, traced out from one of Agwa’s notebooks. Adam had done more than embellish it. He had engraved the flower, showing the spiral of petals, with three in the centre, five underneath, and eight at the edges, stippling them to give them texture.

(Yes, technically he’d engraved the negative, and stamped the sword.)

It was beautiful.

Anu thought that a mark was just a technicality to complete, but she had fallen in love with the design.  Duncan would always bully her over aesthetics, especially her choice in names. “Don’t come back if your seal looks as awful as I fear. No spider webs, Ok?”

By the day of her exams she was already itching to get things over with, to get back into the forge and stamp something new.