“You are quite feral, aren’t you,” the stern dwarf woman stared at me like it was a challenge.
I didn’t know how to respond to that. It turned out Thomwea was based in the one completed cabin. Her tits were the most impressive I have seen yet. I also remember her on the edges of the conversation last night. I guess they were all checking me out.
She huffed when I didn’t respond in time. She went around the other side of a desk someone had cut out and sat down. Yoboc had stayed outside, and it was just her and me, so I couldn’t get advice from him.
“Are you looking for a job?” Thomwea asked.
“I am willing to work if I stay,” I said, not quite understanding what she was asking.
“Let me guess, you have never had a job, have you?”
“I have always worked,” I said, ignoring the memories of Mom calling me lazy.
“No. I mean a job you do for someone else in exchange for coin.”
“Coin? Why would I need coins?”
“You buy things with coins. Weapons, armour, clothes, food, somewhere to sleep.”
That sounded very complicated. “Ah, no, I have never had a job.”
“Do you want to stay here and help us? You could just move on.”
“Ah, I think I need to learn to live, ah, work with people. I need training.”
“OK. What can you do? What is your class and skills that could help us,” Thomwea said.
“I am an Apprentice Hunter-Scavenger,”
“Just the one basic class?” she asked, and I nodded. “How the hell did you survive out here? What skills do you have? Start with your highest and work down. Journeyman skills?”
“Ah, none.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Nightsight is almost journeyman,” I said, feeling lacking.
“Nightsight, not Darksight?”
“No, ma’am,”
“So you are no good mining,” she said. “What else, at Apprentice?”
“Arctic Camouflage, Fishing, Tracking, Sprint, Stealth, Quick Claws and Tremor.”
“Wait. Did you say Tremor?” I nodded. “That is a mining skill, often with those with earth affinities. Do you have an affinity?”
“No, ma’am.”
“How did you get Tremor?”
“I needed to break the ice.” I went on to describe the wolf fight.
“You really are a newborn babe, aren’t you?” she said. It didn’t seem to need a reply, so I stayed silent. “I will be quite frank: we don’t need you. Everybody here has at least one specialised class in addition to at least one basic class. Most of us have at least one Master level skill. You are a liability. You are not even fluent in the common tongue, let alone dwarvish.”
I just nodded. I guess I need to keep wandering.
“However,” she said, “We came out here to explore new areas and find our fortune. You are definitely something new.”
“That sounds like you will sell me or something,” I said dangerously.
“No. You misunderstand me. Selling sapients is illegal where we are from and against everything this clan stands on. Having said that, stay away from the empire. They will definitely look to make you a slave. No, but if we train you, we need more benefits than a few seals for breakfast. You are unique. I know of no other Polarbear-kin, and I have barely heard of any bear-kin. Yoboc wants to study you and write a paper for the Lore Society.”
I frowned.
“You can discuss that with him later. I told him it was not enough benefit to put the effort into training you. What benefits can you bring to our clan, Ivan?”
“What does your clan do?” I asked.
“The key is in the name. Forgemaker. Forging of metals and alloys, especially spiritually enhanced metals.”
“I know nothing about that, but I also know there are no forges out here. There are also no markets to sell your metals. Therefore, your forges and most of your clan are elsewhere. You are here to find new metals, particularly Spiritual metal. You have just arrived, but you are building permanent structures. You know there is something nearby.” I paused. I was guessing a lot from what I observed yesterday in the tree. Somebody was happy with the sample ore.
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“Well, you are not dumb. What can you offer us?”
“You are building for many years here, but when the long dark comes with its storms and deep cold, most of you will pack up and not return until the dawn comes. If you train me through the summer, I will be your night watchman. You can leave your expensive equipment, which is being unloaded, and I will keep it safe from monsters and the snow. You won’t need to re-set everything up next year as it will be ready for you to walk back in and just start mining.”
Thomwea sat for a few minutes and was obviously thinking. “That is actually quite an attractive offer. We do have rivals who, if they knew about this place, would want to come in and take over. Once we start selling the metals from here, the search will be on. It is also why our permanent structures are not directly visible from the sea.” She thought for a bit more. “Very well, we will have a trial. You will learn this summer and watch the place this winter, and we will see how it goes. By next summer, our forges will be selling the new metal and our rivals will be actively hunting this mine. We expect to be mining for at least five years, possibly ten. You will need to sign a confidentiality contract for at least ten years.”
I nodded, “OK.”
“Very well, leave me for now, and I will consult with the Clan heads. You will need to learn mine safety and mine maintenance, as maintenance will be critical if we leave things here over winter.”
I just nodded.
Yoboc was outside. “How did it go?” There was a flutter of wings, and the hawk, Sheila, landed on his shoulder.
“OK, I think. She is going to consult and get back to me.”
“Good, good. Let's go hunting. We can compare notes on tracking and animals. Thon wants more seals, but everybody else wants anything but seals.”
I went with Yoboc and Goldie and it was very different with Sheila in the sky directing Yoboc. Yoboc’s bow was very effective. I showed them how I made and threw my sharpened sticks, and they were amazed I hit anything.
Goldie was a Forrester rather than a hunter, and she used her axe. She also had several small tomahawks that she would throw. I tried, and there was a real trick to it. She had a special skill for axe throwing. Apparently, my Throw Weapons skill is quite a general skill.
We brought back several game animals, and I swung by to collect a seal for the cook. I liked seals, and I found that I liked cooked seals. The fat crisped up nicely in the heat.
I signed their papers, even though I didn’t really understand them. Once I was their “employee”, I was given a number of tasks to do and things to study. The first was I had to learn Dwavish and improve my Common. Yoboc was in charge of that. Apparently, he was quite well-educated.
“What do you mean your Mental Agility is only 11? It will take you forever to learn anything with that. Do you have any other stats under 15? 15 is the minimum for most things.”
“Spiritual and Mental Perception.”
“What a weak ass mess that has been made of your youth. Right, well, we are going to play some mental games that we teach our children to raise both your mental stats, and I have a Spiritual Maze here. What you do is use your Spiritual Perception to trace the line through the maze, and this will work both your Spiritual Perception and your Mental Agility. I say Mental Agility, because when your spiritual perception grows, and you will start sensing the other lines in there.”
It was a box the size of my head. It folded down in his luggage. I had trouble even finding the spiritual line at first, and it was very frustrating.
“It will be harder for you because you are an adult for your species and have a class. Classes are setting your mind in certain directions, and what you are doing here is trying to widen your mental and spiritual pathways. Keep at it.”
It was easy for him to say that.
On top of the torture box, we played memory games, told riddles and made up poems, all to stretch my mind and make it more agile. Yoboc told stories, and I was most interested in the stories of the world and stars. How the stars moved in the sky was fascinating.
The dwarves much-preferred limericks to poems. I was learning Dwarvish and levelling Common at the same time. This is not what I expected to be doing. It was working, but slowly and painfully.
“Here,” Goldie said. “Limericks have to go with drinking ale. It's a tradition.”
I thought she had already had a lot of ale.
“Here's one,” she said.
“Keep it polite,” Yoboc warned.
She started,
“The dwarves in the hall lost their wits,
Drinking ale by the barrel in fits.
With a shout and a spin,
They rolled kegs for the win,
Then passed out in their armour and bits!”
“Now you try,” Yoboc said to me.
I looked at him in disbelief. I can’t do that.
“Try this,” Goldie said. She obviously liked limericks.
“The dwarves, with their ale and delight,
Sang songs through the long, rowdy night.
With bawdy refrains,
And wild, drunken games,
Their antics were truly a sight!”
“Are limericks all about dwarves and drinking?” I asked.
“No,” said Yoboc, “They can be about anything. Drinking and fighting are just in a lot of dwarven ones. Here is one.
“At the feast, they all gathered to dine,
On dishes both hearty and fine.
With goblets held high,
And a roast piled nigh,
They toasted 'til well past moonshine!”
“Dwarves also like eating,” Goldie crowed.
Yoboc huffed and said,
“Deep down where the lanterns glow dim,
The miners sang many a hymn.
With pickaxe in hand,
They worked through the land,
And dreamed of a life far from grim.”
He looked at me, “It is not always about eating, drinking and fighting,” he said.
This seemed way beyond me.