I found Michael in his study. He was resting his head in one hand while he glared at one of the machines. His glasses had slipped down his long nose and his blue eyes appeared frustrated and unfocused. He wore his hair in a tangle long curly silver hair. A pile of mush was sitting in it. I smiled at the cute sight. “Michael, I do believe if you stare at it harder it might even clean itself!”

Michael gave me a surprised glance, quickly pushing his glasses back on his face. “Ah yes, Jasmine – Er – Miss! I forgot you were coming today. I mean, I lost track of time, of course I wouldn’t forget you’re coming today!” He scrambled for a moment before recollecting himself.

“I assume the experiment was a failure?” He flinched.

“What gave you such an idea.”

I shrugged, “It would explain why you’re glaring at the pile of mush over there…” I paused. It was red and looked oddly like hamburger meat. When I blinked it was gone.

“Don’t mind that.” His eyes shifted away quickly.

“What was that?” He simply shook his head, moving a wall of texts from one side of the table to the other without lifting a finger. He didn’t verbalize the spell, nor did any visual effect hint that it was being casted. “How are you doing that?”

“I’ll teach you soon enough.” My chair was still sitting where I’d left it last time I’d visited. Normally he’d have it apparated out of thin air but now it never disappeared in the first place. It was comfy.

“Not soon enough for me. I take it you’ve heard I’m going to the palace next week?” Michael genuinely looked surprised.

“No. I’ve been rather distracted with the latest experiment we talked about; I hadn’t heard… So soon?” He nodded thinking hard on the situation.

“Michael. I want to do the awakening.” He was still nodding absently. It took him a moment to hear my words. He ran his hand through his hair. Seeing him pour over this problem so diligently made me smile. Michael didn’t work on this just because Eclis was his Duke and friend. His promise to help me was genuine, I could see that now.

“Yes. Yes, I suppose that is what we’re marching towards.” He spoke the words while he sighed.

“Really? I thought you would refuse me again. What’s changed your mind?”

“An awakening is a tried-and-true process. We know how it works, we know that it works and while it is dangerous, the results are certain… Better the devil you know…” It appears the most recent experiment an utter defeat.

“What was that thing?” I nodded in the direction of the machine.

“That was… A rabbit.” He cringed. “I’ve realized that even if I do find another ‘way’ we won’t know the potential side effects of the process.” That pile of meat… A shudder racked my spine involuntarily. “Don’t worry. It didn’t suffer.” That didn’t change the fact that the poor thing died though.

“Can you…”

“No. Reincarnation magic can only work on sapient beings.” He shared a sad look with me.

“There is such thing as reincarnation magic?”

“Yes, though it can only be performed by clerics on hallowed ground.” I sighed. “Miss, I apologize. You shouldn’t have seen such a sight.” I shook my head.

“No. Don’t worry about it. I’ve eaten plenty of rabbits Michael. I’ve just lived a very sterile life so knowing something died is a little different. I’ll need to get used to that.”

“Yes. Yes, I suppose you will if you’re going to become an adventurer. They often catch game while travelling you know.”

“So I’ve heard. One of my instructors has been teaching me to build snares in preparation.” A smile returned to my face thinking about camping in the woods. “So, can you tell me more about an awakening and what to expect? How can I prepare for it? Wait, when can we do it? Can we do it now?” He smiled and held his hand up to stop me.

“I’ll tell you more about it today, but we won’t be able to attempt it for a while. If you’re going to the palace in a week that just won’t be enough time to recover.” Before I could speak, he answered my question, “And no, we can’t delay your entrance to the palace. Miss, even we have expectations placed upon us that we must meet.” Deflated, I sat back in my seat. “For now, lets focus on preparing for it. Why don’t you repeat what you know about awakenings? Tell me everything.”

“Ok. Well, in all honesty I don’t know that much about it. I know it places an insane amount of pain upon the subject and can last a long time.”

“How long?”

“In the book, the person doing the awakening was the Duke. It didn’t describe how long, just that he left and returned in a week’s time.”

“That’s… Impressive but expected of the master I suppose. For most it takes months. The awakening will only complete if your will doesn’t falter. Even if you give up for just a moment the spell will cancel leaving you at square one again, as well as a long recovery time before you can attempt it again. If he returned within a week, he’d have completed it on his first try and would still be feeling the aftereffects of it.”

My heart twisted. Eclis had awoken himself in order to gain enough strength to lead the Elves against Tyrra’s airships. At the time that he’d left to awaken himself he had already lost his eye in a fight with the crown prince. At the time it had painted him as this amazing hero with an iron will. He’d told Julia he’d win this war for her if only she’d stay by his side. Knowing he was in such pain just made me angry now. Why did he have to go through all that to prove his love? “How long does the actual awakening last then?”

“The awakening lasts a full twenty-four hours. Do not expect you’ll be able to replicate what the Duke did, however. Everyone fails the first time, and they need at least a month to recover from it.” I cringed.

“That long, eh? So even when I return from the palace it’ll be a while before I succeed at the awakening.” He gave me a small smile.

“Miss, do you know how often people succeed in awakenings?”

“I know. I know its incredibly rare, especially of humans. Most people give up.” I took a deep breath, “I know it’ll hurt and its going to feel never ending but I really want this. Even if it means suffering for it and having to choose to suffer again and again, I don’t plan on giving up.” Michaels familiar kind smile returned. I loved how his eyes sparkled behind those round glasses when he did.

“Good. We’ll have a difficult time teaching you magic if you do. I’m going to teach you some meditative techniques that you can practice while in the capital. Don’t do these before bed, I don’t want you falling asleep when you’re supposed to be practicing.” I laughed. The rest of our day was spent learning different techniques to ‘quiet’ one’s mind. In truth it was breathing techniques and visualization techniques. Trying to see the flame of a candle, paying attention to how it flickers as you breath. Every time noise or thoughts distract me I had to focus instead on growing that flame with my deep breath, slowly inhaling so it doesn’t blow out. I couldn’t stop yawning when I left.

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“So, who's this?” Heinrick had met me at the door this morning and had led me to the carriage outside. We didn’t leave the estate but had traveled to the other side of it. A massive stone building was erected there, surrounded by weeds and unkempt grass. A single paved stone pathway was all that cut through the mess and allowed us to enter. Inside we’d found a dwarf. He had long greying hair that fell to his waist with braids interspersed throughout it. Woven into the braids were small semi precious beads in red and yellow. His beard was mostly black with silver strands peppering it. It reached all the way to the middle of his portly belly and was the only part of him that looked well groomed and taken care of.

I'd meant only for Heinrick to hear but the man immediately turned his head and stopped hammering the block of hot metal on the anvil. It looked like he'd just started on this peice since it was still thick and unformed. “Better question is who are you?” He rolled his 'r's and his voice reminded me of a long-time smoker, hoarse and rough as it was. When dwarves appeared in the stories, I always imagined them coming up to my waist, but this man was perhaps four foot seven or nine and came up to my chest, just below my shoulder.

“This is Jasmine, Eclis’ wife.” Heinrick answered for me. He was only doing what etiquette dictated by answering for the lady, but the dwarf bristled and glared at Heinrick.

“Then I’m sure she can speak for herself. Less she doesn’t speak to my kind.” He turned the glare back on me.

“I have no problem speaking to you forge master.” I smiled at him trying to give a good first impression. The room we were in was filled with metal tools hanging on hooks. Ore was stored everywhere along with coal. The entire room was hot, though it was well ventilated I could smell and see the kiln burning just outside. Another smaller one was inside, made of metal with a door hatch that was currently closed. All I knew about dwarves from the one time they appeared in the story was that if one owned a forge, he was to be called forge master and nothing else. “May I have your name?”

“Oho. So you are familiar with Dwarvern custom?” His demeanor completely changed, reminding me a lot of Heinrick and his crazy mood swings. The man made no attempts to control his facial expressions at all either.

I shook my head. “Not much if I’m being honest. I’d appreciate it if you’d correct me if I say anything rude.” He held out his hand.

“Names Alvna.” IT’S A SHE! Thank god I caught myself before I reacted.

“It’s nice to meet you then Forge master Alvna. We’re here to commission some weapons of you.” Dwarves were rumored to be androgenous, but I’d expected to see a hair clip, maybe some pink to signify she was one. Instead, she wore practical clothing you’d expect of someone working a forge. Perhaps it was a human thing to separate the genders so strictly. Heinrick began explaining that we needed wooden models that could change weight for now. Alvna looked disappointed for a moment but quickly turned to me.

“Alright then Madam. How would you like me to personalize them?” The question caught me off guard. They were just training models so I hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“I hadn’t thought of personalizing it. Had I, I would’ve prepared ahead with some drawings… Actually, I had no idea we were doing this today.” Heinrick shrugged. He looked very suspicious, his smile was awfully guilty looking, and he had a glint of mischief in his eyes though I couldn’t understand why.

“That’s no problem. Come.” Alvna turned on her heel, walking us to a wooden table. Dirty dishes were quickly cleared from it and set aside on another counter before she disappeared into another room while we sat.

“Why did you decide we should do this today?”

“Why not? Even training weapons will take time to make since the enchantments will need to be placed.” Heinrick shrugged. “They’ll be ready when you get back.”

“Then why are you acting like that?” He gave me an innocent look.

“Like what?”

“Like you’re up to something.” Another mischievous grin crossed his face. Before I could force him to spill the beans though Alvna returned carrying long, large sheets of paper which she let unfurl across the tables surface. On top of that she placed a large book preventing the paper from rolling back up on itself. Infront of herself she set up some quill and ink before she returned to the book flipping it open and pushing it closer to me.

“Here. If we’re going for two swords, can’t imagine why though since you’re giving up a shield, you’ll be wanting something short and on the thinner side.” Each page contained a diagram of a sword; the front, back, a close up of the hilt were all drawn on one side and on the other different variations of the blade were scattered across it with dwarvern script written in corners and filling the blank spaces in between. “I wrote and drew the entire book here while I was apprenticing.” Alvna must’ve noticed me admiring it.

“This is really well drawn then.” Gingerly I flipped through the pages. “I’ll be honest though; I don’t really know what to look for in a blade… This is my first time picking one for myself.”

Alvna held her hand out. When I didn’t react, she spoke, “Your hand.” She grasped onto mine, pulling it closer to her and inspecting my fingers and palm. She pressed into my muscles, flipping it up and down before moving onto my wrist and forearm where she did much the same. “You’ve never held a blade I take it?”

“No. It wasn’t something I really had access to where I’m from.” I smiled sheepishly. She clucked her tongue with obvious pity in her eyes.

“Humans are strange creatures I must say.” She stood up, now inspecting my shoulders and my other arm while she spoke. “Among the dwarves, women and men are exactly the same and of course they are! What difference does your gender make? I learned to fight as a child just like all my brothers and sisters. Everyone protects the mountain after all. I was better than any of my siblings at it too, no matter that I am a woman after all.” She looked proud, “But my calling was forging. In some manner I’m also like a Rose of this palace as well, but under very different circumstance then you Madam. The dwarves contract a forge master to the noble houses when they wish to make connections in this Empire. We don’t sell our kin, only our labour.” She smiled. “No offense of course.”

“None taken.” I liked the dwarves. “Are you from Therendrung then?” It was the only dwarven city I knew the name of.

“Nah, I’m from Urngor Kjol.” She sat back down, taking over the book while she flipped through the pages. “It means Mountain mine. Creative, I know. It’s smaller than Therendrung, but it’s the city that supports this house. A forge master from my family has always worked this forge and now it is my turn.”

“Then I am glad its you. I’ve never heard of Urgnor Kjol.” It was hard to pronounce and instinctively she corrected my attempt. My second attempt was good enough. “I should visit it someday.” She smiled.

“If you do, let me know before hand. I can show you around.” Her hand stopped on a page, and she pushed it back to me. “This one for your right arm. It’s straight and thin, perfect for lunges and parries. And for your dominant hand,” She flipped to another page, “This one. It’s curved on one side since you’ll be attacking from the left and leading with this one. They’ll pair nicely with each other.”

“Thank you, I’ll trust your judgement on this then.” I had no clue what exactly she could glean from feeling my arms and shoulders but in a world of magic I wasn’t about to question it.

“Good. With that settled lets get started on the design.”

“Do we need to design it? It’s a training weapon after all.” Heinrick looked annoyed.

“Of course, we do! Why not?” He received an indignant look from me.

“Sir Rass, if you didn’t want to take so long you should’ve allowed us ladies some time to prepare instead of showing up at my door unannounced.” Alvna spoke in a chiding tone.

With that, I started describing different idea’s I had for swords. There was a lot of things to consider in design. Different symbols held meaning in this world, most flowers were off the list since they belonged to different noble houses or represented different kingdoms within the Empire. The entire process took the rest of our day in fact.

I was practically giddy the entire way home.

“You’re smiles going to cut that precious face of yours in half if you make it any bigger lass.” Heinrick was certainly annoyed, but he looked like he was struggling to remain so.

“My face isn’t the only thing in danger of being cut.” I made a chopping motion in front of me. “I’m getting my own swords! Swords!” He chuckled.

“Yes, and later we’ll be starting you on that glaive. Thank god I didn’t mention it today otherwise we’d never have left.” He rolled his eyes again for what must be the millionth time.

“Well Master, now that I’ve received the crash course on design theory when it comes to weapons, I think I can come prepared next time.”

“You use very odd expressions sometimes.” He stopped fighting the smile pulling at his lips.

“Well… I am from another place you know.” Woops. In my excitement I’d failed to censor myself.

“They don’t use that expression in Tyrra either.” Ah. There’s that suspicion again.

I shrugged nonchalant, “And how would you know that? Tyrra is a big place, and I haven’t a clue where in it I’m actually from.” He nodded. This sucked. Why couldn’t I tell him I wasn’t from this world? I bit my tongue before my impulsiveness took over.

“No, we don’t.” He smiled and changed the subject, but the ominous feeling didn’t leave. It weighed on my good mood the rest of the night.