"Objection! That is not related to the case at hand," an indignant young teen protested.

On the bench of the courtroom, Judge Jay Black turned his head to a teen adjacent to the first.

"Your honor, the jury needs to know the defendant's intent to fully evaluate the grievousness of the theft of the beer as a minor," the opposing teen ‘attorney’ calmly defended.

"Objection overruled.” Jay rejected the protest of the defending ‘attorney’ and motioned to the interrupted teen, “please proceed.”

The proceedings were for a teen court case he presided over.

Teen court existed for minors to convert monetary penalties for misdemeanors into community service hours for clean records on the condition of pleading guilty. Overseeing the process for deciding the punishment only required half-listening.

The final 'case' of the day was about a teen who stole two packs of beer in anticipation to play hooky at a river. Unfortunately for the teen, the jury was apparently short on sympathy. The young jurors decided on 59 hours of community service, only a couple short of the maximum, and an apology letter to Walmart as the punishment.

“Looks like you had to sit through a lot more cases than usual today,” a brunette lady commented as Jay walked out of the courtroom.

“Well Samantha, I actually enjoy helping set kids on the right path whether as citizens or as prospective attorneys or even judges.” Jay sighed, “I admit today was a little taxing though.”

Samantha laughed, “I know teen court cases aren’t actually anywhere nearly as tiring as actual ones but aren’t you an hour later than you should be?”

Jay grimaced, “today’s teen attorneys argued doggedly and someone messed up in scheduling so many hearings.  I’m thinking Jared messed up. How are you and Eric though?”

“We both have gotten pretty busy lately, but we’re doing great,” Samantha looked down at some paperwork she was working on.

“I’ll let you finish up the documentation,” Jay made a last skim of the papers that documented the hearings today. “Sorry to add to your workload but here are the cases that were heard today.”

Samantha wordlessly accepted the papers.

Everyone filed out of the courthouse soon afterward. Jay changed outfits, finished off some paperwork, and also headed home himself. The area was almost deserted when he pulled out of the parking lot.

The roads were empty with all traffic lights flashing, a testament to how late it was.

Jay pulled into his garage, briefly seeing the appearance of his home. A quaint red brick house not unlike the others on the street, but unlike the other houses the windows were pitch black.

He tossed his keys onto the counter before cracking open his refrigerator. A ready-made was pushed into the microwave before setting the timer a few minutes longer than instructed.

He sipped from a glass of wine. Eating ready-mades was not healthy. A long life was necessary in order to achieve his objective. Stew in large quantities could be cooked to eat later, but -- he looked around his empty house -- company would be appreciated. Plus, people might start assuming things from his lack of companionship so maybe several issues could be solved at once?

He winced at memories of how previous relationships went, though. A tendency of burying himself in work left him wanting as relationship material. Maybe accepting a gold digger was the only way.

Jay’s thoughts wandered to why he ended up as a judge as he dug into the ready-made.

Starting out as an attorney, winning, losing and learning through lawsuits had been fun (although losing sucked). The depositions were especially exciting in extracting vital information out of opponents. The biggest enjoyment came from encountering various cases and then winning.

He dumped the empty carton of the ready-made into the trash bin.

Jay remembered some of the stories his father used to tell them while brushing his teeth. Apparently one of father’s clients woke up with all the cars in the neighborhood going off with his car wrecked. The same client claimed to have no idea of why then later claimed to have been attacked by a raccoon. Jay envisioned going from attorney to a position as Judge, believing pursuits in the sciences would be possible that way.

There were several reasons for him to discontinue working as a judge. The prospect of having a time intensive ‘hobby’ in science proved impossible. There was only time for providing funding for research on most occasions. The salaries of even the Supreme Court Justices were not keeping up with inflation. The dignity of working as a judge dropped in recent years also.

Jay clenched his jaw as he crawled into bed. Those details stopped mattering years ago. Sleep took him slowly.

His eyes fluttered open, but the usual alarm hadn’t rung. Checking his calendar reminded him why. A week specifically for forging swords was set aside last month. Not being able to schedule with his past mentor had been a let down. Several years had in fact passed, but being rejected still stung.

He changed into a pair of athletic shorts and a tank top for his morning run.So early in the morning, the only motion visible were the trees swaying in the wind. The neighborhood was dark, quiet and maybe would be even eerie to some. The peace soothed him.

Which houses were owned by whom was recalled, a routine for cultivating a good name. The popular vote was also necessary for rises in the courts and not just on appointments by the higher ups. His usual route was a ten mile circuit and ended with him drenched in sweat once home.

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He would have to compliment Mr. Haywood on his yard since he seemed to have put more effort in its maintenance. Other similar lip service would be provided to other people upon greeting them. Characterizing his attitude toward this routine was difficult oddly enough. Pleasantries were bothersome (especially considering what term he used to describe them), but he had always enjoyed learning about other people’s stories.

Jay stood in front of his car. Trying to get his driver's license and failing lead into a large amount of anxiety as a teen. Needing several tries than normal made him think he had something wrong with him. He also lost confidence in other pursuits. Luckily he managed to pull through.

He snorted. Why had he even gone down memory lane? His personality was quite a deal different from then. Maybe the cause was fulfilling a dream from those years. The small voice denying that reasoning was ignored.

Jay turned on his navigation app before starting the car. His friends joked he wouldn’t know his left from his right in new areas. The sword smith he had an appointment with lived several cities away, so fairly away from anywhere Jay frequented.

Without any incidents alongside the way, Jay pulled up into a large garage the sword smith had set aside for guests. Only after a quick look over himself did he get out of his car. The sword smith was also a Youtuber and planned to take a video.

”It is a pleasure to meet you Alex Steele. I am the one who requested to make a pair of swords. I believe you wanted me to also go over laws concerning swords?” Jay called out to a blond man in his mid twenties stoking a furnace in a warehouse familiar from videos.

“Yeah! Aren’t you a judge now? Congratulations! Let’s get started! Well… after we go over some things of course,” Alex whipped his head around revealing grey eyes.

The motion was so fast his head might have flown off if not for being attached to his neck.

”First, do we need to go over standard procedure?” Alex asked.

”I don’t believe so but let us go over them anyway,” Jay replied.

He essentially rattled off, but with practiced professionalism, the list of rules Alex had set for himself. Jay went on to list the legalities of possessing swords.

”For the reason as to why you can’t carry swords on your person in public, they are considered as knives surpassing the legal length limit by the law. Only in ceremony can...” Seeing Mr. Steele's eyes glaze over already, Jay cut himself off, "why don't we get started? I can always get into the intricacies later."

Jay didn’t count on having to actually do so.

Mr. Steele's eyes regained light, “Ok! So I believe you wanted to make a forty inch and twenty five inch double edged blades? How about making them as a pair of damascus steel swords?”

”I did like to see the forging of those kinds of swords, but I want to forge high carbon steel swords instead,” Jay said. “Besides you are talking about modern damascus right?” 

“Well… yes,” Alex drawed.

Alex’s disappointment was clear but he would not budge. After all, he was a paying customer.

”I could argue that point, but let's crack on to the forging!” Alex threw Jay a pair of protective glasses and headphones like his own before moving to his stock.

The forge already glowed with heat, so Alex only had to slide in one of the two cut portions of the desired steel. The power hammer was started during the wait time. After a couple minutes, the steel glowed. Alex deftly grasped the now heated steel with a pair of prongs, bringing it under the power hammer. The stick of steel slowly lengthened under the powerful hits provided by the machine, glowing iron oxide flaking off.

Alex wasn’t actually hammering out the blade shape. The piece of steel was cut into four bits once the length reached about twenty inches. After cooling down, the pieces of steel were stacked together with careful alignment and welded together at the tip. The steel was then chucked back into the forge to be reheated.

“Do you want to jump in and give a shot at folding the steel?” Alex smiled a challenge, “this time we only need to fold the steel three more times. You don’t need any markings do indicate where to cut do you?”

Jay played along and smirked, “I’ll give it a shot.”

Alex was probably only being theatrical for the sake of the video. Jay was happy he didn’t make a show of his work like Judge Judy. Constantly exaggerating behavior seemed exhausting.

Jay carefully grasped the steel in the forge with the prongs. Unlike how flamboyantly Alex moved, his movements were slow, steady, and deliberate. Alex showed how to work the power hammer and change the speed of the hammer, but Jay kept the rate hammer pounded the steel only at half speed.

After three times as many more reheatings, the steel finally reached about twenty inches again. The next few minutes became the most taxing for Jay. He carefully placed the wedged hammer he accepted from Alex on the glowing steel. It was where he estimated to be at a third of the steel. Slowly the wedge tool was brought under the power hammer and two strong hits separated the steel into two. His movements to split the longer piece into two were just as methodical if not more.

Jay thought he did his best, but Alex took a second to examine the handiwork.

He held a thumbs up, “looks fine to me. I’ll stack and weld these together tomorrow.”

The next day, Alex heated and lengthened the steel before shaving off the welding. The shape of the sword began forming under the power hammer with the folding process finished. He breezed through the remaining steps from forming the tang of the sword to hammering the crossguard into shape.

Jay stopped Alex when he began making a pommel, “I want to make the hilts more like that of the Japanese katana.”

“That could make the swords less secure in your hands,” Alex gave him a weird look, “but you won’t be actually using the swords so I suppose that won’t matter.”

At around three in the afternoon, the entirety of the forty inch sword lay finished. The whole process would be repeated but for a twenty five inch sword instead, and Jay would do so by himself. Folding the blades correctly had been nerve wracking but how hard could the rest be?

Alex made all the other steps look deceptively easier than they really were. After the third day, Jay decided he would have to eat his words. He couldn’t recall the last time he felt so tired and filthy except in football. Maybe the years were getting to him? The frequency of the moments of nostalgia was abnormal. A therapist might be necessary.

Alex found a major warp in the folds of Jay’s first solo attempt, almost eliciting a growl from Jay. The steel had to be scrapped.

As Alex was getting more metal to use, Jay’s phone rang. He picked up the call but with a sigh at the caller id.

“Hey man. Is it true you’re out making actual swords?!” Clangs of metal rang out in the background of the caller.

Someone in the background yelled, “en guard!”

Jay grunted, “glad to hear you’re healthy as ever James. Sorry I've been busy over the years. I am a little occupied so I'll call you later.”

"Wait. Wait. Come on!" James protested before being cut off.

Finally, on the beginning of the seventh and final day before Jay would have had to defer on this specific dream both swords were completed. The blades were sheathed in airtight leather. The straight swords still might have come off as strange katana with the hilts wrapped like the Japanese did.

The European styled blade and Japanese aesthetics clashed a bit, but they represented Jay's cultural background and he liked that. They were his and semi-built to be used. Jay smirked at the thought feeling silly. These would remain as eccentric art on top of his fireplace like Alex said on the second day.

“Aren’t you a Japanese American?” Alex asked.

Jay nodded in confirmation, “I actually have some proficiency in japanese.”

He didn’t know where Alex had learned that, maybe from his profile, but there was no need to hide.

Alex’s eyes brightened, “I see why you chose japanese wrappings for your swords then.”

Jay accepted cords for securing his swords in their sheaths but rejected anything more. Alex probably felt needlessly guilty for charging by the hour. Jay didn’t care about the expenses. With a wave of goodbye, he was off, headed back home.

Jay grinned. He felt closer to making his daily greetings authentic with how much more fulfilled he felt in life. He ignored the small voice in him that laughed at the prospect.

He was flying down the road when in a flash of light he found himself immersed in black. A minute passed in the darkness. Desiring weapons, he wished for his swords at least. His swords appeared in his hands astonishingly enough. A heart beat later, he burst through into a cavern. Momentum presumably from driving his car carried him towards a wall in front of him.

There was another issue though. Perceiving seventy miles per hour for a distance of about forty yards so slowly shouldn’t be possible. Ignoring that, how had he gotten here? Had he been teleported? Summoned? When he turned some more, he noticed a man in robes standing in shock.

The man must have been the one responsible for wrenching him from his world. In a snarl, Jay chucked both his swords at him. Death was probably coming to him, but he would have his killer as company.

Jay curled up into a fetal position bracing for his impact with the wall.

He smiled seeing at least a gash on the man's right arm. The last thing he saw before slipping into unconsciousness was the man's face twisted in maniacal laughter in front of a weird light show.