"That's right, steady, slowly... You can do it." Burgin guides Ozlo, slowly encouraging him while trying to help him forge his first successful nail. "There you are lad. Congratulations, and it only took you the whole week... Not exactly fast, but you're getting there."

"Thanks Master Burgin."

"Yeah, yeah... Here, as promised your three shards. Take them up to your room and put them with your six others. And after your training tomorrow that will put you at thirteen. Have you given any thought to what you're going to do with them lad?"

"Uh..." Ozlo takes his shards and just stares blankly back at Burgin.

"Right, thinking, how silly of me..." Realizing his slight an apologetic look appears on Burgins face. "I'm sorry lad, that was mean of me. I'm going to give you some advice and I hope you follow it, but feel free to not. They're YOUR shards after all. Take your shards, go to the market, see if they have a card you might want that you can afford. And if they don't, combine those shards and sell the card if that one doesn't fit you either. Understood?"

"Yes Master Burgin."

"Great... Great. "

*DING*

Glancing up, Ozlo and Burgin see an older blonde woman come inside. "I'm not interrupting anything am I?"

Burgins eyes light up and a mischievous smile fills his face. "Hmm? No of course not Dorothy, just teaching the boy how to make some nails. Apprenticeships and all that."

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"That's good to see, I figured after the last few apprentices that maybe..." A pained look crosses Burgins face and Dorothy quickly does her best to recover. "I shouldn't have brought that up, how silly of me. I'm sorry Fred."

Burgins cheery demeanor now gone, he replied with. "It's fine, water under the bridge and all that. You can't convince young men that the sky is blue or that waters wet without them heading over there to take a look themselves."

"Don't I know it. It took me years to convince my Gerald to stop chasing rainbows." Seemingly remembering why she came in, Dorothy said. "Is my order done yet?"

"Ahh, yeah. One moment." Burgin heads into the back and grabs a small parcel wrapped in paper. "There you go lass, two kitchen knifes fixed and sharper than the day they were made."

Dorothy gives them a quick once over, admiring how sharp they've become. "Thank you kindly Master Burgin, how much do I owe you?"

"For you Dorothy, not a thing, I wouldn't dream of charging you for such little work. I bet even the boy could do this if he put his mind to it. Maybe..."

Reaching into her coin-purse, Dorothy starts to pull out a handful of shards. "Nonsense, I insist."

A calm, collected look comes over Burgins face. "Dorothy, how about a favor instead? It's of DIRE importance."

"I'm listening."

Burgin leans in close to her ear. "Bring over one of your blueberry pies and I'll call it even."

"Deal. I'll even make the crust extra flaky for you. I know it's your favorite."

"That's a sweet girl..."

Blushing, Dorothy swatted Burgins forearm playfully. "Girl... I haven't been called a "girl" or "lass" by anyone than you in over fifty years Fred. And I don't intend to get used to it now."

"And I don't intend to stop Dorothy. Now you head on home and put them knives to work."

"Can do, can do..."

Ozlo watched this exchange, head full of confused thoughts. "Huh, I've never seen Master like this..."

"BOY!"

Snapped out of his thoughts, Ozlo replied with an eloquent. "Huh?"

"Did you get enough of a show just sitting there?"

"Uh..."

Burgin gestured to the rack. "Why don't you go grab me my hammer while I get the forge ready. We've got plenty of blades to make."

"Yes sir."