Dear diary, smithing is fun.

“So what is this then?” Dur asks.

“It’s a short sword, like you said. A short sword should be between 30 and 60 cm and this one is 45 cm long so it fits,” I say awkwardly, trying to defend myself

“Does that 45-centimetre account for the way the sword bends to one side?” Dur asks questioningly

“Yes, I thought you said the length of a blade is measured at its edge.”

“Good, so you did learn something. Then tell me, why is the sword bent?”

“So that you can poke people around corners?” I hedge

Dur crosses his arms and looks at me unamused. “And where are you getting the force from to stab around corners? Your strength is too meagre,”

“Okay, I messed up. The blade slipped off the anvil when I was hammering, and now it has a curve. I am sorry for wasting metal.” I say

“It is fine. It’s just some pig iron. It’s way too soft to keep a good edge.”

“I was wondering why it was not sharpening properly.”

“Yeah, it is a useless metal, but once you learn how to make a proper sword, we will make one out of real steel for you.”

“I see. When will I be ready for that?”

“Well, besides that odd curve, it is well made. Keep this up, and we’ll be working on real steel tomorrow”, he says, a big smile on his face.

“Wait, really, that would be so cool,” I say, already getting excited.

“Yes, you are the most talented apprentice I have ever had,” Dur says with pride.

“Awh, thank you, I will do my best not to disappoint you.”

“So does that mean you are good now? Last night, you looked distressed,” he says in an unsure tone.

“I am fine. You know it was just hard; I have never been anywhere without my parents, so I just miss home.” I say

“I see is home far from here?”

“Yes, I think so. The problem is I don’t even know how far away home is from here, but I have a plan. I just got to do the same thing as when I came here.”

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Dur frowns. “If you are sure about it, then that is good. Now go back to the forge. No apprentice of mine is going to be forging crooked blades.”

I get back to smiting. It is rather relaxing to do something that actually creates something. It takes my mind off things. And I get swords out of it, which honestly is amazing. So, the only thing of concern now is how long it will take for the metal plate to charge again.

I spent the rest of the day forging away, creating several actually straight blades. I swear smithing is a lot harder in real life than what they make it look like in the movies. I put the tongs and hammer away before getting cleaned and returned to the house to show Dur my new creations.

I find Dur around a table with some other dwarfs playing some kind of game with dice and little tiles. They all kind of stop and look at me when I walk in.

“And what kind of dwarf are you then?” one of the dwarfs asks, clearly having drunk a bit too much “You're too pale to be a granite dwarf but too pink to be a marble dwarf.”

Dur looks to me, “That is my new apprentice, Cestla; I am teaching her the black hand smithing techniques.”

“Wait, hold up, Granite? Marble? Dwarfs are made out of stone?” I ask, confused.

“Yes, we live close to the Bantinera Volcano. So we are basalt dwarfs, hence the black skin.”

“So you guys come in all different colours then, just like humans; wait, does that mean you are judgemental to other dwarfs because they have a different skin colour.”

“Why would we judge someone on something so stupid? No, a dwarf’s worth is measured in how straight of an edge they can forge.” One of the dwarfs says.

“Exactly, the more crooked the sword, the more incompetent the dwarf,” Another dwarf chimes in.

At this point, I turn around, planning to head back to the forge.

“Where are you going?” Dur asks

“Back to smiting, I think my swords might have been a degree too crooked, so I should fix that,” I say.

“Don’t worry, you'll get back to it tomorrow. You are still an apprentice; failure is expected, and if it helps, you are one of the fastest-learning apprentices I have ever had.” Dur says

“Wait, really? I thought I was still messing up a lot.”

“You are, but you never make the same mistake twice. You learn and improve. That is the sign of a good smith.”

“Really, that means so much,” I say, a smile on my face.

“Why don’t you sit down with us, and we can teach you golden splendour,” Dur says

So that is what I do. The dwarfs explain the game to me, and we play for the next couple of hours.

“And that makes another ruby clipboard,” I say in excitement.

“Dur, your apprentice is a bit too good at this. Are you sure this is his first time playing?” one of the other dwarfs says.

“I am pretty sure,” Dur says, “but I am surprised about your ability to memorise stuff.”

“Yeah, my memory got a lot better now that I have the metal plate,” I say.

“Metal plate?” Dur ask

I turn red with embarrassment. Okay, that was not good; I should not have said that, but these don’t seem like bad people. “um, you know the thing, uhm, that brought me here.”

“Can you show me?” Dur asks.

I take out the plate, and a gasp goes through the room “god stone”, I hear several people whisper.

“What is going on?” I ask Dur, a bit scared now.

“Uhm, long ago, there was a people with a similar plate. I don’t remember much of the story, but the priest might know. I'll take you to see him tomorrow. Don’t worry; he can explain everything properly to you.” Dur say.

“Well, okay, thank you.”

After that, the party kind of dies down, and a lot of people suddenly want to leave to inform the others that a god stone has been sighted. Dur assured me several times that it was not something bad, but I was still concerned.