61st Ash, 122
The trip to Starfall hadn't been entirely planned ahead of time but Torin had been meaning to head back to the home of his patrons since he'd come the first time. His own ability to Runeforge had grown exponentially since he'd opened his own business and had a steady, even at times quite busy, levels of work since. A lot of the time he'd spent as an apprentice had been doing simple, repetitive work, and a lot of that had been blacksmithing. He still did forge his own metal work when it was needed, which it often was, but the majority of his time and energy was spent working things that would then be taken into the aether forge.
With as much as he'd learned in the year since he'd struck out on his own he had learned much, but that would never me he had nothing left to learn. The confidence he had gained would not overawe the diffidence he felt toward those who had spent a lifetime perfecting the complex craft. The mistress of the runeforge in Starfall was one such and while he might not be so timid with her as he had been upon their first meeting, he was still basically an apprentice by comparison. The fact that he hadn't really spoken to or compared notes with another runesmith in the last year felt odd. He'd spent his whole life able to share the work and discuss it with those who were older and more experienced. Now he was the most experienced person the circle of people he saw on a regular basis.
So, when Kala had offered to take him with her when she visited her home he was able to finish what he'd been working on and leave the shop in the capable hands of a combination of Aurin and Sivan. They both had enough understanding of the work that they could take orders, which was all that was needed for the time being. He might, at some point, set up a stock of commonly wanted items, but, as prohibitively expensive and runecrafted items were, it didn't currently make sense to have any actual stock in his storefront.
He had packed along Timon and Huntress for the journey and the wolf, who he had worried about, had remained surprisingly calm during the trip by airship, so long as she'd been allowed to see out the windows. They'd arrived only the day before, and took the evening to settle into the beautiful rooms provided for them by House Leukos. Timon seemed to be entering the stage of adolescence where he didn't want it to seem like he was too impressed by anything in an attempt to appear poised, or dignified, or something. Torin wasn't really sure, though he'd observed the behavior in many of his peers growing up.
Today Timon was being engaged by the brothers Leukos in sparring and gods only knew what else, and the current project being worked on in the runeforge was apparently too delicate for him to be able to interrupt. So, finding himself at loose ends, he'd decided to go for a hike through the mountains. The last time he'd been there it had been deep in Frost and while it wasn't exactly warm this late in Ash it wasn't so bad that he couldn't make his way.
He'd been outfitted with gear in case he needed to climb, as well as a pack that contained food and water enough for several days. Huntress, sensing that he was making another journey of some sort had remained staunchly at his side, which he hadn't objected to at all. He sort of wanted to be alone, but not wholly alone. As intelligent as the world was he was certain that, should his human abilities get him lost, he could follow her back to the town.
It was mid-morning by the time they set out and he'd informed his friends that, should he find somewhere comfortable, he might well spend the night out in the wilds, so not to worry if he did not return until the next afternoon. Kala gave him a simple map of the surrounding peaks and valleys and made some suggestions as to which areas would be deck out in their fall finest, a sight well worth seeing, and which areas were no longer safe by that point in the year.
The paths right outside the small city were clear and well maintained, but as he got further out, long legs eating ground while Huntress ran ahead or lagged behind whenever she scented something of interest. The area was beautiful, the day so cool and clear that, when he reached the summits of one height or another he swore he could almost see the towers of Kalzasi.
As the morning wore on into afternoon he'd explored several caves, though never venturing so far he lost the light, and stopped once by a stream to refill the water skin he'd been drinking from and have a meal. He'd offered Huntress bits of food, but, once she realized it was time to eat she darted off into the surrounding forest and bounded back a few minutes later with a plump rabbit danging from her jaws. Returning to Torin's side she dropped her kill and began eating it in a manner that, had she been a human, the smith might have called 'dainty'. The fact that, despite having been raised inside a city, she could find and kill her own food was a surprise, but also a relief. Torin hated the idea of her becoming lost at some point and being unable to feed herself. He spoke to her while they ate, complimenting her till she seemed to beam up at him. When they were finished she took her down drink from the stream and thus washed off most of the blood and tiny gobbets of flesh and fur that had clung to her muzzle.
It was only as they were heading out again that Torin realized how large she had grown. She must be nearly a year old, and though he didn't think that was quite full grown for a wild wolf, it was formidable. There weren't supposed to be many wild wolf packs in the area, according to Kala, but they had been seen occasionally. He wondered how Huntress would react if she scented her own kind, or how they would react if they picked up her scent. He began looking around the side of the paths until he found a mostly straight branch that was as tall as he was. Pulling out his knife he cut away any sharper or uncomfortable knots and smoothed out an area where he would be able to hold it. It wouldn't be as good as a real polearm, but he was competent with the weapon type now, enough that, with Huntress' help, he should be able to convince a hunting pack that they were more trouble than they were worth.
It was just about two hours before sunset, and he was seriously considering turning back when he crested the sharp edge of a difficult climb that his eyes fell on the valley for the first time. It was long and narrow, less than a mile across at the widest point, and probably two long. Small, for a valley, compared to the others he'd seen as he'd hiked, but absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. It actually hurt him to look at it as bright rays of sunlight pierced over the tips of the mountains and shone down over the reds, oranges of golds of the trees. There weren't that many, for it was a meadow valley rather than the forests he'd encountered so far. Even this late in the year the waving grasses were filled with flowers that rose to match the leaves of the trees in their own sprays of red, orange and gold. A small lake took up the far end with a waterfall cascading down from the peaks above, and several smaller ponds dotted the landscape with water so clear it reflected the sky and mountains with mirror precision. The young smith's heart clenched and then began a slow, throbbing ache.
For a long moment he could not understand why this idyllic scene was not occupied by a town full of people, but, as his eyes traveled along the edge, he realized that there was no easy way down. No opening in the sheer rock surrounding the valley that would allow for a path. Even so, Torin knew where he would be spending the night. Taking out the climbing gear he'd been lent and recalling the lessons he'd taken with both Aurin and Kala he secured his lines carefully so he could climb back out in the morning and began to descend. He was worried about Huntress at first, but she nimbly followed him, finding surfaces she could jump to. Sometimes she had to go quite far from him to find her way, but she ended up making it to the valley floor before he did and began to sniff around, bounding after butterflies and lapping from a pond before Torin could join her.
When his own feet touched down he removed his shoes, deciding that enduring a little chill would be better than the damage the heavy footwear would do to the plants. He wandered for over an hour, just looking around, breathing in the flower-scented air and marveling at what he had found. By the end of the hour the sun had ducked behind the mountains and he began to gather fallen wood for a fire. He ended up at the far end from where he'd entered, on the shore of the little lake with a fire surrounded by smooth stones washed up from the depths. How deep the lake was he couldn't tell and it was too cold to swim down and find out, but the sound of the waterfall and the lapping of the waves lulled him into a trance like state. He slept curled up with Huntress covered in a blanket.
He woke once, in the middle of the night and he thought he'd somehow slipped into a world made all of stars. It took long moments of blinking, half awake and full of wonder, to realize that the effect he was experiencing was the lake reflecting the sky. When he woke again it was dawn and he knew he had a long hike to get back to Starfall and people who would be worried about him if he didn't get back before the sun went down again, but he was reluctant to go.
He took his time walking back to where his climbing gear was, but, once he'd reached it, did his best to get out quickly. At the top he turned and looked back, determined to find out who owned the valley. It felt ridiculous to contemplate buying his own land but, with the money he was making, it was now possible. He'd grown up surrounded by men who owned farms on large swathes of land they owned. Such things had never seemed like they would be in his future, but now it felt like he was enchanted, like he'd found a place that, more than Kalzasi, even more than the village he'd grown up in, felt like home.
He knew it was silly to have such feelings after having only spent one night in a place, but that didn't alter them. He tried to at least temper his expectation in case the land belonged to someone who did not wish to part with it, or it was some sacred place. He would understand either, for he would not want to part with it, were it ever his, and it had certainly felt as though it were set aside for something mystical. But maybe that was just how he felt, maybe no one else had any interest in a valley that was impossible to make a profit from and that living in would be, at best, inconvenient.
These considerations landed squarely in his decision making process, but, rather than deterring the young smith, they caused his creative mind to begin working away at the problem.
Aurin had gained the rune of Traversion on his trip to Zaichaer, perhaps, in time, he would be capable of taking them back and forth between the valley and Kalzasi. There was more there though. Torin had studied amulets of transportation, so he knew that bending aether along paths in a permanent way was possible. Making an amulet that led to the valley for each one of the people he would want to travel there with didn't seem right though. Possible, but not exactly what he was wanting. The walk back to Starfall went quickly as he ran idea after idea through his craftsman's mind trying to hit upon something that fulfilled all of his desired functions.
By mid-afternoon he had arrived and been greeted by Timon and his other friends with enthusiasm and questions which he bore with as much patience as he could. Normally it would have been the ideal homecoming but what he wanted more than anything was a good deal of paper and ink and an equal amount of quite solitude. That evening, after dinner, he managed to slip away into the runeforge complex and find an empty table to tuck himself over and begin working on the schematic that was now all but reality in his imagination.
The trip to Starfall hadn't been entirely planned ahead of time but Torin had been meaning to head back to the home of his patrons since he'd come the first time. His own ability to Runeforge had grown exponentially since he'd opened his own business and had a steady, even at times quite busy, levels of work since. A lot of the time he'd spent as an apprentice had been doing simple, repetitive work, and a lot of that had been blacksmithing. He still did forge his own metal work when it was needed, which it often was, but the majority of his time and energy was spent working things that would then be taken into the aether forge.
With as much as he'd learned in the year since he'd struck out on his own he had learned much, but that would never me he had nothing left to learn. The confidence he had gained would not overawe the diffidence he felt toward those who had spent a lifetime perfecting the complex craft. The mistress of the runeforge in Starfall was one such and while he might not be so timid with her as he had been upon their first meeting, he was still basically an apprentice by comparison. The fact that he hadn't really spoken to or compared notes with another runesmith in the last year felt odd. He'd spent his whole life able to share the work and discuss it with those who were older and more experienced. Now he was the most experienced person the circle of people he saw on a regular basis.
So, when Kala had offered to take him with her when she visited her home he was able to finish what he'd been working on and leave the shop in the capable hands of a combination of Aurin and Sivan. They both had enough understanding of the work that they could take orders, which was all that was needed for the time being. He might, at some point, set up a stock of commonly wanted items, but, as prohibitively expensive and runecrafted items were, it didn't currently make sense to have any actual stock in his storefront.
He had packed along Timon and Huntress for the journey and the wolf, who he had worried about, had remained surprisingly calm during the trip by airship, so long as she'd been allowed to see out the windows. They'd arrived only the day before, and took the evening to settle into the beautiful rooms provided for them by House Leukos. Timon seemed to be entering the stage of adolescence where he didn't want it to seem like he was too impressed by anything in an attempt to appear poised, or dignified, or something. Torin wasn't really sure, though he'd observed the behavior in many of his peers growing up.
Today Timon was being engaged by the brothers Leukos in sparring and gods only knew what else, and the current project being worked on in the runeforge was apparently too delicate for him to be able to interrupt. So, finding himself at loose ends, he'd decided to go for a hike through the mountains. The last time he'd been there it had been deep in Frost and while it wasn't exactly warm this late in Ash it wasn't so bad that he couldn't make his way.
He'd been outfitted with gear in case he needed to climb, as well as a pack that contained food and water enough for several days. Huntress, sensing that he was making another journey of some sort had remained staunchly at his side, which he hadn't objected to at all. He sort of wanted to be alone, but not wholly alone. As intelligent as the world was he was certain that, should his human abilities get him lost, he could follow her back to the town.
It was mid-morning by the time they set out and he'd informed his friends that, should he find somewhere comfortable, he might well spend the night out in the wilds, so not to worry if he did not return until the next afternoon. Kala gave him a simple map of the surrounding peaks and valleys and made some suggestions as to which areas would be deck out in their fall finest, a sight well worth seeing, and which areas were no longer safe by that point in the year.
The paths right outside the small city were clear and well maintained, but as he got further out, long legs eating ground while Huntress ran ahead or lagged behind whenever she scented something of interest. The area was beautiful, the day so cool and clear that, when he reached the summits of one height or another he swore he could almost see the towers of Kalzasi.
As the morning wore on into afternoon he'd explored several caves, though never venturing so far he lost the light, and stopped once by a stream to refill the water skin he'd been drinking from and have a meal. He'd offered Huntress bits of food, but, once she realized it was time to eat she darted off into the surrounding forest and bounded back a few minutes later with a plump rabbit danging from her jaws. Returning to Torin's side she dropped her kill and began eating it in a manner that, had she been a human, the smith might have called 'dainty'. The fact that, despite having been raised inside a city, she could find and kill her own food was a surprise, but also a relief. Torin hated the idea of her becoming lost at some point and being unable to feed herself. He spoke to her while they ate, complimenting her till she seemed to beam up at him. When they were finished she took her down drink from the stream and thus washed off most of the blood and tiny gobbets of flesh and fur that had clung to her muzzle.
It was only as they were heading out again that Torin realized how large she had grown. She must be nearly a year old, and though he didn't think that was quite full grown for a wild wolf, it was formidable. There weren't supposed to be many wild wolf packs in the area, according to Kala, but they had been seen occasionally. He wondered how Huntress would react if she scented her own kind, or how they would react if they picked up her scent. He began looking around the side of the paths until he found a mostly straight branch that was as tall as he was. Pulling out his knife he cut away any sharper or uncomfortable knots and smoothed out an area where he would be able to hold it. It wouldn't be as good as a real polearm, but he was competent with the weapon type now, enough that, with Huntress' help, he should be able to convince a hunting pack that they were more trouble than they were worth.
It was just about two hours before sunset, and he was seriously considering turning back when he crested the sharp edge of a difficult climb that his eyes fell on the valley for the first time. It was long and narrow, less than a mile across at the widest point, and probably two long. Small, for a valley, compared to the others he'd seen as he'd hiked, but absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. It actually hurt him to look at it as bright rays of sunlight pierced over the tips of the mountains and shone down over the reds, oranges of golds of the trees. There weren't that many, for it was a meadow valley rather than the forests he'd encountered so far. Even this late in the year the waving grasses were filled with flowers that rose to match the leaves of the trees in their own sprays of red, orange and gold. A small lake took up the far end with a waterfall cascading down from the peaks above, and several smaller ponds dotted the landscape with water so clear it reflected the sky and mountains with mirror precision. The young smith's heart clenched and then began a slow, throbbing ache.
For a long moment he could not understand why this idyllic scene was not occupied by a town full of people, but, as his eyes traveled along the edge, he realized that there was no easy way down. No opening in the sheer rock surrounding the valley that would allow for a path. Even so, Torin knew where he would be spending the night. Taking out the climbing gear he'd been lent and recalling the lessons he'd taken with both Aurin and Kala he secured his lines carefully so he could climb back out in the morning and began to descend. He was worried about Huntress at first, but she nimbly followed him, finding surfaces she could jump to. Sometimes she had to go quite far from him to find her way, but she ended up making it to the valley floor before he did and began to sniff around, bounding after butterflies and lapping from a pond before Torin could join her.
When his own feet touched down he removed his shoes, deciding that enduring a little chill would be better than the damage the heavy footwear would do to the plants. He wandered for over an hour, just looking around, breathing in the flower-scented air and marveling at what he had found. By the end of the hour the sun had ducked behind the mountains and he began to gather fallen wood for a fire. He ended up at the far end from where he'd entered, on the shore of the little lake with a fire surrounded by smooth stones washed up from the depths. How deep the lake was he couldn't tell and it was too cold to swim down and find out, but the sound of the waterfall and the lapping of the waves lulled him into a trance like state. He slept curled up with Huntress covered in a blanket.
He woke once, in the middle of the night and he thought he'd somehow slipped into a world made all of stars. It took long moments of blinking, half awake and full of wonder, to realize that the effect he was experiencing was the lake reflecting the sky. When he woke again it was dawn and he knew he had a long hike to get back to Starfall and people who would be worried about him if he didn't get back before the sun went down again, but he was reluctant to go.
He took his time walking back to where his climbing gear was, but, once he'd reached it, did his best to get out quickly. At the top he turned and looked back, determined to find out who owned the valley. It felt ridiculous to contemplate buying his own land but, with the money he was making, it was now possible. He'd grown up surrounded by men who owned farms on large swathes of land they owned. Such things had never seemed like they would be in his future, but now it felt like he was enchanted, like he'd found a place that, more than Kalzasi, even more than the village he'd grown up in, felt like home.
He knew it was silly to have such feelings after having only spent one night in a place, but that didn't alter them. He tried to at least temper his expectation in case the land belonged to someone who did not wish to part with it, or it was some sacred place. He would understand either, for he would not want to part with it, were it ever his, and it had certainly felt as though it were set aside for something mystical. But maybe that was just how he felt, maybe no one else had any interest in a valley that was impossible to make a profit from and that living in would be, at best, inconvenient.
These considerations landed squarely in his decision making process, but, rather than deterring the young smith, they caused his creative mind to begin working away at the problem.
Aurin had gained the rune of Traversion on his trip to Zaichaer, perhaps, in time, he would be capable of taking them back and forth between the valley and Kalzasi. There was more there though. Torin had studied amulets of transportation, so he knew that bending aether along paths in a permanent way was possible. Making an amulet that led to the valley for each one of the people he would want to travel there with didn't seem right though. Possible, but not exactly what he was wanting. The walk back to Starfall went quickly as he ran idea after idea through his craftsman's mind trying to hit upon something that fulfilled all of his desired functions.
By mid-afternoon he had arrived and been greeted by Timon and his other friends with enthusiasm and questions which he bore with as much patience as he could. Normally it would have been the ideal homecoming but what he wanted more than anything was a good deal of paper and ink and an equal amount of quite solitude. That evening, after dinner, he managed to slip away into the runeforge complex and find an empty table to tuck himself over and begin working on the schematic that was now all but reality in his imagination.
