Yukiko gave them both a put-upon expression. “If you two are done, we should get back to the inn.”
“Taking the fun out of it,” Gregory chuckled before grabbing her and giving her a one-armed hug to his side.
“She has reason,” Jenn snickered softly. “If we had both picked on you, you’d feel the same way she does.”
“That’s fair,” Gregory conceded. “I do want to see if the war room, or whatever they have at the inn, is going to work for us.”
“Oh, yes,” Yukiko said, giving Gregory a gentle nudge with her elbow. “Now, come on.”
It didn’t take them long to get back to the inn, and Gregory looked at the sign above the door with amusement. Aether’s Rest? Well, it was chosen by Lightshield and was used years before I came along.
The taproom had a few older men in it playing Go, and a middle-aged man standing behind the bar. Yukiko was the one in the lead, so she made it there first.
“Excuse me, we were hoping to see the room for Empire’s Gambit,” Yukiko said in place of a greeting.
“The room is still being cleaned and readied,” the man apologized. “I hope to have it ready for you tonight, magi.”
“We understand,” Yukiko sighed. “We don’t have long before we need to go anyway. Could we get a snack, please?”
“I’ll let the chef know,” the bartender smiled. “Did you also want something to drink?”
“Any cold tea would be nice,” Gregory said.
“I’ll have some brought right over,” the man replied.
“Thank you, uh…?”
“Oh, excuse me, magi. I’m Milton Brown.”
“Thank you, Mister Brown,” Gregory said. “We’ll take a seat by the window.”
“I’ll have it brought right out.”
Chapter Six
Gregory, Yukiko, and Jenn were finishing their snack and tea when Dia came down the stairs. Seeing them, she motioned them to follow and made her way for the door. The three of them downed what was left of their tea and went after her.
“I’ll be taking you to your instructors now,” Dia said when they were outside. “Treat them with as much respect as you do me. Understood?”
“Yes, Dia,” they replied.
“Good. We’re going to the smith first,” Dia said, striding away.
~*~*~
The sound of metal on metal was faster than Gregory expected. He’d always thought smithing was about even strikes, but his confusion was cleared up when they found two smithies side by side.
The first was an open-fronted smithy. The portly man inside was working on a horseshoe. He glanced up as they passed the opening and his hammer stopped moving. Gregory gave the man a nod of hello as they passed, but the smith just stared at them.
The second smithy was similar to the first, except it had two large doors that could be used to close the smith to everyone. A sign above the doors declared it to be Solid Steel. One door was propped open, and the tall, muscular smith had their back to it as they worked. The steady rhythm of their hammer falls echoed off the walls of the smithy.
“Excuse us, Smith Micklen? We have arrived,” Dia announced, her voice nearly drowned out by the echoes.
With a grunt, the person set the hammer down and used their tongs to put the metal back onto the coal. Turning around, they looked over the group with a critical eye.
Gregory was surprised that the smith was female. She was massive, easily as tall as Gunther and Egil— the two tallest men that Gregory knew— and was as heavily muscled as them. He almost missed the jagged stumps of horns mostly covered by her curly hair.
“Magus Dia,” the woman greeted them with a deep, chesty voice, “and Apprentices.”
“Micklen, this is Jenn Bean. She will be the apprentice to learn from you. As I told you previously, her family are accomplished smiths. I’m sure you will want to test her knowledge before letting her touch your smithy, but I have faith she can pass your tests.”
“I’m honored to be allowed into your smithy, even for a short time,” Jenn said, bowing formally to Micklen.
Micklen grunted. She looked at the other two, then back to Jenn. “Can you work the bellows?”
“My grandfather had me do that when I was allowed into his smithy,” Jenn replied. “Tell me what you want, and I will accomplish it.”
“Steel to orange,” Micklen said, clearly dismissing the others as she turned back to her forge.
“Yes, ma’am,” Jenn said, going over to the bellows.
Dia nodded and started to leave. Gregory and Yukiko went to follow, but glanced back at Jenn, who was focused on the forge.
“She looked happy,” Yukiko said as they trailed Dia.
“Well, she told us how much she enjoyed smithing before,” Gregory said. “Now, she’ll have a month of it.”
“It’s always satisfying when one of our students is eager to learn as much as they can,” Dia said.
“We’re all eager, Dia,” Yukiko said. “We just don’t have the previous love for the work that Jenn does.”
“She’s right. I’m looking forward to working with the bowyer.”
“That is gratifying,” Dia smiled. “The leatherworker is next.”
It didn’t take them long to get to the leatherworker’s shop. The smiths had been along the western edge of town, and the leatherworker was just north of them. The smell of the tannery was just reaching their noses when Dia stopped in front of a building that had a sign declaring it to be Lavox’s Leathers.
Dia entered the shop, the chime of a bell announcing them. “I’ve brought the apprentice to learn from you, Lavox.”
The man behind the counter was painfully thin. The top of Lavox’s ear was elongated and slightly pointed. Angled eyes that were slightly enlarged looked over the three of them. “Magus, it is good to see you again. Which of these two is to be my
