Telnor- Cryka
[color="{red}"] Dear Telnor. I know you are in the north. You always did like to travel and I do know that your home is in the north. I just wanted to let you know that I am keeping eyes on you. No matter where you go or what you do, I will follow and I will have my revenge. You may have escaped my anger and hatred for this long but I will catch up with you and I will make you pay for you have done. You swore you would protect me and Sakne but you lied to us and I don't like liars. Your days are limited. In the short amount of time that we have gone our separate ways I have amassed a large collection of underground spies and gangs and I will focus them all against you. So enjoy your days that remain because they are numbed.
Signed you former apprentice and self styled nemesis, Nicon.
P.S I miss you. [/color]
Telnor dipped his head in sorrow, recalling the events of that terrible day from over a year ago. Shaking his head he stooped up and tore the letter to shreds.
If she wants to come let her. I have no intentions of lying over and dying.
Telnor let the wind pick up the shredded remains of the letter and walked away from the bench. He made his way down the main street and looked around. It was clean swept with people walking everywhere, carefree and happy. Cryka may be a middle class district but everyone was well off and happy. Eventually Telnor made his way to a shop with an anvil and a sword with a hammer for the hilt. The sign read
Halson's Blacksmith . Telnor smiled and entered the shop with a bell ringing as the door opened and closed.
"If this is about the weapons for the guards, I told you they will be done when they are done, you cannot rush mastery. If this is about the steel shipment put the boxes by the counter, they have already been paid for. Anyone else can leave, we are closed to the public right now!" A man yelled from the back of the shop.
"What about old family friends?" Telnor called out.
A man peeked around the corner and almost choked, "Telnor Ghests. I haven't seen ya in over ten years. Jill come out. We got an important visitor here," the man called out.
"Yes it has been a while Mr. Halson. I've been away in the south for a long time. I hate to admit but this isn't just a casual visit," Telnor replied as a woman came from the back of the shop, wiping her hands on a rag.
"The furnace is all clean Papa. We need to tell the Iullit's boy to do a better job next time," Jill looked up and her eyes widened in surprise. Shaking her head she ran to Telnor and tackled hugged him, leaning her head against his chest.
"Oh Telnor, it's been too long. I've missed you so much." She let ago and stepped back, looking Telnor over. "Damn you've grown. Last time I saw you I was taller then you," she spotted the broken handle hanging around Telnor's waist and her eyes went red with rage as she started to hit him her rag. "You broke great-grandfather's sword! How dare you! That sword was a mark of mastery, one of the best he ever made! You scum!"
"Now Jill, it was an old sword and it did see a lot of use. It was bound to break. Besides it was your grandfather who developed the techniques we use today and those are much more durable. Even your style is stronger than your great-grandfather's," Mr. Halson rebuked his daughter and turned to Telnor. "Please call me Mal. You are old enough. So I assume that your after a new sword then? Well you are in luck. Follow me."
Mal led the way to the back as Telnor smiled at Jill who just "hmphed and followed. As they entered a backroom Telnor looked around and saw an assortment of weapons carefully placed on the walls. Each column of weapons had a name over them.
"Each column is a collection of who ever has served at this smithy's best work from the time the worked her to the time they stopped. The first weapon in each group is their first official work and the last is the last work they made but never sold," Jill explained as Telnor looked around in wonder.
"I've never seen this room before," Telnor observed.
"It is rare that we show this room to anyone. It is a special place for us but for you, we make an acceptation," Mal explained as he reached for a wrapped object. "Your father asked me to make him a sword shortly before he died, he paid for it and everything. It would have been ready sooner but do you have any idea how hard it is to get Haladium that isn't controlled by the mage hunters, even up here in the north. To get the materials it took us almost eight years. I was going to make it but Jill insisted that she be the one to make it. So two years ago the sword your father had asked for was finally finished," Mal handed the cover sword to Telnor. "And since he passed on this sword is now yours."
Telnor pulled the cloth off of the sword and looked at in amazement.
"Its. Its amazing. Wow. And you did this Jill?"
"Of course I did dummy. And why are you so surprised. I am one of the best blacksmiths in Cryka. Anyways it uses a technique based on grandfather's but improved. I call it Damascus Steel after great-grandfather. It is the strongest technique in the North. May be the entire city. The amount of force that would be required to break that sword is more than the ego of all the nobles in the Upper District in the Middle," Jill bragged. "Why don't you stay here for the night? Maybe even a few days. Or maybe a lifetime?" Jill looked hopeful.
"Just the night. I have to be in Tinsdal soon to meet up with some friends. I would love to stay longer but I'm needed there."
Jill crestfallen," But your'e wanted here." She whispered as Telnor made his way out. She swiftly caught up with him. "Papa! Telnor is staying for the night! Make extra!" Jill turned to Telnor. "Papa may be a great blacksmith but I think he missed his calling as a chief."
Three hours later
Telnor lay on the bed in the spare room that Mal and Jill had provided for him when he heard the door creak open and someone quietly step in and shut it behind her.
"Jill?" he asked quietly.
"The one and only," came the reply as Jill made her way to the bed. "You were my first you know. Possibly my only. I mean who wants a girl who works as a blacksmith. I smell from working the furnaces, I'm stronger than most of the men around and I swear more than most of them. But you saw past all that. You see the me inside that and you reached out for it. You made me feel whole for the only time in my life. And then you left. Do you know how that makes a girl feel? She has finally found something in her life and then he walks out. It hurt Telnor. It hurt so badly and just when I thought I had finally gotten over you, you walk through that front door. Back into my heart and back into my life and you don't even consider staying. That hurts. A lot"
"I'm sorry Jill. I never meant to hurt you. I was young and stupid and I had just lost my father. I had to find myself. If it helps I never stopped thinking about you. I don't think I cared for anyone as much as I did you. I didn't come back sooner because I thought you had moved on. I didn't want to ruin everything you may have built up. Who am I kidding. I was a coward. I couldn't face you. I was afraid that you may no longer have felt the same way about me. I'm sorry," Telnor turned away. Jill walked closer, grabbed Telnor's head and kissed him. She smiled as she broke the kiss off.
"This is wrong Jill, we shouldn't do thi," Jill stopped Telnor in mid-sentence.
"I know this is wrong. But please. Let me have this. Just this night," Jill said as she kissed Telnor again. Telnor wrapped his arms around Jill and kissed back as they fell into the night with passion and romance.
