Aurora's Advent

Wood of the Shield

"Do you really have to wear all of these when working with wood?" Aurora asked Richard as she held up a mask and safety glasses.

"Yep." Richard laughed heartily, already wearing safety glasses and workman's gloves. "They protect you from inhaling wood shavings, and ensure nothing gets in your eyes and hurts them."

"Makes sense." Aurora muttered as she put the safety glasses on. "Umm...I don't think these will work..." She muttered quietly, feeling the legs of the glasses slide down the side of her head - due to not having human ears.

Richard whacked himself lightly on the forehead, "Force of habit," he said apologetically. "Here." he smiled, handing her a pair of goggles with a dark blue strap. "But first, put your hair in a ponytail so it won't get caught."

"Caught?" Aurora questioned, swiftly tying her long hair into a high ponytail.

"There are a lot of tools and machines - that I'll be showing you - that your hair can get caught in." Richard replied, helping her tighten the strap of the goggles to prevent them sliding down.

"That would explain why Victor gets worried when I help him with my hair down..." Aurora hummed thoughtfully, her tail swaying softly.

"That's a major health and safety issue in a lot of places - the quarry included. The stonecutter is not a machine to fuck around with."

"Have there been accidents at the Blue Mountain Quarry?" Asked Aurora.

"Just railway-based ones, namely." Richard replied. "But I know someone - the nephew of an old schoolmate, who worked in a factory until he got caught in a machine he wasn't supposed to be working at and lost his legs."

Aurora blanched.

"He was young too." added Richard, with a shake of the head.

"Did he... die?"

"Not from the accident - he fell in with drugs and an overall bad crowd. His health declined after that. Whether he's still alive now is another issue." He sighed. "I'm not trying to scare the crap out of you, kid, but these stories do serve as lessons into how dangerous machines can be if not properly used."

"Un... understood." Aurora said shakily.

"So I'd rather you only use these things while I'm here until you're sufficiently able to use them yourself." He told her seriously.

Aurora nodded.

"Good." He patted the table saw bench. "This is a table saw from SawStop - it's designed to stop when contact with skin is made - but I recommend exercising caution all the same, for machines can still malfunction." He warned.

"OK..."

"Not all my machines have the automatic braking systems but I can stop the machines if anything goes wrong." He added reassuringly.

"I owe Victor an apology..." Aurora muttered quietly before shaking her head. "Okay, I'm ready to start learning." She said determinedly.

"Very well then." Richard laughed heartily as he started to show her out to use the equipment.

...

Hours had flown by since they started, the winter sun now shining brightly in the center of the sky, like a fiery topaz set in a blue crown.

Aurora softly hummed a Celtic tune she often played on her violin as she cautiously used the table saw to cut out squares to make the shields.

She still flinched at the loud sound it made but was thankful that she was given ear muffs.