Sirius and the Forgotten Princess

Probation

No matter how hard he tried, Arum could not escape the noise of the forge. He had thought that the forge would be a good, warm place to get away from the noisy family upstairs, but one of them came down to do some post dinner smithing He sat up from his box of unused handkerchiefs, and looked down to see which dwarf was making all of that noise this time.

He was greeted by the turned back of one of the children. He was able to identify the owner by the mane of messy brown hair.

"Corrin" a shrill voice called. "What did I say about using the belt grinder after dinner?"

Arum turned to see a pale Canian woman at the top of the forge's stairs. She came down continuing to fuss. "How many times have I told you not to hammer or use the machinery after dinner? It disrupts the neighbors." Arum laid back down. These people were too noisy.

Corrin reached back to scratch the back of her head, smiling sheepishly.

"Too many, Mama".

"If you want to work, that's fine but grind it by hand so you don't wake up the whole city."

"But that'll take all night! I'd be-"

The human raised a hand to cut her off.

"Yes, Mama"

"What's Corrin doin' down there alone?" a younger woman called from the other side of the door.

"She's using the belt grinder"

A new person came to the door. This one was much shorter than the Canian, a half-dwarf. She looked what the younger dwarf was working on.

"Corrin, step away from that! Father and I spent all day working on that! You are not messing it up!"

She pushed passed the human woman to take the half-finished short sword out of her sister's hands.

"Go! Shoo! Go help Mom and Dad clean up dinner."

"But I-"

"Go! This sword is important. Lord Adhara commissioned this as a wedding gift for his son's marriage."

She shooed her mother and sister up the stairs and closed the door behind them.

Arum pulled himself fully out of his box to stand on the shelving unit overlooking the shop.

"Harsh words, Camilla. She was only trying to help.

The half-dwarf turned to face the fairy.

"What are you doing here? Do you want to be seen?"

He jumped off the self to land on Camilla's shoulder, orange wings slowing his fall.

"I'm careful. Remember, your family doesn't even know I'm here."

"Alright. Just don't fall asleep in the forge again. You know what will happen if they find you."

She turned her attention away from the fairy and toward the sword in her hands. Thankfully her sister hadn't started the project yet. She looked at the belt grinder. The wrong grit belt had been attached. She had the rough grit belt, when she needed a fine grit one. She was glad her mother stopped Corrin when she did. Corrin could have easily ground off too much material, causing them to restart the project all over again.

Camilla wrapped the blade back in its grease cloth and put it back on its proper shelf. Camilla hated grinding by hand. The belts were easier and faster. They also did a better, more even job, if she did say so herself.

She walked over to her work bench. The table sat covered in half-finished drawings and design ideas. She took down a box covered in carvings. Some were crude and poorly done, the depth and width uneven. Each gouge was easy to see. Others were beautifully done. Ornate patterns wound up it's sides in-between the boxes rougher counterparts. Camilla opened the box to reveal her wood carving tools.

She pulled out a handle to what would be Governor Adhara's gift and a wooden cross guard. An intricate swirling pattern wound down its grip. She pulled out a tool which Arum had forgotten the name of. It looked like a knife, but the blade was bend into a V. She continued the slowing remove the wood surrounding her charcoal marks on the cross guard.

Arum hopped down from her shoulder, landing gracefully on the desk. He sat legs crossed and tried to copy Camilla's patterns on the table below with his fingertips. Intricate swirls over and under lapping, weaving together to make an ornate pattern. He continued to draw with nothing, mind wandering.

He wondered how much money this sword would bring in. With enough maybe it would be enough to finally reach Camilla's goal of 250,000 credits. He only had to stick around until then. He knew that it was an outrageous sum, but that was how much the landlord had requested be paid for the full ownership of the building. He knew that being landowners was a sign of status in the crowded capital.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Arum looked up to meet Camilla's eyes. She looked back at him clearly waiting for a reply to a question he had not heard.

"What?"

She put down her carving tool and brought the cross guard closer to him so he could see. She pointed at a certain carved mark. Upon looking at the charcoal lines the traveled across the wooden piece, she had made a minor mistake. He doubted that it would show in the final product. They were casting this after all. He felt the need to point this out.

"You do know that at least half of this won't even show in the final product."

"It will show"

"You'll just have to re-carve it in the metal."

"I know but you can fix mistakes in wood. We can't do that with metal know, can we? Now fix it please."

She pushed the wood closer to him.

He stood resigning himself to his task. Too many times had Camilla had him undo her work. He fished around under his shirt and vest searching. His hand connected to a leather cord that hung around his neck. He pulled it out reveling the small orange gem attached to the end. He clasped the small diamond shaped object close to his chest. He held out his other hand, fingers touching the wood's warm surface. Closing his eyes and exhaling, he began to concentrate.

Arum imagined the wooden surface, with all of its carved-out ridges. He drug his hand up over the small mistake that Camilla had made, memorizing its location and depth. He exhaled again. The fairy pulled his hand down over the wooden surface, the wood repairing itself, re-growing as if Camilla had never carved into its surface. He brought his hand to the bottom of the cut and removed his hand from the now warm wood.

Arum opened his eyes to see a quickly fading orange glow. Where the cut once was, now stood uncarved wood. Camilla made a hum of thanks and picked up her charcoal again to redraw her lines and double check her pattern.

Arum let out a breath that he didn't know he'd been holding in. He unclenched his fist to release his crystal. He stared down at the small diamond shaped gem. He might have been stripped of his title and had his wand broken, but at least he still had this. He was so very fortunate that the council had allowed him to keep it. Without it he would be forced to preform magic off of his own reserves.

He looked up at his dwarven client. All he had to do was reach his goal. Then she could sign the satisfaction form and he could get out of this dump. He could have his title restored. He could be a god parent again. He put his gem back under his shirt again and laid back down on the wooden surface.

He wished Camilla would work a bit faster.