10 Minute Tales, Part 2

Aug 20 - Cold Iron

The star had fallen a few nights ago. Miners had already broken it to scraps and stolen it away. He held one of a few ingots of what remained, though in heavily protected hands.

"What is this?" he asked his master, turning it over in his grip. "It feels like iron, but why is it still hot?"

"Ignore the heat, son, that's your body reacting to the Light."

"Huh? The Light?" he looked at it again, squinting some. "Looks like plain old iron to me."

"Sky iron, Cold iron, Faebane, call it whatever. That's the stuff any fae-hater will want to forge their weapons in."

"Wait, faes?"

"Don't be daft, lad!" the master boxed the student across the ear briskly. "Stuff like pixies, dryads, nymphs, that sort of thing."

"Oh, right..." he looked at the metal more nervously now. "So why do we have it?"

"Put simply, we need to know what we're up against. Bein' a forest elf like we are means we don't have to worry about the weakness, but the fae that we're protecting will be vulnerable to this. If we're defending them, we need to know what we're defending them against."

"Okay, so...?"

"Humans tend to keep their forges colder than normal since the metal becomes very brittle at higher temperatures. It forms pretty solid weapons most of the time, though its defensive properties are pretty standard."

"Well, how are we supposed to stop something like that?"

"Fae creatures are all it can do significant damage to. It doesn't damage other stuff that much by comparison, so we just fight it as normal. Just need to be aware of the little guys."

"Oh, okay."

"Come on, let's get to work. Spirits bless the trees that grant us the heat we need for this training course." he bowed his head towards the forge, the assistant doing the same, and the two got to work.

-----

Because the metal needed a cooler forge, he wasn't sweltering from the heat. He enjoyed this change of pace, using it to his advantage.

"I should use this stuff more often, I can actually think in this heat."

"Don't even joke about that." the master scolded. "Use of this metal for anything other than training like this is expressly forbidden."

"Wait, so you had to appeal to the Priestess for this lesson?"

"Yep, went in person. Said she'd only allow it if she could supervise the forging."

"Wait, what? But she..." he looked around. "She's been here the whole time?"

"Indeed." her unmistakeable voice echoed from a doorway. He looked over, stunned. Sure enough, there she was!

"M-my lady!" he exclaimed, bowing. "I-I must beg your forgiveness! Had I known..."

"I asked for your master to keep my presence hidden until your lesson was complete." she smiled a patient smile, one he couldn't help but blush from. She was so pretty...

"That... that makes sense..." was all he could think of to mumble. The priestess simply continued smiling, but the forgemaster had no patience.

"Snap out of it, lad. You had your chance to become a priest already."

"... I..." he grew quiet as he remembered. "Yes... I did..."