The Warden's Awakening

Chapter XXVIII - Four Years Ago

Lacen slammed the stone hammer into the red hot rod before him. The metal flattened with each hit, and soon he would have to reforge it. He often found peace in the smithing of swords. They were not difficult, but each one always required patience and perseverance to create. He remembered making his very own sword: a simple one, sure, but it was his. Just as he hit the metal again, he saw a massive chunk fall off of it.

It had been the third time on that sword.

"Damn it to Sann," Lacen cursed as he threw the rod back into the forge. Rayetta heard him across the shop and walked over to him. He was a thin man, well muscled and sweaty from the heat of the forge. His dark curly hair was tousled, as he had just finished work on another sword, burning his fingers a bit.

"What's wrong, Lacen?"

"The metal won't hold. I can't keep it together," he replied, leaning over the anvil. He was visibly frustrated.

"You're trying to rush this. Remember, it just takes patience," Rayetta encouraged. He had always been one to help Lacen bolster his spirits. Lacen had told him about how he wanted to be an Inquestor, and Rayetta said nothing to disparage him from doing that, unlike everyone else he talked to.

"It's- I've tried it three times."

"And you've rushed it three times. You need to relax. Start again," he said. He grabbed a rod that had been in the forge heating up and began hammering away at it. He made it look so effortless. It took Lacen almost all day to make two swords. Rayetta could make twice that in half the time.

"What's bothering you, Lacen?" he asked. "You aren't yourself."

"Just..." he had no idea where to begin. "I hate myself sometimes. Today is one of those days."

"Oh? Why's that?" Rayetta asked, hammering away at the rod.

"Because of how I've acted recently. I whined and complained about a woman leaving me. I wanted to die because I thought if she left me, then she must want me dead. What good was I to her alive?"

"And so, if you were the problem in the relationship, what would you think dying would accomplish?"

"It might make me happy? It might make her happy?"

"You really don't value life, do you?" Rayetta said laughing slightly.

"Is that funny?"

"Not at all, actually. Just thought you were smarter than that I suppose. Lacen, you're putting way too much pressure on everything working out exactly how you envision things. Sure, you can be mad at yourself for what you did, but you have to move on and learn from your mistakes. You can't whine and pout about not getting your way."

"I didn't-" his rebuttal was interrupted by a haughty look from Rayetta. Lacen sighed.

"Lacen, everyone is going to make their on choices in life. There is nothing you can do to stop them, or control them. Thinking you can will just make you angrier at yourself when you can't," he said. Rayetta was right, of course. He was always right. Lacen grabbed the nearest hammer and picked up the rod again.

"Thanks, Rayetta," Lacen said.

"Look, just promise me you're going to be better. The world is already full of people who complain about not getting what they want. You're a better person than that, and you know it," he asked, stopping work on the rod. Lacen looked at him and nodded.

"I promise," he said. Rayetta nodded and the two of them continued their work.