Gods and mortals

Changes

A.N.
And here's chapter five, next chapter will complete the trainee arch and we'll then move on to some other things.

Asgard, training grounds...

Gizor had tried to kill a trainer.

Apparently, he was being scolded and made fun of by the particular instructor. And seemingly, having become tired of it, he had grabbed a sword and tried to stab the woman with it.

Of course, his intentions weren't realized: it was the trainer herself who disarmed him and proceeded to restrain him, without aid from the others who were already coming to help.

Gauk Vidkunnsson had been livid, a true monster: mercilessly condemning his fellow trainee to the gallows without trial or process. His body was hanged, right at the front of the gate, for all to watch and learn from his mistake.

It had been left there for months, and by the time they took it off, its flesh had been devoured by maggots and was infested with flies, the white bones were easily visible; truly making a stomach wrenching sight to behold. But the stench? The putrid stench remained for much longer...

And in that space of time, it had all but worsened the condition of Brogr cohort.
The execution of the bastard had left a mark on his group, a hit brand that in a way condemned them forever.

It was clearer than ever: they were disfavored, hated even. This gave the blacksmith more reason to try and blend in and seem as compliant as possible, trying to avoid traps and setups posed by those who wished to rise above their station, to move up the social ladder, even if just a bit, at his expense.

Things had mellowed out after the event. A sense of foreboding was present amongst the recruits, one that somewhat dulled the joy in their spirits and made them more serious. Well, maybe not completely: Dotta and Rota, the twins, still enjoyed beating him bloody in the yard.

One would have expected for them to come closer together, but the death of their comrade did nothing of that sort. Brogr and Cnut still remained the isolated, lonely lads that they were, the outsiders of the group.

The only modicum of good was the fact that graduation was about half a year's worth of time away. For Brogr it would mean that he'd reach the age of twenty, it was coming up in five months. By then, if he passed he wouldn't have to obey or listen to his father anymore.

And if he didn't pass, well, he'd simply repeat the two years of training, not that it would matter much. Of course he would be further shunned and spoken ill of, but he was already quite used to this type of treatment.

And when he did get out of this hellhole, Norns be good, he would set out to do his plan. The first step would try to regain access to the forge, and try to do commissions to earn enough money to get by. If the coin would be enough, he'd hitch the first ride available off the rainbow bridge to Svartalheim, to move back to his old house.

With some relative luck and hard work, he may be able to repurchase the living quarters his father had sold. He would count on his good track record from there as a good smith to be remembered. Hopefully he'd be able to set up a shop like the times of old.

If deals and commissions from the customers were good and plenty, it would spell out a fresh start, a new beginning.

And maybe he would use his hard earned gold to go and try his hand for the apprenticeship of the dwarves. It could go either ways though: he would be an adult, not a child. He did pray to the Norns that his skills would be enough to impress and convince at least one of the master blacksmiths.

If all that he could achieve then he would marry, marry someone that he liked, that he loved, not arranged or forced, but willing from the both of them. If the goddesses of destiny, blessed him with a child or children, either a male or a female, he would raise them well... he'd do it with his heart, he'd try to interest them in his profession, so that the art may live on and be practiced by his descendants. And if they didn't want to follow in his footsteps then he would still unconditionally care for them.