DragonFly

Sandra and Swordfights Part 2

That's actually kind of sad.

Anyway, Izassi walks down the path. Admiring the beauty, when she hears talking from Elrick's smithy. She doesn't recognize the voice, so she settles down outside. Listening.

"-ot teach about the Dragon Wars Elrick. They were a long time ago, unimportant to the future of these trainees." Exclaims a hard voice. One that sounds like nothing Izassi has ever heard before.

"My Ma fought in those wars. Don't you dare say they were 'a long time ago'. 'Cause tha' ain't true, and you know it!" Elrick's normal soft gravelly voice was hard. He was furious, something Izassi never wants to experience directed at her. "Some o' these chil'ren are still affected by it! Some o' 'em will never meet their families! Take lil' Izassi fer example. She was left 'ere as a babe!"

Izassi hadn't been expecting Elrick to bring her up, but when she thinks about it. Was that the reason she was left at the keep as a baby?

"And that's one of the reasons we cannot teach about the wars Elrick! Who knows what some of these trainees' will do!" Izassi decides she doesn't like Captain Unknown. They sound rude. Izassi's not about that life.

"Bu' the reaction will be worse if we wait! Some of th' smarter ones' 'ave already guessed!"

"Have you grown fond of these trainees' Elrick? Maybe we ought to replace you hmm?" Blackmail. That creature, because Izassi cannot even think of them as a person, is blackmailing Elrick! That monster!

"You don' have that much power over me. Get the (BLEEEEEEEEP) out of my smithy. Righ' now."

Izassi backs up, not listening to the conversation anymore. Trying to make it seem as if she is on her way to Elrick, not having heard a single thing.

As she starts walking towards the door again, it opens. Out comes a human, an actual by all visible tells, full-blooded human. Izassi nearly runs into them. "Oh! Sorry, excuse me." She quickly apologizes, attempting to go around them.

They stop her.

"And who might you be, trainee." Their voice is like silk.

Izassi makes a split second decision to use one of her middle names instead of her first. "My name is Anne, I am a trainee here. And you are?" She tries to be politely curious.

"None of your concern." They walk past.

"Rude." Izassi turns and makes her way through Elrick's door. "Elrick?"

He pops his head through the door to the back room. "Izassi? How are you today child?" He asks. His voice soft again.

"I'm doing well, though My Lady got a few chips during practice." Izassi thinks it funny when people first hear the name of her sword. They oft think it's only 'My Lady' and then get confused. In fact her blades name is 'My Lady Omie' meaning 'My Lady Grandmother'. Her teachers have told her that her grandmother was a lady. Though she doesn't know what her names was.

"Ahhh, I suppose Sandra was working you hard today?" Asks Elrick, his smile soft.

"Yeah, but I didn't get to use her much. Today was mostly sparring. I nearly won against Sandra by the way!"

"Oh really? Impressive." Elrick doesn't usually like having children around, but he loves to listen their stories if sparring. At least Izassi's.

"Yup! I had to spar her because Ephen and I got in trouble watching Sky and Kate spar. Apparently we were supposed to spar every minute." Izassi's hands flew around her as she told her story.

"Alright. Y'know? I'm feeling generous today. Come o'er 'ere, I'm gonna teach you a thing about blades." Elrick turns around, walking into the back room, and tells her to sit down at the work bench.

"What are you teaching me Elrick?" Her voice is quiet as she looks around the smithy. Taking in all the different tools. Elrick sets a basket full of... oils? And stones? "What's that for?"

"I can't believe you don' already know this. Today yer gonna learn abou' sharpening yer blades. These stones are what we call a whetstone. This is wha' you strike yer blade against ta sharpen it." He pulls out the stones, they are long rectangular stones, some of them smaller at the end.

"Oh, why are they shaped like that?" Izassi leans forward, grabbing a stone.

"I dunno. They're already rectangular when I buy 'em. Anyhow, whetstones go by multiple names. Sometimes you'll 'ere 'em called oil stones, o' sharpening stones. It doe'n't really matter what you call 'em." Elrick seems to get lost in his teaching as Izassi looks on.

So lost in fact, that when dinner comes along, neither of them hear the bell.

"Elrick?" Comes a voice from the main entrance.

Elrick and Izassi come back to the land of the keep.

Elrick makes his way to the door of the back room as Izassi continues sharpening the knife. Elrick's been having her sharpen different tools with different amounts and or types of liquid on the stone. Who knew there were so many? .

"A'right, c'mon kid. Yer friends 'ere lookin' fer ya. Go along, go eat dinner. We can do 'is any day." Elrick pushes her to the door. "I can clean up on my own."

In the main room stands Ephen and a girl with hair just like Ephen's, but only on a few strands.

Izassi smiles as she starts down on the path with her friends. "Thank you Elrick!" She calls behind her.

"So what were you doing down there all day?" Asks Sky when they sit down for dinner.

Izassi grins. "I was learning all about sharpening stones! There are so many different types of sharpening stones, and so many types of oils you can use on them! Elrick is a really good teacher. Did you know you don't even have to use oil? You can use a dry stone, or you can you use water!" Izassi is gesturing all over the place as she talks, accidentally hitting Ephen in the face. "Oop! Sorry Ephen."

"Nah, it's fine. So you learned a lot?"

"Yup! I'd bring you along next time, but Elrick gets kinda shy."

Ephen scoffs, "Elrick, shy? As if."

Sky punches his arm, "Knock it off El."

"Hey! It's Elrick, not El. Don't be so rude."

Izassi watches her friends, laughing and talking along.

"Hey Sky, you lived outside the keep for a while right? What do you know about the Dragon Wars?"

Sky and Ephen stop squabling.

"Why do you wanna know about that?"

"Yeah, you never ask about the wars." Agrees Ephen.

Izassi shrugs. "I dunno, it's just I've never heard much about it. So I was curious. Ephen probably knows more about it than I do."

"Oh.. Um well, let's see... The Dragon wars lasted 30 years? Um, but the dragons and land dwellers had bad blood between them even before that." Sky has her hands on her head, thinking. "At the end of the war, a contract was signed between the dragons and the land dwellers. I'm sorry, that's all I know."

Ephen and Izassi share a look. "I didn't know any of that. All I knew is that it happened." Admits Ephen.

Sky looks up, "That's all? Nothing else?"

"Nope. I guess Ephen and I knew the same amount. "

"Oh. That's really all you knew?"

"Yeah."