Editing The Forging of The Promise (section)

==Preparation==

Berren sat, gazing out over the lava pit through the adamant observation windows.  His hands were on the controls of the crucible, carefully stirring the gold while Rivers Between Us twitched the mirrors into position.  Below, in the volcano itself, The Ravages of Time was shoveling massive chunks of gold into the bowl.

"That's a lot of gold," Berren laughed ruefully.  "Where'd you steal from?"

"Dead solar.  No one you know."

"Oh.  Hell, that was a joke.  Seriously?  Nevermind.  Did you know that creepy godblood was snooping around the corners of this manse?  This place has a lot of weird corners, by the way."

"I know, I made it.  And yes, it's his job to snoop around in the corners.  He's setting up wards and hunting spies.  He's already annihilated two ghosts and an, ah, air elemental."

"How do you trust him?  He's obviously a drug addict, and apparently part of some dark god's cult."

"How can I trust you, Berren?"  Rivers twitched one of the mirrors a fraction of a degree, and the gold began vaporizing.  "Are you a spy?"

"Rivers..." Berren carefully stirred the gold into the focal point of the light.  "What happened to your commander?  Your whole unit disappeared."

"I killed them all."  Rivers manipulated the condenser into position.

"Oh."  Berren stopped stirring.  The gold began to solidify at the edges of the bowl in a thin crust.

"They had my sister, Berren.  She won't tell me what they did."  Rivers' hand began to twitch on the dials.

Berren looked at him.  Seven Thousand Wonders began making little piping noises of terror as a drop of precious orichalcum dropped into the abyss.  "Well, all right then.  I'm a spy."  He began stirring gold again, carefully breaking the crust.

"Oh."

Berren smirked as he manipulated the last chunk of gold into the focal point.  "So... what do you want Lookshy to know?"

Below, Serrakeen strode through the lava flow and manipulated the second bowl into position.  The Ravages of Time began shoveling from a second pile, and soon the crucible was full of what appeared to be rusty blades.  Seven Thousand Wonders Unfolding gave a tiny shriek.  "You're not seriously using those?"

Rivers smiled.  "No flourishes for this blade.  Steel and Orichalc.  Simplicity will lend us speed and strength."

"But why that steel?"

"Five Days Darkness found it.  It's from Mishaka.  Those are the blades of fifty generals that fell fighting the Realm.  Ah, that one there, the saber..."  Rivers stood and leaned against the adamant.  "That's my fathers sword."

"I'd have thought you'd want to keep that."

"No... it would be wasted on me."  Rivers stepped back from the glass.