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| | [[Serrakeen]] has his own chambers near the heart of the volcano. The manse is shared by himself and Rivers as a symbol of the bond between them. | | [[Serrakeen]] has his own chambers near the heart of the volcano. The manse is shared by himself and Rivers as a symbol of the bond between them. |
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| − | ==The Forge's New Master==
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| − | No craftsman worked steel within the Flame-Bond Forge, but its fires had not grown cold. Even with no one to tend the hearth, the lava that boiled up from the earth, heavy with Essence, kept the flames a-glow. A lava tube stretched from the heart of the forge room to the surface, angled mirrors and fine statues in the likeness of forge-gods lining the long-cooled walls. At the deeper end of the tube, [[Choshu Aya]] stood in the protective shadow of a statue of [[Spring's Inevitable Betrayal]] and cast her gaze towards the lit hearth. Beside her stood [[Nama Bi]], the Silver Monkey, twisting her long tail in her hands.
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| − | "You say that you forge wonders for the Solars?" Choshu Aya blocked her eyes against the hearth's red glare with her hand and turned towards the amalgam.
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| − | Nama Bi stood straighter at the mention of her lords and smiled. "Proudly."
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| − | "And what tool has come from your hammer since you began?"
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| − | "I made the [[Nameless Ravine]] his new unbreakable staff."
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| − | "A stick of which I'm sure you can be justly proud."
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| − | Nama Bi stood on her right foot and folded the left in towards her thigh. "I made a pair of Heaven Thunder Leaves for [[Sapphire River at Midnight]] and three fivefold harmonic adapters as well."
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| − | "In three months? Not original works, but your speed, at least, is impressive."
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| − | Nama Bi lowered her leg. "Will you have a jibe for every wonder I name? I do my job with skill, I serve in my place under heaven. I am what my master made me, and my master made me well. Who are you to criticize, when I can make any wonder you can, only swifter?
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| − | "I am someone who does more than a job and wants more than to serve." The Exalt dropped her hand to her side and took a step away from the door to the forge's heart. "You are what your master made you, but I have made myself. You can make what wonders I can, but none that I cannot. You are the Silver Monkey, and like a monkey you only ape your betters. But I am a woman, and my path is my own."
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| − | Nama Bi folded her arms across her chest. "Yet your path takes you into my master's service."
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| − | Choshu Aya snapped back a quick retort, but her words were lost beneath a blast of hot air from the furnace and Nama Bi laughed. In the silence that followed, the Exalt turned her eyes back to the forge. "No one's worked here for months?"
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| − | "Only Master Rivers has strong enough Essence to withstand the heat. And Serrakeen, but he's no craftsman."
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| − | "He said the forge was mine to work in, if I wanted it."
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| − | "Hhn." Nama Bi turned to walk up the lava tube, towards the surface.
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| − | "Where are you going?"
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| − | "To borrow a suit of gunzosha armor; I want to be able to rush into the forge and pull you out, when you collapse."
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| − | Choshu Aya called after her. "Now who has a ready jibe?"
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| − | Next to the pitted statue of [[The Ravages of Time]], Nama Bi turned back. "Would you think better of me, Aya, were I a mortal craftsman?"
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| − | "What?"
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| − | "A mortal may choose her own path; which crafts to learn, what bit of artistry best decorates a blade, what new tool needs inventing. She can sharpen her mind by reading geomantic tomes or quicken her fingers by etching patterns into silver. These are the things you prize. But a mortal can never approach an Exalt's skill. So I ask: would you think better of me were I a mortal, or would you look down on me because, even still, I could not create an artifact at all?"
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| − | Aya brushed at some soot on her shoulder, but she didn't know how to answer.
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| − | "I've surpassed mortal craftsmen, Aya" Nama Bi said. "I have my limitations, but I've found my own perfection.
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| − | "Now, go and show us yours." The amalgam looked past the Exalt, into the forge.
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| − | "Thank you for the lesson." Choshu Aya bowed respectfully and turned for the forge, herself. A smile played across her lips as she summoned up the power of her Essence. Her skin, already the blue-gray of fine slate, darkened a shade and cracked slightly as she walked. Her footsteps echoed in the stony cavern. She hefted her hammer as she walked and set out to begin her great work again.
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| | ---- | | ---- |
| | [[Heaven's Mandate]] | | [[Heaven's Mandate]] |
