Living in Faldor's Farm is such a relief. Like, to an enormous extent. But, well, it can get a bit boring at times. As in, most of the time, currently. I'm sure it'll become much better as I get older and can actually, y'know, not be stuck with my Uncle all day, everyday.
Gotta say though, Colors Dude made my life so much simpler due to my family. Uncle Durnik is a pretty cool guy. Solemn? Sendarian? Oh yeah. But funny nonetheless. I'd really grown to like him. Unlike others.
My peers were… not awe inspiring. Not in the least. Zubrette was a little bitch in the making. She was such a pain to deal with, given that she was constantly doing her best to be in charge. Garion hadn't had the opportunity to really grow and develop his character yet, Aunt Pol was constantly watching over him and making sure nothing happened to him. Any that made it hard to have fun with him (cough make trouble cough). The other two boys I really didn't hold much of an opinion on. Primarily because none of us found the others interesting. So I mostly ignored them.
Body talent though? Holy shit. It was crazy. On one hand, I constantly ate like a starving teenager. On the other hand though, I was doing fantastic, physically. I probably had twenty pounds on Garion, in just pure muscle. It was glorious.
Time passed. Seasons changed. I got bigger. Things changed. When I turned six Uncle Durnik had me start helping in his forge. Not having me forge or anything, that would have been insane, but doing tasks like fetching water or coal, moving around the iron. The whole time I was in there with him, he kept up a running stream of commentary on what he was doing and why.
The most surprising part was how easy it was. Not the physical parts, I'd expected those to be fairly simple. What startled me was how easily I understood blacksmithing. I picked up on the basics very, very quickly. Unnaturally so.
It wasn't until Uncle Durnik was commissioned to make a sword for one of Faldor's guards that it clicked. Martial talent. It wasn't just how to fight, but also how to lead. And, apparently, how to equip your army.
Oh, I still picked up how to make other things, but weapons? I KNEW weapons. Well, as best as I could without actually ever making one. Uncle Durnik didn't think six was an appropriate age to actually be in front of the fire, pounding steel.
Of course, this new knowledge of what martial talent included did have one additional effect. I began playing 'swordfight' with the three stooges. And I think I may have caused my first really major change. You see, all of us started out as scrubs. I quickly outpaced Rundorig and Doroon. Garion though? He improved continually. Like, I could not consistently defeat him. If I kicked dust into his eyes? Next time he'd be ready to do it back. And he'd make sure that some loose gravel accidentally hit me too. We were little monsters.
After a few months of us fighting whenever we had some free time, I began to suspect that Aunt Pol wasn't a fan of me. Probably because I was teaching her innocent little angel to fight. She subtly demonstrated that too. Whenever I needed to be patched up because Garion cheated first, my scrapes and bruises seemed to need an impressive amount of polling and prodding.
Eventually I got tired of waiting and asked Uncle Durnik about smithing.
"Uncle Durnik?"
"Yes Daven? What can I do for you?"
I clenched my fist, slightly anxious.
"Will you let me forge something? Anything, I just want to do more than fetch and carry."
Uncle Durnik gave me a long look. Then he paused, thinking thoroughly.
"Well, you're nine now. And you seem to be strong enough to begin an easy project. Let's see how you do on some nails."
I was so excited. I could begin working as a blacksmith. Just with nails, yeah, but you've got to start somewhere.
"Thank you so much Uncle! I'm ready to start whenever you are."
Honestly? Once my enthusiasm for actually being able to do some real smithing fired down a bit, things got a little bit boring. Nails, nails, nails. They weren't hard to make, and with my body talent helping with fine control? Not all that heard to master either. Not that that meant I could progress yet. Nails for months.
And while I loved blacksmithing, I didn't love hooks. Or forks. Or wagon wheels. But Uncle Durnik wouldn't let me craft blades. He was adamant that I was too young. I wasn't happy. At all.
When I was twelve though, he gave in and let me make a blade. A simple sword. And that was when the trouble started.
A/N
And here we are, chapter one. Garion being semi competent with a sword as well as a cheating cheater who cheats should make some things interesting, eh? Let me know any thoughts on what to improve.
