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WC - 788


At the forge, as usual for him, Dovian was comforted by the constant sound of metal hitting metal. The rhythmic clang, clang, clang of the hammer on the molten lump of steel as it was shaped helped to relax him. Anymore it was like a metronome that helped his brain to focus.

His muscles flexed with each movement. Lifting up and coming down. Both biceps had filled out since the early days when he was a skinny kid just learning how to hit metal the right way. He’d changed much in the past few years. Physically anyways. He’d filled out more, mostly with muscle despite his mother’s best efforts to fatten him up with her home cooked meals. Not that he didn’t eat them, they were among the best meals he could hope to find. But he tended to work them off pretty quickly with the amount of time he spent at work.

His mentor called him a work-a-holic. Told him it would come back to haunt him one day if he didn’t go out and enjoy life. Dovian wasn’t so sure about that. His sister was the one that liked going out and talking to people. His little sister especially. It seemed like she was the social butterfly of the family. Shura just beat people up. Thea flirted. And Kiel.. well, he was pretty laid back. Dovian was somewhere in there as well, usually the sibling that no one saw much of but always knew where he was at.

The thought made his scoff a little as a smile formed. It wasn’t that he was trying to avoid people. Yeah, okay, maybe it was that. He didn’t like too many people to begin with. Not that he hated them, he just usually ended up being pressured into things. It wasn’t something he liked. So he avoided the problem completely by staying inside, at the forge, doing work. Making things. Daggers, swords, shields, and gauntlets didn’t get him into trouble. Unless they were flawed. Then his mentor gave him a lecture or two. But that was about as much trouble as he got into while he was working.

Dovian thought back to when he’d gotten into much worse trouble with someone his dad worked with. It had been a fairly bad day for everyone then. He’d found out his dad’s big secret. And there was a time he wasn’t so sure his parents were going to stay together. His mom had been kinda angry then. Of course he was glad that they hadn’t split up. If they had then he might not have his little brother and sister. And it would make things super awkward for when he wanted to talk to his dad.

As he continued to work the metal, stretching it out one hammer stroke at a time, he let his mind wander a bit more. Apart from that pretty big incident and his determination to simply stay to himself, there wasn’t much in his life that had happened. Dovian kinda liked it that way. At the time the whole thing had been rather exciting and new and unknown but looking back on it, he could tell it wasn’t something he really wanted in his life. He wanted stability. He wanted to know what to expect. Like when he went home he knew his mother would ask him how his day was and then she’d try to stuff him full of food like she always did. His sister would probably try to pick whatever was in his pockets and he’d catch her. Dovian usually did. He was used to the weight of things at his waist because of his tools so when something was moved he felt it. It just made him feel off balance.
A couple more clangs and he flipped the metal over to keep things even, as he always did. Subconsciously counting the strokes so that everything was symmetrical. When he caught movement out of the corner of his eye he noticed his mentor moving about to collect parts for something. It was typical so he didn’t really give it much thought. This was his life and he liked it that way.

A contented sigh left him and he looked at the metal in front of him, giving a mental gauge to the length to make sure he wasn’t exceeding the limits. When he was sure it was fine he moved it back into the burning embers to be reheated.

So far the past couple of years had quieted down for him and he was okay with that. Dovian hoped it continued that way for a few more. Maybe when he was comfortable enough in his craft he’d consider opening his own forge.