Keydis Lysistrata
Caeancora
Someone Fucked Up
Wordcount: 1100
"Someone fucked up."
The dark grey bars went into the forge, side by side, flames fueled by a combination of coke and hardwood. While the metal heated, multiple vats were filled: one with fresh water, one with mineral oil, and one with a mixture of pinguis ducatus and a few splashes of dahlitium volantis. Together, the mixture would form ducatus acid. Once those were prepared, hammers and files were laid on the broad anvil's face. On the nearby work table there were four small jars of specially-prepared enamel.
"Somewhere, somehow, one of the Vis dropped the ball. They always say that two halves make a whole, like there's only one perfect match in the world."
The first bar came out, red-hot. At this stage, at this heat, the metal moved like clay, stretching and deforming easily under the force of the sledge. Keydis, with sweat sheening her skin, hammered the metal rapidly, with confidence borne from experience. With a chisel, she performed a hot cut on one side, bending some of the metal perpendicular to the main body. It was a rough shape, but before it had cooled back to dark grey, she had it where she wanted it.
The metal went back into the forge, and then the second bar came out. She performed the same steps, duplicating her efforts precisely.
"Not like the tab A into slot B kind of match, but the kind where two halves balance one another. The kind where just being in the same room feels right and good and every other time something's missing. The kind where each half is equal to the other, but you also know there's something about the other half that's just greater in every way."
As the metal cooled from red to grey, it regained its rigidity. With a ball peen hammer, she meticulously beat the cooling metal, building hardness into it. There was a point at which it would become too brittle and crack, and Keydis worked the metal right up to that point before stopping. The timing seemed instinctual now, but it was built upon hours and hours of experience.
Heat, beat, repeat… the classic blacksmiths' mantra. As she worked, the metal began taking a proper shape. A long bar, with a handle protruding to one side. The longer bar from the handle was faceted with eight flat sides, while the shorter side was twisted. The handle was given a bumpy, scale-like texture. And every feature was mirrored onto the second piece.
"Well, damn, you know I was probably meant to match up with some beefy stud in the Fraternitas, with a dozen scars and stories to go with 'em. And you? Fuck, probably a desert prince. A rich, powerful man all glimmering in jewelry and oils."
She worked until her muscles ached, and then long past that. Sweat rolled down her brow as she worked non-stop. Normally there would be a break while the metal heated in the forge, but working on two pieces simultaneously meant that one was always being hammered. Even after the harder forging was done, however, the detail work remained.
The basic shapes were complete, however. The long bars each ended in a faceted knob, slightly larger than the main body. Satisfied, Keydis heated them one by one and quenched in the tank full of water, sending up billowing clouds of steam. Then, the heating began anew. There would be at least a dozen smaller heats and quenches, gradually inducing change in the properties of the metal.
"Impossible as it is, though, here we are. Born continents apart, but somehow we ran into one another. Opposite ends of the social spectrum, both caught up in this life of blood and violence."
The dark grey weapons were nearly shaped. Before the final hardening, Keydis took a fine chisel and began etching the metal. Then back into the forge, superheated past red, past orange, until the metal was glowing white-hot. She held them at that critical temperature for a long time, letting the metal structure homogenize. Finally, the weapons were quenched in the acid, the caustic liquid splattering wildly, burning partway through her work apron and scoring deep lines in the smithing helmet she was wearing.
Keydis never flinched, instead counting off the seconds in her head until she pulled the weapon free.
Finally, the metal showed its true form, an impossibly pure and bright silver, glimmering like the light of Aestus.
"So who gives a damn about fate and 'perfect' and all that? Because I'm pretty sure fate had other plans and I don't care to ever find out what they were."
One last heat. One last quench, this time in the mineral oil. Keydis then went to work with the enamels and chisels and sandpaper, making sure every tiny detail was just right.
The ocean spread out in every direction, and a beautiful blue sky with barely a cloud in sight. On the deck of the Terminus-bound ship, Keydis sat across from Red at a small table.
"Ceres…."
Keydis opened the wooden box, revealing two shimmering bigatium tonfas, nearly identical. The faceted knobs at the ends of the weapon were capped in colored enamel: green on one, violet on the other. The shorter side of the main bar had a twist pattern, with the lines filled in with more enamel, red and dark brown.
Both weapons had Keydis' maker's mark in the palm of the handle, but more than that, on the opposite side from that mark, Keydis had etched an even more intricate design. The one with green and red had a copy of the tattoo from Red's right arm; the other, with violet and brown, had a copy of the tattoo from her left arm.
"… I'm going to need you to stick around, because you're the kind of badass I need in my life. Halves, wholes, fate, matches… none of it matters compared to that one fact." Keydis pulled the tonfa with her eye color and tossed it to Red; this one was named Ilia. "Even when I'm not there with you, I've got your back." She picked up the second tonfa, with Red's colors, flashing a grin as she tapped it and added, "And even when you're not here with me, you're in my thoughts.
"In a life full of fuck-ups, you're the best." Keydis ended with a smile, holding up her half of the paired weapons, named Latus.
After a long moment of silence, Red finally let out a short laugh. "You fucking sap!"
?
