Keydis Lysistrata
Caeancora
Note: Follow-up to Inheritance
Remodeling
The next days and weeks saw the forgotten building outside Redberry Park getting fully remodeled. The leftover bestiary and taming equipment was mostly repurposed, rather than being sold off or thrown away. One side of the building had a large opening with a door that rolled up toward the ceiling, reminding Keydis of a drawbridge in reverse. Likely this would have been to bring in animals the size of basilisks or larger, but it was the perfect size to fit her Dursus Messer, the 'Ore Else' and thus Nyct outfitted that side of the building as a garage, building straight into a full on workshop as the enlil brought in various tools, gadgets, and machines.
The rear corner on that side became Keydis' forge. It was no larger than the work rooms she had used at the Fabrica Soiree which had always felt so cramped. Here, though, it felt like a breath of fresh air to be out of the fresh, frigid air. The workspace she had been using in the bed of the Messer had barely enough room to turn around.
Most of the building was transformed into a proper guild hall, with a front desk, rooms for discussing contracts, and an open common area. Keydis set up some practice dummies in another corner of the building along with a whole armory of blunted weapons and pulled up the wood floors to replace with hard-packed dirt.
The second floor was almost entirely administrative, with an office for herself and another for Annora. Although Keydis hadn't spoken to her in ages, she was adamant that there would be a place for her when she returned. One of the offices held maps that she had picked up in her travels, including some with notes Annora had scribbled, and others that had been drawn by Eloquii. It still sometimes boggled her mind that he had such a talent for cartography despite being so... him.
Behind the building, Keydis left the beast enclosure mostly intact. She could decide what more to do with it when the inspiration hit.
The building did have a basement, but with Nyct's help, Keydis sealed up the original entrance and instead created a concealed one accessed from underneath her forge. This would become a vault of sorts, there to hold some of her most rare crafting materials and trophies that could not be put on display.
The first thing to go down there was the caelitium armillary sphere with her mother's name and the ANO's catchphrase.
"Emberhall is much better," Nyct insisted.
"No, it's going to be the Drifting Embers." Keydis declared. "Home of the Aimless Blades."
Nyct huffed. "What about Drifting Emberhall?"
"Why would a hall be drifting?" The brunette finished the last bit of paperwork, putting down 'Drifting Embers' as the name of the property. She stood and walked across the room. They stood on the second floor, in her office. If one could call it that: although there was a desk, instead of books, the room was covered in tools and weapons, with a map of Aridus on the rear wall, with a location near the Basal Lake circled.
Nyct turned the paperwork around, reading over it. The enlil grabbed something from a pocket and sprinkled a white powder onto the paperwork before grabbing the quill on the desk and correcting something Keydis had done wrong.
"Now you just need to find some members," Nyct noted wryly.
"We have members! There's Annora..."
"Missing."
"On a quest, like the guild charter calls for. There's Red..."
"Also missing."
"She's not missing. She's just been too busy to help with the renovations. There's El..."
"In jail, still."
"Uhh... for now. They were pretty lenient on his sentencing since Canor agreed to the duel. There's you."
"I never agreed to that."
"You are my apprentice, you join the roster by default. We even set you up with your own workshop."
Nyct grumbled but didn't argue further. "That's not a very robust roster. You've got zero clients, also. Unless you want to count the clients for your smithy, and that list is growing thin since you keep turning down work orders."
Keydis scowled and reached over to touch the empty air where her arm once was. "It wouldn't make sense to take on an order I can't fill."
"Come downstairs," Nyct demanded suddenly. The small, black-feathered enlil had been trying to drag Keydis downstairs for a couple hours already, but she had been wrapped up in getting all the boring legal stuff dealt with.
"Fine, fine, lead on. Who's supposed to be the master here..."
Nyct trailed a hand down the smoothly polished banister as they exited the office and strode down the hallway. It was still pretty barren, but Keydis had plans to cover the walls. Together, the pair made their way downstairs and toward the workshop. Then, they veered off toward the forge.
"Oh. You wanted a lesson?" Keydis assumed. She had been a little lax in living up to her teaching obligations. Guiltily, she reflected on just how much Nyct had been helping despite Keydis being so far behind. "Now that we're in a good spot, I can focus on... what is that?"
To one side of Keydis anvil stood a machine that reached floor to ceiling. It looked like another anvil but with gears and tubes built around it and, Keydis realized as she approached, a hammerhead dangling above the metal.
Nyct smiled, an uncharacteristic, proud grin that flashed those raptor teeth. "I am calling it Scaevus. Come over here and press this pedal with your foot."
Keydis looked the machine, then at Nyct, but stepped forward to do as asked, pressing her foot down on the protruding bit of metal. The hammer slammed down with a heavy chime, shocking Keydis into stepping back. The hammer had already struck two more times before she pulled back, leaving her ears ringing.
"I know I can't keep up with your pace. But this can."
Raising one bushy eyebrow, Keydis pressed her boot down again, realizing that she could control the speed some by how hard she pressed down. Every time the hammer fell, it struck the exact same spot. The power was similar to her own.
With the help of such a device, she could do some smithing on her own. Before she realized it, Keydis was reaching up to brush wetness from her eyes. "You're a Bell-damned marvel, Nyct." Keeping faced away so Nyct wouldn't see it, she asked, "What's the name mean?"
"It means 'Left-handed' in the Old Tongue."
Abruptly her gratefulness was tempered by annoyance as she flashed the enlil a glare. "You little brat!" She lifted a fist like she was going to cuff the bird on the head, but then she threw that arm around the kid and squeezed in a tight hug. "I'll let you keep that shitty name if you stop making fun of Drifting Embers." They both laughed, while suddenly Keydis felt invigorated, a hundred projects rushing to mind. "Maybe I can start taking some of those orders now. Let's see if this device really can keep up!"
Remodeling
Wordcount: 1,192
The next days and weeks saw the forgotten building outside Redberry Park getting fully remodeled. The leftover bestiary and taming equipment was mostly repurposed, rather than being sold off or thrown away. One side of the building had a large opening with a door that rolled up toward the ceiling, reminding Keydis of a drawbridge in reverse. Likely this would have been to bring in animals the size of basilisks or larger, but it was the perfect size to fit her Dursus Messer, the 'Ore Else' and thus Nyct outfitted that side of the building as a garage, building straight into a full on workshop as the enlil brought in various tools, gadgets, and machines.
The rear corner on that side became Keydis' forge. It was no larger than the work rooms she had used at the Fabrica Soiree which had always felt so cramped. Here, though, it felt like a breath of fresh air to be out of the fresh, frigid air. The workspace she had been using in the bed of the Messer had barely enough room to turn around.
Most of the building was transformed into a proper guild hall, with a front desk, rooms for discussing contracts, and an open common area. Keydis set up some practice dummies in another corner of the building along with a whole armory of blunted weapons and pulled up the wood floors to replace with hard-packed dirt.
The second floor was almost entirely administrative, with an office for herself and another for Annora. Although Keydis hadn't spoken to her in ages, she was adamant that there would be a place for her when she returned. One of the offices held maps that she had picked up in her travels, including some with notes Annora had scribbled, and others that had been drawn by Eloquii. It still sometimes boggled her mind that he had such a talent for cartography despite being so... him.
Behind the building, Keydis left the beast enclosure mostly intact. She could decide what more to do with it when the inspiration hit.
The building did have a basement, but with Nyct's help, Keydis sealed up the original entrance and instead created a concealed one accessed from underneath her forge. This would become a vault of sorts, there to hold some of her most rare crafting materials and trophies that could not be put on display.
The first thing to go down there was the caelitium armillary sphere with her mother's name and the ANO's catchphrase.
"Emberhall is much better," Nyct insisted.
"No, it's going to be the Drifting Embers." Keydis declared. "Home of the Aimless Blades."
Nyct huffed. "What about Drifting Emberhall?"
"Why would a hall be drifting?" The brunette finished the last bit of paperwork, putting down 'Drifting Embers' as the name of the property. She stood and walked across the room. They stood on the second floor, in her office. If one could call it that: although there was a desk, instead of books, the room was covered in tools and weapons, with a map of Aridus on the rear wall, with a location near the Basal Lake circled.
Nyct turned the paperwork around, reading over it. The enlil grabbed something from a pocket and sprinkled a white powder onto the paperwork before grabbing the quill on the desk and correcting something Keydis had done wrong.
"Now you just need to find some members," Nyct noted wryly.
"We have members! There's Annora..."
"Missing."
"On a quest, like the guild charter calls for. There's Red..."
"Also missing."
"She's not missing. She's just been too busy to help with the renovations. There's El..."
"In jail, still."
"Uhh... for now. They were pretty lenient on his sentencing since Canor agreed to the duel. There's you."
"I never agreed to that."
"You are my apprentice, you join the roster by default. We even set you up with your own workshop."
Nyct grumbled but didn't argue further. "That's not a very robust roster. You've got zero clients, also. Unless you want to count the clients for your smithy, and that list is growing thin since you keep turning down work orders."
Keydis scowled and reached over to touch the empty air where her arm once was. "It wouldn't make sense to take on an order I can't fill."
"Come downstairs," Nyct demanded suddenly. The small, black-feathered enlil had been trying to drag Keydis downstairs for a couple hours already, but she had been wrapped up in getting all the boring legal stuff dealt with.
"Fine, fine, lead on. Who's supposed to be the master here..."
Nyct trailed a hand down the smoothly polished banister as they exited the office and strode down the hallway. It was still pretty barren, but Keydis had plans to cover the walls. Together, the pair made their way downstairs and toward the workshop. Then, they veered off toward the forge.
"Oh. You wanted a lesson?" Keydis assumed. She had been a little lax in living up to her teaching obligations. Guiltily, she reflected on just how much Nyct had been helping despite Keydis being so far behind. "Now that we're in a good spot, I can focus on... what is that?"
To one side of Keydis anvil stood a machine that reached floor to ceiling. It looked like another anvil but with gears and tubes built around it and, Keydis realized as she approached, a hammerhead dangling above the metal.
Nyct smiled, an uncharacteristic, proud grin that flashed those raptor teeth. "I am calling it Scaevus. Come over here and press this pedal with your foot."
Keydis looked the machine, then at Nyct, but stepped forward to do as asked, pressing her foot down on the protruding bit of metal. The hammer slammed down with a heavy chime, shocking Keydis into stepping back. The hammer had already struck two more times before she pulled back, leaving her ears ringing.
"I know I can't keep up with your pace. But this can."
Raising one bushy eyebrow, Keydis pressed her boot down again, realizing that she could control the speed some by how hard she pressed down. Every time the hammer fell, it struck the exact same spot. The power was similar to her own.
With the help of such a device, she could do some smithing on her own. Before she realized it, Keydis was reaching up to brush wetness from her eyes. "You're a Bell-damned marvel, Nyct." Keeping faced away so Nyct wouldn't see it, she asked, "What's the name mean?"
"It means 'Left-handed' in the Old Tongue."
Abruptly her gratefulness was tempered by annoyance as she flashed the enlil a glare. "You little brat!" She lifted a fist like she was going to cuff the bird on the head, but then she threw that arm around the kid and squeezed in a tight hug. "I'll let you keep that shitty name if you stop making fun of Drifting Embers." They both laughed, while suddenly Keydis felt invigorated, a hundred projects rushing to mind. "Maybe I can start taking some of those orders now. Let's see if this device really can keep up!"