The day I met her was a normal day, for the most part. I walked out of my wooden, two room home. One, it was built on a small hill and had been expanded at some point when the previous owners wanted privacy from their children. Because the expansion was unplanned, they just built a small set of stairs that cut off the living room from a small, cramped bedroom, barely big enough for the bed I kept there. I walked outside and started down the compacted dirt road. I passed through town on my way. Buildings were built far apart, so that the farmers could get their carts through easily. Almost all of the buildings were wooden, like my house. Settlers had carved out a small portion of a forest well south of the capitol a few generations ago and widely, we were left alone.
An middle-aged woman named Ruth with salt-and-pepper hair greeted me as I walked past her setting up a small stand for the vegetables her husband had grown. They were just giving them away, as they had too many. I smiled to myself, knowing that most of them wouldn't get eaten. I passed a portly, balding man; Bill was the tavern keeper and he nodded to me, looking tired. It was one of the few buildings that was made of any stone at all. It had a cobblestone foundation, because it'd burnt down a decade or so back. Bill had wanted to make the entire thing out of stone, but there wasn't a good quarry nearby and he couldn't afford to go to the capitol to petition anyone for help.
I passed a few small houses and the Church of Pelor. I didn't attend myself, except during holidays. And even then, that was mostly for the feast. Sister Lily, a young redheaded woman smiled and waved at me. She was pretty and most of the men and a couple women were upset when she took the vows of celibacy, which weren't strictly necessary, as I understood it. Truth be told, I think she just wanted them to stop chasing her around. I waved back and she started gathering the children for her lessons. It was thanks to the church that everyone in the village was literate.
Daniel was talking to his wife, grinning at her like a madman. He was a thick, tall man, with a bushy black beard, just starting to get its gray. His cackling wife was tall and lanky, almost matching his height. Trying to catch her breath from whatever absurd joke he had just told, she hung off of him. It was hard not to smile at them.. Behind him was his purely stone building. The only thing made of wood was the sign hanging over the door and the door itself. He was the village's weaponsmith. Folk could make their own bows and arrows, but he specialized in anything more complicated than that. He made a decent enough living off it. Adventurers would come down, buying and selling anything not nailed down.
He nodded to me and I returned it. Walking down the road, I passed a dark skinned man wearing a gray long sleeve tunic in the middle of the summer's heat who was driving a cart with a large horse. I smiled up at him, He slowed to a stop when I called up to him, "Ahmed! It's good to see you."
"Johann, my friend. It's been too long."
"Yeah, it has. Are you just getting in?"
"Yes. I'm planning on setting up outside of Bill's."
"Good. Did you get any books?" I asked, eagerly.
"Of course, my friend. I knew I was coming to this part of the world. How is your library coming? Surely it must rival that of Bayfield."
"Maybe. They couldn't have more than ten books in the city, could they?" I asked, grinning at him.
"Come to the inn tonight. I'll save them for you, my friend."
At the edge of town, I finally arrived at the second and last fully stone building in the village. Like Daniel's weapon smithy, this was also a forge. Abovehead was a sign with a pot and fork painted on it. James' smithy was cluttered and small, but I knew where everything was. It smelled of coal and was warm until I got to work, when it became sweltering. Work was slow, but I managed to get a few projects done. The Jenkins came in and asked me to make some new horseshoes for them. The Stephansons came back and complained about the nails they had bought. When I asked them to show me the nails, they refused, but that's normal for Skyler and his brother. Just trying to get a little more for nothing. Stella came by again to visit her husband's old forge again. She cried and I held her for a while. She thanked me afterwards. Thanked me for making sure her husband's forge got used. I gave her a sack of coins, half my earnings for the week. She tried to refuse, but I said it was the least that I could. I called it a rental fee for letting me use her husband's forge after his passing. She did not like that, but she took it; she needed it. It was not the first time she visited and would not be the last. She would be back next week. Today's a good day, I thought. As I started to close the door to a forge, someone in a cloak walked passed the threshold and peered around.
"Excuse me, sir. I'm closing shop now. I need you to leave." The figure in the cloak walked around to one of the pieces I had been working on. It was a butter knife. A part of a set I had been working on. I walked up to the man and gripped at the cloak where his shoulder was and pulled them around. "I told you, I'm clos-"
I cut off. It was not a man standing in front of me, but a woman. She had large, bright green eyes and a pale face. She was about as tall as I was, which was not saying all that much. She looked at me defiantly, almost daring me to continue.
"Oh. I'm sorry, ma'am." I said sheepishly. "I didn't realize. But you still need to le-"
"I need a sword." Her voice was calm, but final. She left no room for argument.
"Um, well. I don't make swords. Terribly sorry about that. You can always get a sword from Daniel. He's a weapon-smith down the road. Does good work." Even as I finished the last sentence, she was shaking her head.
"No, it can't be him." She met my eyes again and spoke directly. "You. You will make me a sword."
"Lady, I can't!" I protested. "I make tools. Scythes and pitchforks and forks and meat knives. I don't know how to make a sword. If Daniel can't make you one, maybe you can buy from a merchant. I think the one that is staying at the inn has so-"
"No," She said, shaking her head again, a slender finger poking me in the chest. "It will be you. You will make me a sword."
"And why would I do that? You burst into my shop at the end of the day and demand I do something that I don't know how to do! I don't think I take kindly to you or your demand."
"You'll do it because I need it done and I will pay you well enough." She stalked past me. "I'll be back to check on your progress."
I watched her walk out of my shop. After the door closed, I muttered to myself, "I need a drink."
