I open my eyes quickly. Accept the tool from her hand and our fingers brush. The contact is brief. Still it sends a ripple of quiet through my thoughts stronger than any bell.
I drive the nail into place before my hands betray me.
“You are quiet,” she points out.
“I am working.” I say.
“You are always quiet.” she picks again.
“I am often quiet.”
She huffs a small laugh. The sound settles around me like falling snow.
We work until sunset stains the clouds copper and gold. The forge smells of fresh timber and cooling metal. The damage begins to resemble repair.
Roseth climbs down first. I follow more slowly, joints stiff from tension I refuse to name.
She returns to the anvil without ceremony. Fire sparks back to life beneath the coals. Routine resumes as if the storm never existed.
The sound of her hammer clanging rings through the forge in widening circles.
I inhale sharply as she pauses mid-motion. Watch me without turning her head fully.
“You relaxed,” she says.
“I did not.” I reply but she nods negatively.
“You did.”
The hammer lifts again and my shoulders lower before I can stop them. She turns this time. Triumph flickers in her eyes.
“You do that whenever I talk near you. Or work near you.”
I say nothing.
Her smile grows slow, appearing quite intrigued.
“Interesting.”
The word feels like the start of trouble.
Night settlesbefore she stops working.
“One more,” she murmurs, mostly to herself.
Molten metal pours into the mold. Steam hisses upward in ghostly spirals. She hums while the shape cools, low and steady, barely louder than breath.
The sound threads through the forge. Through the coals. Through me.
She lifts the finished bell. Suspend it from the testing hook.
“Moment of truth.” she breathes
The hammer taps the rim and the toon blooms strangely.
The sound splits into harmonics that spiral outward in widening rings. One note becomes two. Two becomes three. Each layer interlocks perfectly with the next, building into a resonance that feels too large for the small space.
My gut drops. The air tightens, vibrates and responds.
