Page 22 of Looking for Seth

"Great. I'll go set up if you want to walk Tut a little more?"

I nodded.

"Okay." She fiddled with a loose strand of hair but didn't make any move to head towards the table.

My gaze drifted to her lips, and I considered what it might be like to kiss her. I leaned in, looking forward to finding out and certain that it was going to be every bit as good as I imagined it to be.

Tut barked loudly, breaking the tension between us.

Menhit cleared her throat and pulled back. "I'll set up."

"Okay." I turned to my dog, inwardly cursing his timing. But hopefully, there would be a lot more opportunities for me to kiss Menhit, and I wouldn't let him ruin the next one.

Chapter 11

Menhit

A part of me was still annoyed at myself for the missed opportunity to kiss Seth during our date, even if our picnic had otherwise gone well. But I had to trust that there'd be more opportunities for the two of us. At least a day spent forging would clear my mind and distract me from thoughts of yesterday.

I took a deep breath, the fire from my forge filled the air with an oppressive heat that was hard to bear for most people, but I was used to it. Especially with the way my workshop backed onto the lake at the centre of the oasis. If I moved just right, I'd be able to take advantage of the light breeze coming from it.

I wiped the sweat off my forehead and pulled the blade out of the fire. I grabbed my hammer and began to shape it, losing myself in the rhythm of the movements. The muscles in my upper back screamed with each swing of the hammer, but it was a welcome burn, one that reminded me of the power I had inside me. Something I'd let slip from my grasp more than I should have while I was trying to work out where I stood with Seth.

At least things were seeming better now. Our picnic by the beach had been the date I think we needed, even if we hadn't kissed. At one point, I thought he was going to, but he didn't.

I sighed and pulled my thoughts back to the knife. Satisfied with the way it was looking, I plunged it into a barrel of lake water in order to temper the steel. Smoke blew up into the air, covering my face and making it impossible to see anything.

Once it had subsided, I pulled out the blade and examined it, a satisfied smile spreading over my face at the lines the Damascus steel had put into the blade. It was going to be a fine knife once I was finished with it.

And the perfect gift.

I set the metal to the side and started work on the handle. I didn't know what had awakened the desire to make a knife for Seth, especially when he hadn't asked for one, but I'd woken up with the need to create, and sometimes it was better to give in to that. If I didn't, then I'd simply end up spending the rest of the day thinking about what I could be making instead.

And it was always good to give in to my creativity.

I lost myself in my work, feeling the grooves of the wood that were needed in order to create a snarling set animal. Hopefully, I'd be able to do the creature justice, though I only had wall carvings to go on, never having seen Seth's shifted form myself. Nor were there any others in existence for me to draw inspiration from. At some point, I was going to have to ask him how that had come about, and whether it was intentional that his shifted form was the only Set animal in existence.

The creature's triangular ears pressed back against its head, and its tail wrapped around the left side of the guard. It was intricate work, and important to get right if I wanted the balance of the knife to be right.

"Menhit?" Bastet called out.

I set down my tools, knowing that my work would be too loud for the two of us to talk while I did it. "In here."

She stepped into the workshop, her eyes widening as she did so. "I didn't realise it would be so hot in here."

"The furnace will do that." I gestured to the glowing embers of the fire. "It's cooling down now."

She raised an eyebrow. "It gets hotter than this?"

I nodded.

"I don't know how you stand it."

"Practice," I assured her. "How did you know I was here?" I hadn't seen anyone yet today in order to tell them what my plan was.

"Rufflebum told me. Well, that's not entirely true, he told me something along the lines of burning orange and hiss, hiss, hiss, which I took to mean your forge."

"Excellent deductive skills on your part."