Gold Statuette [Blacksmithing]

Gold Statuette

  As promised, Draharu returned to Dhaoragan’s home and workshop in exactly four days. She found the green Puller in his forge, polishing some of the ridiculously shiny details on the pretty sword he had finally finished. Noticing movement from the corner of his eye, Dhao perked up and seeing it was a familiar face made him smile.

“Oh, you’re extremely precise. Your sword is ready for a test spin.”

   Draharu examined the freshly crafted sword with admiration (not that she would show it though), she was already extremely pleased with the work Dhao had accomplished while she still sensed the love and care he had poured into it. Dhao used the moment to quickly wipe off some of the leftover wax before handing the sword to its rightful owner. Draharu picked it up, feeling the comfortable handle securely between her jaws she carefully moved it around to sense its balancing.

“I have some tree trunks and a test dummy behind my house, you can go and give it a try there, I’ll be here.”

   Getting just a head dip in response, Dhao watched how the red lady headed outside to look for the aforementioned training equipment before he sealed up the wax jar. As he was placing it back on the shelf, he suddenly heard metallic clinking in his apron pocket. Right, he had forgotten to put away the gold Draharu paid him for the sword. He took the pouch out and glanced at the shiny nuggets once again. This sparked inspiration in him.

   When Draharu returned inside from a successful beta-testing of the sword, she found Dhaoragan sitting behind his desk, completely focused on scribbling something on a piece of paper. When she placed the sword down against the wall, Dhao jumped to the sound.

“Oops, didn’t see you there. How was it?”

“Perfect, thank you.”

   Dhao’s face beamed up with a smile before he returned to whatever he was doing. Curiosity got the best of Draharu as she walked up to him to take a peek over his shoulder. This time, Dhao was sketching something. It seemed to be a figure of a Vayron, tiny glistening diamonds for eyes while Dhao was trying to figure out what kind of tail to give it. When he felt Draharu’s hot breath against his neck, he stopped and slowly turned around, a big question mark painted on his face.

“What’s this?”

   In a way, it felt rather strange for Dhao that this eccentric Reosean was showing any interest towards this at all. But hey, he didn’t mind at all, it was definitely a lot better than her just staring at him with her spooky bright eyes.

“This? Oh, I just got an idea what to do with the gold you gave me. Instead of having all of it as rough chunks, I thought maybe I could melt some of them and make them into a statue. I’ve already made a figure from iron, so why not try using a new material?”

   Draharu responded with nothing as she examined the sketch, recognizing a shape of a Puller in an elegant pose. As Dhao was so carried away with this new project, he turned back to drawing, which allowed Draharu to step back and lie down near the fireplace as she found watching Dhao fuss around somewhat… nice.

   Dhao forgot Draharu’s presence as he grabbed the finished sketch and trotted back to the still hot forge. The red lady could see the majority of his actions from the other room, but when Dhao went looking for a stone bowl to melt the gold, she could only hear rustling, a few metallic items dropping on the ground, which was followed by Dhao’s soft cursing as he was putting everything back to their places. He then returned to the sight of view with a white stone beaker, which he filled with the gold nuggets and placed on the anvil to wait. He disappeared from sight again, after which he returned with a block of clay, quickly forming the statue’s figure to use as mold. He then placed it by the forge to dry it quickly and while waiting for that to finish, he returned to the main room and stopped in his tracks when he saw Draharu still there.

“Sorry, did I forget something?”

   Draharu took a moment to come up with a reply, as she was slightly confused at the thoughts in her mind.

“I could use a sheath for my sword, is it something you can make?”

   Thank Holy this super awkward situation dissolved as Draharu was right, this was indeed something she still needed. Dhao nodded perhaps too eagerly.

“Right! Right, I’ll get to it after the gold statuette, if that’s alright with you?”

   Getting the usual affirmative nod in response, Dhao continued his journey to his desk to look for the polished jewels to use as the statue’s eyes. He was surprisingly skilled when handling such tiny gems with his massive paws, but as he had his back turned towards Draharu, she couldn’t see how ridiculously dextrous and accurate a Puller’s robust paws can really be. Having found the perfect sized and colored stones, he headed back to the forge to check on the mold. It had already dried, probably thanks to the pinch of magic Dhao mixed in it, so he swiftly placed it in a box and poured some liquid around it, after which he placed the beaker with the gold into the forge to melt. Draharu didn’t notice the time passing as there was something to Dhao’s cave, which made her want to stay here just a little longer, hidden away from the cruelty of the outside world.