It was well well past Sundown and Beth was still in the workshop. She had just completed her forth bracelet, the best looking of the lot and was grabbing a drink before settling in for the last one. She could feel her eyelids growing heavy but refused to fail at this first real task she’d been assigned by her master. She wasn’t entirely happy using the word master but it was how she saw all other apprentice’s refer to their teachers. Not that she’d been aware of the apprentices till she became one then suddenly they were everywhere. As she returned to her desk the measuring stick she had previously used was nowhere to be seen and instead there was a different shorter measure that was sat atop of all her other equipment in a way that clearly portrayed it hadn’t been there before.

Beth assumed this was Dom trying to make a request without actually communicating and so decided to make the new bracelet to these measurements. She didn’t think it would fit on a local but it wasn’t her place to question such decisions. If she was wrong and there and been a weird series of random events that led to her having this different measure she’d deal with it.

Being a shorter bracelet Beth had to be even more careful when measuring to ensure she didn’t cut it too short or end up having to sand away the end for hours. That had happened with her third attempt. There wasn’t quite enough that she could easily get in and trim it further down to size but she also was unable to easily sand it away. That alone had absorbed several hours and confirmed for her she had absolutely no chance of completing even close to sundown.

Her stomach growled but she ignored it. She was pretty sure the inn severed food late into the night so it wasn’t like she’d go to bed hungry. She just had to complete this last bracelet first.

Turning the crank to shape the bracelet had gotten harder every time as her muscles became more and more strained ad generally tired. But knowing this was the last time Beth needed to use the machine, at least for the evening gave her the burst of strength she ended to turn the crank putting the metal strip into shape. Beth was quite proud for the spiral she’d gotten on this bracelet. It was the tightest and smoothest she’d achieved so far with both matching each other in size, something that hadn’t been true of all of them. Dom had not instructed her on how to undo the spiral, if that was something that would even prove possible so she tried to take extra care on this short but crucial step.

Beth felt her head going as she hefted the mallet once more. She didn’t know how long it was until morning but she knew it wouldn’t be far off. Well in a relative sense anyway. She had gotten good at using the mallet at least. Finding the right level of strength to use to ensure she wouldn’t be exhausted before it had finished but to also make sure she was actually having the desired effect.

Bash bash bash went Beth’s hammer the movement not dissimilar to to the rhythm of her old butter churn, something that Beth was reminded was on her list to replace so she could work on it. Well she wasn’t sure exactly when she would work on it if she was honest but she knew she wanted to.

Thwack thwack thwack, it was hypnotic in a way the sound of the wood striking the metal sounding loud but somehow soothing in its own way.

Thwack thwack thonk…

Beth lifted her head from her pillow feeling decidedly uncomfortable, she blinked the sleep out of her eyes, and took in the fact her so called pillow was a metal cylinder and she wasn’t in a comfortable bed but instead still in the workshop. She quickly looked around to see if she’d been caught in her slumber, slowly wiping the drool from her cheek as she did so. There was no sign of Dom but she was covered in a small dust cover that certainly hadn’t been there when she fell asleep. Additionally the bracelet she had been working on was no longer on the cylinder but instead had somehow made it to her wrist where it sat comfortably it cool touch more than a little soothing. Taking the new addition in stride she headed out of the workshop to the shop proper. From looking outside she got the impression it was a couple of hours past sunrise so she quickly got to work once more sweeping the place clean and touching up the shop’s cleanliness.

Having spotted a mop and bucket in the back of the workshop Beth let herself back through and elected to mop the place as well taking her chores well up to lunchtime. She paused for lunch after which she was pleasantly surprised to see Dom sitting in the workshop admiring her bracelets.

“This isn’t bad work, the dimensions are good and your twists got more confident as you went through.”

Beth glowed slightly at the praise.

“However, your shape is bulbous in places” He said pointing to multiple spots on the bracelet in question. “When putting it through the shaper the pressure provided needs to be uniform, I can see on one or two of these you stopped halfway through and let it sit within the machine.”

This was undeniable as Beth had in fact taken these breaks allowing her muscles time to breath more than was possibly strictly necessary. Dom collected up the four bracelets spread out upon the desk and put them in a small bin that Beth couldn’t help but assume was for waste. I’ll want another 5 this afternoon and they all must be an improvement on the last set. Trust me I’ll notice. First though,” and he flicked something in front of him causing a screen to appear in front of Beth.

Credit Gained: Metallic Jewellery (uncommon)

As an apprentice you have been assigned a Trial by your master and have suitably passed their test. You have been awarded a single Credit towards the requisite skill.

Beth was delighted to have earned such a thing and by the time she had dismissed it so she could thank Dom he had vanished, Leaving Beth once alone in the workshop.

She wasn’t too put out though, she had a task to work on, first thing she did was fish her discarded bracelets out of the rubbish. Not to save them, after all she had one that was clearly given to her as a memento and didn’t want to take advantage, but so she could study the blemishes. Running her fingers over the metal she could feel what Dom had been discussing some were thinner in the centre with a slight bulge either side. Small but noticeable if you knew what you were looking for. Having examined her previous attempts for all their worth Beth got started on her task once more, hoping that despite having significantly less time to complete the task this time she’d be a faster study now she knew what she was doing.

Beth did end up finishing faster. In fact it was almost an hour before sundown when she hesitantly set down the final bracelet, confident she could do nothing more to it. She made her way through into the shop front to see if Dom was around to grade or admonish or generally move things along but unsurprisingly the shop front remained empty. The front door however was wide open and as she stepped through the workshop door swung closed behind her with a click. She’d more than learned to pick up on Dom’s clues by this point and decided to take this as a hint she could leave early. If not well, she’d work on a Trial anyway so there was an excuse ready to go.

At least working on her Trial had been the plan but as she walked past the post office she was dragged in by Jason “Beth your timing is great, you have a charge left right?” He didn’t give her time to answer. “We need a message sent off right now, speed of delivery doesn’t matter but it has to leave immediately, I was about to have to hunt people down at home. It pays very well.”

Beth saw no reason not to head inside and get a little bonus cash. Inside was a lady of roughly her own height, something that stood out to Beth given everybody else there towered over her. The other thing that stood out was the complete lack of name tag. No name no level no title. Absolutely nothing as though they weren’t even real.

Beth, ever the professional, beckoned her into the back where she began to transcribe the message this mystery woman was dictating to her. The whole time she was writing she felt a familiar pressure within her skull. Not painful but as though a heavy blanket had been placed directly on her brain. She pulsed against it and the words she was writing, which for the most part felt like she had been writing gobbledegook pushing back against the pressure though some words began to stand out to her, ‘emperor’s son’ and “Lost at sea”. As the words became more clear to Beth she could hear a shift in the mysterious woman’s tone. It was becoming more dangerous, something Beth wanting minimal if anything to do with. As such she stopped flexing against the pressure letting it settle on her once more turning the message back to the garbled nonsense it had appeared to be previously.

She got though the message though and was more than slightly ecstatic to receive a tip of a full 5 gold, a relative fortune, especially for somebody who had no disposable income and no sign of gaining one in the foreseeable future. The woman who had dropped off the message had left as soon as Beth added the final flourish to the message and sent it off. Jason was thankful and Beth was content with her newfound wealth weighing down her pocket. She left the shop feeling lucky and headed towards the woodworking shop, one of the many places she had failed to gain employment excited about the purchase she knew she was going to make.