Things were fine when Ranvir returned. They found Frija drawing random shapes on the table, well outside of her assigned area. Ranvir hadn’t thought of that when he’d returned. His father was the sibling who got the table passed down, whereas his older sibling each got their own table to start their own tradition. And technically Frija was the youngest sibling, though she’d ‘been’ his child the longest.

He’d have a few years yet to get a table for Vasso, if he wanted to carry on the tradition, though. Though he worried how Vasso would take it once, he realized he wouldn’t get to leave his mark on that table. Also, when was Ranvir supposed to get the table? Gunnor got his when he moved in with Frey, but Ranvir had technically already started his family.

Vasso and Frey were in the workshop, engraving small tin plates. It was an exercise Ranvir remembered well from his early days as her apprentice. One day she’d have him make patterns in the metal, the next he’d melt them down and hammer them flat.

“He’s got a steadier hand than you did,” Frey said proudly, resting a hand on Vasso’s shoulder.

“Really?” Ranvir asked, leaning over Vasso’s other shoulder. Of course, at that moment, his hand slipped and left a rough score, ruining the pattern. “I guess I didn’t set a high bar?”

Vasso subtly elbowed him in the stomach.

That night, they all slept in Ranvir’s old room. Ranvir and Frija slept on the floor, while Vasso took the only bed. Only because the room wasn’t big enough for both Ranvir and Vasso to sleep on the floor.

Ranvir’s room faced East. It got hot when he was the only one sleeping there. Three people, one of them with huge, warm wings, put out significantly more body heat than normal. They didn’t sleep long.

Thankfully, neither did his lumberjack father or jeweler mother. In the middle of breakfast, an uninspiring porridge, Es and Kirs knocked on the door.

“Oh, you’re eating already,” Es said as a greeting once Ranvir opened the door. “We were going to ask if you wanted us to show the kids around the village today? Give you some time with them,” he gestured to Frey and Gunnor, “old ones.”

“Love you too, Esmund,” Gunnor said cheerily.

“What do you think?” Ranvir asked the kids.

“Okay!” Frija said. Vasso shrugged. He was slowly chugging through the uninspiring morning meal.

“That’s a deal!” Es said. They went home to break their fast before returning to pick up the children.

“So,” Frey said, once the three of them were alone. “You’re going to start the forge up?”

Ranvir finished cleaning his bowl and turned around. He frowned slightly, a slight flare of yellow annoyance flickered through him before subsiding. “Sure.”

His parents rested at the table as he passed into the workshop, though he could hear them start up a quiet conversation once he shut the door.

“Do you know what happened with those wings?” Gunnor asked. “Or what he’s been up to? Did you see the scar on his face? And those eyes, I know Es has got a little of that same thing going on, but Ranvir’s are always glowing.”

“He’s okay,” his mother said quieter and calmer. “Ranvir’s been through a lot, obviously. But he’s doing fine.”

Ranvir frowned, glaring at the forge. He began removing the burnt-out remains of coals before restocking.

“I’m just worried about him, that’s all.”

“I know you are. But, honey, some of these things are beyond our understanding. Our son is a tethered. He deals directly with the Triplet Goddess now.”

“I know,” Gunnor huffed. “I better get going.”

“I should go check on him as well.”

Moments later, Frey entered the workshop as Ranvir was pouring out fresh coal. She watched him for a moment as he spread them about. She hopped closer, putting a hand on the table for support and said, “Remember to stack them for easier burning.”

Ranvir sighed, looking over his shoulder at his mother. “Yeah, I got it.”

“Yeah, okay,” she said, lifting her hands and turning to her table. “He did a good job yesterday.”

“Vasso?” Ranvir said to clarify. “Yeah, he’s smart.”

“How long have you known him?”

Ranvir almost reached up to scratch at his hair before remembering his coal-stained fingers. “It’s been a fair while. Since he was eight, he spoke little back then.”

“He still doesn’t speak much,” she observed wryly.

Ranvir chuckled and nodded. Finishing his stack of coal, he said, “He’s gotten a lot better. I doubt he was ever very talkative.”

“Did you know his parents? His mother?”

He shook his head. “No, I didn’t. They died before I came to Korfyi. Where’s the…” he trailed off as Frey handed him a log with an ember from the fireplace. “Thanks.”

“Careful not to blow it out,” she warned him.

Ranvir carefully blew on the embers, adding a bit of tinder to make sure it was hot enough to bring into the stack and take.

“When was the last time I failed to start the forge?” he asked. “Do you even remember? I must’ve been fifteen.”

She chuckled at him and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Ranvir. It’s just old habits.”

Ranvir cocked his head and thought back, She did always warn me not to let it go out. He shook his head, scooped the embers up, protecting his fingers with a slight flex of space. Soon, he stopped blowing on it and moved to the bellows.

“Not too much, remember?”

Ranvir paused on the down press to glare at her. With her back turned, Frey didn’t notice. He inhaled deeply and resumed slowly and carefully, increasing the heat. He was tempted to forge transfer lines, but if the tinder didn’t have enough heat, he risked starting over.

Slow and steady, he told himself, slowly building the heat.

“So did you make any friends while on Korfyi? That is what you called it, right?”

“Korfyi yeah. Eriene is the name of the town, if you want specifics.”

“That would be nice.”

“A few friends. Elpir runs the orphanage, and Amalia works with the Sentinels. As well, I’d consider myself with friends with Kyriake, Alexis to a lesser degree as well.”

“Elpir sounds like a girl?”

“Yeah, she just got married to Amalia,” Ranvir said, then hurried to add. “They’re both girls.” Might as well get that out of the way.

“Oh… That’s,” Frey coughed and cleared her throat. “Good for them.”

Thank the Goddess, Ranvir praised internally. “Kyriake’s the leader of the Sentinels, locally at least.”

“And Alexis?”

“A merchant’s daughter.”

“Not a merchant on her own?”

Ranvir shrugged. It was getting hotter as the coals caught. “I’m not too sure about their whole deal. It’s a little weird to me.”

“So you’re not very close?”

“Not really.” Ranvir cleared his throat. “I’m close with Amalia. But it’s not like the friendships I made at the academy, or with Esmund.”

They were quiet for a while. The chink of metal and the occasional sound of the bellows filled the room.

“I think it’s hot enough now,” Ranvir said, stepping away from the forge. The heat didn’t bother him much, but his wings probably weren’t fireproof. Nor was his hair, for that matter.

Frey turned around with a bunch of Vasso’s messed up plates in a small crucible. “So where do you live?”

Ranvir shrugged. “Twenty minutes outside of town. I own a house and a bit of grounds surrounding it.”

“That’s nice,” she glanced at him then. “Just you and the kids?”

Ah, Ranvir thought. That’s where she was going with this. He coughed into his hand. “Yeah, just me and the kids.” He found himself annoyed at her again. This time, the flare of yellow was more persistent.

“Can you melt these?” Frey handed him the crucible and a pair of tongs. Nodding, Ranvir took it from her. “Just there,” she pointed to the hottest spot on the forge, like he wasn’t the one who’d set it up.

“Yeah, I got it,” he said tersely.

“Make sure it doesn’t tip over.”

No shit. “Of course.”

“Oh,” Frey said, after they’d worked in silence for a while. “You forgot to sweep.”

Ranvir blinked and looked down. Thin threads of metal were spread around the worktable and coal dust from the yesterday’s was liberally spread on the floor as well. Coal dust was inevitable when setting the forge up, but dust like this only got around after the air got hot enough to carry it.

“Yeah,” Ranvir said, another flare of yellow lighting up inside. “I guess I did.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw, making sure it was clean first. Don’t be angry, he told himself. It’s nothing, it’ll just have to wait until tomorrow.

“I guess it’ll have to wait for tomorrow,” Frey said.

“Yeah,” Ranvir said, his voice harsher than intended. Squeezing a handle of the bellow, he took in a deep breath in the small room, stymieing the words that wanted to escape his mouth.

“Are you okay?” Frey asked, having noted his tone.

“I’m fine,” he said, exhaling heavily. “Maybe I should go to dad after lunch.”

She frowned and continued to look at him, which only seemed to stoke the yellow fire that now mirrored the forge’s own heat. “Of course, Firehearth.”

He smiled tightly and returned to work.