Zoe cursed aloud as the engraving tool slipped in her hand, resulting in a jagged line across the surface of her hand-crafted lucifer. The tool clattered across the floor and bounced off the leg of the nearby blacksmith, Connor O'Brian. The Irish kinfolk picked up the graver and placed it gently on the table beside the frustrated Iron Rider.
"Easy with my tools there, lass. Perhaps you should take a break. It's a might late."
His words flowed out peacefully, ornamented with tones of his mother tongue, as he placed a strong, calloused hand on Zoe's shoulder. She immediately shrugged off his hand as she stood from the table.
"I can't take a break. Cold-Stare has been training me for weeks at no present cost to me, and we're scheduled to invite the spirit into this piece of junk at the start of next week!"
She picked up the iron casing for her lighter and started toward the kiln where she would melt it down and start again for the third time. When she raised her hand up over her head to hurl the useless item into the flame, Connor grabbed her wrist and spun her around.
"Zoe, wait. You'll never finish if you keep starting over."
He slid the lighter from her hand and examined it closely as she frowned and crossed her arms. A smile tugged at the edge of his mouth as he took the hopeful fetish back to the table. Using the engraving tool, he carved into the table the glyph for creation that Zoe was in the process of forming. He then added her jagged line and a few others in a cross and circle pattern around the original symbol. Zoe leaned in, curious as to the kinfolk's plan. She laughed softly and nodded her head.
"'Keeper of Sun's wisdom.' Brilliant!"
She quickly sat down, picked up the tool, and leaned in to begin carving. Taking the tool from her hand, O'Brian nodded toward the door.
"First, you take a break."
Zoe opened her mouth to resist, but Connor held up his hand.
"You're hungry and your hands refuse to be steady. I won't have you breaking any more of my tools either. Come on. I'll take you over to Harriet's, get you fed, then you can come back and trash my workshop all you want."
Zoe sniffed out a curt laugh and stood from the table, facing the tall, broad-shouldered kin.
"Well, when you put it that way, how can I say no?"
After a quick meal of whiskey and a completely raw deer steak for Zoe, the two returned to O'Brian's shop around midnight. About three hours later Zoe was finally satisfied with the casing for her lighter, which she had carved with ornate glyphs for Healing, Restoration, Passion, and Keeper of Sun's Wisdom.
Zoe turned the casing over to begin attaching the gears that she had acquired from the clock maker, which would turn and rub a piece of emery stone flint against a steel rotating wheel, catching the enclosed fusee rope aflame. As she leaned in to carefully place the first gear, her head lolled and she jerked up. She squeezed her eyes tight then opened them again, trying to stay awake and see her task through to completion.
Unable to keep her exhaustion at bay, Zoe set the gear and the casing back in a small wooden box with all of the gathered parts for her fetish lucifer. She set the box on a high shelf and quietly began walking toward the door as O'Brian snoozed in a chair near the back of his shop. Her boot accidentally caught on one of the pokers near the forge, and it clanged to the ground. Zoe tensed as she heard the kinfolk stir.
"Zoe? You all done?"
He sat up and stretched his neck from side to side. She shook her head slowly.
"Not quite, but I can't keep my eyes open, so I'm just gonna head back to Harriet's place and sleep for a few hours. I'll be back early though. I still have to get all the parts situated and make sure it works flawlessly. Then I have to get it approved by a few of my tribesmen to give myself the best chance of it being accepted by the spirit. Oh, and I also need to spend a day in cleansing so as not to offend the spirit. So much to do."
Zoe shook her head quickly to ward off her drowsiness but stumbled slightly as she stepped toward the door.
"Just stay here, Zoe. You can sleep upstairs in my bed and I'll just stay down here."
"What? No. It's fine. Harriet's isn't that far. Besides, I don't want to make you sleep down here in your shop."
He stepped toward her until there was only about a foot in between them. The scent of iron, sweat, and whiskey emanated from the tall, brown-haired man.
"What kind of kin would I be if I sent one of Gaia's mightiest warriors out in the cold at this hour of night when I could just as well offer her a place in my bed?"
Zoe felt her cheeks blush and hoped the fading candlelight would be enough to obscure it.
"That is a logical argument, sir. And even if it weren't, I think I'm too tired to argue any further."
O'Brian helped her up the stairs and left her alone in his room for the night. She was asleep before he shut the door.
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