Irwin's Journey 508: [Sidestory: 3] Starting something new

Uvra watched the boy, trying to recall what his name was. She recalled where she'd seen him, but what was his… 

Right, the Voitrag kid!

As she recalled the youth's name, she walked forward.

"Yagrav Voitrag, I didn't expect to see you here," she said, smiling widely. 

The boy… or young man, she couldn't decide, turned to her, eyes widening in recognition. He looked slightly haggard as if he'd run all the way here, though his breath was even.

"Cardsmith Uvra. It's a pleasure to meet you again."

"It is! How is your mother? Has she made good use of the Scarlet Steel yet?" Uvra asked, recalling she never did learn what the fallen noble had wanted with it.

"Partially," Yagrav replied as something flashed through his eyes. 

Annoyance? 

Uvra wondered what that was all about, but decided it wasn't important. 

"I've been trying to recall if you ever showed up here before to be tested, but I can't remember," she lied, having not even tried to recall because she had no idea.

"I didn't," Yagrav said. "Before today, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do or be, and seeing as we were still in the Guard Training, it didn't matter. A few things happened recently, and I decided today to at least find out if I would qualify."

Uvra put a finger to her chin, feeling that the kid was leaving a lot out of his short story. 

"Well, let's go and see how you do! A quick warning, though, less than one in a hundred here had enough soulforce sensitivity to join, so I wouldn't get too excited," she said, beckoning him to follow her. 

I really hope he at least has the sensitivity to be able to reforge topaz cards, she thought. That would mean she would have someone to help catch up to the current lowest class.

They moved through the hallway that led from the main entrance to the area with the testing area and the classrooms. It was quiet now, with all classes done and the apprentices all either at home or out to eat. 

The small testing room smelled dusty, showing just how long nobody had been there, and she made a mental note to tell someone to clean it. What if they had someone from the main charters show up?

"So," she said, closing the door behind them and walking to a circle of runes etched into the stone floor. "Long ago, when we had way too few cardsmiths, people didn't bother checking if someone could even get anywhere. Nowadays, we do it a bit differently. There are three ways I know of to detect someone's soulforce senses," she said, stopping at the rune circle and looking at Yagrav. "The easiest is having someone around who can tell just by looking at them. The Guildmaster is one of those, as is Guildmistress Flowrishin. Sadly, that ability is very rare, and we don't have anyone here who can do it. The Viridian charters have special trees to help with it, but those only really work well on Viridians, which leaves the rest of us with this. A circle that creates signals of soulforce to check how much you can pick up."

She saw Yagrav stare curiously at the circle, his eyes lighting up.

"Do you know anything about runes?" she asked.

"Only the basics," he said, still looking at them. "Unlike cardsmithing, they require only knowledge and many years of practice to make. No sensitivity needed. Most people don't bother because to become a really good one can take hundreds of years."

"I wouldn't say that near any rune crafters," Uvra said, smirking. "You definitely require some affinity for that, and because that's not measurable, it's probably a lot harder to determine beforehand how good someone can be. If you say what you just did when one of them can hear you, you might get blacklisted by the local Runecarvers Guild."

Yagrav's eyes widened slightly, and he shook his head. "I didn't mean-"

"Oh, calm down!" she exclaimed, grinning. "I'm just messing with you. They wouldn't blacklist you over something like that, though you probably would get a chewing out."

She laughed, waving at the center of the runic circle. "Now, sit down in the middle and close your eyes."

Yagrav looked at her, eyes narrow and clearly not enjoying her joke. Kids these days. Still, he walked into the circle and sat down as she had asked.

"Now, I'm going to trigger the runes, and you will sense a pretty strong soulforce tremor. When you do, just tell me as soon as you do, and I'll go to the next step. I'm not going to tell you when I trigger a tremor; just raise your hand when you do, and I'll take care of the rest. Ready?"

"Yes, Cardsmith Uvra."

Uvra snorted. This kid is way too polite. 

She focused on the control runes in the wall, pushing the first of eight, the testing rune, which caused a soulforce tremor so strong that she'd yet to hear of anyone who couldn't sense it.

She wasn't surprised to see Yagrav shudder, then quickly raise his arm.

"Pretty intense, isn't it?" she said, remembering her first time in the circle. 

Yagrav didn't respond, just nodded, eyes closed.

Uvra held back a snort, then pushed the next rune, which would send out a tremor much softer. Those who could hear it technically had the ability to learn to reforge quartz cards, but that meant little. It would take them years, perhaps hundreds, to reach that point, and far too many cards to make it viable. Besides, even with the best soulforce sensitivity increasing cards, they likely would never reach the topaz ranks.

Yagrav's hand shot up again, and fast. A good sign.

She waited a bit longer and then pressed the rune that corresponded with the amethyst rank. 

Yagrav's hand went up again, and she nodded.

A thousand years ago, that had been the cut-off point, with people who could sense this still allowed to join. However, with the population of the Crathan Empire growing rapidly, the number of Cardsmiths at that rank had just become too large to maintain. 

One more and he can join, she thought.

This time, she waited even longer until she pressed the rune for the potential topaz-rank smiths and the current cut-off point.

Yagrav's hand rose again, though not as fast as it had before, indicating it had taken him a moment to sense the tremor as it passed through him. 

Uvra felt her excitement grow. Nearly all of those they had found in Virbrack's Stand had been what they called potential-smiths. Only two had the base soulforce sensitivity to become an emerald rank smith like her. Had they just found the next one?

Part of her knew her excitement was a bit sad, and it just showed how bad the apprentices had been here. Back in Blackglass, there had been plenty of potential emeralds. Anything below ruby wasn't really worth getting excited about because with each step back, it took someone exponentially longer to reach the next step. 

She thought back to when Berjin had reached emerald in under a hundred years while she'd still been messing about at the topaz rank. He'd even reached his natural cap of ruby rank before she had reached emerald.

Well, luckily, we are somewhere that still appreciates emerald-rank smiths, she thought, before remembering how fast the nobles had stopped showing up to talk to her when they heard she couldn't reforge heartcards. Well, regular people at least.

She waited another few moments before focusing on the kid and pressing the rune that had been the best she could have heard. 

Yagrav frowned, and her eyebrows shot up.

He actually felt it right away, but just isn't sure. Not bad!

That meant he was probably more sensitive than she was. 

Yagrav raised his hand after half a minute, hesitant at first, then more sure of himself.

Uvra held back a whistle. Definitely more sensitive than her, but she was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to detect the ruby tremor.

She removed her finger from the rune and waited for six or seven minutes, then pushed the ruby rune.

Yagrav showed no reaction, which she hadn't expected, but she didn't let go. Everyone had the right to try for about ten minutes, and there was a world of difference between someone who could sense it within that time versus someone who couldn't, most importantly because even the weakest ruby-rank cardsmith could learn how to reforge a heartcard.

Minutes crawled by, and she felt her excitement die down slowly when she saw Yagrav's eyebrows twitch. A frown settled on his face, and she almost let out a whoop.

He is sensing it! He doesn't know for sure, but he definitely is!

Technically, that already meant Yagrav had the natural potential to become a ruby-rank cardsmith. Probably the weakest one, only able to reforge cards at that rank that matched his own, and likely only able to make topaz-rank heartcards, but none of that really mattered. It was a cut-off point, and even after all these years, she felt a tiny twitch of jealousy. It only lasted for a moment, though, as she'd long since learned to live with her own shortcomings.

About seven minutes after she'd put her finger on the rune, Yagrav hesitantly raised his arm, almost pulling it back on occasion. He looked highly uncertain as he kept his hand there, but it didn't matter.

Uvra pulled her finger from the button, watching him frown deeper and lowering his hand.

She didn't bother pressing the next rune. The step from ruby to diamond rank was such a vast ocean that even after all these long years, there were only a few thousand of them. Berjin had told her that when he'd been in the circle, he'd been able to sense the ruby-rank sound almost immediately, but he'd not even sensed a whisper of the diamond-rank tremor. 

"Well, that's a surprise," she said, walking back to the circle. "You can open your eyes now."

Yagrav did as she asked, blinking a few times, his silver eyes swirling as they focused on her.

"Wanna know how you did?" she asked teasingly, grinning as she saw him frown. It deepened as she waited for him to answer.

"Yes, Cardsmith Uvra," he said.

"You did very well," she said, her grin becoming almost predatory. "Not the best, or even close to the best, but very good. You have a natural soulforce sensitivity that would allow you to become a ruby-rank cardsmith."

His eyes widened, and she quickly continued. "A very weak one, though, so don't start imagining yourself as a Charterhead just yet. We will have to wait till Charterhead Berjin has time to check more, but I'd say you would be able to become only a rank-one. Still, besides those punks that left for Blackgass, you would be the second ruby-rank apprentice we have here."

Yagrav got up, his eyes flickering through a wide range of emotions. Confusion and excitement she'd expected, but there was also a little bit of fear before it settled into a steely resolve.

"So, I'd say, go to your mother and tell her how you did," Uvra said as she beckoned him back to the main hall. "But my advice to you? Return here tomorrow and start your apprenticeship. You have a bright future!"

Yagrav followed her, clearly deep in thought. She almost expected him to walk away as she'd seen some of the others do, but before he reached the door, Yagrav turned.

"Thank you," he said. "I… was wondering. What do nobles think of ruby-rank smiths?"

Uvra stared at him, slightly confused by the question. Yumni, who was behind the main desk, made a strangled sound, but Uvra ignored her.

"What do they think?" she muttered. "Well, they probably see ruby-rank smiths as potential assets? I'm not sure. But it's a bit too early to worry about things. It will take you twenty years to reach the topaz rank, and probably another twenty to reach emerald. Plenty of time to figure things out?"

Yagrav looked at her, then lowered his head. "Right. You are right. Well, thank you! I'll be back tomorrow. Do I need to bring anything?"

"You are thirteen?"

"Fourteen."

"Nothing you need to do, then. Just talk with your mother, but you are old enough to decide," Uvra said, recalling her own mother's reaction when she'd returned home, over six hundred years ago. By the Shadow Volcano, she'd been angry. Had wanted her to ignore it and follow in her footsteps as a woodshaper. 

"Alright, see you tomorrow," Yagrav said, turning away and running out of the main entrance.

Gonna have to tell him not to run inside the Charter building, Uvra thought with a grin, before turning to Yumni, who was looking at her wide-eyed.

"Oh, don't look that excited. It's just a ruby-rank potential, and barely one at that," she said with a snort. "Go and see if Berjin has time, alright?"

"Yes, Deputy Charterhead Uvra," she said, walking away.

"And call me Uvra," Uvra snapped after her. "You might sprain your tongue on that!"

--

Yagrav lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling, his mind still abuzz with what had happened. His mother had barely believed it at first and had actually gone to the charter to double-check. When she'd returned, she'd been both fuming and incredibly excited. Something had happened, but she'd been unwilling to tell him. Still, she had gone as far as writing him out of the guard classes, something he really wasn't happy with. What had made him feel even worse was her promise that she would get him relocated to one of the larger cities, perhaps even Blackglass, so that he could go to a proper Charter.

His halfhearted attempt to dissuade her had been met with a dismissal to go and sleep. The last thing she said was that he should stay at home tomorrow.

Still, even all of that couldn't stifle his excitement.

How come I suddenly have such a high soulforce sensitivity? 

His mother had told him that he'd been tested years ago and had been just over topaz rank. 

Is it because of heartcard? 

He focused on it, but he already knew what he'd find—metal control, his greatsword, and some body strengthening. Nothing that screamed soulforce-sense increases.

So… Now I need to decide what to do, he thought. 

The first thing he needed to prevent was his mother's idea that he would do better somewhere else. Even if it were true, it would greatly hamper his plans of becoming as influential as possible here. And that would be needed for him to start increasing the defences both here and beyond the Exit portal.

Besides, Charterhead Berjin isn't just anyone, he thought. He did well in the last contest and has a direct line to both the Guildmaster and the Guildmistress, Flowrishin. If I go anywhere else, I'll just get some random teacher and be one among many.

His mind kept spinning, and he barely noticed the small pool of Scarlet Steel that flowed across his hand, through his fingers, around like rings, and back. 

At some point, he must have fallen asleep, because he woke to a slight headache and the sense of something cutting off the blood flow to his left hand. 

What? 

He rolled over and raised his hand to find the now solid Scarlet Steel had warped into a too-tight bracelet shape around his hand, thumb, and wrist. With a grunt, he focused on his metal control, and it took a few moments to turn the Scarlet Steel malleable enough to move it away. As soon as it did, his hand began tingling as the blood flow was restored.

Yagrav shivered, realizing he could have hurt his hand a lot more than he had, and he made a quick promise to himself to never fall asleep while practicing his metal shaping.

It took a few minutes for his hand to feel normal again, and when it did, he got up and headed downstairs. The sun was barely peeking through the shutters of the kitchen, while a stronger-than-usual wind blew dry, hot inside.

There was no sign of his mother. She'd probably gone to the central building to try to contact some of her old friends. 

I really hope she wasn't serious, Yagrav thought. 

Maybe she was just out to get groceries or to hunt? Ever since they had arrived here, they had been short on funds, but with two soulcards, both with combat potential, she was easily able to hunt some of the creatures that roamed the surrounding desert. 

Why can she hunt, and I can't even leave the estate alone, Yagrav thought as he fetched some food from the kitchen.

Five minutes later, he was pacing through the kitchen, having no idea what to do with himself. Normally, he'd be out training now, and he almost thought about doing some of his own. But the only thing that he really wanted to do was head to the charter. He had no idea what his mother had done, but Cardsmith Uvra had told him to return the next day, which was now.

Whatever! At least I'll be safer there than here, he decided.

A short while later, he was standing in front of the charter building of the Cardsmiths Guild. A small group of seven others stood nearby, whispering softly. They were all younger than him, but he recognized an interesting mix. Two noble daughters, three merchants' children, and some of the children of guards. 

Those must be the apprentices with topaz-potential, he thought.

He had no idea who had ended up having emerald or ruby-potential, as there hadn't been one of his own age group among those. Besides, it had all happened months ago.

The door opened right when the light of the rising sun breached the top of the building behind them, bathing the person within in its light.

"Right, get in here, kiddies," Uvra said, her eyes narrowing, the creases in her slightly wrinkled face were easier to see in the full light. As she noticed Yagrav, they widened in surprise. Then she waved the younger children in.

"Come on! Today you get a surprise lesson from Charterhead Berjin!"

The younger apprentices let out a muttering as they rushed past her, not even looking at Yagrav. He followed them, stopping as Uvra examined him.

"I hadn't expected you to be here after talking with your mother yesterday," she said.

Yagrav wanted to grimace.

"What did she say?" he asked, already having a good idea.

"Oh, the standard noble prattle. That she didn't think this place was a good fit for a ruby-rank potential," Uvra said. "Didn't she tell you?"

"She wasn't home, so I decided just to go here," Yagrav said.

Uvra seemed about to say something, so he quickly continued.

"But I don't want to go somewhere else. I want to stay here and learn cardsmithing. You said yesterday that I was old enough to decide for myself…"

Uvra snapped her mouth shut, eyes widening slowly.

"I did say that," she said, the corner of her lip curling up. "I just hadn't expected your mother to be so…"

"Protective?" Yagrav suggested.

"Sure, let's go with that," Uvra agreed a bit too quickly.

Mom, what did you do?

"Still, if you want to practice here, I guess perhaps that changes things. Come inside, I need to chat with Berjin."

Yagrav followed her inside, wondering if he shouldn't have just gone to guard training. 

Uvra was gone before he had a chance to ask what she was planning, and he moved to one of the tables, waiting. 

He'd barely had any time to think about what might be going on when Charterhead Berjin walked into the charter's main entrance hall.

Yagrav rose from his chair, suddenly nervous. He'd never spoken with a ruby-ranked smith before, and rumors about Berjin's close connection to the Guildmaster made him one of the three most powerful people in their small town.

"Yagrav Voitrag. I hadn't expected you here," the man said, speaking in a deep, calm voice. "After what happened yesterday, I hadn't expected to see you. Tell me, did your mother change her mind?"

Come on, Mom! What did you do?

"I don't think so, Charterhead Berjin," he said, taking a deep breath. "I know she wants me to learn cardsmithing somewhere else, but I want to learn here."

"Uvra told me as much, but she didn't tell me why," Berjin said calmly. "Your mother was rather clear that she thought we all lacked the ability to train you."

"My mother can be somewhat overprotective," Yagrav said, rapidly going through his options and deciding on telling the truth. At least, part of it. "But I want to stay in Virbrack's Stand. I presume you have heard that Guildmaster Irwin told us some stories about the Guidar and many other things?"

"I've heard," Berjin said, waving him to continue.

"Well, I think I can help best by remaining here," Yagrav said, knowing it barely answered anything and hoping the Charterhead wouldn't ask him for more.  

"Help more," Berjin said thoughtfully, looking at him before nodding. "Say I am willing to train you. How do you suggest we deal with your mother?"

Yagrav felt a wave of relief that the Charterhead didn't ask more before realising there was only one real answer to the question.

"I'll talk with her," he said. "Explain that I'll be training here."

"No matter what she says?"

"No matter what she says," Yagrav agreed, not looking forward to that conversation one bit.

Berjin kept looking at him, and at one point, Yagrav wondered if the man was reading his mind, or trying to. After a minute, the man looked up, eyes narrowing before sighing. 

"Then I suggest you do so," he said, taking a step back, looking over his shoulder just as the entrance door was shoved open.

Berjin felt his heart skip a beat as he turned around to see his mother standing in the entrance, hands on her hips. She glared at him, then seemed to notice Charterhead Berjin. Her scowl turned to a look of weary resignation as she walked forward.

"Charterhead Berjin," she said, bowing her head. "I would like to apologize for my behaviour yesterday. I had never expected Yagrav to be able to become anything but a topaz-ranked smith, and I fear my behaviour was uncouth. That said, I stand with my choice. I don't think a Ruby-ranked smith is qualified to train another. Like with everything in life, someone needs a teacher of a higher level."

Yagrav felt his mouth go dry as his mother kept talking, and he took a quick look at the Charterhead. The man showed barely any reaction, just glanced at him, and raised his eyebrow.

Great.

Yagrav steeled himself and turned to his mother, stepping forward.

"I'm going to train here," he said, instantly drawing her full attention.

"Yagrav, what-"

"Charterhead Berjin is well suited to teach me," he continued quickly, recalling what he'd learned of the man from Malliz. "He has been a teacher for hundreds of years and was personally tutored by Guildmaster Irwin himself."

His mother frowned, and he realized she'd already known that.

So why does she want me to go somewhere else then?

"That might be true, but this is a small new charter with very few resources," his mother said. "They can't even have their actual smiths practice every day, let alone someone like you who would need to learn."

"That isn't entirely true," Berjin said calmly, drawing his mother's attention. "The reason we have had some issues with cards is that the teleportation runes inside the charter haven't been completed yet. This will be finished in a few weeks to a month. After that, we will get frequent supplies, as many as we need."

Yagrav saw his mother look at the Charterhead, then back at him, frowning.

"Mom… I know what you want, but I'm not going," Yagrav said, shaking his head.

His mother's frown deepened.

"Can you guarantee that you can train him as well as someone in a larger charter can?" she asked, before seeming to realise who she was talking to. "Charterhead Berjin?"

"Probably better," Berjin said calmly, showing not a single sign of being worried. "He will be the second ruby-potential we have here, and there is only a small class of emerald-ranks. That means I'll have more time to teach them than they would ever receive in a larger charter."

Yagrav wanted to punch the air in victory, but held back, watching his mother.

She was quiet for a while, looking at him, then at the ground.

"Fine," she finally said, sounding tired. "I'll be expecting you home safely tonight."

Yagrav felt a stab as she turned and walked away, head lowered slightly. As the door closed, Berjin stepped up beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, I think you made the right choice. However, you might want to have a calm talk with your mother later tonight. Tell her that if I ever feel like you are outgrowing my capacity to teach, I'll send you to another charter. Now, how about I teach you a few things?"