Chores

Day 17: Can’t get over this mansion. Its huge and ornate, easily the best accommodations I’ve ever had in my life. But…it’s too much. I’m used to the easily arranged and moveable tents my tribe lived in or the convenient inns along the roads. I chose one of the smaller rooms for myself, but even that is quite large. I’ve thought about adding in a small alchemy lab or a work bench or something to fill the space in here.

I got caught up with everyone else at breakfast (the pantry was just as huge as you’d expect in such a house, fully stocked and everything. I didn’t mind that so much) where they filled me in on their antics. More work with Marius and their expected silliness handling that. Business as usual, I suppose. Zedyethe looked like she didn’t get a wink of sleep, but she struggled on to be awake with everyone else. I worry about her, but she left my business alone and it was clear she wanted her own business ignored as well. Fair is fair.

I slipped away shortly after, regretting that I wouldn’t be joining them yet again. But I had to get Azadon figured out. What was this destiny it had tied with me? Why did it choose me? What if its evil? These thoughts did nothing to comfort me as I made my way to the old fort I met Andraste in.

The building was surrounded by people, each person busy cleaning and repairing different parts of the fort. I noticed they were all of different races, but primarily dwarves humans, elves, and a scattering of other random species. Not one was a dragonborn. Occasionally I would see them bring a stretcher with a fallen legionnaire out of the fort, which they quickly set about stripping of weapons, armor and anything else of value. Definitely not a sign of respect for the dead. This must have been the resistance Andraste said would be meeting her.

All of a sudden, a booming voice came from behind me. “HEY BRIGHT-EYES!” Andraste’s familiar shout proclaimed, a hefty hand smacking hard against my back “Glad you showed up.”

I turned confused, “What’s going on? Why clear out the fort?”

“OUR fort, now.” The dwarf magus said, nudging and winking at me “Thanks again to you and that little fella for helpin out the other night.”

I wanted to tell her she pretty much won that battle single handedly, but the wind was nearly knocked out of me as Andraste thrust a broom into my gut. “Here, start sweepin.  The plan is to get settled in by tomorrow, but this place needs to look ship shape before we can do that.” I started to ask why I needed to be doing this when she interrupted me again “When you’re done, go see that carpenter with the salt and pepper beard. Names Odver, he’s getting up in age so he could use some young muscle hauling wood. I nominate you, Bright-Eyes. Have at it!”

She started walking away, giving orders to a few other people. “Wait a minute!” I yelled, still clutching the broom for some reason, “I thought you said you’d teach me about….my sword.” I said, not wanting to say too much about Azadon in front of strangers.

Andraste turned back to me, annoyed and on the edge of pissed. “This comes first. I gave you an assignment, do it or leave.” She went back to giving orders and helping wherever she could.

This wasn’t any of my business and a waste of my time, I might as well have gone with the others for Marius’ assignments. But I was already here, and I would need to gain Andraste”s favor if I was going to learn anything from her. So I set about sweeping, like a maid….

It was boring work, sweeping every room of this huge four story building with another two levels below it. In one exceptionally large room (I assumed was either a meeting room or a small dining hall) I found something shimmering in the dust. I picked it up, wiping it clean. It was a golden amulet, ancient and dirty but still beautiful and held a faint aura of magic. From the shape it looked like a Scarab of Protection, an incredibly high level item. But the jade scarab was missing, leaving only the circular space for the carved gem to fit in and not even half of the magical power it should possess. I tried channeling my own power into it, and its aura increased considerably, lightly reflecting with warding magic. I decided this was a great find and slid it into my pocket. A reward for all this needless work.

Odver was an old dwarf carpenter with severe arthritis. He could barely lift his saw, so when Andraste instructed me to “help” him, she really meant I would be doing all of his work. He gave me brief rundowns on how to cut and smooth the wood into the right shapes, politely correcting me when I made mistakes. Not many dwarves are so mild mannered, in my experience with them. As tiring as it was, I’m glad I met old Odver. He taught me a lot, more than Andraste had promised to.

All the way from early morning to just after sunset, they worked me to the bone fixing up this old fort. The job was done, all they would have to do the next day was move in supplies. We all sat around a campfire where they passed around bowls of soup for everyone. I’d never been so hungry in my life, and many of the others seemed to share this feeling. Andraste found me at last and sat down beside me.

“Good work today, kiddo.” She said, almost respectful “Come back in a couple days and we’ll continue your lessons.”

That made my eyes snap wide awake and my temper flare “Lessons?!” I said, spitting a few bits of diced carrots from my mouth “You forced me to work my ass off on this damn fort all day. How does that help me understand anything about the power of my Black Blade?”

“I never forced you. You chose to.” She looked into the bonfire, a serious expression on her face “That was lesson 1, willing to voluntarily help even when there was no gain in it for you. Lesson 2 was committing to bothersome or downright hard work. No going soft or slacking off. Lesson 3 was working alongside someone who could not directly help you, but you needed to cooperate with anyway. Those are the first three things you need to learn in order to establish a relationship with your Black Blade.”

I thought it over, and realized she was right. I had been thinking of Azadon as a tool and that there was some kind of manual on how to properly use it. But as Bartleby revealed in the tavern, the sword has a soul. It’s alive. I needed to start treating it like so. “I’m sorry,” I said solemnly, piecing together how obvious the connections were, “You’re right. I learned a lot today….thank you.”

She gave a wide grin and patted me on the back “You’re a smart guy, you grasp this stuff a lot faster than most do. That makes for a perfect student. Go home, get some rest. I’ll see ya back here in a few days, maybe teach ya some cool tricks.”

I thanked her and everyone there for having me and made the trek back into Fastigium. Back to my friends and my new home. Everyone was asleep, except for Dye. I decided I didn’t care about secrets anymore. I told her everything about Azadon. Everything, from how I mysteriously obtained it in the hydra chamber to today at the fort. She listened intently the whole time, only interrupting for a few questions. At the end she wondered why I felt the need to hide all that, and I felt stupid myself for doing so. I showed her the blade, and for once its yellow eye opened upon my command. She seemed fascinated by it, much like Bartleby had been.

She told me about her day as well, apparently they had quite a few close calls in battle but prevailed in the end, finding an assortment of magical weapon and armor to boot. They saved a suit of slick leather armor for me, which I love now. I felt bad not having anything to give her. Then I remembered that amulet I found earlier. I had planned to use it myself, but maybe it would be better with Dye, possibly even with whatever was keeping her up at night.

I pulled it out by the gold chain, polished while I was taking a break by the big bonfire. Her eyes gleamed at the sight of it and it took some effort not to blurt out how beautiful she was. That would have been awkward. I told her about its power and she was even more delighted to see it light up with the reaction of her magic. She gave me a big hug and thanked me.

We went to bed soon after. I didn’t hear Zedyethe toss and turn in her room, so maybe my little present did help.