Chapter 1: A Chance Encounter

The Rising Forge

The midday sun beat down on the worn stones of the castle courtyard as Princess Amelia strode briskly through the gathering clouds of dust kicked up by servant's feet and wagon wheels. She tugged her hood further over her face in a futile attempt to shield herself from the heat and unwanted gazes. Though the dusty brown fabric obscured her flaxen hair and finely wrought features, there were few in the kingdom who did not know the telltale figure of their future queen.

Amelia sighed inwardly. Even on this, one of the only days she was allowed to slip beyond the castle walls without a full guard entourage, she could feel the pull of duty and obligation like an iron manacle clamped tight around her wrist. Here there was no true freedom, only the illusion of it for the brief hours before sundown when she must once more take up her gilded cage. But for now, curiosity and wanderlust compelled her feet down the winding lanes of the outer village, drawn as ever to the clanging rhythms and dancing flames that spoke to her of craft and creation.

Rounding the last corner, the hovel that housed the village smith came into view, its walls blackened with soot and smoke. Yet within its humble confines, magic was wrought daily as iron was shaped, forged, and reborn into tools and trinkets under the skilled hands of its resident master, Andrei. Amelia ventured closer, slipping unnoticed past the clustered villagers awaiting repaired plowshares or commissioned horseshoes, her eyes fixed through the open doorway on the figures moving within the scorching heart of the forge.

Andrei worked shirtless as was his way in the stifling confines, the Play of corded muscle under glistening skin hypnotic in its fluid grace. He worked the glowing metal casually yet precisely, as one might play a familiar instrument, wielding hammer and tongs to coax forth the desired form. Though sweat dotted his brow, his breathing remained measured and calm, a stark contrast to many a frazzled nobleman Amelia knew who oft found themselves undone by the smallest difficulties. It was this poise and dedication to his craft that first caught her wandering eye moons past, stirring questions within her soul of what life freely chosen might offer that duty bound could not.

So entranced was she that Amelia startle when a particularly energetic hammer blow rang out, jolting her from her private musings. In that moment Andrei glanced up, his grey eyes locking with her own brighter blue ones across the shimmering barrier of heat haze. Amelia froze, suddenly aware of her transgression in so openly staring, yet unable to bring herself to flee like a thief in the night. After a prolonged moment Andrei grinned, a warm flash of teeth whiter than any courtier's, and with a tilt of his head bade her enter, intrigued by this mysterious cloaked figure as she by him. Heart in her throat, Amelia stepped within.