Pink Smoke

Morn stayed in the healer's hut for several more days under order of the head healer, a surgeon named Jessa. She was concerned the infection might return and wanted Morn to stay in the locked healer's hut, in the off chance he needed emergency attention during the night.

When five nights had passed without any sign of a relapse, Morn was given permission to leave the hut. During his week in the healer's hut, Azur had come to visit every day, bringing Morn his lunch and updating him about the village.

Azur had made friends with many of the village folk, helping them with daily tasks as an exchange for the food he and Morn ate. He'd often teach the few children of the village about the great islands. A few mothers had even recruited him as a storyteller to occupy their children. He'd told them about his and Morn's many harvesting expeditions around Malsata, heavily embellished, of course.

Simple gas harvesting expeditions became month long voyages, and he had become a Levjottun slaying captain, while Morn had become his trusty first mate. The children enjoyed the stories, and the mothers were quite happy with him.

One of the mothers, the village baker, Frenta, had even gifted Azur a delicious fruit pastry which he had split with Morn. The baker had been happy to have a few days without being pestered for treats by the village children. Azur's stories had led them to be out and about in the village, pretending to be Yoltaen harvesters on a grand adventure.

Azur and Morn had laughed quite a bit those few days. Two of the children, a young boy named Issaca and another named Endull, had passed by. They'd yelled to each other, pretending to be Azur and Morn hunting a class six Levjottun. One of Azur's many embellishments, as the highest class Azur and Morn had killed was a class five. Even then, it had been with the help of a fifteen man crew and a farseer.

Aside from Azur, Vincent had also come often. He and the other two healers, a priest named Baldrick and a surgeon named Jessa, took turns bringing dinners and breakfasts to Morn. They often stayed to chat, checking in on Morn and giving him some company.

Morn had also shared more advanced alkimiya knowledge with Vincent, research based knowledge that Azur mostly lacked. In exchange, Vincent had begun to teach Morn about herbal medicines. Morn had already learned how to make a basic anti-inflammatory poultice from ginger, onion, talicberry, and several other ingredients.

During his time at the healer's, Morn had become somewhat proficient at basic movements with the prosthetic hand. Of course, he could still do complicated movements, but with less skill than his original hand could manage. This would come with more practice.

Having completed his time at the healer's hut, Morn returned to Haldwin's forge. Morn heard the man before he saw him. When Morn arrived, he found the smith at his anvil, hammering away. He approached Haldwin jauntily, happy to be out and about again.

"Goodmorning, Haldwin! They ought to move your smithy to a different island, I could hear you from across the village."

Morn joked in a friendly manner as he greeted the burly smith. Haldwin set his hammer down and wiped his face with a towel he'd worn over his shoulder.

"Ah, it's you, Morn. Good to see that you're joyful!"

Morn smiled and clapped Haldwin on the shoulder.

"A week in a coma and another week in a locked room makes the outside world far more exciting!"

Haldwin laughed, then took a seat on a wide log near his anvil. After taking a swig from his waterskin, he smiled.

"If you're wondering where he is, Azur is out with the farmers. He's harvesting fruit in the forest north from the village. He should be back by sunset."

Morn frowned, nervous for his friend after his experience with the Levjottun. Seeing his reaction, Haldwin continued:

"Don't worry about him, Morn. The farmers are some of the toughest people in the village, if they run into a Levjottun, I'd feel bad for the creature! Ha ha ha!"

Haldwin let out an uproarious laugh, the sound of it reassured Morn.

"I'm glad to hear it." Morn smiled.

Remembering something, he grew curious.

"Haldwin, when we got here, you already had two beds in your house. May I inquire why that is?"

Haldwin's smile slowly faded as he rubbed his temples, seeming to acquire a headache from the question.

"Aye, I had a son…"

Morn's smile similarly disappeared as he sighed deeply.

"Ah, I see."

Haldwin finished massaging his head, then looked up at Morn with slightly wet eyes. He wiped away the tears before they could fall and smiled heartily.

"Don't you start feeling sad for me! It happened a long time ago, so let's both be cheery!"

Morn smiled weakly, then changed the subject.

"Tell me, what are you working on there?"

Morn pointed to the anvil and peered closer, looking at the object Haldwin had been smithing. An elongated metal block sat on the anvil, attached to a metre long metal pole.

At the question, Haldwin's mood seemed to improve rapidly as his love of forging took over his dampened mood.

"Oh this lovely hunk of metal! At the moment, it's a useless piece brick. But when I'm done with it, it will be a chisel for the old man."

Haldwin grinned as he pointed down the path to elder Toli's hut, then continued:

"His old favourite finally broke from overuse. He's a great craftsman, but needs to take better care of his tools!"

Haldwin gazed lovingly at his smithing hammer.

"This here was a gift from my wife, she passed away long before I came here. I've kept it in shape for many decades. Every time I forge, it feels like she's right beside me, just like old times. Every swing of this hammer is from the two of us. It's how I do such great work!"

Haldwin patted the head of the hammer, then seemed to remember himself as Morn spoke up.

"I know how you feel. My drill was from my parents. They were harvesters too. They passed away on a dangerous expedition to Venimur, their captain narrowly made it back and had their drill sent to me."

Morn smiled shakily as Haldwin nodded in sympathy.

"It's a terrible thing, a child losing their parents. In the same way, outliving a child isn't any better."

Haldwin clapped a hand on Morn's arm and picked up his hammer with the other as he spoke again.

"But, there are plenty of good souls kicking around in this world. They can make the loss a little easier on the heart."

Morn nodded at Haldwin's words as Haldwin slotted his hammer into a loop on his belt, then grasped the metal pole that was attached to the metal block and walked to his brightly burning forge. He placed the metal into the fire, turning his head to look as Morn began to speak.

"Wise words, Haldwin." Morn smiled brightly, "Now, what metal do you have there, and where did you get it!"

Haldwin answered quickly.

"It's Tersalt, heats quickly but cools slowly. After it's quenched, it's quite solid too! One of my favourites for making sturdy tools."

He paused for a moment, thinking carefully before replying.

"Hmm. To answer your second question, you'd have to ask Ankvert, our miner. He'll know the exact spot, but I think he mentioned the east part of the forest. Why do you ask?"

Morn began to walk to the smith's hut as he responded.

"Thanks Haldwin! Harvester training taught me that gases tend to show up near metal deposits, as for why, I'm not sure."

Morn returned to his temporary room in Haldwin's home and sat on his bed. He began to sort through his equipment, taking stock of his various gases. As he did so, he noticed an unlabelled gas tank, the gas he'd collected from the dead Levjottun's throat sac.

In slight disgust, Morn placed the gas tank back in his bag as he packed up the rest of his equipment. Morn took his bundle of alkimiya supplies and left the room, heading to the elder's hut. As he arrived, he found Toli seated on the steps of his hut smoking a pipe.

When he approached, Toli gave him a polite wave and motioned for him to sit.

"Goodmorning, Morn. What can I do for you?"

Toli blew a gust of smoke to his side, unexpectedly, the smoke was tinted a slight pink and smelled of fruit.

"Goodmorning, Elder. I wanted to inquire about a space to practise my alkimiya, doing so in one's sleeping quarters isn't the best idea. Do you know anyone with a spare work space, preferably a well ventilated one?"

Toli paused for a few moments, he chewed the stem of his pipe in thought.

"Mmm. Mmm. If I recall, I believe Baldrick has a shed he used to use for various priestly rituals before we built the church. I'm sure he wouldn't mind lending you the space."

Morn, seated beside Toli smiled in thanks and sat for a bit longer, not in a hurry to find Baldrick.

"Elder, I'm curious-"

Toli quickly interrupted him, "You can call me Toli, I'm not so important than I can't be addressed by name!"

Toli laughed genially, giving Morn a relaxed smile. He let out another puff of smoke from his pipe as he motioned for Morn to continue his question.

"Toli," Morn paused for a moment, "What is it that you're smoking? In my city, pipes usually give off a more floral or spice-like scent, and the smoke is always grey."

Toli nodded thoughtfully, then reached into his pocket and removed a small leather bag with a drawstring. He handed the bag to Morn. Morn opened the pouch and peered inside. The bag was filled with a dried material that was red in colour. Various other supplementary herbs accompanied the red herb.

"The main ingredient for 'Toli's extraordinary smoke mix' is dried bright red carlisle-berry skin. I believe you saw me sorting some on your first day here. Only the brightest red can be used for smoking, the rest is for pastries or juice."

Morn smiled and returned the bag to Toli.

"Thank you, Eld- I mean, Toli."

The old man smiled at Morn, then resumed his smoking as he stared at the cloudy sky.

"Before you go, Morn. Look at that cloud, doesn't it remind you of a sheep?"

Morn looked at the sky, noticing the cloud Toli had mentioned. To him, it looked nothing like a sheep. Morn nodded as he stood to leave.

"Yes, it looks exactly like one."

He quickly hurried down the road with his equipment, eager to find Baldrick and set up his work station. As he walked, he pondered the carlisle berry, wondering if it could be used as a base for an alkimiya gas.

Behind him, Toli blew another puff of smoke that slowly turned into a sheep that flew upward before disappearing with the wind.

Toli giggled gently and stretched his arms in a relaxed manner.

"Young people these days, so eager to please us old folks."