They worked in companionable silence until Caiside was ready to begin speaking, the strike of hammers on iron a soothing rhythm, except when blight-stricken hands sent the blow skittering unevenly across the surface of the incipient blades and earned a scowl from the bard as he glared at his traitorous fingers. Caiside's story was a welcome distraction from his temper, especially when he added in the dramatic motions that Jigano so admired in his friend's storytelling. "Did he tell you about the birthright that night, or did he leave it mysterious?" Jigano asked, glad to be caught up in someone else's story for a change and eager to hear more of what was shaping up to be a tale rich in adventure and drama.
In spite of a few mis-strikes, Caiside was more pleased with his work than he himself was. Jigano tilted his head in wry appreciation for his friend's patience with him, but caught a flicker of the frustration in the way that elegant jaw feathered. "He was... not a demonstrative man," he explained quietly. "He wasn't a hard man but he was... ah, stoic might be a good word. It was hard to know when he approved or was proud of my work, even when I tried to do what he asked." He tried to shrug it off, though the smile he managed was mostly sad. "He was a good father, in his way, but I couldn't imagine being his apprentice. You might have gotten along with him better, having more in common with him... but you might have been just as frustrated as I was, at how little praise he gave." For Caiside seemed the type to bask in praise, as nurtured by it as a rose was by the sun.
What he wanted? Jigano found his smile becoming a little more sincere, if a little more rueful as he continued to fold and flatten the metal before him. "I wanted to be an Oracle, like my mother, but one dedicated to knowledge rather than life. I was more like her than my father, though not enough to follow in her footsteps either. Scholasticism didn't pay well in my town, unfortunately. Oh, I found a few starfallen ruins and vessels to scavenge, but most of those close enough to the city for a boy to reach in a day had already been picked clean by past generations of would-be adventurers, so I began to learn the bardic trade as a way to make ends meet." He paused his hammering to manage a slight shrug, smile crooked as he looked to Caiside. "Turned out it dovetailed nicely with my birthright as a Lore Oracle, and I had an uncanny knack for music and oratory and the magics of song and rhyme. It wasn't what I necessarily wanted... but I don't regret taking that road." Not when there were so many other things to regret that had come later.
In spite of a few mis-strikes, Caiside was more pleased with his work than he himself was. Jigano tilted his head in wry appreciation for his friend's patience with him, but caught a flicker of the frustration in the way that elegant jaw feathered. "He was... not a demonstrative man," he explained quietly. "He wasn't a hard man but he was... ah, stoic might be a good word. It was hard to know when he approved or was proud of my work, even when I tried to do what he asked." He tried to shrug it off, though the smile he managed was mostly sad. "He was a good father, in his way, but I couldn't imagine being his apprentice. You might have gotten along with him better, having more in common with him... but you might have been just as frustrated as I was, at how little praise he gave." For Caiside seemed the type to bask in praise, as nurtured by it as a rose was by the sun.
What he wanted? Jigano found his smile becoming a little more sincere, if a little more rueful as he continued to fold and flatten the metal before him. "I wanted to be an Oracle, like my mother, but one dedicated to knowledge rather than life. I was more like her than my father, though not enough to follow in her footsteps either. Scholasticism didn't pay well in my town, unfortunately. Oh, I found a few starfallen ruins and vessels to scavenge, but most of those close enough to the city for a boy to reach in a day had already been picked clean by past generations of would-be adventurers, so I began to learn the bardic trade as a way to make ends meet." He paused his hammering to manage a slight shrug, smile crooked as he looked to Caiside. "Turned out it dovetailed nicely with my birthright as a Lore Oracle, and I had an uncanny knack for music and oratory and the magics of song and rhyme. It wasn't what I necessarily wanted... but I don't regret taking that road." Not when there were so many other things to regret that had come later.
