10 comments/ 21054 views/ 11 favorites Smithson Ch. 01: The Forge By: Sinisterinfant The forge is hot. I'm sweating through the cotton shirt and leather pants I'm wearing. My feet are slowly seeping into the muddy ground of my father's open forge, and I squelch my toes around as I prepare to pull down on the rope attached to the bellows. As I pull I can feel my body strain against the counter weight and push of the heat from the heart of the forge as the coals flared to a hot bright orange. The heat of the coals slowly leeches into the metals, pushed deep into the coals. A deep red and brighter orange slowly claws its way up the metal, and the temperature of the room climbed with it. I continue working the bellows, and feel a slow burn building in my back and shoulders. I felt that anyone watching my back would see the reds and oranges of the forge slowly glowing on my back. I feel a hand on my shoulder and a furry hulking shape move up to my side. It dumps a load of wood and kindling next to the forge feeder and moves to the iron anvil where it sheds layers of fur until the form of my father resolves itself. Indeed most of the bulk was my father. He radiates strength with his every movement. He is methodical as he take a huge stretch unlimbering his back and then moving to take tools from the support beams of the overhang of the forge. He wraps a thick leather strip around the palms of his hands and then hefts a great hammer in one hand and a pair of tongs in the other. He flexes his grip around the hammer and spins it in his palm. The hammer he places with great care on the anvil. I'd seen him take the same care with my younger siblings in the few instances when he'd been forced to carry one of the infants. He uses the tongs to grab one of the nearly molten pieces of metal from the forge and then slams down the piece into the anvil as he hefts the hammer back into the grip of his right hand. The next few hours are filled with the ringing of hammer on metal and the occasional deep sweltering breaths of the bellows. I watch my father working as the sun moves first high into the sky and then lower to the falling horizon. I watch his muscles flex and flare like huge ropes under his skin. I see his great mane of straw colored hair swing with the rest of his bulk as hammer meets metal again and again. I look at my own body as I worked the bellows, not really seeing the resemblance of my ancestors. My own body favors my mother's people. I am taller than my father by a hand and an eyelash, but where his body thickened at every link and joint, my body is lean and taught. I have the dark raven hair and eyes of my mother's people. They were fishers and plainsmen, and their great height and lean bodies were assets running down prey on the plains to the far west, but here in the cold lands of my father, I stick out. In-between working the bellows I run my hands across my body and feel my own ropey muscles in my arms, chest and stomach. A cold breeze breaks the heat of the forge and my flesh prickles. As the heat returns I am filled with certainty. This is my true purpose. The fire and metal. I feel the strength in body but I'm worried that it is not the strength of the Smith. I could not find sleep some nights, worrying that I would never have the strength to lift the hammer of my father and his fathers. The village would never depend on me for its tools and its weapons. I'd never see the delight of a child puzzling over the clever working of an iron puzzle I'd crafted for his naming day. I'd never.....the sounds of the forge had stopped. I looked up into the face of my father, who was staring at me intently, a bit like a child with a puzzle he couldn't figure. "Geir." My father spoke my name, and though his face held little affection, his voice was smiling. It was a warm thing even in the heat of the forge. "You look like a drowned dog boy. Get yourself down to the river before your mother comes in here and set you in a tub like a wee babe. "As my father spoke, even with the warmth in his voice, I felt the blood drain from my face with each word. I walk a foot from him and say, "Father, I'm not a child I'm of age. I have been for nearly a year. I...", He silences me with a hulking hand on my chest. As he speaks, his words are the Ice of these northern lands. "You're a man when I say you are boy." he spits the word boy through clenched teeth as he stares fixedly at my chest and not into my black eyes. "That means you're a man when you've made something of worth in this forge, or you do something else of worth." He looks into my eyes at the end of his words and I can see the fires of the forge burning there. "But then that would mean you'd need one of our fine Norse daughters to look you up more than once. Though them that does are more like to crack their necks then not", and he came close to laughing with the husky wheezing that is his way. I am fuming, but do my best to keep my words flat, "I've got all the attention I need father. Or didn't you notice our patch of gawkers." Father turns his head to look pass the overhang of the forge and out into the streets of the village. There, sitting on the steps of the Tanner's house, are five girls from the village seemingly sitting idle and chatting amongst themselves. I speak softly, letting a bit too much venom in my voice then was necessary, "I don't think they're here to watch an old man singe his beard on the forge." I move around to stand between him and the street and remove my shirt tossing it on the ground in front of him, then set about stretching my arms and back. Small talk across the street dwindled to silence. I reach up to grasp one of the cross beams of the overhang and then lift myself off the ground, feeling the muscles of my back ripple and tighten. I twist in the air and turn to face the girls in the street. Their eyes are locked on me though they haven't turned their heads to maintain some propriety. I flex my arms a few more times, then tensed my legs a bit to get the muscles of my stomach into the act. I drop to the ground and offer up a half bow, taking in the view as I do. Many of the prominent daughters are represented today. The Tanner, the Herdsman, the Fletcher, and the Woodsman's girls are all in attendance. Even a few of their mothers are milling about trying rather unsuccessfully to look like they had a lot of serious business in front of the Tanner's house today. I stand back to my full height, but as I do, I can see their appreciation for my body change to something else, gaiety. I turned back to my father just in time to catch a bucket of the coldest water right in my smug face. I sputter and cough. I watch all my female attention wander off back to whatever their real business was for the few remaining hours of the day. I turn back to my father and ready myself to come to blows with the old man. The stark smile on his face drains all the fire out of me and I deflate in front of him. "I guess I had that coming, eh dad." I share his smile but mine is a bit more sheepishly. "Aye lad. Now obey me and get down to the river, and bring me a full bucket while you're about it." I scoop up the bucket and shrug back into my shirt. It squelches on me as it's now also soaked and soiled from the deepening mud of the floor of the forge. I start the most embarrassing walk of my life. On my way though, I have the distinct feeling that I am being followed. I try to spy behind me and see who was still about in the streets. Twilight is nearing, though I see no one. The closer I make it to my destination the fewer and fewer people are milling about. As I reach the edge of the village I stop and feign a few stretches in order to turn about and see if I couldn't shake this feeling of eyes on me. The village spreads out behind me. It is all greens and browns with spots of white where the snows have been thick. The center of the village, directly in front of me but nearly a span back the way I had come, is a stark white blur in the midst of all the forest colors of the buildings and outliers. It has been beaten of grass by many feet in the many festivals of the spring and summer months. It is the great bonfires of the winter festivals that covers it in the fine white ash now blended to the soil of the center. It's that ash which proves my spy's undoing. She had obviously come from the other side of the center and then followed me from the forge. The ash and white mud had left a small but striking trail of white across the brown mud and grass of the road out of the village. At the end of that trail was someone, but I still couldn't tell who. My tag-along is clothed in a hooded fur trimmed cloak, with hood pulled low to obscure her face. I'm sure whoever it is, must have thought the dark cloak would help keep them obscured in the dwindling light. My spy doesn't look very threatening, indeed by their size it was either a woman, or a boy just reaching into his men's height. The bulk that the cloak hid also makes the person seem fat or hunched. It's strange because there are few with such bulk and lack of height in the village. Life here is hard and suffers the weak little. Feeling smug that I had spotted them I snatch my bucket back up and began trotting the few meters into the forest toward the river. Obviously aware of my discovery my shadow makes no more attempt to hide their travel. I hear the crunch of snow and brush clearly now. When I make it to the edge of the forest, I move through the trees at random and at the first opportunity toss my bucket to the side and scramble up a tree. Using the higher branches I move between the trees back along route until I'm standing over the cloaked figure. I watch this person meander through the trees. The hooded head questing about over its furry bulk. I follow this person for a few more minutes. I assume they will eventually give up but before that can happen my bucket is discovered. For some reason this seems to cause the figure some consternation, as it suddenly runs off in the direction of the river. I drop from the tree and follow in the trail of my former hunter. Now at the tree line facing the river, I see the furry figure standing, facing the river. With a frustrated and feminine "Hrumph", she hurls the bucket down into the snow by the river and sets about kicking at some of the stones at her feet. I begin to creep toward her. A gust of wind chills me a bit, but seems to only draw more anger from the figure. She suddenly tosses the large fur cloak from her back and reveals only more fur. This brings me up short with concern. I had thought my quarry human, but now I have this fur creature. It begins to shake. As it does so more and more layers of fur are shed on top of the first cloak. This continued for a few moments until the common woolen clothing of the women in my village. The hood of her dress still concealed her face. She turns back to the river and pushes back the hood. In the same motion she pulls out a great mass of flame colored curly hair. She pulls the mass over her shoulder and then strokes it a few times twisting a little. Her remaining clothing seems a little tighter then would be considered appropriate and I could see some of the white cotton under dress clinging to her body with sweat. I am now at the edge of the pile of furs avoiding her detection. I still haven't seen her face yet now her identity is clear. There is only one family with hair of flame and only one daughter to that family. Suddenly she opens her arms wide and falls back into the pile of furs with a great sigh that turns to a shriek as she catches site of me. She twists about try to gain her feet again, but the furs wrap around her legs and she ends in a pile of fur and curly red hair. I kneel down and address the mass of fiery curls. "What troubles you Esa Tallowkin?" "Geir? Oh gods no.....not like this." "Do you require assistance candle maker's daughter?" A hand comes up and pushes the mass of curls away from a round face, revealing the candle maker's daughter Esa. Her face is a bit fuller then my mind had assumed, though the plumpness is pleasant and inviting. Her countenance is scrunched and almost angry. I smile and offer my hand. With a resigned sigh she pushes herself to a seated position and then takes my hand to steady herself as she tries to stand. The furs do not release her and she stumbles into me, her head colliding into my bare chest. I wrap an arm around her to steady us both and find my hand pressing into her lower back, my arm nearly encircling her. Her scent fills my lungs. I expected the awful wafting of tallow but instead she bears an earth scent of herb and the field. It is almost intoxicating. I bring my other hand to her shoulder and steady us again. Without thinking I bring my head down a little lower to take another breath of her when she pulls me from my foolishness. "I can stand on my own Geir Smithson." She pulls my arm from around her side but neglects the one on her shoulder. Her hands move between us and she gently pushes me a half step away from the pile of furs that still bind her feet. "What brings you to the river today maiden?" She takes a moment looking up into my eyes. I take the same to see her now revealed from the fur and her mishap. She is in a white under dress that runs from neck to foot. The large center opening is held with woolen laces and silver brooch in the shape of her family's crest. Her over dress is a bright blue with gold thread running along the seams. The dress is held at the top by two linen straps pinned to the under dress with two small iron turtle broaches. At her waist a simple belt of woven rope. Her body beneath is full and buxom. My long reach has afforded my left hand to remain on her shoulder and I begin rubbing my thumb on the gold thread of strap of her over dress. "It's you I was seeking Geir. I..." but her words seem to fail. Again without giving much thought I take back some of the distance between us and rest my other hand on her opposite shoulder. "Be at ease Esa. You have naught to fear from I. We have known each other since the days of children. Often it was you who came to aid when the others made sport of my height and my eyes." "Your father and mine did not see it so. Your father beat you for having a girl child come to your defense and mine forbid me speaking to you again. I..." Again her words die in her mouth. "The next day I used the same fists my father had beaten me with to any who would speak ill of the things my mother has given me. I had always thought it was my own violence, in those days after, that drove you to silence. It heartens me to hear it was not your own choice that drove you from speaking to me." Her pale skin flushed at my words, but the strain in her face melted some. She took in a deep breath and seemed to steel herself. "Geir Smithson, I am here to suggest a partnership." "A partnership? I do not take your meaning." "If you are not aware my 19th naming day was one moon past and your 19th was the season past. A woman of 19 and unmarried in our community is no less than waiting to die. A man has more options but your time moves as fast as mine. Perhaps we might find our way together." She turned her face down but continued to speak. "I know I am not the most desirable of your...options, but I know that I can run a house. I have not been in the teaching of my father's work but my mother has schooled me in numbers and the running of the shop. I know that I...oh!" I stopped her words when I placed my hand on her chin and moved her face back to my gaze. "Esa. I am not worthy. The whole village sees me as just sort of the outside. If I take you into my home, it would be to leave your family behind...your family! Your father will never consent to this...mmmmm!" This time it was my lips that were stilled when Esa pressed her lips to mine. Her hand had speed passed my ear and pulled my head down to her height. At first I knew not how to respond, my eyes had closed of their own accord and it seemed as if all my breath had left me, but then her tongue pressed into my lips and my mouth parted. Her breath floods into me. It was hot and humid and full of scents and flavors. I suck in air though my nose that was cold. It mixed in my body like a storm. I felt my heart beating with double force and fluid. My hands had moved back to her shoulders. My thumbs begin rolling across her color bone. I hold to my sense enough to pull back from her and straighten my neck. I look down into her eyes and my breath leaves me again. Her eyes are incredible. At their heart they are the green of the forest. The forest bleeds into reds and oranges. The reds then bleed out into blues and lighter greens. It's like a sunset had been pulled into a storm and then set into this girl's eyes. She had been speaking for some unknown amount of time when I hear her words again. "...that is the best way. If we could manage such a thing together then my father would have no recourse but to consent, and then our future would be our own." My gaze pulls back from her eyes to take in her whole face. She has a questioning look on her face that quirks her roundness in a most attractive fashion. "Ok." I speak without thinking. My response seems to catch her unaware. She seems to consider things a moment. She takes my right hand from her shoulder and then walks back down to the opposite end of the pile of furs. She lets go of my hand, leaving me standing on the edge of the furs. She steps back and looks me up and down once. "Will it be difficult for you to remove that leather clothing when you're laying down?" I look down to the legged leather apron covering the front of my linen pants. I pull loose the knot at my back and pull them down. I kick the apron off the furs and then look questioningly at Esa. "Yes that nice. Let's begin." She places a hand to my bare chest and flexes her fingers a little. I flex my chest muscles in response, and she jumps. I smile deeply down at her and she returns it in kind. Then she places her right foot behind my left and pushes on my chest with close to man strength. I spill out into the pile of furs and find myself on a warm and comfortable bed. I look up to Esa and find her loosening the broaches holding her over dress, then watch as it falls to the ground revealing the white under dress beneath. It is tight on her and holds to every womanly curve. The sun is setting behind her and the white changes to a golden glow to match her hair. She undoes the silver broach at her chest and bends down placing it on top of her shed over dress. As she straightens, she takes the hem of the dress with her, revealing smooth pale legs. The shock at not seeing the common wool stockings and my anticipation at the ever approaching joining of those beautiful legs, drops open my jaw. Suddenly the hem of the white dress drops back down to the earth and I hear a sob that pulls my vision back to the face of Esa. "Oh no. You think I'm a freak as well. Father always said he could never sell a child like me, and now I can't even give myself away. NOOO!" Esa turns and tries to run but her over dress catches her feet and she falls to the ground. She rolls a couple of times into the mud of the river bed. I'm up and over to her fast as I can. I find her sobbing into the mud, beating at it like an adversary. I rest my right hand on her now exposed shoulder and with the other I try to still her angry fists. "Esa. Your beauty is startling and should be admired. You don't frighten me. You astound me." I place my hand on her face and kiss her again, our tongues exploring each other. Her taste is like heat lightning in my head. She is the one that pulls back this time. She pushes back the sleeve of her dress exposing pale hairless skin of her arm. "You see? I do not grow hair like a normal girl. It's just as I said. I thought you understood when I told you before, but when you saw my legs you looked so surprised, I thought...." Smithson Ch. 01: The Forge "You thought wrong Tallow's daughter. I was more surprised that you dress for summer hear at winter's tail. No stockings in this weather will do you ill, and yet I found it to my advantage today." I finish with a smile that seems to ease her some. She then looks down at the mud covering her. "Oh but now I'm filthy. I've ruined everything. I'm so sorry Geir. It would do me well if you just returned to the village. Darkness is coming." Ignoring her words I scoop her up and toss her into the calf deep river. She surfaces sputtering river water. Her red hair is straightened some by the weight of the water but twisted about her like a new over dress growing from her head. I laughed a little, and then splashed out to meet her. "See all clean now. My father counseled a bath today any way." I gave her another of my smiles, but it was not returned this time. Instead she launches herself at me. She pushes me down into the shallow cold water. I come up laughing and howling. "Well played Esa. A good turn." She is staring over me. The white under dress now clinging to every part of her. I could see so much more now. There is a second patch of fire now visible between her legs. There were few rays of the sun remaining but somehow she still managed to grab them into her hair. I got to my feet and stood in front of her. She was breathing heavily and her face is obscured by her long red hair. I reach out and part it to see her bright and glowing smile. Without warning she reaches out and takes hold of my rope belt pulling it loose. She hooks her thumbs into my waist and yanks down my pants with a splash. Surprise and cold wind and water keep me motionless. Esa is a hands breath from me as she rises from the water. She attempts to stand, but collides with a previously hidden part of me. In the forge I wore no under garment to keep cool, and the leather apron for protection from the fire. Pulling down my pants has exposed all of me to the air. Though the water was close to freezing the day's activities and seeing so much of Esa, have kept me full and stiff. The length of me stood out straight and strong, directly in the path of the rising Esa. Standing, Esa brushes her hair and then cheek into my manhood. It surprises her, and she falls back into the water with another squeal. "I think myself the wronged party now. One does not expect girlish squealing when presenting one's self to the world." Trying to find some pride, I move to raise my pants again to cover myself. Esa is there. She takes my hand from my pants and we both stand straight. She reaches for my head and pulls me down for another kiss. We come together and my length is pressed between us. I feel the heat of my own body and chill of soaked dress. She begins to walk me backward out of the river. I kick loose my pants, into the flowing water. I press my hand to her cheek and feel her shivering in the cold of the water and the air. I guess her mind, and scoop her back up into my arms. We do not break the kiss as her hands explore my hair and shoulders and neck. I move to lay her down into the warm furs but she breaks her lips from mine and speaks. "Please. Let me finish what I began." I place her down at the edge of the furs. She rises to her feet and motions for me to resume my lay upon the fur. I lie down looking up again at the body of Esa. The sun has fallen, so it is the crystal light of the moon that bathes her now. She bends at the hip and takes the hem of her dress into one hand. Rising she pulls the clinging cloth up her leg and slowly rises. When she is standing I can see her pale skin and the ruddy hair between her legs. This time her motion moves higher. She bundles the folds of the wool into her hands and then pulls the dress to her neck. She pauses for a moment. In the darkness I cannot make out her face clearly, but the rest of her is plain. Her body is all of the pale flesh I had seen so far. Her hips are wide and curved. As she holds the dress, her hips seem to roll from left to right as her weight moves between her legs. Moving my vision upward I see her healthy midsection though there is obvious strength beneath her curves. Her breasts are full and round. They spread from the center of her breastbone and seem to curve upward from the bottom into pale orbs. The nipples are dark against her pale skin and hard against the cold night. As my eyes return to her face, I sense she has the questioning look again, though it is shrouded in darkness and hair. I smile my deepest smile and spread my hands out into the fur. My man hood is a pillar before me and seems to ache at its root. I expected to see steam rising forth, though I could still feel the chill of the night on my cock. Strangely the cold air and water had not calmed me, as is common wisdom, but only increases the burning in my blood. Esa pulls the dress over her head and threads her long hair through the neck of the dress. Her hair falls down and covers her breasts and comes just short of her rolling hips. She places her hands high on her waist and through the dark I can feel her waiting for something. "You are a goddess." I speak in a whisper. I lift my hand out to her. She takes it and eases herself down to the fur. She lays at my left side. She lets her hand glide along my side from waist to chest where she rubs at the nipple there. I felt my nipples stiffen even harder and the ache rise from my groin out into my chest. "Pull the furs around us. The night is cold." She speaks almost directly into my ear and it sends shivers running up and down my spine. I reach to the right and grab as many of the furs as I can. I roll over the top of her, pressing our bodies together. I feel my cock move between her legs. I pull the fur around and partially under her. We are wrapped now head to foot, and the sudden warmth is a blessing I didn't know I was missing. Esa sighs underneath me and squirms her bottom into the fur. She reaches up and pulls my head closer. She plants quick kisses about my neck and chin. I can feel her eyes looking for me in the dark. "I...don't know how to begin." Her whispers into my ear spurn me to action. I move my right arm down under her back and arch my own to gain access to her breasts. I slide my tongue about her chest. I focus on the nipple to my right as my left hand massages the other. My thumb rolls her hard nipple eliciting a moan that sets my hair on end. I move my smiling face back to hers. I kiss her long and deep, then move my lips to her ear. "How fares these first steps of our journey?" She answers with another moan from deep in herself. Her hands reach between us and grasp my manhood. I let her play while trying to find her gaze in the dark. Here under the furs, in the dark there is little light, but I can feel her eyes questing in the darkness for mine. Her hands, having found their quarry, pull and rub at me. I feel something deep in me stir and tingle. My dangling seeds pull up against my body. Until now my legs had been to the outside of her and my cock between. I move my right foot up to find her feet. When I do, I press between them and begin to spread her apart. As I move her legs, my hands find hers and remove them from my cock. I pull her hands up over her head and hold them there with my left hand. My hands are much bigger then hers enabling me to enclose both her wrists in my one hand. I move my cock about questing for her opening. I find her wet slit and begin rubbing up and down, pressing about looking for the right place. She arches up her back and whispers to me. "If you free my hands, I can help you." I release her hands and run my now free hand along her side and then under her back mirroring my other hand. She reaches between us and puts her hand onto me, gripping the head of my cock. She maneuvers her hips and then simultaneously pulls me forward and arches her back again but at a lower place along her spine. I feel the different movement where my hands are, and my body responds naturally. I press forward and feel the head of my cock glide into hot flesh. Esa gasps beneath me and I try to catch it in my mouth. Our tongues fight like snakes. I press everything against her and feel myself moving deeper. At first only the head of my cock and then more of me. Her flesh presses in around me, forming to me. I meet resistance. "Oh. Oh wait. It hurts." I stop immediately and try to remove myself from inside her, while my other hand moves to lift the fur and gain light to see what's happened. "No wait." She whispers to me. "Just go slow. I am ready." I relax again. I take a moment just breathing. The inside of our furs is thick with the musk of people, but at its core I smell her. Esa fills my lungs even as I press forward into her again. When I find resistance I push but so slowly. The flesh of my cock is compressed there inside her. Finally I feel the core of my cock connect into the resistance. She is panting and wincing. I know there is pain, but also there is need. A base fire that fills me. A heat that I feel pouring out of my skin like water. Suddenly the resistance is gone, and Esa cries out. I put my mouth over her mouth. She wraps her arms around my neck. I press into her more. I inch slowly into her and I can feel her insides move around me, accommodating my size. Finally I feel my groin meet hers. There's something else there, at the end of me that I can almost rub against. I move my hips a bit trying to feel it out. Esa gasps again. "Wait. I'm so full. I need a moment." I can hear the smile on her lips. I dip my head again to taste her mouth. Her hands are moving around my back taking the shape of me. She runs her index fingers along and under my shoulder blades. She pulls me closer and whispers to me again. "My mother told me a story. Her father's father traveled far to the south to find a mountain of fire. When he reached it he found a cabin at its base and a woman inside. The woman's hair was burning red with the fire of the mountain. She bade him enter and gave him the secrets of Tallow and the making of candles. She also gave him her body and told him, "In me is the fire of the mountain. Now it lies in you, and your line. One day another will come and take the fire and ignite the whole of the world." He came home with hair as red as the mountain, and it passed on to all his heirs. Now Geir Smithson, can you take my fire?" With those words she puts one hand under my arm and the other around my neck. Her legs rise up and wrap around my ass pulling me into her, pressing me against the second resistance. I bury my head into the crook of her neck, setting my teeth there with no pressure. I work myself back away from her and then at the urging of her feet pressed myself back in. Her legs set the pace and my body responds. I feel myself sawing in and out of her moist slit. The flesh of her body becoming more and more inviting to mine. The wet sound of our love fills my ears. I was gasping into the junction of her neck and shoulder and she pants into my ear. Her breath there seems to spurn me on even more and I feel myself somehow become harder and fuller. Now her hands are grasping at my back. Now her nails are digging into the flesh of my back. "More. Geir I want more." I sped my motion into her. "Yes Geir. That's it. Take it from me. Take my fire." The last was a yell that mixed into a long keening. With the sound, comes a heat and a wetness beneath me. There! I feel it. The heat seems to reverse. From flowing out of me, too streaming into me. This is a fire that burns in the whole of my body. Esa seems to go limp beneath me but I am all the more urgent for her lack of energy. I moved faster and faster, until the heat seems to settle into the pit of my stomach and molds itself there until it is the burning of the sun itself. "Now Geir. Now." I release all I had taken back into her. I feel it ball up in me and then surge its way out of my cock and into Esa. I press deep into her again and again with each surge in the fire of my body. "Esa. I think it's you who has taken from me. Or rather, I have given you all I have." "Oh Geir. Thank you. I know I'll make you the best wife." I take a moment to breathe, even this small motion sends more and more pleasures from my root to my hair. Wait a moment....did she say... "Wife!? What do you, I mean I suppose if you were to become with child I would do my duty, but there are no sure things in the making of children, or so I have heard." "What!? But our plan Geir. I told you. My cousin said it's a sure thing every time in our family. All first born daughters conceive on their first night. I MUST be with child." I could hear the distress in her voice. The near panic that was building there. "Be at ease Esa." I whisper into her ear and stroke at her scalp. I can feel myself receding. Soon our joining would end. "It is too far into the night to find our way back to the village. We can think on this in the morning. It's all right now." I feel my cock slide from her slit and I begin moving to her side. I gather her in my arms and stroke her hair until I feel a stillness settle over her. In that hot darkness of the fur, my hand strays to the hair between her legs. There I feel it again. The terrible heat that filled me. As I touch her, I feel it stir again within myself. It beats inside my heart. I move my hand to breastbone and feel the beating of our hearts in time. Eventually sleep find us both. In the morning, I awake first. Esa has curled her body around me. The heat of our bodies has warmed the fur to an almost unbearable degree. I peel back the furs and look out into the world again. The sun offers only glimmers of its rising, but dawn is fast approaching. I extricate myself from Esa who responds with a whimper into the furs. I spend a moment thinking where my pants might be but remember they are somewhere in the river. I have only my leather legged apron. I gather it up and wrap it around my waist after stepping into the leggings. I gather Esa's clothing from the base of the furs and lay it beside her. I kneel next to her on the opposite side and stroke her hair until her eyes flutter open. I see the trapped sunrise of her irises again and smile down into that distant horizon. "Morning. Husband." The word husband comes out in the barest whisper. "Morning." I reach down and gather her head in one of my hands. I kiss her. I stroke her cheek. I watch tears forming in her eyes. Disappointment growing on her face. "When you are dressed. Gather your furs and come to the forge. My mother will want to meet my new wife." Her face blooms into a glow just as sunrise stirs behind me and I feel the warmth of the sun there and the warmth of my wife before me. I stand and walk back to the village. When I reach the forge I see my father placing a block of steel from the smelting onto the anvil to be shaped. He stops his activity to take in the site of me. I must seem strange to come walking out of the forest at dawn, with not but a leather apron on. Father takes one of his heavy sighs, straightens, and begins walking back to the house. He speak without looking back to me. "Your mother's been sick with worry. I'll tell her you're here and then she can eat you alive for your foolishness." I can hear the disappointment in his voice. The disdain for me. I walk to the forge and feel the solidness of the steel he's placed there. The heat of the forge seems to match the heat that now lays in me. I feel it settle into my stomach again. A pit of coals gone white with the heat. I go to work. The heat of the forge never seems to bother me. I feel that I can match it with the heat inside me. I know my father and mother came into the forge, but I ignore them. I am forming the steel. The final shape of the steel is revealed to me just as the earthy scent of Esa fills my lungs again. I thrust my creation into the quenching oil and watch the steam roil out of the barrel. I fill my lungs again and the scent of Esa is full there. I find her sitting on a bench outside the door from the house into the forge. My mother is there beside her. "Geir. This young woman was just telling me an interesting story about her ancestor. She..." Her words still as she looks at me. I'm looking at Esa. Esa has eyes only for me. "Mother. This is my wife. Esa. She's carrying my child." "Oh. I see. Well...It's nice to see you Esa. You are the candle maker's daughter?" I smile at them for a moment as Esa converses freely with my mother. I walk back to the forge and pull my creation from the oil barrel with tongs. I set to work with the small tools. I put grooves and design into the steel until I know it is a match of anything my father has made. I walk to the far side of the forge and take a rod of wood from the pile there. Measuring it to the length of my arm I saw off the remainder. Walking back to the forge I find my father admiring my handiwork. "So. Is it finished?" "It is." "Would you do an old man an honor and let me mount it?" "Father. It is my honor." I set the rod of wood into the dirt of the forge and take my creation in hand. I place it at the sawed end of the pole and watch my father take up the blunted hammer. With one mighty swing he completes my first great work of the forge. In my hands I hold a double sided great axe. Each half bears a wicked half-moon. On one side is a carving of the mountain of fire, and the other holds the image of a bear sleeping by a river. My father takes the axe from me and hefts it in his hand. In a flourish he spins it about himself. The axe cuts the air and sings its first song in the hands of my father. In a final movement, he buries the head of the axe into a nearby support beam for the roof of the forge. The roof shudders and rushes fall to the ground all around him. He turns back to me. No emotion on his face. "Tomorrow we'll discuss plans for your own forge, and what towns are in need of a smith." His words are like a warm embrace. I can't keep the smile off my face. "Tomorrow father? Why not now?" "Idiot. Today I'm going to get to know the mother of my grandchildren!" With those words, he does smile, and it is the most frightening thing I'd ever seen.