Craft Work (Spring, 898)

I stood there for what felt like a very long time, just looking down at the materials that Fatimah had placed in front of me. I mean, I knew the basics of crystal synthesis inside and out, but it didn't help that I had never worked with fire before.

It also didn't help that I had the head of the goldsmithing guild watching my every move.

"Just relax," Fatimah said, giving me an easy smile. "Keep the image of the end result in your mind, and access the power of the crystal. As long as you keep your concentration on the finished product, the crystal should do all the work for you."

I nodded my head, and turned my gaze over to the ingot sitting on the desk, taking a brief moment to study it closely. When I was satisfied with the mental image, I nodded my head again, stepped closer to the desk, and took the small chunks of red stone in one hand and the fire crystal in the other.

I closed my eyes, letting the image of the copper ingot fill my mind. I felt a sudden rush of heat in my left hand, where the crystal was.

"Now," came the voice of Fatimah, "let the crystal release its power, but slowly. You're the one in charge." She giggled, a soft sound like small, tinkling bells.

I complied mentally, slowly allowing the crystal's power to seep out toward the components. The heat in my left hand began growing in small increments, and I began to feel echoes of that heat from the rocks in my other hand.

"Very nice," offered Fatimah, from what seemed like miles away.

I didn't reply, but tried instead to keep the image of the finished ingot foremost in my mind. It was difficult with the heat of the crystal flaring up in my palm, and I think I began to sweat from the effort.

Suddenly, there was a loud pop from my hand, and the heat in my hands flared once more before dying out. I opened my eyes slowly, and looked down at my hands.

Instead of a bright ingot of copper, I now held only two red rocks and a handful of ashes. The synth was a failure!

"I'm..I'm sorry," I stammered, looking over to Fatimah. I knew that my cheeks were flushed from embarassment. I had just blown a synth in front of a room full of professional goldsmiths.

Fatimah nodded her head, and said, "What's there to be sorry about, Aspen? You had wonderful control over your energy, especially for a first synthesis. Frankly, I would have been more surprised if you had gotten it right on your first try." She giggled again, the sound cheering me up a little.

"I see," I said, trying to recover from my failure. "Why didn't you tell me that from the beginning?"

"If you knew you weren't supposed to succeed, there's no way you would have been successful. It would have been a complete and utter failure." She paused a moment, then added, "You were doing fine up until the very end. You must have let yourself get distracted somehow."

"I suppose," I said with a nod. "So does this mean.." I trailed off, looking to Fatimah for some kind of explanation.

"Of course," she said with a smile. "I would be happy to have you in the goldsmithing guild, Aspen. It seems like you've got a lot of potential."

I smiled, my enthusiasm returning quickly. "Thank you, Fatimah," I said with a short bow of my head. "I would be happy to be the new recruit."


"Well, we can put you to work synthing ingots for a while," she replied. "Once you've gotten comfortable with that, we'll try some other formulae. You can set your own working hours, and we'll pay you based on what you make, subtracting the material costs." She paused, then added, "Of course, if you make something nice and want to sell it on the auction house, you're free to do that. You just have to cover the full material cost."


I nodded, then asked, "What about crystals? Do I have to bring my own, or can I buy them from the guild?" I only had a couple crystals to my name, and didn't think that would get me through many synths.


Fatimah laughed, saying, "You should bring your own. We can't discount the prices at all, so you can usually get a better deal on the auction house. Of course, you could always try to hunt them down yourself outside." She shrugged briefly, and then added, "Was there anything else you needed to know?"


"I don't think so," I said with a smile. "I'm eager to start working. Can I put in any time today?" I was eager to start, if only because my gil pouch was getting a little empty.


"If you like," she replied with a short nod. "Oh, before I forget," she added, opening another drawer in her desk and rummaging around inside. After a moment, she produced a large cluster of glowing red fire crystals, and put them on the desk.


"These are for you," she said with a large smile. "Consider them a congratulatory present. Welcome to the goldsmith guild, Aspen."