The Priest is Summoned (Otherwise Untitled)
#41 of Short Stories
A priest of the forge has a visitor.
~ The foundry was, as it was most any time of day, a place of heat and learning. The priests who worked here found a place where they could push themselves, the materials, and their faith to the limits. Priest Garmeny carefully navigated the compact staircase leading up out of the nook and to the platform from which he could see inside the crucible. Catching his breath and shaking bits of dust from his feathers and robes, he found the crucible's contents an enigma. Chunks of white lustered metal they'd pulled from the craft's wreckage remained whole.
~ To the rebellious red glow the phoneix opened his beak a bit wider in mimicry of a defiant grin. It wasn't often he found something both baffling and a challenge. He called out to his apprentice, "The pieces that didn't melt off easy with the rest are holding up to iron's heat. Note that. I'm going to cut loose for a bit." The apprentice scribbled down notes onto her papers, both them and herself a safe distance from the flames as the Priest stripped out of his robes and down to only a short skirt. The thumb's up Garmeny directed to Karol on his descent back to the pyromancer's nook was answered with blushing about her nares and the scribbling of a small sketch in the margin.
~ His eyes and arms ablaze with the fire of youth so long restrained as to be forgotten, Garmeny lost himself in the rush of passion and force. It took the apprentice several failed attempts of shouting and two successful buckets of water before she caught his attention. Shaking steam out from amongst his feathers as he looked up, "Ah, sorry. The wider world and time got away from me. Time for meal, I assume?"
~ Apprentice Karol shook her head while she leaned in place to see inside the crucible of glowing scraps and for the sake of her notes, "No, there's a dragon to see you. He said you promised you'd hear him out if he made the trip?" The priest recalled the reply he'd sent to Sergeant Cade's inquiry. Garmeny remembered what it felt to be chilled.