for more research, then I head down to the kitchen to find a snack before I seek out Kayla.
I find her in her forge, working over the blazing fire while shaping a sword. I wait, watching, until she notices me and puts her work down.
She pulls off thick gloves and smiles to me. "Arianna! I hoped you'd come by."
"I wanted to see your work." It's not a small workspace, but it feels cramped with so much equipment, and hot with the fire blazing. Hanging from a wall and sitting on tables are swords, daggers, lances, arrow heads and armor and shields.
She walks over to me. "It's not much, but it'll do. I'm in the process of fulfilling Fen's sword order. The first step is turning iron into steel through carburization."
"Carburization?"
She holds up a large hammer and iron tongs. "I add a small amount of carbon through heat and hammering. Iron is malleable and ductile and can be easily welded and forged at high temperatures. Steel, though, is very tough and, once tempered, very hard and elastic. Perfect for making weapons."
I nod, taking it all in. "I have a favor to ask you," I say. My palms are sweaty and I'm not sure if it's nerves or the heat from the forge.
"What's that?" she asks.
"I'd like you to train me. I'd like to work for you." If the only way I could pay my servants is from my own funds, then I need a job.
She laughs, then stops when she realizes I'm serious. "Oh. Well, I already have an apprentice." As if being summoned by his title, a wiry boy of no more than eleven runs in, out of breath and full of news.
"Mistress Kayla! You'll never guess what I heard at Stonehill Inn." The apprentice has green hair the color of spring grass, with matching eyes and long, pointy ears. I can't tell if he's full Fae or a Shade, but my guess is a Shade. He's scrawny, and I'm trying to imagine him lifting the equipment required to work with metal the way Kayla does, but it's a hard mental image to latch onto.
"Daison, you know I don't like you hanging around there. It's not good for one your age."
He rolls his eyes in such typical kid fashion I can't help but grin. "I'm old enough," he says, puffing out his chest. "Besides, how do you think I'm getting you all the rich customers?"
Kayla laughs. "I'm pretty sure my reputation has a little something to do with it. But do tell, what is this amazing news I'm not going to believe?"
"The new Princess they brought in is going to be on display for the Princes, and some of the lads in town want to try to crash so they can get a better look at her. She'll be all dressed up fancy-like."
I'm assuming I'm the Princess in question, but this is news to me. Kayla looks surprised too, and glances at me with a frown. "Do you know what he's talking about?"
I shrug. "Not a clue."
Kayla looks back at her apprentice. "Daison, I'd like you to meet Princess Arianna, guest of Prince Fenris. Princess, this is my speaks-before-thinking apprentice, Daison."
I bite my lip to stop a laugh as his jaw drops open in shock. He lowers his head and bows. "I'm sorry, Your Highness. I didn't realize."
I put a hand on his shoulder. "Call me Ari. And don't worry about it. It was an honest mistake."
His pale face turns bright red and he mumbles some excuse about picking up more iron, then darts out of the smithy so fast I barely see him run.
Kayla sighs. "He's a good lad, but so very young. It's hard to remember being that age."
"I'm confused about something," I say. "I don't see any old people here, though some, like the Keeper, look old, until you look at their face. And there are children. I've seen them around the city."
"Vampires can't breed with full vampires," she explains. "They need Shades or Fae, or even humans, to breed. And once those children grow to full adulthood, they essentially stop aging physically. For the Fae, the older we get, the whiter our hair becomes. Fae with white hair are deeply respected as elders. It takes several hundreds of years or longer to achieve their look."
So would I be considered a full vampire after I take the Blood Oath, I wondered? If so, how does that work with giving one of the princes an heir?