Balancer's Soul (26 page)

“I became his family’s personal soldier. It
was only later that I found out that he was a Balancer and so was
his mate. Ten years later, in my fortieth summer, I met their
youngest daughter, Jillian. She was so young and beautiful yet
little did I know that she was already thirty summers older than
I.

“One day a small troop of fifteen
solders arrived at our village. As I fought to repay my debt to
Jillian’s father, she was being cornered by two armored solders and
she didn’t have the strength that she has now. I killed the two of
them with one swing of my weapon. As they fell, I picked up Jillian
and ran her away from the battle. Keeping her safe and in my arms,
we fell instantly in love with each other. Her parents made it out
as well and they gave me their blessing for the two of us to be
together. Even if they are a little…
demanding
.” He strained the last word.

“Before becoming a mate to Jillian, I too
built her a home for the two of us.” Jack looked down from the moon
as his story ended. “By the way would you like me to assist you on
this project?”

Connor stared at the silver haired man. “Did
you have any help building a home for you and Jillian?”

“No, I did not… I see… I understand.” He
smiled in understanding that this is a man’s personal project and
both understood the reasoning. “Do not worry, Child. I will keep
your secrets about this to myself and I never even saw you tonight.
I just went for a walk and saw some animals. You have my word.”

“That was a good story and I would like to
hear more one day, but I need to finish up and get some rest.” Jack
stood without a word and left him alone with a wave of his hand.
Before Connor knew what happened, Sarah’s father had disappeared
from his side in an instant.

Over the next three weeks the cottage stood
nearly complete and furnished. Finished with the roof and flooring
that had been crafted out of hardwood, Connor shaped the doors,
molding, windows, and insulated the walls. He built a kitchen with
a sink and a self-contained indoor plumbing system. He even made a
fireplace out of red brick and mortar for the long winters they
would surely face. He painted the interior walls a healthy shade
light brown and it came as an easy choice because Sarah’s hair
color matched the natural scheme. He crafted all of the furniture
using everything that was left over scrap, from the dining room
table to making a king sized bed frame. He sat the new king sized
bed onto its new frame and looking at the green drapes, Connor said
to himself “Almost finished.”

The hardest project that took the most time
was in making a water wheel that created enough electricity to
power a kitchen fridge, lights and the water systems. Connor built
the water wheel over the stream that ran beside the house. The most
difficult part was lifting the four hundred pound wheel up and
sliding in the axle into the exact center of the wheel without
losing his grip and it falling on him.

After laying the silk sheets that his
grandfather bought on the bed, he walked and sat down in the newly
made chairs and the new table. Grabbing a plank of wood, a fine
tooth chisel and Tool he started to woodwork a design for something
ironic with Sarah and her parents. After the image came to life he
nailed it over the eve of the front door.

And he smiled in satisfaction, knowing all
was complete.

Returning to his grandparent’s farm, Connor
walked inside and asked his grandmother, who laid on the couch
reading some kind of romance novel “Grandma, I was wondering if I
could take a few of your plants from the flower garden to put
around the cottage. The place needs a little color.”

Closing her book she looked up with a smile.
“That will be fine, but please don’t take too many. I like my house
to be colorful too.” Connor left the inside and collected a variety
of flowers that will go well with Sarah’s personality and
beauty.

Two days later the cottage was ready for
occupancy. Connor cleaned up around the cottage and anything that
he didn’t use he threw back inside the trailer. His estimates were
ideally close and very little material remained after all came to a
close. David met Connor at the road as he pulled the now remarkably
light trailer out of the brush and attached the trailer to the
hitch on his truck.

Exhausted, Connor closed his eyes on the way
back to the house. David tapped his grandson’s shoulder saying
“Were home, Son. Go and take a hot shower and get some much needed
sleep.”

As Connor stood out of the truck, he said
weakly “I need it, thank you again.”

“There is no need for thanks, just get some
rest, Son.”

Connor slowly walked into their home, not
noting anything or anyone. Heading into the shower, he could feel
every muscle in agony and some revealed themselves that he never
knew existed. He took his clothes off and fell into the shower
feeling the hot water erase the pain of his aching body. After
finally stepping out of the relaxing shower, he changed clothes.
And hunger pains needed to be filled, but sleep won out. Connor
fell asleep within moments after falling onto the bed and didn’t
awaken until morning.

As he finally awoke, he noticed that his
muscles no longer ached. Connor walked down the steps and into the
kitchen where Rhoda stood busy, cooking up something that smelled
absolutely delicious. “Looks like the dead can awake for my cooking
after all.” She chuckled and she wore a blue and white striped
shirt along with silver spandex pants.

“You mean to say that I look that good?” She
chuckled a little more.

Eggs, bacon and sausage with homemade bread
quickly appeared on the kitchen table. “Oh Connor, there is a gift
for you on the table.” She pointed with her spoon to a blue bag
sitting on the table filled with blue stuffing paper.

He walked over and picked the bag up by
its draw strings. “It’s really heavy.” Connor didn’t notice that
the kitchen sounds had stopped. He pulled out the paper to see
something dark and mildly reflective inside the bag. He reached in
and pulled the heavy object out, it took up all the space of his
hand. It was solid and dark with a slight amount of luster.
“This can’t be!”
“Grandma, is this
the silver I asked for a month ago?”

“It sure is. I wanted to give it to you first
thing yesterday, but when you came home you were so tired you
couldn’t acknowledge little old me. You’re so like David, working
yourselves to death. I held it for you till now.” She now stood
directly behind him, enjoying his sincere expression.

“But this is bigger than my fist.” It was the
size of a fist and a half.

“I told you that I would pull through for
you, didn’t I? Oh and if it is too much ore you can just make
something for me out of whatever is left.” She hugged his back.

“I just cannot even begin to thank you both
for everything that you two have done for me. I haven’t forgotten
about the agreement for this.” Connor tossed the metal in the air
while smiling. Now the last project could get underway without
delay.

After eating six scrambled eggs and several
of the meats, Connor walked outside and into the smoldering forge.
Inside the forge is a metal smelter that needs to be hand pumped by
the billows. Its fuel is fire wood and charcoal. On the sooty walls
hung many sets of tongs, hammers and chisels for many different
carving and shaping purposes. Six troughs sat side by side, each
filled with a different ink color used for quenching the metal to
cool quickly. There are several stands meant for different metal
bending and sizing options. Connor walked over to the smelter and
used the tongs to grab a perpetually red hot melting cup. Setting
the cup on the anvil made a slight hissing sound as he threw in the
silver ore. After placing the cup back into the flames, pumping the
billows a few times and adding a few logs, he grabbed two molding
buckets.

Connor measured his upper arm with a chilled
Bees wax ring and shaved it down into a flat circular ring before
he got started on Sarah’s trinket. He remembered her ankle size so
he made another circular ring out of the cold wax as well. Lost wax
casting is a simple way to make special objects. Filling up each of
the molding buckets with quick drying cement, he began placing each
ring into each bucket, he submerged them only centimeters into the
cement to cover them.

When the metal ore had completely melted over
a period of a few hours, Connor scooped out all of the impurities
that floated to the top. After that, he used the tongs to hold the
melted silver and pour almost half of the red hot metal onto the
now dry cement. As the silver burned away the wax, it replaced it
and made a perfect casting in the cement. He used the same
technique for his bucket. He then sat both buckets outside the
forge for the metal to cool and solidify.

Eventually the silver cooled and he used a
rounded hammer to carefully break open the castings. After removing
the last of the concrete and grabbing the tongs, Connor picked up
Sarah’s newly formed anklet and put it into the heater again and
removed it when it started to glow an iridescent red. The concrete
that clung to the metal either burned or flaked off. Grabbing
several hardened files of different abrasions and setting the still
hot ring in a pair of clamps, he started shaping and smoothing.

Starting with a rough abrasion file, he
shaved off all of the visible burrs. After warming the metal up
again, Connor used a finer file to smooth away all of the more
subtle bumps and bulges. After a third firing the shaving was
complete and now it needed to have a design. Using the finest blade
and point on a chisel, a pattern started to appear on the anklet in
the shape of what looked like a braded rope, but actually it was a
continuous and linked
X
in the
same shape of the mark of his chest. Using the dark black ink in
one of his grandfather’s ink troughs, he painted in the crossing
lines black with a brush, revealing the continuous black X and
leaving the rest with the natural silver color. After the final
firing to burn away the excess ink and setting the color into the
metal, he began to polish the entire ring by hand until it had a
beautiful sheen and it was finally complete. It became very dark
outside as Connor realized that it has taken all day to do this one
piece of jewelry. It was truly worth all the time it
took.

The next morning Connor started to work on
his armlet before dawn even broke. Instead of a circular anklet
ring, his armlet was a flat ring that fit just over the muscles on
his upper left arm. Using most of the same methods to remove the
burrs and polishing techniques, the shape quickly took on the
desired look. The only difference was the design placed upon the
jewelry, using the fine tipped chisel again he made a perfect
pentagram and between each point of the star he painstakingly
designed a symbol for each of the elements; a tear drop for Liquid,
a flame for Fire, mountains for Terra, a perfect circle for
Pressure and finally a small diagram for Metal. After the armlet
was finally complete Connor slid it over his arm and it fit
perfectly, even as he covered it over with his sleeve. Due to the
designs being too intricate he was unable to give the armlet any
color, but it didn’t matter because it looked fine without it.

With only a little amount of silver left over
Connor was able to create his grandmother a proper gift.

Later that early afternoon at the dinner
table his grandfather asked “The way you look tells me that
everything is finished on all of your projects.” Connor replied
proudly. “Yes sir, all of my plans are complete.” A smile crossed
his face.

“Really,
everything
is done?” Rhoda asked and he knew what
the expression meant. “Even your other project as well?”

Connor didn’t answer her with words
because he had to uphold the bargain with her as well. He leaned
down and picked up two wooden boxes; which he crafted with the
leftover wood from the cabin. Sitting across from his grandparents,
he first revealed the larger box, opening it his grandmother
gasped. “Oh how beautiful, you are a terrific craftsman my boy. Is
that for Sarah?” He nodded with a smile. Connor handed the other
smaller box over to her because it was her present from him. As she
opened the box she pulled out a pendant in the shape of a rose bud
with a small ring at the bottom for a thin necklace chain to be
threaded through.
“You better enjoy it,
that thing was difficult to make.”
“Oh Connor it’s
beautiful, but the amount of silver I obtained should be more than
these two trinkets. Where is the rest?” Sliding up his left sleeve
up to the shoulder, David smiled and whistled.

“These are masterpieces, Son. Especially that
one on your arm.” Smiling, he added “So, when are you leaving to go
back to your family and to see Sarah?”

Not wanting to drag this along “Today. I miss
them too much and I’m not one to just sit by and wait.”

After the meal and exchanging hugs and other
pleasantries Connor told them to be at his mother’s house around
noon for the public opening. David drove him home to expedite the
plans before nightfall. At around five in the evening they arrived
at the house on Friday afternoon. School would be out for the
weekend and both teachers and students would already be home.
Connor walked inside his house with the filled duffle bag, Tool and
the chest harness, but he first need to clean up from working at
the forge all day.

Connor shut the front door and Kara yelled
happily “BROTHER! You’re home!” Kara ran from the kitchen and tried
to tackle him without any success again. Her spirit was refreshing
and missed. She hugged him as tightly as her spindly little arms
could manage. “I missed you, Brother. Are you finished with
whatever surprise you have up your sleeve?”