roughly 30 minutes later, Eirik, Trasti, and Las'Tai rounded a small ridge in the landscape and gazed upon a large rock wall.

"I do not think we are getting any further, Eirik," Las'Tai remarked.

"That's good since that rock wall is our destination. See that cave opening?" Eirik pointed towards what looked like a small hole in the rock wall. "That is the ore deposit. Where the hardest work will take place. Let's hurry, I want to mark some easy-to-reach veins for you so work will be easy tomorrow."

"You are not coming with us tomorrow??" Trasti asked.

"No, I need to make new charcoal and that is going to take most of my attention. My brothers might be able to help, most of the work is observation and waiting anyway." Eirik elaborated. "If I can convince them to do it, then I am coming with you tomorrow. It would reduce the amount of time it takes to get the ore drastically."

"HEY!" Las'Tai exclaimed, "We are not bad workers!"

"Oh, I know. But you have no idea how tough this kind of work is. and you work in increased gravity. trust me, having me to help you will cut the time needed by more than half." Eirik chuckled at her outburst. She hated when you questioned her ability to contribute.

They made their way down to the cave but Eirik stopped them before they entered. He spent a little while searching the ground in front of and around the cave entrance and smelled the air coming from inside the cave.

"No predators have made it their home since I was here last time. Good, I do not want to fight off the local wildlife while we mine." Eirik looked relieved.

"Are there any predators you would not be able to fight off?" Trasti asked, a leftover of his earlier timid personality surfacing shortly.

"There are some that would have presented significant trouble. Wolverines and bears, mostly. Wolves would be a challenge since there would be many of them. Those are the most worrisome, but we need not think about that." Eirik broke down his train of thought as he moved inside the cave entrance. With Trasti and Las'Tai in tow, he moved into the large chamber that had been dug out and headed towards a small opening further in.

At the opening, he reached to the wall and took something in his hand. suddenly there was a spark of light and the lantern Eirik had picked up slowly started burning brightly. As Trasti and Las'Tai looked around they saw long veins of rust-red running through the stone. running their claws over the rust-red color, they felt the iron in the rock.

"So much... and so easy to reach..." Las'Tai mumbled.

"What's that?" Eirik asked with a smile as he watched the 2 Kloxna be enamored by a couple of veins of iron ore.

"During our early years as a civilization, the martial culture of the Kloxna came from the lack of raw materials, namely metals. Copper, iron, tin, aluminum. It's the sole reason our people are so warlike. Every tribe wanted more and it was extremely hard and dangerous work to extract the metal, so much so that warfare was less expensive in lives. To see metal so easily accessible near the surface makes me wonder if our people would have been different had we had the same chance.

We could have been artisans, philosophers, anything other than the brute warriors we are today." Las'Tai said thoughtfully.

Eirik walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "There is no reason to mourn what never was. That is like sitting in a rocking chair. Back and forth you move, but you are not going anywhere Better it is, to see rejoice in what could be in the future, and work towards making it a reality." Eirik spun Las'Tai around and looked her deep in the eyes. "Never accept the universe, as it appears to be. Dare to see it, for what it could be."

Eirik could see the thought settling in Las'Tai's head and let go of her again. moving over to a vein of ore he started swinging the pickaxe. Pieces of iron ore flew from the vein as the pickaxe embedded itself in it and Eirik wrenched the pickaxe free and swung again. At the third wing, a small fist-sized piece of ore fell to the floor. Eirik picked up the piece and put it in his burlap sack. He then looked expectantly at Las'Tai and Trasti who picked up their pickaxes and, with a good bit of effort, started working with Eirik on their own ore veins.

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Eirik did indeed convince his brothers to watch the production of charcoal. It only took 3 days of work in the cave to have enough iron ore for Eirik to be satisfied. Trasti and Las'Tai were too tired to even complain about the work, falling asleep on mattresses they had placed near the woodstove. Despite it being summer, they enjoyed the heat of the embers at night.

Eirik took great care in making sure his brothers ate, but as he worked during the day, he could not help but wonder if there was more he could do for them. So, when enough ore had been gathered and there were still 2 days left until the charcoal was finished, he made a decision and took a trip in the shuttle.

When he came back, Las'Tai and Trasti were playing a game of tag while Eirik's brothers sat in the shade and relaxed. As the ramp lowered on the shuttle, a shrill shriek was heard followed by a deeper yell of surprise and 2 people came running over towards the 4 brothers who got up as quickly as they could. Before they could comprehend what was happening a woman threw herself at the 4 of them and, somehow, managed to wrap her arms around all 4 of them at the same time.

"MY BOYS!!!!" their mother sobbed into Peter's shoulder while their father, with a little more self-control, ran up to them and joined the embrace.

Afterward, the 4 brothers looked to Eirik for an explanation. "I am going to be quite busy the next week or more. I wanted to make sure you were well cared for, and who could do that better than mom and dad?" Eirik explained himself.

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When the charcoals were finished, Eirik reopened his forge and cleaned it out with help of Trasti and Las'Tai. They were both eager to see how metal was worked and wanted to be a part of the process from start to finish. It took days for Eirik to melt down the ore into useable steel and from there to make the rods that would later be forged into the blades he was making for both of them. Eirik's brothers came into the forge when he was ready to start and helped with pulling the bellows and holding the tongs with the red-hot iron as Eirik swung the hammer.

Both Trasti and Las'Tai were spellbound while watching the work. Working of steel the way Eirik was doing it was almost magic to the Kloxna. The short lifespans of their species meant that few of them saw any point in dedicating half their life just to master an art they could only work with as a master, for 13 years before they would be too old and weak to continue. And those able to teach back home guarded the secrets of their work with almost zealous jealousy.

Freja also arrived at the time, though she seemed distant and indifferent to Eirik. He just did not have the time to focus on that right now. These blades required intense work and he was not planning on stopping until they were finished.

After another week, he was putting the finishing touches on both blades when Freja entered the forge and asked to speak to him alone. After everyone had left, she closed the door behind them.

"We need to talk Eirik. I did something bad."