Star waved at Maseli from the transport and sat in silence holding her bags. "Are you ready to start your real mountain walking training?"
Star looked up at the person who spoke and smiled. "Yes. Slouen I'm ready. It'll be good to climb to the top and see for myself what's there."
"That's good to hear. It seems that Maseli has rubbed off onto you." She watched him rub his chin. "I've already ordered your gear from the blacksmith's. All we need to do is to go to the tower and pick them up."
She let him sit down next to her and looked where he pointed. "Then we start climbing up there. That's our final goal." She watched him fish around in his pocket and pulled out a metal disc and rolled it over his fingers. "Here. This is for you to practice with while we're on the transport."
She accepted it with a smile and started to try and roll it over her fingers and cursed when it fell onto the floor. She picked it up. "I'll master it���"
She looked at the crowded transport and turned to Slouen. "Why are there so many people going to the tower? It isn't like Eternia…"
"Hahaha. It seems you still need to learn more about the world and the people, then just on a map."
She lowered her eyes at Slouen. "The Ancient Tower is where research on batterys happen. Without the tower then we'd have no batterys and lose something that we rely on heavily." She looked at the people on the transport. "All these people are either going to buy new batterys or have their empty batterys charged."
She nodded. "That makes sense. So, why do we need to go there for our mountain walking gear? Looking at you, we don't need to use any batterys."
"Good question. Here at the Ancient Tower, not only is it the closest place to get the items made, but also, it's the best place for blacksmiths on Athlos. Anything made there is of very high quality and won't break easily."
She turned and looked behind her as the tavern that she had called home faded into the distance. She turned and looked forward. "No more looking back. Always moving forward to make my own shadow."
She looked at the disc. "When you can roll it on your fingers, then you'll practice your hand grips with it. We'll be entering the tunnels shortly. This is usually something special for people who haven't been to the Ancient Tower before."
Star smiled and looked out of the transport at the large mountain in front of them. Her mouth fell open as she felt the transport increase speed. She closed her eyes in horror as it looked like the transport was about to hit the mountain.
"…"
She opened one eye and then the other looking outside at the wall of the tunnel the transport was now in. She let out a sigh.
"Hahahaha. Everyone does that the first time when they come here. The tunnel entrance is below the road, so it looks like we're going to hit the mountain."
She sighed and focused on the disc in her hands rolling it slowly from one finger to the next. She cursed as it fell on the ground. "Again… I can do it."
"You can put that away now. We're here, it wasn't a long trip was it?"
She put the disc in her pack and shook her head. "Not long at all. But I'm interested in visiting the underground city for the first time in my life."
She stood outside the transport and eyed the city silently with a smile on her face. "This is incredible. An entire city underground." She pointed at the tower and looked at Slouen. "Is that the Ancient Tower… It doesn't seem much."
"That's only the base. The Ancient Tower reaches high above ground in the windy plains. It's the only building that remains on the surface."
Star nodded silently and held her pack tightly looking impatient. "So where do we go now?"
"Hahaha, still in a rush. Let's get food in our bellies first. We won't be eating a proper meal for a while."
She sighed and looked at Slouen. "I understand. After eating we'll get the gear and leave."
She followed Slouen down the ramp and into the midst of the people around her.
"Ting… Ting… Ting."
She looked around. "Wow, there are many blacksmiths here. No wonder people come here for their gear."
"Yes. You can see their work later. Come sit down and eat first…"
She sighed and sat down with a curse and tapped the table in impatience. She stared at Slouen as he packed his pipe.
"I'd thought you'd be excited to be in a place you've never seen?"
She nodded and smiled through her teeth. "Normally yes. But we're here to pick up things and then go for answers. Not here to have fun."
She looked down at the table and noticed a plate of food in front of her and emptied the plate as fast as she could. Her heart started beating.
"That was amazing. That was almost as good as Maseli's food." She sat back and smiled at Slouen. "Can we go see the blacksmith's now?"
She heard Slouen curse and watched him shake his head. "Still in a rush. You need to slow down and look around you. Stop rushing through things or you'll miss things."
She looked at her empty plate and sighed. "Maybe you're right, but I need to find out what happened. As you also want to find out about my eyes and the family, I'm from."
She stared at him making her eyes as large as possible. "Okay, fine. You win. Let's go get your gear." She smiled and stood up walking out of the tavern. "Hurry up… Let's go…"
She smiled as Slouen walked past her and followed him through the crowds towards the blacksmiths.
"What's happening over there?"
Star pointed to a small crowd of people standing outside a smith and walked over to see what was happening. Her eyes shone.
"There is something special about that bow." She took a step towards the blacksmith and the bow. She stopped moving when the blacksmith looked at her.
"It seems the young lady here can see that this bow is something special."
She nodded, while her eyes were focused on the bow. "Can I have a closer look at it?"
"Sure, you can look. We also have many other bows in stock for you to look at as well… That is if you're interested in them."
She took a deep breath as she held the wooden bow in her hands. "This bow feels strong, but all the materials and even the etching seems normal." She smiled and looked at the blacksmith. "This bow feels alive… What did you do to the bow?"
She saw the blacksmith smile and look at her. "I'm sure you want to give it a go? There is a target you can use to fire a few arrows to test it out."
She nodded and smiled without letting go of the bow and followed the blacksmith around the side of the smith and pointed to the target. "There's the target. Give it a go…"
She looked at the blacksmith in confusion. "The string?"
"No need for a string. I thought you said there is something special about the bow…"
She looked at Slouen in confusion. "It's probably got batterys inside the wood. Just pull on the bow and see what happens."
"Girl you're about thirty paces from the target. That should be close enough for you to hit the target. Show me what you can do, and if you can draw and shoot an arrow. I'll give you a nice discount."
She took a deep breath and lifted the bow into position looking at the target. "Hmm. Something is there I can feel it, but I can't see it."
She lowered the bow. "Hey blacksmith. Who's the other person there hiding near your forge?"
"Hahaha. Good eyesight girl. That there is my apprentice. The both of us worked on that bow in your hands. You could say it's our little experiment. Hahaha."
She smiled and lifted the bow again taking a deep breath and focused on the target. "This is weird how can I use a bow without a string or arrow?" She shook her head. "If it needed those things, they would've of gave them to me. This bow doesn't need them."
Star raised her other arm and rose to pull the string that wasn't there and felt something between her fingertips. She looked at the bow in amazement. "Blacksmith. The string I felt it…"
She smiled aiming for the target and pulled on the string she couldn't see but she felt it. "I'm one with the bow… I'm one with the arrow let's fly." She pulled on the invisible string and releasing it in time with her breathing.
"BOOMM!"
Her mouth fell open as the target exploded into tiny pieces in front of her. "I didn't even see the arrow. What is this bow?" She lowered the bow and looked at the blacksmith and his apprentice running towards her. She took a step towards them and fell to her knees panting in exhaustion. "What… happened? I feel… exhausted…" She turned and looked at Slouen standing near her.
"Blacksmith, do you have a place for her to rest? Her eyes felt heavy. She felt Slouen pick her up and carry her through the forge to a messy cot in the back. She watched in silence as the blacksmith moved the books. She felt the cot beneath her and closed her eyes.
"…"
Star opened her eyes and felt her stomach grumble from the smell of cooked food nearby. She sat on the bed and touched her hair before cursing. "My hood. Where's my hood?"
She saw Slouen standing near the doorway to the forge. "You can relax. They won't say anything." She took a deep breath, grabbed the plate of food offered to her by the blacksmith shoving food into her mouth.
"Whhhaghht… hoppaneneddd??" She spoke with a full mouth.
"Simple. You passed out from firing the bow. I'm not sure if I want to sell it to you now, since that happened. Hey apprentice, it looks like our experiment failed."
"No. Iiiiitdidnnnn'tttt. Itttworrkkedd. Sheejusstttissnn'tt suited to that bow."
She turned to look where the voice came from. "What's the matter with your apprentice? He seems different."
"Star, if you don't mind me calling you that. Just think of it as he's not good around people. They have also been people giving him a hard time so he hangs out here a lot. He's very smart when it comes to these things, you should listen."
She nodded while chewing. "So why did I feel exhausted after one arrow then?"
She heard the apprentice's voice. "That bow has wind nature in it. Your body doesn't match the nature. Usually in batterys the nature is sealed so anyone can use it. On this bow it's not sealed. That's why you felt exhausted."
She sighed and looked at Slouen and the blacksmith. "I would like that bow, but if it makes me exhausted every time I use it, then it's worthless to me."
"That bow will make you too weak. Blacksmith, what if we made a special bow for her?"
She heard the blacksmith curse and looked into the smith. "Harnio, are you crazy? I hope you don't forget what happened last time. You were on that very cot for several weeks. Also, how do we make the bow with the right nature for her?"
She heard banging and things being moved around in the forge and a skinny arm was seen in the doorway holding a clear crystal."Here take this blacksmith. Get her to place a drop of her blood on it."
She cursed as the blacksmith walked towards her with a small clear crystal. "Star. I'm not sure how this works, but he says a drop of your blood and we'll make the bow perfect for you…"
She looked at Slouen and turned her head away from her hand. "You do it…"
"Okay kid. Look away…" She felt her shoulders as Slouen's dagger cut into her fingertip. She took her hand back quickly and sucked on her bleeding fingertip. She turned and looked at the crystal that had a drop of her blood on the surface of it.
"It's glowing… There is an image inside the crystal." She felt her heartbeat in her ears as the blacksmith came to look at the crystal.
"Harnio, there are two small pictures. A large tear drop, with a small bolt of lightning wrapped around it… What does that mean?"
She heard the voice behind the door raise in excitement. "Dual nature. Wow. She must be from the Stormy Mountain region. That's the only way to explain it."
She looked at Slouen and watched him slowly place his hands on his knife belt. She cursed under her breath with her heart beating loudly in her ears.
"She's a mountain tribesperson isn't she blacksmith?"
She turned to Slouen who started to move towards the door. "How did he know that just from a drop of her blood? Who is this little apprentice of yours?"
She watched as the blacksmith stood at the door preventing Slouen from going after the apprentice. "Relax. He's harmless. He just doesn't communicate with people well. He just says whatever is in his mind, and as you can see, he's rather forward. But if you want a bow, then you'll need his help."
"Slouen put the knife back. It's okay. It's not like people will care where I'm from."
"Apprentice… Where I'm from is not important right now, as I'm still trying to figure that out myself. I just need to know. Can you make me a bow?"
She looked to the doorframe and saw the top of a person's head stick out slightly. "A bow like that for you is not enough. I have an idea to make you the perfect bow of storms with your name on it tribes-person."
"Bahahaha. Star, just a drop of your blood has made Harnio get into serious mode. We'll have a bow here just for you."
Star smiled at the blacksmith with an impatient look. "When?"