The red haired woman screamed as she grasped her bulky, tall husband's hand and nearly crushed it with her grip. This birth had been a long and difficult one. It had begun nearly 22 hours ago and it seemed to Risa that the pain of her second son would never end.
While there was no way to know for sure if it was a boy or a girl she firmly believed this was a boy. He carried just like his oldest sibling and only other brother.
But this birth was by far one of the hardest the tall woman had ever endured. 'Neither of my daughters or my son had ever dared to bring me this much pain.' Risa Everforge thought. 'When you get out here little one, we will have a reckoning.'
With one last great push a baby's cry began to ring out. The old woman who had been the midwife during this ordeal stood frozen holding the small baby in her hands. She then looked up at the woman and her husband and addressed them.
"It is a boy. But the child is small for our kind. A runt he will be." She spoke as she began cleaning and wrapping the child
Ron Baldur froze, staring at the child being bundled up, wisps of brown hair like his own peeking through now that the child had been cleaned. Then anger and disbelief came through. "A runt! A child of Bladur being a runt! No, never!"
Risa tired but irritated snapped at her husband. "He is not a runt! He is simply a normal sized child for Offworlders like his grandfather. He is not as big or as heavy as you would like but he is our son!"
The now red faced Ron shook his head. "No. I do not claim him. No child of mine will be known as inferior."
As the midwife finished wrapping the child she handed him to his mother. "For a child like this it would be better that you get rid of him. It will be a kindness, it will spare him the ridicule and shunning that he would otherwise face."
Risa took the child tenderly in her arms and looked at him as his wailing quieted as his eyes slowly opened and looked at her. Blue shone out of his deep-set sockets, eyes identical to Risa's own father. She was silent for a while then firmed her determination.
"Then do not claim him. I will raise him alone, and will name him after my father."she looked up at Baldur and almost spat at him. "He will grow up knowing no father but he will know of the legacy of his grandfather. That is more than enough of a history for him. And when he is old enough I will teach him the Forge-Way and one day he will walk beyond this place and beyond you."
Ron's anger grew as he looked at the woman who he claimed as wife. "You are mine! I claimed your hand and you will listen!" His deep voice boomed and almost started the child back to his wailing.
A quiet, steady voice came from behind the belligerent man. "My daughter is not something to be owned."
Baldur felt ice begin to freeze in his veins. He slowly turn to see a slightly shorter but still tall woman with the same red hair as her daughter.
"You indeed fought as the Forge-Way demands but you didn't not defeat her. You fought each other to a standstill. You are equals even by the most outdated of customs." Sheila Forge spoke with a deadly chill in her tone. "My daughter can make her own choices and you will not bully her now while she is weak. However strong you are now, boy, always remember than I could crush you with very little effort. If you want him ended then you will have to wait and let the boy age into the Forge and then you can send you families children after him. By that time he will have learned to fight for himself and will take care of his own battles. But for now…"
Sheila reached out and grasped the man's hand even as he tried to turn and run. She then pulled him over to the child and pull her knife from its sheath. She cut the palm of his hand as he struggled and spilled his blood onto the cheeks of the child. After this she pushed the man out the door saying "My grandchildren will stay with me when they are not in The Forge. When they are old enough they will be given the choice of which last name they wish to bear. Get out of my sight."
As Ron began to stumble back out the door he spat on the ground and pointed at Sheila "Just because you are part of one of the founding families, doesn't mean you get to lord it over the rest of us. I have been a good father to my children and I will still come to see them. Nothing will stop me. But I will not claim that child as my own."
Risa held the child close to her chest and quietly hummed as she thought of the full name she wished to give her son. She looked up at her mother.
"You heard what I want to name him?"
Sheila nodded. "You could do far worse than to name him after his father. Even as an offworlder he was a talented warrior and was a clever man. Are you sure that you want that to be his name?"
Risa nodded firmly.
"He will bear the name with pride and honor. We will teach him to make it so." Sheila spoke with a small sad reminiscent flicker in her eyes. "Very well then! Hand me my grandson and we will give him his name!"
Risa nodded and kissed her sons forehead before handing him over to the older woman and the midwife. The midwife took the cover off of a table nearby uncovering a table with a small iron shrine with a hammer, a dagger and a book placed at the foot.
Sheila took the boy and walked over to the shrine before handing her to the midwife. Tuning she opened the book and turned to a page that was only partially filled only recording the names of her daughter and her children. Then the woman picked up the hammer and the dagger and walked towards the child.
"I hold these implements now before you child as a symbol of the choice you will have to make upon your 6th birthday a choice to enter The Forge. To be forged as a piece of ore refined into greatness, a dagger in place of a sword for war, and a hammer in place of the forge for smithing. By these implements you will grow and gain strength. And by these implements will your honor be known."
"I give your name in three parts. The first is a given name, an inherited name, the name of your grandfather bestowed upon you by your mother , the name Gunnar meaning warrior. The second name is a name of blessing and it is a name I bestow upon you in hopes that it will grant you its meaning, the name is Ull meaning glory. And the last I grant as a holder for your choice or your title, the last name of your grandfather's Evers and of mine forge combined like your mother's, Everforge."
The midwife stood forward and said along with Risa. "Hail Gunnar Ull Everforge! Hail son of great Ancestors! May The Forge of our world grant you strength!"