Chapter Text
I leaned back in my chair, carving a new palisman, as Belos walked through the door looking like a titan stepped on him.
“Oh…” I cringe; “May I ask what happened?”.
“Just a slight mistake I made,” Belos replied as his guard walked in. The Golden Guard.
“Yeah…slight mistake. Do you need a palisman?” I asked.
“No, I'm fine at the moment.” Belos insisted.
“Doubtful, but there's one complete on the table if you need---” I got cut off as Belos swiped the palisman.
“Are you alright, Golden Guard?” I ask, noticing his uniform in slight disarray. The golden guard simply nodded.
“You know Belos, I have an extra piece of wood lying on the table. I can teach you how to carve or I can always teach the Golden Guard.” I offered.
“Kind, but no. I’m quite alright” Belos declined.
“Would you like to golden guard?” I offered, once again.
Golden guard looked startled through his mask, he’s never asked to do much, let alone speak.
He looked at Belos for approval, to which Belos gave him a nod.
“I’m leaving him here to keep guard while I attend to the coven heads,” Belos stated.
“Alright,” I replied as Belos left the room.
Golden guard stood by the door as I set my current work in progress down on the table.
“Come on, I don’t bite. Not like Belos anyway.” I assured him. The guard walked from his post, and sat in front of me, as I began to show him how to carve.
“All the tools do something different. It’s how the wood gets into the state more familiar to a palisman. Like this one, I’m working on.” I signaled to the unfinished palisman of a snake.
“When it’s done, they'll turn into a live palisman, but will be dormant,” I explained earning a nod from them.
I passed them a piece of palistrom wood and laid out the tools beside us on the table. “We have to scrape off the bark first so we get a good base to carve on,” I instructed.
The Golden Guard attempted to remove some of the bark. It went surprisingly well, even with gloves. Usually, I injure myself if I wear gloves like that.
“You're doing really well. Better than my first try actually.” I told them.
Eventually, all the bark was off leaving a blank canvas.
“What creature would you like to carve?” I wonder. The guard seemed hesitant…like the emperor was going to stop him at any moment.
He made a symbol, with his hands, of a bird.
“Alright, I’ll teach you how to carve a bird then,” I said.