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"Okay, what happens next?" asked her father.
"We take it off the heat, then we hit it with the hammer," recited Lilja. It all sounded easy enough.
"And why do we hammer it?"
"To shape the blade."
She was excited. Yesterday, Lilja turned seven. Her big gift was that her father would finally start teaching her how to work in the forge. Since the moment she could walk and wander between house and shop, she had waited to join him in what she considered the neatest thing she had ever seen. Her father made swords and armor! Of course, learning blacksmithing came at a compromise: she was to begin manner and dancing classes per her mother's request. Though the request was more of a demand, Lilja knew better than to make a fit.
Right now, her eyes were set on making her very first thing. She had wanted to make a sword, but her father said learning came after she could prove she had perfected the steps of making a simple knife, with the handle and all. If that's what it took, she would learn to make the greatest knives.
Bouncing on her toes in excitement, she watched and waited for the metal to begin to glow bright orange in the forge.
"Does it look ready to you?" asked her father.
"Yeah."
"Are you certain?"
"… yes?" Lilja replied again with hesitancy.
"Good, because you're right," he said. "Trust your instincts, lass. Now, let's take it out. Be careful."
She took the tongs from her father and carefully grabbed the small metal piece before moving it over to the anvil, resting it on top while see stepped up onto a small box. A hammer was handed to her next as Henrik took the tongs to hold the metal in place for her.
"Let's see that swing."
Lilja took a deep breath, lifted the hammer high up, and swung it downwards, hitting the piece of metal in the right spot. She grinned. She was finally doing it! As she took another swing and hit, the grin turned into a broad smile. Looking up to her dad for approval, she found that he was also smiling and looked incredibly pleased. So, she continued on, hammering away and shaping the metal like she had so often when she watched her father.
"Great job, sweetheart. Let's take a quick break." Henrik placed the metal back in fire and walked to her side. "Now, we want our shoulders to stay nice and strong so we can keep doing this forever, right?"
She gave a determined nod. "Yeah!"
"Next time you swing, let's keep that elbow a little closer to our body." He gently took her arm and showed her how the motion should feel. "Just like that. We don't want to chicken wing at the top, or else you're going to look like Holden."
"Hey now, I heard that!" shouted Holden from across the shop, laughing.
It made Lilja giggle.
"You ready to go again, lass?"
"Yes!" Lilja smiled and bounced on her toes, ready more than ever to become a great blacksmith just like her dad.