SK watched them from the doorway of his crooked shack before either child noticed he was there. The winter light filtered through the bare trees in pale strips, turning the frost on the ground into a dull shimmer. From this angle, Elias and Jamie looked smaller than they did when they spoke—two children standing in a clearing with far too much intent in their posture.
Despite everything, they still showed up.
He could see it in the way Jamie bounced on her heels and in the stillness Elias tried very hard to pretend was boredom. They were eager. Hungry for knowledge in a way most adults pretended to be but never truly were.
Time was almost up. The snow was thinning. Soon the forest would thaw and he would have to leave this place for good.
He scratched his beard and muttered to himself, "Ah, bloody hell. Why not."
He stepped forward.
Jamie noticed him first. "He's staring again."
Elias followed her gaze and blinked lazily. "Morning, SK."
SK's eyes narrowed at Elias's face. "What the fuck happened to your eye?"
Elias rubbed his cheek automatically. The ink was still faintly visible, stubborn and humiliating.
Jamie laughed.
"He fell asleep and I decorated him," she said proudly.
"It didn't wash off for three days," Elias added flatly.
SK stared at them for a long second, then shook his head. "Bloody children."
"I've been meaning to ask this for a while now."
''Hm, what is it boy?'' it okay for you to be swearing like that in front of kids?"
SK snorted. "I don't bloody care."
He stepped aside and waved a hand toward the inside of the shack. "It's been a while since I taught anyone. I'm harsh as shit. You sure you can handle that?"
Jamie grinned. "You're not harsher than Beth. We'll survive."
SK paused. "Who's Beth?"
Elias tilted his head. "Why the sudden change of mind?"
SK shrugged. "Winter's ending. I'm leaving soon. You two are going to keep bugging me anyway, so I might as well give you something before I piss off."
Jamie's eyes lit up. She ran inside and immediately pointed at a strange jar on the shelf, filled with fluff and mounted on tiny wooden legs.
"Then teach me how to make that!"
"Hold your bloody horses," SK snapped. "You start small or you fuck everything up."
He pointed a finger at the room.
"Clean the shack."
They thought he was joking.
He was not.
For the next hour, they swept, dusted, reorganized shelves, wiped soot from the stone hearth, and nearly sneezed themselves to death from old herbs hanging from the ceiling. SK was especially jasr as they cleaned the various talismans and nails on the walls.
"You'd better not damage those." SK sais with his arsms folded. Elias worked quietly. Jamie complained loudly but did not stop moving.
When they finished, SK nodded once.
"Good. Now go into the forest and bring me frostleaf, dry moss, and bitterstem."
They exchanged a glance.
"You know what they are right?''
The duo nodded.
"Is this for artificing?" Jamie asked.
SK did not answer.
They returned, hands scratched and clothes dirtied, proudly presenting the herbs like trophies.
SK took them, crushed them together, boiled them in a pot, and brewed a foul-smelling tea.
Then he drank it withe a serene look as if it was the best thing he'd ever had.
Jamie stared.
"That's it?"
"Oh were are my manners, want some?''
Jamie wrinkled her nose in response. SK took another sip then wiped his mouth.
"Go to town. Bring me charcoal, coarse salt, and twine."
TElias grabbed Jamie by the collar and dragged his complaing friend out.
This continued the next day.
And the next.
They would arrive early, do chores, fetch things from the forest, run errands into town, and come back exhausted. They still had to report to Beth and finish their assigned work before somehow evading Aina andrunning back to SK's shack.
By the sixth day, Jamie was visibly fraying at the edges.
On the seventh day, she snapped.
They had just finished hauling a sack of firewood inside when she dropped it loudly.
"Are you actually a teacher or some tyrant?" she demanded.
SK looked up from a wooden carving he was shaping with a small knife.
"Hmm? Oh, your back. Did you buy me the bread I requested?"
"You said you were going to teach us! All we've done is clean, fetch, and carry!"
Elias jumped backward and sat on the table.
"She has a point."
SK sighed.
"I used to teach at Fazhan University."
Jamie snorted. "Sure you did."
Elias spoke calmly. "We researched arrays. We barely found anything."
"Well no bloody shit," SK barked.
"Everyone knows what an array is. Not everyone knows how to manifest one. Just like everyone knows what a sword is but not every bloke can just make them like they're babies. You think they want thieves and bandits knowing how to make tools?"
Elias considered that. "What if those people come from Fazhan? Wouldn't they just teach others anyway and defeat the purpose of gatekeeping?"
SK nodded. "You're right there. But artifacts have signatures. You can tell who made what. There's an organization of artificers that keeps records of every member. You can't legally make artifacts without their permit. Even illigaly, its rare to find people with an afinity for crafting."
Jamie crossed her arms. "Where's your permit then?"
SK didn't look up. "I went to great lengths to erase my name. ."
"Why?"
"To stop them from finding me."
Elias's eyes sharpened slightly.
"The men with the blue rose tattoos?"
SK's knife paused mid-cut. His lips pressed into a thin line.
"Though those who know me know me."
He considered mentioning their parents but decided against it. Jamie leaned forward.
"Why are they after you?"
He flicked her forehead. "None of your bloody business."
She whined loudly, clutching her head.
Elias watched SK's face. There was something there that wasn't irritation. It wasn't reluctance.
It was memory.
This wasn't something he didn't want to say.
It was something he couldn't. Out of...consideration?
SK stood abruptly. "Right. Enough."
Picking the sack he was carving into he walked over to the table Elias was sitting on and poured its contents on it.
Rods, cubes, disck, shapes of various types.
Jamie blinked. "What are those?"
"The books give you rough ideas," SK said. "Never the correct method. Besides, every artificer has their own unique way of crafting. Be bloody glad to be tutored by the best."
"Yeah yeah." Jamie rolled her eyes.
He flexed his fingers.
His hands lit up with a deep orange Flow.
Both children froze.
The air changed. It felt heavier. Charged.
"Watch carefully," SK said quietly.
Jamie leaned forward, all frustration gone. Elias got off the table and turned, eyes sharp now, attentive.