Smithson Ch. 02: The Family

"I can't believe you fucked me in the forge. Honestly, you could have at least had the presence of mind to get us back inside or bring a blanket with us. Honestly, we aren't children playing by the river anymore. Geir, I know it was....great, but if someone had seen us...." Her voice trailed off. I rub her shoulder, now clothed in wool and linen.

"Do you remember the light?"

Esa looks at me with confusion.

"It was night. Do you mean the stars? Honestly I wasn't being very attentive to our surroundings. Geir. Let's just remember to meet regularly so we don't get so carried away next time." She smiles up at me. I feel the confusion on my face at her response. I shake it off and try to set my mind to the mundane again.

"A good idea wife."

I bend down and kiss her forehead. She's still hot. There is no sweat, no other sign of fever. I walk back out to the forge. The coals are black and dead, except where my hands had touched the coals and crushed them into fine white ash the night before. I place my hand into the outline left in the ash. There's no heat now. Yet I feel the faint beating of my heart there in the cold coals. I let my mind feel the beat and follow it back to the house. The beat becomes a tether from my heart. I know with unnatural certainty it leads straight to Esa.

I shake my hands loose from the ash of my cold forge. I go back to work. The forge must be reignited. The fire returned to where I can wield it. As I put wood, charcoal and stone into the feeder, the strangeness of the previous night weighs on me. Something took my mind in the night. That feeling of losing control. Something was seductive in that moment, but it also set a deep fear in me. The unknown all around me, creeping into our lives. I pray to Wayland to watch over the forge. He is not known for mercy or kindness, nay none of the gods are, but he is all we Smiths have. I think to pray to Frigg for the wellness of my wife, but our other gods are cold. This thing of fire is not of their design. I set my body to work, and let my mind drift off in the sure movement of body. These worries I leave to another day.