"TIMBER!" Fiora shouted out as the last of the trees fell after no more than five swings. The men nearby didn't have to move an inch, they all already knew exactly the place where it would drop, but by now it was common courtesy should anyone not be paying attention. She wiped the sweat off her brow and granted a look at her 'instructor' for the day.
"Real quick. But that axe won't last a week on your hands if you keep swinging it that hard. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Let the axe do the work, not your arms." He folded his arms against his chest, giving a closer inspection to the tool, then to the downed tree. "Still, that's pretty impressive for a first timer."
She nodded, at least to be courteous enough to let him know she heard, despite her focus quickly darting over to the final log. A few last strikes helped to split it in half, to a much more bearable size for her to rest over one shoulder.
"I'll never get used to that." He smirked. Of course, a Traveler had their benefits, and having the pleasure to work with one had shown just how productive they can be when they aren't shooting spells in every direction or swinging weapons away-- An opinion that slowly begun to lose to it's opposite.
Fiora glanced behind her with a quirked up brow once Elias decided to hold the end of the log on his own shoulder. "I can handle it." At worst it would wear her off a little to keep pushing her body like this, but every bit of exercise ingame she would take it.
"I know. I'm just doing you a favour. You and your friend shouldn't draw too much attention or you might scare some folk, more than they already are." He tried to sound casual about it, but it's hard even for him not to feel unsettled with everything that happened the last few weeks.
"Yeah. You are right. Likewise, let either of us know if a Traveler causes trouble, alright?" She could keep the bitterness well hidden and under control, despite the turmoil inside her and the news of what truly happened when they left.
'It shouldn't have ended like this...' They kept repeating in her mind. Time went through like a flash before they both made it back to town, with Elias leaving behind his peers- They didn't need his supervision, and he wasn't cut for that work anymore.
"Here, let's put it near the pile over the sawmill. You can come pick them up later."
With one last heave the log dropped with the rest, bound with straps all neatly together like a pyramid.
"Alright that's that. If she got here before you then I'm sure Parlí already gave Ronja her full backstory about how she became a smithy and fought flying reptiles and pulled a reaper's spine out with one hand." He chuckled.
Her lips almost curved into a smile. Almost, which had her tour guide ready to point it out, if only she hadn't beaten him first by waving him off down the streets. "Hopefully she didn't forget our list of chores on the way here either. But don't count on it, they look like the type to bounce ideas one with the other."
"Don't let her hear you or she might think you want in too." A shiver ran down his spine at the thought of wasting hours away like that, crossing past the local tavern and the plaza, bolstering with all sorts of folks, from merchants to mere travelers to followers of the ol' but proud chapel, all the way across to search for their smithy. If Ronja was still there, that is.
@Ronja Bubblyfoot
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