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Shadia had seen her mom working in the forge before.
When she had been very little, after Alogar's accident before Mom had left; she, her brother, and her mom had sat in the forge an entire day.
"I am making you both earrings!" Mom had exclaimed with what she recognized now was a sort of manic cheerfulness.
"You'll both probably be wearing these a very long time, so I want to make sure you like them."
Alogar had seemed uninterested in either the forging or the designing. Eventually he and Mom had settled on as simple a form as possible. Shadia had sketched out the design she had wanted. Something more similar to the lovely delicate rings and necklaces Mom was constantly adorned in.
They had helped Mom stoke the fires of the forge, and then watched with first rapt attention and then some boredom as the metal was heated, twisted, and shaped into the forms that they would wear for the rest of the lives. 'CLANG, CLANG, CLANG'.
Sparks flew as the hammer met the anvil.
Mom had fewer scars back then. Apart from forge burns, she had hardly any.
It probably would have taken less than half the time, if Mom hadn't been walking them through the steps as she did them. Asking for them to give the final okay on their own earrings before each one was declared done.
Her mom had made her more jewelry over the years. Some for the shows they put on at the Rookery, some just for her to have.
Sometimes she thought about taking the earring out when she missed Mom the most. She thought it might make her dad sad if she did. It had made her sad the one time she actually tried.
She thought sometimes that she could still remember the pain in her ear as her mom pierced it to insert the earring. More than that she remembered Mom's soft voice and hands as she soothed her and her brother both.
Thaisha had seen Shadia perform before.
Shadia had started to take after Hal early in life. An entertainer born through and through, always tumbling and flying around the house.
Cartwheeling up and down the steps, no matter how often they told her not to.
She hadn't seen the barking for KoTher'ai herself, but she had an idea of what it must have looked like.
'CLANG, CLANG, CLANG'.
Sparks flying off the blades, painted to shine brighter than they ever had before.
Two miracles borne of her family, the Pariah Blades and Shadia Fang.
A reforging, a new use for an old tool.
It was enough to make her cry, to make her mushy enough to almost strangle Occtis (another miracle) in a hug before heading to bed.