"This is even better than expected…"
"Really?" Jocelynn asked, her hands going still on the stone. "I'm glad," she said, sighing in relief. The more she'd worked at the blade, the clearer it became that it was something special. Hearing that it had turned out better than a master like Erkembalt expected took a giant weight off her shoulders.
"Keep polishing," Erkembalt said gruffly, straightening up and tugging at the hem of his vest. "I want to see what it does when it's finished."
He didn't go back to his own bench right away. Instead, he lingered at her shoulder for several long heartbeats, watching the glow of the steel with his whiskers twitching, before he finally turned away to fetch a short length of pale timber from one of his stacks.
While Jocelynn worked, he split the timber, shaved it down with a drawknife, and shaped it with a series of rasps and files until it had just the right shape. When he was satisfied, he set it down beside her.
