Two more ships entered the secret harbor, and 1000-plus stonekin joined them on the estate. Among the stonekin were 35 blacksmiths, 4 of whom were forge masters. Jack took them on a tour of the Sovereign and showed the forge masters the scorpions on deck. He had draft drawings Thomas had made, and he passed them out and said, "Every ship needs 4 of these mounted on deck. Please begin construction of them." The stonekin nodded, and Jack gave a short demonstration of the scorpion's power. The stonekin were amazed and began to study the drawings. Jack was going to show them other stuff, but the group of stonekin walked off talking among themselves about improvements to the designs and what it would take to forge them. He nodded happily after them; they got it.
The 4 forge master stonekin went in search of Gendry and found him hard at work pounding some star metal into a strange form. As they watched, he took a small piece he had melted and tempered and put it in a vice. He then took his fire sword and sliced at it. The sword cut it in half easily. The forge masters had brought an interpreter along with them and asked what he was doing. The translator introduced themselves and asked their question. He handed them some drawings Thomas had made, saying, "It has to be able to withstand any blow and yet be delicate enough to use and cast magic with. Shield, weapon, and tool all in one." The stonekin gasped when they saw the drawings, but one said, "The material you are using will never stand up to blows. I know of one that might." Some angry words were said between stonekin, but at last the one said to them, "We are throwing our lots in with these people, and we intend to be their friends and have them help us in a new homeland. How can we start by keeping secrets from them now?" One by one, they stepped forward and dumped out small amounts of a grey-looking metal on his work table. Their leader said, "We discovered this mining in the local mountain. Several miners broke tools on it... We have been calling it Khaz-rug in our language because of its strength. None of our forges can melt it; we merely heat it, and sometimes it burns first." Gendry pointed to a larger piece and then to himself. The stonekin nodded. He placed the piece in the hottest part of his forge. He could see it almost burning, so he pulled it out with tongs and placed it on his anvil. He pulled out his hammer, and it glowed and sparkled white and red. The stonekin were stunned by the hammer's actions. He leveled a heavy blow on the hot metal, and it seemed untouched. He was shocked. How could such a light metal be untouched by his hammer blow?
The stonekin wanted to study his hammer, so he gave it to them. They asked questions, and he handed their translator a copy of the master work that came with it. The translator read it to them in stonekin while they studied the hammer. Gendry handed one of them the ring that came with the hammer, and they all tried it. Thomas and the younger Mangana had watched all this transpire, and Gendry said, "I have to go to town, watch them and my hammer!"
A couple of hours later, Gendry was talking to Yéye. The old man was working at something on his forge, listening to Gendry. Gendry told him he had something to show him and pulled a small piece of the strange metal from his pocket. The old man took it and seemed amazed at how light it was. He pointed to his forge, and Gendry nodded. Yéye put the metal in the fire and watched how it behaved. When it began burning, he removed it. He pointed to his head, saying, "Sometimes you have to think about another way to approach a problem." He found a small crucible and placed a small amount of star metal in it. He heated the star metal to a melting point and added the small piece of strange metal. It bobbed on the surface of the molten star metal a little, and smoked, and then melted into it. The molten metal turned white, then black as obsidian. Yéye pulled it from the fire, and it cooled almost instantly. "Very strange, this metal," he said. "What are you making?" he added. Gendry pulled the drawings from his pack, and Yéye studied them. Gendry said, "I have to make this perfect for her. Please let me hire your help again. We don't have much time, and it must be a tool, a weapon, and a shield for her." Yéye nodded in understanding. He went and talked to the other forge masters, gathered his stuff, and followed Gendry out the door to the waiting wagon, with the strange little piece of alloy in his hand. While they were riding, he looked at Gendry with an unusual expression, saying, "Being around you has been quite remarkable. I might forego payment and take a ticket on your journey home instead. I'd like to see the homeland that turned out an amazing person like you."