"I don't like it," he rumbled.
Jelaris da'Amdresa, who Kamiéra assumed was one of his distant cousins, was the sort of fellow who not only rumbled whenever he spoke, but looked like the mountain after which he was named; anything other than a rumble would be strange.
He was also Master of the Forge for the Academy, a Blademage whose Gift naturally involved metals and the things of the Earth, and whose ability to join those things with Fire had given him the authority needed to live and work in a dayspan of where his wife taught Military Thought. That was quite wonderful for him and Hequia, and not so great for the young women who needed his help to bend some rules.
Llaha beat Kamiéra to trying doe-eyes and sweet reason. "But we could make better armor and tools, and even arrow-heads and siege arms, for both the Academy and the University," she semi-objected, and Kamiéra found himself oddly jealous of how lovely her eyes were and how sweet she could make her voice. "Consider the cost of not just trying Kamiéra's idea."
Jelaris gave her a look only a father could manage. "My eldest girl is two Autumns older than you, child," he retorted with a snort. "And you are no alaro, no matter what your body is telling you." Llaha turned as bright a red as her dusky skin could manage. His face, however, remained impassive. "You know well and truly that how we do a thing matters almost as much as the thing we would do. 'It is forbidden to bring evil even for the greatest of goods,'" he added, quoting one of the Shared Proverbs of scripture.
Kamiéra already knew scripture almost by heart and also knew the truth of that statement, but didn't see the problem. "I fail to see the problem," he said, echoing his thoughts and also drawing the older man's attention. He immediately regretted the decision.
"Women have no place in forging," the elder said, with as much heat and leeway as a snowy mountain pass, and although he hadn't known that before, Kamiéra completely understood how true it was. He nodded, because obviously that wouldn't be acceptable.
"Yes, Master Jalaris," he responded with the sincerity of a true believer. "Women neither have the strength to work the metal, nor the Gift for Fire." Jalaris nodded. "But we would not use our Gift for Fire or for forging. We would use it to help your Gift and your forging, much as my namesake used her Gift to help Ralaf raise the First Temple."
The bigger, older man looked down at him for what seemed a Season. Finally, with a noise like an exasperated boulder rolling downhill, he groaned, grabbed his forge gloves, and waved generally at the forge. "I'm not going to try to match wits with you, but I know your mother and I know this will not end until I show you it won't work. Come along. Show me how Wind can aid in metalcrafting.
"And if it doesn't," he added with the first smile any of them had seen from him in their entire time at the Academy, "I shall let my wife use the Apprentice Paddle on your ample rears." He ignored the stifled cries of protest at the description and ambled into the Heart of the forge.
Kamiéra motioned his sisters forward, sure that this would work, if a bit afraid of the large plank of wood making contact with his rear.
Which was not ample, Chasm take it.
