At that time she was around 25 years old. When Livia was busy hammering iron, Emily was taking care of her mistress's little baby.
"Are you sure he can forge something? He is so helpless, I have never seen a child that size" Hephaestus said.
The sound of hammering suddenly ceased.
Livie stopped to dry the sweat from her forehead with one of her hands, as she sighed in the heat. Grabbing a bottle of water, she doused her face with water to cool it down. Soon after, she dried herself with a towel.
"He sure will, yesterday I was designing a prototype and you won't believe what he did" Livie said.
"If I won't be able to believe it, how can I guess what he did master?" Hephaestus said, laughing.
"You're right! Hehehe" Livie replied, approaching the two of them.
She then held out her hand, and began to pet the small child that Emily was holding in her lap.
"He brought me my hammer. Pushing it across the floor to me, I know he is going to be a great blacksmith" Livie said, with her calm motherly gaze.
*Cof cof*
Livie started coughing, gently at first. Until she lost control and started coughing harder and harder, until some blood came out of her mouth.
Hephaestus' face soon became a desperate face. She tried to get up from her chair, but was stopped by Livie.
"Don't worry little Hepha, everything is fine" Livie said, as she wiped the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand.
"You are so strong master. Even with this condition, you still managed to give birth to a child and go back to work" Hephaestus said, his eyes drenched in tears, as he looked at the little blue haired child, who was sleeping on his lap.
"I know I am strong, understand that my little Ezra will also become as strong as I am. Have you ever seen a child who can sleep listening to the hammering of a blacksmith?" Livie said, smiling.
"You are right, he is as strange as you are, master" Emily replied. Who carefully handed the child to Livie.
"Why do I always have to take care of this baby? You could leave him with some maid. It is dangerous to keep a child in a forge" Emily continued.
Livie was kissing Ezra's head, who was still sleeping peacefully.
"Forging is an art of strength, you know that. But in many moments, it takes finesse to create a good weapon. Imagine watching Ezra for me is just another one of your training" Livie said, as she petted the back of the little blue haired baby.
"Still, it is dangerous to keep a child inside a forge" Hepha replied, crossing both arms as she looked into Master Livie's eyes.
"But look at my Ezra, he loves this place. He is always so calm and happy when I take him to the forge" Livie replied.
The two started laughing together, until Ezra opened his eyes.
"Good morning my dear," Livie said, giving Ezra a kiss on the head.
The blue haired boy scratched his eye a little, and then went back to resting his head on Livie's breasts.
"Maybe I can't teach him the art of forging. I'm sorry for that, but I can only trust you to handle this task" Livie said, her voice now serious. Her eyes were determined, as she looked at Hephaestus.
Hepha's eyes filled with tears, watching those two and wondering how that little child could be left alone in the world.
"I will take care of this blue brat, don't worry about it. No matter what happens, I will protect him for you" Emily said.
"And remember to teach him right! My son needs to be as skilled with the hammer as I am!" Livie said, giving a smile.
"All right, all right. I'll teach him right" Hephaestus replied.
"Hepha, can you get a blue hammer I left inside my desk drawer?" Livie said.
Young Emily got up and walked over to Master Livie's desk, in the drawer was a hammer of surprising quality.
It was made of a kind of silver with bluish tones. It had gold details and a dark blue handle. Its weight was great, and all the workmanship appeared to be carefully planned.
Hephaestus had never seen a simple hammer of such high quality, this item could only have been built by one person. Within the entire academy, only a blacksmith would be able to produce such a trivial item of such high quality.
However, Hephaestus knew Livie's work. She knew how incredible the swords and shields forged by that woman were.
But something about that hammer was different, it was completely unlike anything Hephaestus had seen Livie produce.
Its detail, its quality. Even the way the iron was arranged to form this item. To Hephaestus' trained eyes, it was even possible to see how the materials from which the hammer was made were the finest and purest possible.
Turning to Livie, Hephaestus' eyes were completely covered in tears. As she admired that work of art, tears streamed down her face.
"Master..." Emily said.
"I made that hammer to help Ezra forge. Give it to him only when he gets his first official order. All right?" Livie said.
Hephaestus' chest heaved, she hugged that hammer as she bowed in front of her master. Her tears were falling on the floor of the forge.
"Yes, I will deliver it to him Master" Emily said.
"The name of that item is Eternal Reminder, leave it as a secret from Ezra" Livie said as she gave Ezra another kiss on the head.
Running her hand through the blue hair of that little child, Livie gave a smile as she looked at her apprentice.
"I'm sorry for leaving you with this burden. But I can only trust Ezra to you" Livie said.
These old memories were running through the head of Melki's current forge master, Hephaestus.
Watching Luke and Ezra at work made her recall several stories from the not so distant past.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m