Boy and cloth

Ah Binge, after the initial nostalgia wore off, you were so annoying. Boy this, boy that uhh…

"Boy, doin' a fine job. I didn' think you wold get this far." He said loudly.

I was about to tear my hair out. Non stop sense I arrived, 'boy' has become one of my most despised words. It has been several months, but still 'boy'. I even told the guy my name! It got weird when I had a dream of dad, and he just kept repeating 'boy'.

Despite that Binge was a good teacher. Even though I could cheat a lot, seeing the vis in things made a lot of stuff easier, his instruction was invaluable. I could hammer out a piece of metal into any shape I wanted now.

The next thing we were going to get to was making a normal sword. First we did it the cast way. Molten iron poured into a sword shaped mold. That was then followed by grinding, beveling, giving it a good temper, then grinding the edge. After that we went to good old hammer time. It took way longer but was great experience, plus we only had the generic sword mold at hand.

It turned out that I was partial to single edged blades. In my last days, we made a parting gift. It was a falchion. We didn't finish the edge though.

"Well ya know how ta make a sword not how ta use one, boy. Don't want to cut yer arm off, do ya?"

"Probably not." I wanted to slap that smirk of his face so bad. At least I won't be 'boy' after I leave.

"Now, I could teach ya a bit about makin armor, but the smith vocation training can only last four months. Dems da rules, but ya did progress super fast. Most kids your age get bored with hammerin metal all day, and don't even master workin da metal."

I felt pride as I headed home, sword in hand. I got back to my little workstation to work on my newest project. The newest addition to my knickknacks, a rag. It might not sound impressive, but enchanting the cloth with vis made it stronger. Add to if the fact that I can see it have an slight affect of attracting vis around it, it could probably help me use my wand.

Now the article in front of me was just a dirty dish cloth. I can't be sure there wasn't a better fabric for this. So began my experiments on various cloths in my house.

As I had almost given up hope of a better material. I came across a spool of thread in my mom's vanity. Well I had to look elsewhere.

This thread looked subtly different through my lens. It seemed to temporarily trap vis. This was my breakthrough.

The enchantment on this thread was much stronger than on normal cloth. The problem was there was so little of it.

In the midst of wracking my brain for ideas, binge seemed to pop up. In the process of trying to get him as far away from my thoughts as possible, his lesson on mixed metals stood out.

Alloy! I didn't need much of this thread. Well, that is if I can do what I'm thinking with it.

Taking a needle, I began sowing a small amount of this mystery thread into some cloth. And with the small amount of that string as a focus point, I made the cloth around it become just as magical.

As soon as I realized what I had done I became really afraid. It n my quest of curiosity, I stole a bit of unique and probably valuable string. I took my mom's stuff!

"What have you got there Dave? It sure looks like my extremely expensive spider silk thread." Said an extremely mad looking lady. It just so happens this woman is my mother.

"I was just ,umm, testing some string I found. How can you always sneak up on me? I'm sorry…" the word vomit exited my mouth at breakneck speed.

Her face softened, as she looked upon my pitiful expression. "It's fine honey, it seems you only used a little. Why do you need string anyway?"

"Just looking for some thread I could use for a project. So where does this come from?" I gesture to the, spider silk? My mind conjuring the time I was chased by that giant spider.

Confirming my thoughts. "Well you know those giant spiders right?" Mom asked, getting a nod from me. "Well people stalk one to its nest. This thread is very dangerous to get. Those spiders live in colonies, when not out hunting. After they get its web, it is lightly boiled and turned into thread."

"I'm sorry again mom."

"Just don't use any more. That was one of the last things your father gifted to me." A small smile graced her lips.

…

After dinner while helping mom with the dishes, an exclamation was heard.

"Dave! When did our washcloth get so good?" It really was getting those dishes clean fast.

"I don't know mom."

…

So, getting more of that string will be hard. I sigh as I sit on my bed. I had better learn how to use my sword soon then.

The plan of collecting spider silk spinning through my mind, as I lay here.

"The things I do for magic." I grumble , as I fall asleep.

My first real battle was against a bunch of spiders. That would sound pathetic, if they weren't the size of wolves…