Blood Elf Monarch

The place Tristan went to was the Elven Blacksmith.

It was located in a carved stone structure atop a massive hill. Amongst the sea of trees, a trail of gray smoke could be seen rising from the chimney. The structure was half-open, allowing Tristan to see from afar the half a dozen elves busy working in the place.

Tang! Tang!

The sounds of a hammer hitting the anvil echoed throughout the place, while the burning forge provided relief from the snowy weather.

"Master Laril!" Anmar shouted.

To Tristan's surprise, the person who came out to greet the two of them was a female elf. At first glance, she looked petite, with long yellow hair reaching down to her mid-back. But when they were closer, Tristan could see lithe muscles on her hands, something he had never seen from the other elves.

"Master Laril, this is Tristan, a very important guest of the queen."

"Yes, Anmar… I can hear you, what does the crazy queen want from us now?"

The female elf words quickly gave Tristan two thumbs up in his mind.

Tristan looked away, pretended not to notice, and smiled while performing the bow he learned recently as an act of respect.

"So, what do you want? I am busy!"

"Master Laril, I have a quest you could do to please the queen. We are hoping that you would be willing to teach this elf the art of blacksmithing to improve his Katra."

The elf woman looked at Tristan up and down, nodded, and said. "Hmm, I could really use a hand. We are quite short-handed these days. Do you have any experience in blacksmithing before?"

Tristan was about to say yes, but on the other hand, he doesn't believe his time making license plates as forced labor in prison counts as blacksmithing.

"Unfortunately, no, I haven't. But I am a fast learner"

Master Laril frowned, and she was about to reject the offer. But, Elder Anmar talked about Tristan's physical strength and convinced her to let him try for a day or two. With the help of the queen's name behind the request, she agreed.

Now, everything is in her hands.

"Elder Anmar, will blacksmithing really help me?" Tristan asked.

He finds this whole thing really weird. But, Anmar explained that there are two proven ways to improve Katra by methods other than magic. One is meditating, something which Master Ortiz is really good at, and the other is by crafting.

From what research was conducted on the improvement of Katra in each elf, continuous crafting was proven to relax the mind and produce an effect similar to meditation to cultivate Katra.

The brief explanation somehow made much more sense to Tristan than the philosophical tangents Master Ortiz is prone to lapsing into every time he asked for help.

"Tristan, I reckon, as you're not like any other normal elf. You will have a much easier time cultivating Katra by doing something other than sitting, am I right?"

Tristan himself has no idea whether Elder Anmar's theories are true, so he could only smile and nod in response while hoping the elder was right. If this ended up working, he will surely regret being distracted by the princess' pretty smile and not listening to this elder in the first place,

Elder Anmar looked at Tristan with a stern gaze and added.

"Please be respectful towards Master Laril, and take your duties seriously!"

Tristan was surely interested more about this blacksmith master after hearing from the elder that from all of the Vanyar elves, apparently only she and the queen managed to reach the fifth stage of Katra. 

His time here would surely be beneficial, indeed. In addition, this woman doesn't seem to love the queen much, so probably it would be a good idea to be close acquaintances with her.

"I will return later to check your progress, Tristan. Remember, give it your all."

"Thank you, Elder Anmar." Tristan gave the man a respectful bow.

He watched the old man leave, before turning around to approach his new master. No matter what happens, he will make this work.

Other than Master Laril, there seemed to be only five disciples here, and all of them were busy. One was working on a blade with a brilliant white gleam and a handle encrusted with jewels, while another was forging a chest plate made of an odd, gold colored metal with specks of black. None of them even took notice of him, each committed to their own work.

When Tristan was about to speak to Master Laril, one of the elves stood up and smiled at him.

"Hello, new apprentice. I am Atos, Master Laril's second disciple, and here, all the others are my junior."

Tristan introduced himself, and the elf responded with a nod before explaining about the place.

The place has half a dozen forges in which each of the disciples actually has their own workspace.  The master on the other hand has her private workspace. Other than the storage room where they placed the finished product there was not much else to explain about the place.

Apparently, the forge wasn't usually that busy, but the queen had just issued an order of 200 set of elven blades and armors to be delivered under a strict time limit. Hence, most of the disciples have to commit their time to fulfill that request.

"I see. Great! Just tell me what to do, and I will help. What could I help you all with? Armor? Sword? Don't tell me… a dagger?"

Right when Atos was about to answer, Master Larik approached him, handed him an item, and said.

"Nope, you a beginner will be making this."

Tristan stared at the u-shaped object given by the master with slight bewilderment. It was a horse shoe around the size of his hand.

… Really? 

Now, the blood monarch, the one who leads the elves to glory or the harbinger of their destruction, has to make horseshoes?