Fang Xin's view

Aoi entered my workspace, disturbing me from my reverie. 

"Master, you wanted to ask me something?"

"Yes, Aoi," I responded, shaking myself out of my pleasant remembrances, "Aoi is not a name from around here. It is rather a Japanese name. Are you Japanese?"

"It is possible, master," Aoi nodded in agreement, "I was captured and sold as a slave very young. All I have is my name Tokugawa Aoi. My first master decided that my last name would never be mentioned and if I wanted to keep my last name, I had best remember it myself."

"I see," I nodded, falling into thought. Tokugawa was the name of the Japanese clan that had invaded Chosun before we invaded them ourselves. It was possible that her family had been captured and sold off as slaves to the new invaders.

"Is that all, master?" Aoi wanted to know.

"Do you have any memories before you came to serve us?" I wondered.

"Not really, master," Aoi said, "My earliest memories were of being beaten by the slaver for not hurrying, nothing earlier, I am afraid."

"I see," I nodded, "that will be all for now. But please tell me if you have any earlier memories come to you. It does not matter when I don't sleep much these days."

"Yes, master," Aoi said as she bowed out of the room, taking with her the empty dishes she had brought in earlier.

"Wait!" I said to her just as she was leaving.

"Master?" she turned with a questioning look.

"I do not know why, but I feel like you need to learn, along with Fergus and I, blacksmithing."

"As you wish, master," Aoi nodded.

"Good. Well then, we will leave first thing in the morning to start our apprenticeship," I said, feeling flustered for some reason.

"Yes, master," Aoi said, "Sorry, master, but is it not a bit much for three people to show up expecting an apprenticeship?"

"One more won't affect him much," I told her, "I have already spoken to him about us becoming one. We will be together for the first year, but then we will be apprenticed to his family in other towns as the work here is not enough for us three. To be honest, you will probably just be observing; I doubt they will let you do any of the forge work."

She nodded as if she had been expecting that there were no women blacksmiths around, although more often than not, the women in the blacksmithing family knew how to blacksmith and could be counted on to help in busy times.

The following day Fergus, Aoi, and I showed up at the Blacksmiths to begin our apprenticeship.

"Welcome, my lords and lady," The blacksmith welcomed us, "I trust you know that we need to establish a legal contract for me to teach you all?"

"I expected as such," I nodded, "But it will need to be especially written as I am your lord in this area, and Fergus is my son. Aoi is here at my request."

"I agree, the standard contract will not do as you are perfectly capable of buying the tools needed to complete the apprenticeship from the start. You do not need to work them off. Also, one cannot bind their lord to them when he is paying for the education, not the other way around."

"Well, shall we work out the terms?" I suggested.

"We shall," the master blacksmith said, "I do not want to put anything too taxing in, considering my family owes you their lives thanks to Xinye looking after us several times over the years. I am sure we would be dead by now not arguing over an apprenticeship document."

I nodded, bringing out the paper and paintbrushes needed to write up the document.

"Now, let's see," the blacksmith stroked his beard in thought, "How about...

The apprentices shall provide their own tools of the trade and means of support in exchange for the knowledge taught to them. The apprentice is to follow the rules of the workshop, starting at the bottom of the rank doing clean-up duty, which means sweeping, cleaning forges, putting away tools, cleaning rust off tools, and hauling stock, fuel, and water. Coal or charcoal may have needed to be broken up, and the ashes gleaned for good fuel or coke.

The apprentices will progress to the next stage at the discretion of the Blacksmith master. These duties will include pulling the bellows and turning the great wheels that ran machines. 

It will be at least a year before you can work on metal, such as simple filing tasks, deburring, and clean up. When your filing skills have improved, you will be given jobs fitting hinge joints and such. 

Eventually, you will be given simple repetitive forging tasks like making nails or small chains. As you develop, you will be taught how to swing a sledgehammer as a striker.

After several years of working on menial tasks and watching the other smiths in the shop, an apprentice will start to be taught various forging tasks.  Once you are at this stage, you will cease to be an apprentice, and you will become a Journeyman. I will give you a piece of paper to indicate your status, and you will be sent off to learn other skills from different workshops.

After a period, you, as a Journeyman, can apply for Master's papers by proving yourself to a board of Masters and submitting a "masterpiece."  Once you have received the Master papers, you can take on apprentices, teach the trade, and sell your work freely. The estimated time to become a Master is seven years.

I have written it down so that you know what to expect as we go along. You cannot hurry the process. Now, did you want to sign it?"

"Can we add one thing?" I asked

"What is it?"

"If we create a remarkable piece worth selling that we receive the royalties for it?" I was pushing the boundaries, but I felt we should get some monetary reward for our work.

"Fair enough," the blacksmith agreed, "After all, I get a lot of free labour."

"Glad you are recognising our efforts," I said dryly.

"However, the woman won't be working anything while we are quiet; she can watch, though," the blacksmith was adamant about it.

I nodded and planned to build a tiny forge that could be carted anywhere so that she could practice at home. It took a year before my plan could be enacted... a long hard, frustratingly tedious year of ceaseless repetitive tasks. I took to wielding a pretend sword in the quiet times and ended up even more sculpted than before.

🍀A/N If you enjoyed this chapter, please take the time to vote by pressing the star. If you see any errors, please let me know, as this is unedited.🍀