A spark

We left the forge with our breath full of ash and our packs a little heavier.

Helios slung his new shield over his back, broad, reinforced, and etched with curling runes. Brakka had called it Stonewake, and it looked like it could block a landslide. Helios didn't say anything, but the way his hand rested on the strap, he might as well have.

I flexed my fingers in my gauntlets. They were tight at the wrist, heavy at the knuckles, cool against my skin. I still wasn't used to the way they moved with me — like they belonged. Like I'd finally earned something real.

Aelira walked ahead, humming. A blade tapped softly at her thigh with every step.

After a while, she glanced back at me, smirking. "So? What's the name?"

"Huh?"

"The gauntlets," she said, slowing down to fall in step. "All great weapons get names. Don't tell me you're planning to call them Lefty and Righty."

I looked down at the metal covering my hands, then shrugged. "I don't know yet."

Aelira put a hand to her chest, mock-offended. "No name? You've had them for, what, ten minutes? What a cruel parent."

"I just… I don't want to give them the wrong one."

She raised an eyebrow. "So dramatic."

"They're important," I said quietly.

That shut her up for a moment. She looked down at the gauntlets, then back at me, softer now. "Yeah. They are."

She bumped me gently with her shoulder. "Alright, I'll let it slide. But if you name them something like Punchy McFistface, I'm telling Brakka."

A laugh slipped out of me, sharp and unexpected. It felt good. "Deal."

Helios glanced back over his shoulder. "You two done flirting, or should I give you privacy?"

Aelira rolled her eyes. "Relax, big guy. We're bonding. It's called friendship. Maybe try it sometime."

Helios snorted. "I bond through battle."

"Oh, believe me," she said. "We noticed."

Just then, he raised a hand, pointing down the road. "We've got company."

Two figures were visible in the distance, approaching slowly. Probably travelers, maybe merchants — but we'd learned not to trust silhouettes.

We stopped.

Aelira drew a dagger without hesitation. "Eyes sharp. That one on the left is limping. Could be injured, or hiding something."

Helios shifted the shield from his back to his arm. "If they draw steel, drop them."

"Friendly as always," Aelira muttered.

I clenched my fists. Felt the metal shift with me. Heavy. Ready.

For the first time, I didn't feel like I had to hide behind anyone.

"I still don't have a name for them," I murmured. "But I think they like the road."

Aelira grinned sideways. "Cute. You're talking to your gloves now."

"They're gauntlets."

"Even cuter."

"I'm serious."

"I know you are," she said. "That's what makes it adorable."

Helios didn't turn around. "Less talking. More watching."

We moved forward together, boots scraping dirt, wind tugging at cloaks.

The two figures stopped, as if sensing our presence. A tense pause stretched between us like drawn wire.

Aelira whispered, "If this goes south, take the one on the right. He's taller — probably slower."

"Got it," I said.

"Don't get cocky, new hands," she added. "Steel or not, I'm still faster."

"Wanna bet?" I grinned.

"Children," Helios muttered under his breath.

Firewatch was behind us now, and ahead was a world that didn't care who we were — only what we could survive.

I didn't have a name for my weapon.

But I had something that felt like mine.

And I was ready to fight for it.

The first arrow didn't whistle — it hissed through the air like a serpent, aimed for Helios's throat.

Clang.

He caught it with Stonewake, the shield ringing out like a struck bell. Sparks burst, and splinters of the broken shaft scattered across the dirt road.

"Ambush!" he barked.

Before we could move, the two figures ahead shed their disguises like skin. Cloaks dropped. Steel gleamed. The tall one — broad-shouldered, face wrapped in a crimson scarf — pulled a two-handed axe from his back, the blade notched and dark with old blood. His partner moved differently — lighter, faster blades in both hands, clothes tight-fitting for speed. She crouched low, eyes gleaming.

Aelira vanished.

Not literally — but she moved like smoke, darting between us and them, daggers drawn, shadows curling behind her cloak. I didn't even hear her breathe.

Helios charged the woman. Shield raised. Steps thudding like a war drum.

Me?

I hesitated.

But only for a heartbeat.

The axeman came for me.

His first swing tore through the air with a low growl of steel. I ducked barely, felt wind burn across my scalp. He twisted fast for a backswing.

Too close.

I didn't dodge. I stepped in — into the swing, into the danger.

My gauntlet met the axe with a brutal clang, the force rattling up my arm. He grunted — surprised I hadn't gone down — and tried to pull the weapon free. I didn't let him.

I drove my knee into his thigh and brought my left gauntlet up.

Crack.

His jaw snapped sideways. Blood spattered. The axe slipped from his fingers.

I followed up, both fists hammering into his gut, over and over. The weight of the gauntlets turned every strike into a miniature collapse — metal folding into flesh and bone. He doubled over.

But he didn't fall.

Instead, he roared.

And headbutted me.

The world shuddered. My vision swam. I stumbled back, ears ringing, the taste of iron on my tongue.

Then a shape flashed past my shoulder.

Aelira.

She slid low beneath the axeman's arm and slashed his hamstring. He bellowed, dropped to one knee — and Helios, just behind him now, drove Stonewake into his back with enough force to drop him flat.

Dead silence.

Then a scream — not his.

The knife-woman had slashed Helios across the ribs. Not deep — the armor caught most of it — but enough to make him stagger.

I turned.

She spun toward me, twin daggers flickering like lightning. Her eyes narrowed.

"New boy," she said, almost bored. "You're next."

She lunged.

Fast.

I barely had time to throw up my arm.

Scrape-clang — her dagger skidded off the gauntlet, sparks jumping. She ducked under my swing and cut low — slicing across my thigh. Pain flared. Not deep, but sharp.

She tried to dart past.

I grabbed her wrist mid-step.

Her eyes widened. "Oh."

I twisted, yanked her toward me — and slammed my fist into her chest.

She flew backward, gasping, landing hard in the dirt with a grunt. Rolled. Came up slow.

Limping.

One of her daggers was gone.

I didn't wait.

I ran at her.

She threw a slash at my face — it connected.

I punched.

She dodged. But not enough. My gauntlet caught her arm mid-parry, and I felt something give. She screamed.

I spun, dropped low, and struck her leg out from under her. She crashed down, face-first.

This time, she didn't get up.

I stood over her, breathing hard, blood from my thigh soaking into my boot.

The metal on my hands… hummed. Like it had stored every impact, like it knew violence.

Helios was kneeling, clutching his side. The shield was planted in the ground beside him like a grave marker.

Aelira was behind me, one blade still raised, watching the tree line.

Silence again.

This time, real.

"Everyone still breathing?" I rasped.

Helios nodded. "Barely."

Aelira stepped beside me. She gave the downed woman a once-over and whistled low. "You decked her."

"I didn't think," I said. "I just… moved."

"Your hands thought for you," she said, eyeing the gauntlets. "Told you they were more than metal."

I looked down at them.

Blood-streaked. Ash-dusted. Alive.

"I think they know me better than I do."

Aelira smirked. "You gonna name them now, or do we wait 'til the next attempted murder?"

I smiled faintly. "Soon."

Helios grunted. "Sooner's better. People like this don't travel alone."

We scanned the horizon.

The road ahead stretched on, but for the first time I didn't feel like a burden.

It felt like a beginning.

A name stirred at the edge of my thoughts.

Not yet.

But soon.