The great metal rock that had fallen from the sky was sacred. It would not be tampered with. Perhaps it would be moved for a very short amount of time so that a proper shrine for it could be constructed, but overall it was not to have any part of it destroyed, moved, changed, or generally messed with.

The various other smaller, similar looking, metal rocks that had fallen in the field, though, were a different story.

It quickly became apparent that they were not cassiterite or any other form of tin, because the small bronze forges of the tribe could not melt it. This was something else, but oh was it pretty! One of the smaller fragments was found and a team of two men worked for a full day to chisel it apart into two halves, and the swirls and layers inside were beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that Rapa Tulap Saqar decided that they be heated to a point where they could be forged into something to represent the Sun’s blessing and the Rynatoonii people’s reverence for the Sun. Some people rejected this as tampering with the holy stones, but the Rapa assured them that so long as the largest chunk in their hamlet’s center was untouched, all would be well.

So a smith named Yulu, one who had been smithing for his entire life and had been taught by his father who was taught by his father and his father, etcetera, was given the task. A holy task, a sacred task, an important task.

Some distance outside the newly constructed homes he spent twenty-two days constructing his furnace. First he spent almost an entire day cutting grass, digging a hole, and pouring in water to make the mud. The next day he spent more time making more mud and laying out the mud in a wide circle. After the first layer was complete he waited for it to dry (which took most of the rest of the day) and added another. For the next twenty days this is what he did. Making mud, stacking the mud, letting it dry, and stacking it again. Layer upon layer of dried mud stacked atop each other, forming a draft furnace that was much, much, much taller than any used for most purposes. In fact it was more than twice the height of Yulu, who was of average height, while most draft furnaces were just barely taller than a man, and the tuyeres at the base were wide on the outside but narrowed greatly as they entered the furnace itself so that the wind could be pulled in.

Yulu was offered help in the construction many times but refused. This would be his way of honoring the gods, as the Son of the Sun had chosen him (especially because he was a smith, and now that his people cast all their copper and bronze in molds rather than hammering them he was basically out of a job). The rest of the Rynatoonii agreed that this was fine, they had more important work to do setting up defenses and constructing the rest of the village, after all.

Once construction of the draft furnace was complete, Yulu spend even more days making enough charcoal for several days of work, and then making more to be crushed for fluxing. By the time all this was done the tribe’s palisade had finished construction. The small fragment of the sacred stone that exploded in the sky was finally brought to the furnace, and the furnace was fired up. A great flat and shaped stone was brought over to be an anvil, and the draft furnace forge heated. He placed a clay blower into the furnace’s entrance and pumped the bellows, adding to the air brought in by the natural draft of the tuyeres, and keeping the airflow fast and powerful as the furnace heated. Once at a good temperature the blower was taken away momentarily, the rock placed in the furnace, and the blower brought back to continue pumping air. For several minutes Yulu pumped, then took the blower away to check on the metal, it hadn’t melted (thankfully) but was glowing a very bright, almost sun-colored, yellow-white. This was completely different from the color of molten bronze or copper. Although it did make sense that it would glow like the sun, it being a sign from the Sun, after all.

Unlike the copper and tin ores he had been roasting and smelting before his people learned of casting metals, this metal, while not melted, did not attract nearly as much slag. The rock must be almost completely metal for this to happen, which threw off Yulu, but also excited him. He was expecting to have to hammer out impurities… but instead he would be hammering to shape the piece straight away.

So he did.

Carefully taking the piece out and placing it on the anvil, he hammered away. Chipping off what little slag there was, forming the piece into something more recognizable than a rock shape, and by the time it had cooled there was a noticeable difference.

Unfortunately, the metal cracked quite easily.

So he heated it again.

Worked it again.

It continued to crack.

So he heated it again.

Worked it again.

It continued to crack.

So he heated it again.

Worked it again.

It continued to crack.

Although by now it was cracking somewhat less. He formed a bar out of the metal. He folded it over. He formed a bar out of the metal again. He folded it over again. He did this for days. Days and days and days and days and days and days passed and Yulu spent those days ensuring every crack, every dent, every possible imperfection, was gone from the piece. Weeks passed, as more and more charcoal was needed. The forge was hot, though, and eventually the metal was pressed and folded so tightly that no cracks were appearing.

Perfect.

Now to make something out of it.

A hole was punched through, a spike was pulled out of the glowing metal at a horribly slow pace. Yulu was old, he had nowhere to be, and he was going to ensure that his creation was of such glory that the Sun blessed him and his people when he died. Another spike pulled. Then another. Then another. Then another. Then another. He had a star mace. Yet it didn’t feel good enough, so he continued working. The first spike was changed, the metal turned into an axe head instead. Atop the hole the metal formed a point, a spearpoint, that could be placed atop a dowel.

When Yulu had finished, months after he began, he had completed his gift for Tulap Saqar, Son of the Sun, and had honored the Sun in the best way he knew how.

He cleaned up the piece, dressed it so that it would not corrode (he had no idea if it would turn green as copper did, but nonetheless he felt it a natural part of the forging process).

After it was dressed he quickly built a small lathe powered by his foot to create a dowel of the size needed for this mace. He inserted the dowel and felt how it fit, and continued shaving off wood until it was perfect. He extracted glue from the bark of the wood and dripped it in the mace’s head, to keep the head on securely.

Yulu had created a long mace-axe-spear out of the metal the Sun had gifted his people, and done so with such craftsmanship that he sobbed as he presented it to the Rapa. Not out of sadness of course, but simply the beauty and thought of honoring the Sun in such a manner.

Rapa Tulap Saqar quite liked the thing, and decided it was worth keeping.