As life continues to churn, I sat down to look at the first Wattpad story for the month, another entry in Elara Finch’s journey. When I started working through the initial seed, I found myself balancing that idea with where the last two installments had taken things. That path shifted in ways I hadn’t planned. As I followed it, I found the mentor who taught her the basics of the craft.
The door didn’t open easily, and that alone sent her a signal. Elara had spent years learning the difference between things that resisted and those that required the right approach. Still, she forced it as she always had. As it had countless times before, the hinge gave. The wood rebounded off the wall, and the familiar scent of oil, metal, and quiet discipline settled around her. Some places and people don’t change. For the first time in a long time, she found herself needing both.
A summons from the guild was not something to ignore, especially one from Garrick. It carried weight beyond the ink or the seal. It demanded attention. More often than not, it meant that someone had decided a line had been crossed, whether or not it truly had. Elara knew better than to mistake the cause for the consequence.
She didn’t come for permission. She didn’t come to argue. She came to understand the shape of what loomed over her and how best to navigate it. In a world that rewarded control, restraint carried its own cost and its own power. Before she stood before the guild, before she answered for what she had built, she needed answers.
Excerpt of Controlled Counsel
With a hitch in her breathing, Elara forced the sticking door open. It rebounded off the inner wall as she stepped inside and shut it.
“You’re the only individual who always insisted on using force.” The husky voice slipped through the piles of trinkets in various stages of deconstruction and tools aligned in perfect rows. “You haven’t changed at all, Elara.”
“What does it matter? I’m still able to open it,” Elara said as she jerked her thumb at the entrance while walking to a smaller pile of parts.
“There’s a difference between working and forcing its operation.”
Her shoulders dropped as her eyes rolled toward the ceiling. She walked forward, fingers brushing a familiar tool. “Nothing has changed.”
“Why would I alter perfection?”
“Some might call it stagnation,” Elara said, opening her eyes as she strode down the workbench she had once occupied. When she reached the end, she lingered, studying the tools she had used at the beginning of her journey. She licked her lips and turned back. “Though there’s comfort knowing that despite changes, certain truths are more consistent than the sunrise.”
A limping figure emerged from within the workshop. He wiped his hands on a cloth before he laid it across his shoulder and rested against the shelves. A light chuckle washed over the room as he shook a solitary finger at her. “You’re not one to wander by just for an argument. What prompted your return to my shop?”
Elara’s back straightened as she withdrew a letter from the bag at her hip. She presented the document to him, the broken seal visible. “I was summoned.”
“That’s obvious,” he said, taking the note from her and examining the impression. “Who’s requesting an official meeting with you?”
Elara locked eyes with the older figure and offered a curt nod. “Garrick.”
He bounced the letter against his other hand as he clicked his tongue. Without opening it, he tossed it onto the workbench and rubbed his face. “And why did you come here first?”
“I will not ignore the guild’s summons.” Elara reclaimed the paper and slid it into her bag. She turned to her old mentor and clasped her hands behind her back. “I was hoping you could explain why the guild is doing this, aside from being petty.”
“What makes you certain that’s his reasoning?”
“Garron said he’d speak to Garrick.”
With a nod, the man limped over to the bench and hopped onto it as he claimed a damaged trinket. Within a handful of seconds, the casing was disassembled, and he glanced at Elara with kind, yet stern eyes. “How severe was the embarrassment you imposed on the trio?”
Her face flushed as her fingernails dug into her palms. “Nothing more than they deserved!”
“Then this is their attempt at retribution.” He laid a part of the device down and dropped several bits onto it as he released a breath.
To continue reading the story, click here to head over to Wattpad.