Juno Casker is the best swordsmith in Kavre's southwest quarter. She inherited the forge from her father eleven years ago and has built a reputation for precise, honest work. Her blades are known for their edge geometry, their balance, their distinctive fuller pattern set closer to the spine than convention dictates. She keeps meticulous records. She charges what her work is worth. She does not take commissions she cannot complete to her standard.
When a garrison sergeant brings in a sword for re-tempering - a single-hand arming sword that someone has twice re-edged badly, compromising the heat treatment - Juno recognizes the blade immediately. She made it eight years ago, for a lieutenant named Ahern.
The Debt of Iron is low fantasy noir about a craftsperson who discovers that her work has been carrying witness to violence she never knew about, about the difference between making something and controlling what happens to it, and about the specific kind of accountability that becomes possible when iron testifies.
