She froze as the glass plate she just engraved crunched under her boot.
One week of hand cramping work, one month of painstaking design, destroyed in one moment. She pressed her lips together, holding tightly to a blank mask, but no amount of tensing could stop the tears welling in her eyes.
Her friend quickly swept every glittering shard into small box, then set her down in front of a fresh plate.
“It’s alright, you can try again,” he said with a smile.
She didn’t share the same optimism. The shattered piece the best she’d done since she started the craft, with the best parts birthed out of happy coincidence rather than skill. But a plate was what she promised as a birthday present, so a plate she would make.
She shook out her tensed hands and tried again.
~End~
Genre: slice of life