They fall into a companionable silence, at least verbally. As the rods heat up, Connor lays out tongs and pliers and other tools, readying his work area. When he extracts them, the forge rings rhythmically with two sets of hammer blows. It's almost impossible not to subconsciously pace the strike of the hammer to the sound of the other man's work. There's pauses, of course. Much of what Connor's doing is careful bending and twisting. What starts out as a bunch of metal rods is gradually being twisted and woven into some kind of flat Celtic knotwork pattern that gathers into a bundle of rods at one end, all flattening and melting together. It's going to take him a few days, but with a good squint and a little imagination, it looks like the beginnings of some kind of tree-of-life wall hanging. Connor clearly knows what he's doing, and he's good at it.