Tosra & The Auction, day 33
After I've waved the ship with Iselin, Kari and Jane off, it's quite nice to let go of marriage thoughts for the next few days. Well, I have to talk to Pedr, but I need to do that anyway to see how the different constructions go. Of course I'm accompanied by Caecilia and Alith. We need more guards.
The house by the barn is completely finished with windows and furniture, but unused, although I understand that many would like to move in there. It is our extra guest house which is just practical to have, even though it lacks water system just like the first three houses, there is a well outside and an outhouse toilet behind the barn. It may be that Iselin's parents live there temporarily.
They have come a long way on the mansion's second barn as well, but it isn't finished. It helps a lot that the workers literally have a simpler carpentry shop and smithy right where they build. It also helps to equip both as they come up with suggestions what is needed, and no one react any more that I have specific directives for certain things, and both are already prepared for a simpler line shaft system. The rumours about the mansion's fantastic things and amenities have cemented that it's a good idea, even if they do not know what everything is to be used for.
Both ships crew houses down in the harbor are finished, although one lacks windows, but I assume the ship will return with more windows. It was such a good idea to standardize stuff like a few window sizes. Asta is so excited to move in but decided to do it when the rest of the crew can also move in, and hasn't told them yet. We will make a little ceremony of it. There is furniture and simpler kitchen utensils, so everything is pretty much ready. There is a separate well outside with a water pump, and there are two separating dry toilets behind the houses, one which is already used by the crew. It feels good that they will have it nice, warm and comfortable during winter. Pedr is so pleased with the house he has been living in, and how nice a proper fireplace with a chimney is. He especially likes how the fireplace keeps the heat.
I talk to Pedr while we go and look at the places where they will build two small bathhouses with a sauna inside for 8-10 people. The private bathhouse to the east of the mansion will be slightly larger and more luxurious with slightly larger windows, and will also have a large veranda with a for a wood-fired hot tub and a cold bath, as well as a jetty with a platform at the end and a ladder into the water. It will be a combined small private boat and bathing jetty, and on the platform at the end there will be a couple of benches and a table, to just get a nice place to talk while looking out over the water. The water is shallow and the bottom is quite bad, so the jetty will be 10 to 15 meters long, and the jetty will have a small flagpole at the end, where we can hang a banner to show that it is a private jetty and maybe a lantern to make it cozier. I have planned to attach a small winch there too, for various experiments. We will not use either the bathhouse, sauna, hot tub or the jetty very often, so multiple uses are good. The will also be a small ramp with a Faering winched up to keep it out of water when not in use. The bathhouse will have a simple cold watersystem for washing, showering and to fill up the hot tub, so a well and a waterpump, and there will be a simple outhouse too. You could probably live quite well in the mansion's bathhouse.
As we talk, I ask him to build an updated small 6x4 house on the other island and we discuss the place and point in the general direction. There is some land that can be cultivated on the southern tip of the other island, and in addition to the house I also want a small barn with room for some cows, chickens, sheep and a couple of pigs, and of course it should have a well. It will be an updated 6x4 house with air ducts in the fireplace and a water system. It's a job I want to see finished in 5 to 6 weeks, and Pedr nods and confirms that it will be done. I think he's starting to guess why I want bathhouses with saunas, and it wouldn't surprise me if rumours will spreading across the islands.
The wooden panels for the pavilion shouldn't be much problem, it's just a few planks and wooden frames, and Pedr immediately understands how I mean to hang them and he like the idea. The existing canvas drapes will even work as extra insulation and make it look prettier. It's many tall panels, but they will be stored in the basement when not in use. Pedr seems completely convinced I had this planned from the beginning as there are two fireplaces, and the design of the unusual framework and other things makes it easy. The truth is that I really didn't know how they usually did it. I let him know that Iselin and Kari will order more windows, and there will be some stained glass windows especially made for the bathhouses and the pavilion.
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Our talk about fireplaces and the special sauna stoves makes me wander in to the subject of making smaller and more portable fireplaces, and I mention reinforced concrete with an inlaid iron net to make it more durable and to make the fireplace radiate heat for a longer time. I want to try and replace one of the kitchen benches with a modern kitchen bench with a double sink, and reinforced concrete just feels like an easy and good choice. I really should have considered that reinforcement concrete and molds for it doesn't exist here, especially not in the way I describe and with inlaid iron. I think it was a larger flowerpot created by a Frenchman that was the first reinforced thing, or was it also a British invention? Anyway, it's another brand new technique for Pedr to be fascinated by, and I explain the basics of what I know about load bearing, compression, strength and lateral load when it comes to concrete, and how it is possible to strengthen a cement structure with iron. If I'm going to introduce 'modern' construction technology, he might as well make a more modern design and use rounded shapes, with drainage and elements as a drainage surface. The cement will be mixed with sand for the surface and with finer gravel in the middle to preferably get an even and nice work surface. That the molds might be re-used to make several identical is just practical. The Academy will need two.
I need someone I can send to Laxlanda to be the supervisor for the construction of the inn etc, and Pedr is a little proud to be able to recommend one of his men for the work. So I hire Bresir, 22 years old, as a master builder, and he is proud to accept the responsibility for that project. He will have to bring some of the special tools and measuring equipment, and accompany Storman Maurr after the auction. Storman Maurr have some talented carpenters and men that Bresir will train while they build.
Unn's craft house is finished but it too lacks windows and interior doors, but the window shutters keep rain away, and some spare furniture have also been assembled. Unn's house has got a working hot and cold water system with its own well at the back, which other craft houses will also get. The workshops with waterpower have a stream outside so they will just get a tap from it. It's not meant to be drinking water, but more to wash in etc.
The road over the island is now paved almost all the way to the village, and they have about 100m left. Then there will be a wide bridge over the stream and a road will continue along the southwest side of the lake to the hill where the Academy will be built. In the future, a side road will lead off infront of the Academy's courtyard, pass in front of the cliff and follow a depression down to the valley, and follow the valley north and reconnect to the main road so it becomes a road loop. The village will be inside this road loop and along the main road north of the lake, while the Academy will be south of the loop and lake.
There will be two or three craft houses on the way down to the valley and as many between the lake and the valley, but there will probably be more later houses in the future. There will probably be a few more simple 6x4 houses too, both where the others are located along the main road to the north, because all crafts etc doesn't require a craft house. For example, a seamstress or two would probably live and work well in just a 6x4 house. I basically want craftsmen of the type I have needed so far, and since I probably won't fill all their working hours, the plan is to let them work for themselves and sell goods. Each will have a small house with a garden and a reasonable amount of animals in the shared barns, as well as a fixed small salary from me. I hope that is enough to attract good craftsmen and craftswomen. It's quite likely they will be apprentices that's just left their old master. It's probably better than an old master set in his way. We're going to be making a lot of weird stuff.
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Everything is good in Ciara's world as she lies next to me to sleep in my bed, especially as I hold her against me and she can feel how I calmly breathe. I try to think about work I've done and need to do, but mostly I lie and think about how Ciara showed up with a somewhat insecure and embarrassed Alith when I was working in my office late in the afternoon, and aware that Caecilia wasn't there, said that I needed a break, and that Alith needed to have sex again. Then she gave me Alith's sword grip dildo and disappeared to distract Caecilia.
Alith has apparently developed a taste for occasionally having something big in her butt, which she talked to Ciara about. Ciara ask to see the carved sword grip dildo, and Alith wasn't prepared when Ciara just dragged her along to visit me. But Alith enjoyed her dildo while I took her, and I enjoyed the view, the feeling, her breasts and lips. My sinful Valkyrian friend and bodyguard who rides me to Valhalla.