We’d planned on visiting the ship again on our third day here, now that we’d gotten immediate survival necessities handled. But when I woke up, the sound of water falling on top of our home was extremely evident.

“Reese, it’s raining, isn’t it?”

My familiar nodded. “Yeah. The rocky outer layer on the house will keep any from getting in here, but if we go outside we’re going to get completely soaked. I’m… honestly a bit scared of going out there. Too much water mixed with my clay and I’ll basically just melt.”

I shuddered at the mental image of my only company on the island just melting that way. On my end I really didn’t want to risk hypothermia; this island could get nastily cold at times, as I’d learned the hard way yesterday.

“Yeah, maybe staying inside today is the right call.”

Reese nodded “Yeah I’m on board with that. Want me to open the door so we can at least watch the rain fall down, maybe collect a couple buckets’ worth of rain water?”

I shrugged. “Sure?”

By now we had an actual door rather than just pinching the entrance shut, a wooden panel made from sturdy boards we’d gotten off the Baroness. So Reese just undid the deadbolt and swung the door open.

True to expectations, there was a truly massive amount of rain hammering down outside. Yeah, no way we were going out in that.

“So… Anne.”

“Yeah?”

“Since we’re going to be cooped up inside all day, do you have any ideas for something useful we could do?”

I thought for a moment.

“I’d thought about making a hammock so we could finally get some more comfortable sleep, but that would need materials we don’t have inside right now. And like fuck I’m going out there in this weather.”

Reese nodded, then realization dawned on her face.

“I just realized something I forgot to include when I made this place.”

With a relatively minor exertion of her power, a toilet formed off to one side of our home.

“I included an underground sluice for the sewerage, so it shouldn’t stink up the house too bad.”

I blinked “I… didn’t know you were a plumber, Reese?”

“Not much of a plumbing project. The whole thing is passive; I just had to make sure it was shaped the right way. The only remotely complicated bit is the cistern; should maintain a good flow of flushwater off that for at least two days after any given rainstorm.”

Thinking for a moment about all the effort involved in that, I asked “Are you hungry? That seems like it would take a lot out of you.”

Reese nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be wanting some of that goat jerky soon.”

I nodded in agreement and started getting our breakfasts out of storage. Soon enough we were sitting down in front of the hearth to eat, pondering what we could actually do with the day.

“Anne, since going out and getting materials isn’t happening today, and there’s not many useful projects we can do with what we have on hand, why don’t we just do something fun here to pass the time?”

I thought for a moment “Like what exactly? We don’t have any games to play, and storytelling really isn’t my strong suit.”

That’s when Reese dropped a revelation on me.

“I was thinking we could have sex, actually. I love you, and even though I was made to love you it doesn’t make that love any less real.”

I couldn’t help it, I blushed furiously. I stammered incoherently for several seconds, before Reese pulled me into a hug.

“It’s ok Anne. It’s ok.”

I finally managed to regain my wits. “Anne, I really don’t want to force you into this. If you don’t want to you don’t have to, I’m not that kind of spirit-crafter.”

Reese smiled. “But I do want to. And since you gave me such an excellent sense of touch, I’ll enjoy it too.”

I nodded. Truth be told, I kind of wanted to have sex with Reese too.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

And so we spent our rainy day screwing each other silly, for lack of anything better to do. Suffice to say that by the time we went to sleep, we had both gotten quite skilled at using our tongues.

The next day, the rain had mercifully gone. It wasn’t the only thing that was gone, as Reese shouted over the mental link while I was collecting more firewood.

“The Baroness is gone!”

I immediately made my way over to the former site of the shipwreck, and true to Reese’s words the Baroness had vanished. Or so it seemed at first.

“Reese, look there. I can see a bit of the mast sticking up out of the water.”

Reese turned to look where I was pointing. After a moment, she replied,

“Yeah, I can see it too. Any thoughts on how it got there?”

I shrugged.

“Best guess? The tides coupled with all that rain yesterday washed the Baroness further out to sea, and she settled on the bottom.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Reese thought for a moment. “I guess we’re not getting that canvas for hammocks, are we?”

I sighed “No we aren’t, sadly. We’ll have to make the ropes ourselves it seems.”

Reese thought for a bit. “I can maybe do some work on the local grasses and reeds to make something relatively comfortable. It’ll take some major trial and error, since we don’t have any firsthand experience with rope-making.”

I nodded. “I suppose we’d best get on with it, then.”

Over the next few days we must have tested fifty different grasses and reeds to find one with suitable fibers. Still, eventually we found something useful.

“Hey Anne, I found wild flax plants.”

I blinked, “You mean we can make linen? That’s wonderful.”

Reese smiled. “Knew you’d say that. Spent a fair bit of magic turning that chunk of the island into a flax field once I found it, so I’m famished.”

I immediately handed Reese some crash fruit (named for its tendency to make a loud crashing noise when it fell off the tree), and she started digging in. Using her mouth this time; she’d learned to appreciate taste after a while, even if she couldn’t properly digest anything.

“So Reese, I guess we’ll be needing to make equipment for spinning and weaving, then?”

“Yeah. I’ll be able to get the fibers out of the plant stalks using my magic, but actually turning those fibers into cloth isn’t something so easy to do.”

I hugged my Familiar again, and she kissed me back.

“So Reese, I’ll get working on making a spinning wheel and a loom, you gather fibers?”

“Sounds good to me. It’ll be nice to finally have some proper clothing, instead of going around nude all the time.”

I chuckled. “Not that I don’t appreciate the view, but yeah getting you some trousers is definitely on the to-do list.”

And so I got started on making the spinning machine and loom. In the absolutely strictest sense, they would be Spirits. But with the absolute bare minimum of smarts I’d be imparting into each, they could safely be considered tools.

But first, carpentry. The collection of tools salvaged from the ship included a saw, among other things. With a little help from Reese, I quickly had access to some wood I could turn into what I needed.

Making all the parts of a spinning wheel took most of a day, but I managed to get a crude version assembled. Now I just needed to impart life. I inscribed the knowledge of how to spin loose fibers into yarn on the wheel, wrote a simple Purpose in a miniature ritual circle, included some leaves as Means, and shoved.

Immediately, the spinning wheel looked a lot more refined. I stuck a large tuft of the flax bast that Reese collected in the gap for such things, and immediately the spinning wheel whirled to life. As linen yarn started accumulating on the spindle, I yawned.

Reese took the opportunity to ask, “Tired?”

I nodded. “Yeah, it’s been a long day and lots of hard work. And making the loom is going to be even more work.”

Reese took a look at the spinning wheel whirling away. “Will say it’s pretty clever to make the spinning wheel work by siphoning Essence off the fibers it’s spinning. Means we won’t need to spend any effort feeding it, and there’s even enough left in there to power a loom, too.”

I nodded and pulled Reese into a hug. The gentle warmth of her embrace was really what I needed right now.

We ultimately went to sleep like that, snuggled together near the hearth. Though not before Reese provided the spinning wheel with a bunch of extra spindles, and approximately all the loose linen fibers she’d collected.

We woke up to a truly massive amount of linen yarn, all neatly spun onto spindles.

As Reese chewed on some goat jerky, she asked “So, any ideas for stuff I can do today, while you get the loom made?”

I shrugged. “Maybe expand the house a bit? We could use places to store all the stuff we’re accumulating.”

Reese obligingly got on with that, while I settled in to make a loom. Magic made this a lot easier, really. All I really needed was a frame, a roller to collect the bolt of cloth, places to stick the spindles in, and a suitable Means for the loom in question. Compared to needing all day to make the spinner, I only needed a few hours to make the loom.

Another miniature ritual circle, bare minimum of inscriptions, fresh leaves for Means, and pretty soon the loom flickered into activity.

Reese had actually been watching this time, and she seemed rather intrigued by the whole process.

“Interested in spirit-crafting, Reese?”

She nodded, her blonde hair flowing with the motion, “Yes. It’s how I came to be, and… I think it’s honestly really neat.”

I smiled. “If you want to take up spirit-crafting, there’s no reason you can’t. Some of the best spirit-crafters I ever met were spirits themselves.”

“I’ll think about it.”

We quickly loaded the loom with spindles of linen yarn, and soon it was churning away, making linen cloth. It was right as the first bolt of cloth was finished that Reese spoke up.

“I think we should make a hammock for you first, before anything else.”

I blinked “Really?”

Reese nodded. “I don’t have bones, you do. Poor sleep posture messes you up in a way I just don’t have to deal with. I care about you, so we should make your hammock first.”

I thought for a moment. “Alright, but we’re making it big enough for the two of us to sleep together in there.”

Reese nodded. “Works for me.”

We ultimately had to wait for a second bolt of cloth from the loom to make the plus-sized hammock, but we got it made. It had been almost a week, and I finally had something that could be called a proper bed again. I even had someone I genuinely loved that I could share it with.

Sadly, that didn’t mean I slept well. Quite the opposite in fact.

I was back on the Baroness, the deck pitching and rolling in the stormy seas. Lightning crashed down on the mast, as I heard someone shout “YOU!” from behind me.

I turned around, and there was Marissa, her shattered wooden form poking through her human-like Guise.

“Anne, this is all YOUR fault!”

I shuddered “NO! I didn’t cause the storm!”

“Yes you did! You wanted to get rid of me, didn’t you!”

“No Marissa, I didn’t! I still love you!”

“Then why did you make Reese so soon, huh?”

I woke up crying. Reese was hugging me, and I was shuddering.

“Anne, are you alright?”

I took a moment to answer.

“No Reese, I’m not alright.”