A rapid knock at my door awoke me. I don't think I had been asleep for long, but waking during a sleep cycle was unpleasant. Well, it must have been important if I had been woken up. I took a moment to clear my head before calling out for whoever it was to enter. I sat up in a more dignified position.

Chuck came into the room, followed by Emily. "Sorry, my lord. She said you would find this important," Chuck said apologetically. I waved away his concern.

"What is it, Emily," I said sleepily.

"You have to look at this!" she said, rushing towards the bed. She shoved her paper tray in my face. The paper on the tray was still uneven, as many of our attempts had been, but this time, it was thin, almost resembling actual paper.

Suddenly, I was awake. "How did you do it?"

"Well, we made one batch like the last one thin, but still thicker than parchment and probably won't bend when it dries. Then we kind of got carried away grinding and wanted to see how thin we could make it, so we kept grinding and adding water until it looked like a light brown broth. We were just going to throw it out, thinking it wouldn't hold together like the goop we usually use. We thought it would make a mess with how watery it was, but then we decided to pour it in over a bucket. We had to get a mug from the kitchen to scoop it up. When we dumped it in, all the water immediately went through the cloth, leaving this. I don't know how we can spread it evenly since it seeps right through. I don't think we can roll this flat."

I thought for a moment, and then I snapped my fingers. "What if we strapped a board to the bottom and then filled it? That would keep everything soaking in the solution evenly until you removed the board. Just get a pan big enough to set it all in so you can lift it straight out of the pan without making a mess."

She sat there for a moment, probably trying to visualize it. Suddenly, she grabbed the tray back from me. "I am going to go try it."

I looked out the window, and we still had a little light left. It was frustrating that my body got so tired towards evening, or I would be up helping her. "Don't you have chores to do?"

"Grandma won't mind. I am helping you."

"No, you are not going to leave your grandma to do all the work while you play with the paper. No matter how important I feel it is. Until we can get your grandma another helper, you still have your duties to attend to. You can try it after your morning chores."

She looked crestfallen but knew when not to argue. After she left, I sat back. We had been doing this all wrong. I thought pulp would be thicker and just spread out thinner. Really, it was the opposite. It was so cool to be part of making history. I wanted just as badly to go into that room and experiment. No, scratch that, I don't think I could match that girl's excitement. Let's see if I can help her out, though. I rang my bell, and Chuck came in.

"Yes, my lord?"

"You saw how big that frame was, right?"

He nodded.

"Great, I want you to find someone to watch your post and see if you can find a board around here that can sit underneath it."

"Yes, my lord," He said with a smirk.

"OK, what's so funny?" I said with a mock glare.

"If it isn't too bold of me to say, sir, you dote on that girl like a father," He said, still not hiding his grin.

I looked at him, a little shocked. "She is only like three years younger than me. If I did dote on her, which I do not, then I would dote on her like a big brother."

"Then maybe more like..." Suddenly, he looked up, and the color drained from his face.

"What is wrong, Chuck?" I asked in alarm.

"Forgive me, my lord. I was about to say something that may have been offensive. Please forgive me but it is hard to remember sometimes, I am conversing with my lord."

"Well, don't tell the captain that or he will have both our hides. Now, what were you about to say?

"I was just going to say I remember my sibling and me being more quarrelsome than the way you treat her. I will go find the things she needs."

That was not at all what he was going to say, but I wasn't going to throw my weight around and demand he tell me. I didn't want to embarrass him.

***************

The next morning, at breakfast, Emily came up to me beaming. "Thank you for finding me a board to use."

"You're welcome. Have you tried it yet?" I said.

"No, I will need to strap it like you said or at least have someone hold it down so it doesn't leak." She smiled.

"And that is why you are speaking with me." I sighed.

"Please, my lord." she wheedled.

"Alright, let me finish breakfast, then go speak with Marcus. Then we can do your project. Do we have enough pulp?"

She nodded.

"Good. I will meet you in the paper room in a little bit."

After breakfast, I made my way to the study. I found Marcus waiting for me. At least he kept his appointments. "How are you this fine day, Marcus?" I asked pleasantly.

"Well, enough, my lord." He said stiffly. He looked extra sour today. I didn't like the kid, but I hope everything is OK. Maybe Carrie told him the news, but he doesn't like Hyrum.

"How is your family?"

"Fine, my lord. We have reports from all the other villages besides Bicman that their fields are all plowed, and planting is being done."

OK, so he doesn't want to chat. "Excellent, that is wonderful to know," I said.

"I also received a letter from Melnon's headman for you," he said, handing me the letter.

I read the letter and smiled. They had created a batch of lime and mixed it in a few different amounts with their mortar. It seems to set the mortar faster. Also, they were in the process of building a coke kiln. I would have to send him a fruit basket or something.

"Anything else?"

"You have two requests for marriages and a court request."

"I am not going to marry anyone. I am certainly not going to marry two women. Polygamy sounds like a headache." I said with a smile. However my joke fell flat. I blame the audience.

"I would like to meet those getting married," I said. "But what is the court request?"

"It is a matter of theft, my lord."

"Really," I said in surprise, "Where is the theft taking place, and what is it?"

"It is in Cofi, and I believe it is pies."

"Pies! Someone is making pies and not sharing with me?" I said in mock offense. If it was in Cofi, it may have been pies from the orchard. What did we grow there again? "So, do I go to Cofi, or do they come here?"

I swear Marcus was about to roll his eyes. "Judgements are made in the great hall."

"Alright, set a time and let me know."

"As you wish, my lord."

"Is there anything I can do for you, Marcus?"

"No, my lord," Marcus said.

"Well, have a splendid day," I said cheerfully. At this point, I was hoping the cheerful attitude would annoy him. He was such a grouch.

I went to the paper room where Emily was idly stirring her hand through the wood slurry she had made. Looking at everything, I nodded to myself. "OK, Em, we should take this outside. I am sure you made a mess trying to get all the water into a bucket."

She blushed.

"I will grab the board and frame. You grab the cup of your pulp water."

She nodded, and we went outside to the stump. I set the board down and then the frame on top of it and pressed down hard. Emily poured the cup in, but there was too much room between the frame and the board, so the water settled beneath the cheesecloth, and we were left with wavey pulp rather than flat. The water started to leak out the side of the board.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"It didn't work," Emily said sadly.

I didn't act discouraged. "So how do we fix it?"

"Add more mixture so it fills up more?" She asked hesitantly.

"That would work," I spoke encouragingly, "But it would make the paper thicker."

"Oh, we need to add more water and then use a bigger cup."

"Good thinking. How do we fix this, though?" I said.

"Um, could we get a bucket of water, pour it in, and swirl it around?"

I smiled, "Why don't we try that?"

She rushed off to the well to grab a bucket of water. I swear I would have been a gentleman and done it, but she took off too fast. Within a couple of minutes, she had brought up a half bucket of water.

"OK, I am going to hold down the frame again, and you can pour it slowly."

When the water was almost to the top of the frame, and before it could all drain, Emily gave a few quick swirls with her hand, and the pulp evened out. When it settled, we were left with a brown piece of thin paper.

We both looked up and grinned at each other. "You did it, Em."

"Not without your help."

"No, you and Jacklyn had the breakthrough last night that made this work. I am guessing that if I hadn't said anything, you would have found a solution to this problem by the end of the day today, all on your own. I just sped things up. You and Jacklyn are the official inventors of paper. I get to take credit for the pulp grinder, though." I winked.

"OK, let's take this inside and let it dry for a bit, then pull it out and sponge it."

On the way back to the room, I heard Aaron crying, so I left Emily to her work and went to Aaron's room. Amy was walking with him, and she looked a little frazzled.

"Anything I can do to help?"

"He has teeth coming in. He will be having this pain every once in a while."

"Let me take him on a walk. See if I can distract him."

It didn't work. He still cried as we walked down the hall and out into the courtyard. He cried when we went to the town with Captain Draves and did a quick look before heading back. He cried until I gave him back to Amy to feed.

"Thank you, my lord. The break was helpful," She said gratefully.

"I thought you got an assistant?"

"She is not always able to be here."

We chatted for a little bit. She talked about her family and how their farm was doing. They shared fifty-seven acres with her brother-in-law's family. Due to the illness, they could not plant all their fields this year. The disease also took two of the children. It was hard to sit here and listen to the lives of my people. I was grumbling because I missed having my electric razor and because I was fat. Amy and her family were happy because they still had the rest of their family and were sure they could make due this year. These were hearty people.

In the afternoon, I decided to visit Jorb with the molds for the pens. I didn't want to interrupt him, but I figured I needed to try to make some before writing letters. When I first started using dip pens, I almost gave up because using a brush was easier, but the beautiful script was worth it in the end. Quills were just so much worse. On the way down, I asked the captain about protecting ideas. I don't know if you could get a writ for that. The king probably thought all ideas belonged to him, just like the land. So, the best thing I could do was make my land as prosperous as possible. I couldn't keep the idea of the plow to myself, but if I could cast the iron, I could produce them faster. The problem is I needed a furnace that could heat the iron hot enough. That would require coke and a large bellow.

Draves left me to my thoughts until we got to Jorb's shop. After we made sure Mathew wasn't there, I went in. Jorb was in the process of fixing a pot someone had brought from Cofi. I never really thought about what a blacksmith did all day. I only thought about nails and horseshoes. I knew Jorb made nails, but I had never seen a horseshoe in his shop. I would have to ask him about that. Maybe since There weren't many horses, there wasn't a big need. I explained what I wanted done with the molds, and he actually seemed interested.

"It is finer workmanship than I normally do, but I can do the melting. Would you mind if my son did the shaping?" Jorb said, seeming nervous about suggesting it.

"That's an excellent idea. I would be happy to pay him for his time." I said.

"But you are already providing his education," Jorb said in surprise.

"That is what I owe him for my crime. I must pay him for services rendered. How is he doing in his education?

Jorb smiled, "He has finished memorizing the alphabet and is constantly repeating it."

"Good. I am going to make some simple cards with words on them. That is one reason the pen tips will be helpful. It will be easier to make them with those."

"I can probably get them made by tomorrow morning. Would you like to see the work on the plow blade?"

"Sure, let's take a look."

It really was starting to take shape. I could see how this would not be easy. It would be simpler to make a wooden model to make a mold, but it still came back to melting the iron, which we couldn't do without at least a puddling furnace.

"I was able to do the wire last night, and Jackie ran it over to Mikel's house this morning," Jorb said, interrupting my thoughts.

"Thank you for getting that done, Jorb. I will have to go pay him a visit."

Next, we took off to see Mikel. He had completed a few frames this morning, which was good. The girls would be happy. Once again, I wandered the town, speaking with people and talking about their day. We did not bring the coach this time, so we walked back up the hill. I immediately went to the paper room. Emily was there trying to sponge off some water while the paper was still in the frame.

"What are you doing, Emily?"

"Trying to get out the latest piece of paper."

"How did you do it without me?"

"Carrie helped."

"It seems to be hard to remove."

She sighed. "The paper has to dry a little in the frame because it is so thin, but even then, it is a little tricky to get out."

"Hmm, that definitely slows things down, I suppose."

"Don't worry. I thought of an idea. What if we flipped the frame upside down and then put the cheesecloth on it from that side? We could make another frame to sit on top, and one person could press down while the other poured. Then, we could just lift the top frame when it drains and settles."

"Sounds good. You can return all these frames to Mikel and explain what you need."

She made a face at that. "Fine, I will need more wood soon anyway. Maybe he can bring some up when he is done."

"How many of the thin sheets have you made?"

"I have three of them drying, including the one we made. I will pull out this one in a bit and let it dry."

"Excellent. I will be writing letters tomorrow to a few different people, and I will be using your paper."

Emily looked excited. "As soon as I am done with my assignments, I will go tell Jacklyn. I will have to run the frames to Mikel to see if he can make something to go over the top of them. If we had enough frames, I could make a lot of paper. Thank you for letting me do this, Lord Amos."

I couldn't help but smile. "Just wait, Em, this is just the beginning."

"What is next?"

I wasn't ready to make a printing press yet, if ever, so I wasn't going to blow her mind away. "You'll have to wait and see. Let's make as many sheets as we can and sell them."

"How are we going to sell them?"

"I was thinking of sending twenty-five to each of my Aunts. One is the wife of a merchant, and the other is the wife of a baron. They can sell them and tell me what they sold for."

"What if they take them and don't sell them."

"We will send them twenty-five sheets each. If we don't get anything back, then I will know they are untrustworthy. I may have to take some to Decmoore and see if we can sell it. I would hate to go all the way to Vaspar or even Kimton, but they may have a parchment merchant there and give us a good price."

"I know, my lord, that I shouldn't ask this, but-"

"But you want to come with us. We are selling the paper," I said knowingly.

She blushed.

"I don't have a problem with it, but Marshandra might. You will need her permission."

"But you're the lord. You could just tell her."

"True, but I also have to think about how that would affect my relationship with her. We respect each other, and she is responsible for you. I will not impose my will on a whim."

"OK, now I need all those thicker sheets you made. I want to make sight word Flashcards."

"What are those?"

"They are for your lesson tonight," I said as I gathered the paper I thought might work. I know I told Jorb I would wait for the pens, but I really didn't have anything to do, and I was bored. The paper made from rags and those first made from wood did not have the same texture or firmness. Some were easy to write on, while others were not good at all. In the end, he made about five and gave up.

I need to make thicker paper. Maybe use three or four cups of the slurry for the sheet instead of one. I couldn't do it without someone else to pour in the mixture while I held it down. Unless… I wonder if we have a roasting pan in the kitchen. Then, I could just set the frame down in the pan and pour water into the pan full enough that it covered the bottom of the frame. Then, when I put the slurry in, it wouldn't drain right away and would only settle when I lifted out the frame. Em was going to be so mad she hadn't thought of this. I hurried to the kitchen as fast as my fat legs could carry me. Cookie had a pan, but I could tell she wasn't happy I was stealing it. I assured her I would bring it back momentarily.

When I got to the paper room, I set the pan on the table and then put the frame inside it. I poured four cups of slurry into the frame, and the water drained into the pan. Then, I poured water in until the water level in the pan was halfway up the frame. I swirled everything around until the pulp was even in the frame. Then, I slowly lifted the frame until it was above the water line, and the pulp settled at the bottom evenly. I waited for it to stop dripping and then put the frame on a piece of cloth on the table. I dumped the water from the pan back into the water bucket and went to return the pan. Emily would think I had gotten help. I was excited to see what she said when I told her how I had done it. Hopefully, the paper will be closer to card stock.

After dinner, I showed the flashcards to the girls. The pictures were not my best drawings, but they liked them all the same. The boy, Helm, showed up after his kitchen duties to start learning the Alphabet, but Carrie left as soon as she was done. She wouldn't even look at me. I wonder if I had done something to offend her. I will have to speak with her tomorrow.

I went on a walk around the manor a few times before retiring to my bed for the night.

Carrie

I didn't sleep last night. I spent the whole night thinking about what he said. I was in the kitchen when... when my father... no, I did it. I must have. I was a murderer. I was a murderer. "I was a murderer! Amos knew, yes, he must know I... I was in the kitchen. I am a murderer. Hyrum... he will kill me! He hates me. I'm going to die. I have to leave. They are waiting for the wedding to expose me. Yes, that must be it. Humiliate me and chop off my head. I'm going to die!

"Carrie!"

I swung my head around to find Hyrum glaring at me.

"You are terrible. You must go to your room."

"No, I..."

He grabbed my arm and pulled me to my room. "Stay in your room, Carrie!"

I ran to my bed when he shut the door. He knows! He knows, and he is going to kill me! I have to run. I... I...