Talah-ma’at had risen and was pacing, clearly in thought. Looking at the room and the beginnings of a circular depression in the floor, it was also clear that she had done this for a very long time.
“So, Talah-ma’at. Tell me what you have envisioned for this. Will Elizabet and I move our room over here and simply make a bigger home? I’d hate for you and the boys to leave the place you’ve known and decorated for all this time. And truthfully, all I’ve done is make a lamp. Everything else is standard.” Elizabet nodded.
“Yes. We have very few belongings. In fact, all I own is what I’m wearing. And that’s just a simple piece of cloth.” Elizabet shrugged, and I was filled with a new desire: Let her have anything I could get for her that she wanted.
“You mean to tell me that your family has no assets you can draw from? No properties or anything?” I asked, incredulous.
“Correct. And besides, I’m the last of my family that lives. It was part of the reason I joined the Guild to begin with. I’d been there for just over three years before you came along.” She smiled and lay her head on my shoulder.
“Are you two going to let me answer?”
“Sorry,” we mumbled in unison.
“Thank you. As for your living area, we can simply excavate the stone beside our home, and add a door. You two can decorate it however you wish. It will take a couple of years, but we can have a room carved for you.” She said, matter-of-factly.
“Two years?” I looked at the diminutive woman in shock. “Talah-ma’at, we’re leaving in spring. This spring. Not in two years.”
“What’s your rush, Ivor? You have a woman you love greatly, three children you both love, and you simply must have a baby or two of your own soon.” She looked at Elizabet, “I would simply love to see you with child.”
I looked over at Elizabet, who had turned bright red. Gazing up and down her body, I smiled. “Yes, Elizabet. I think I’d love to see that, too.”
She responded by pulling her habit over her head, and Talah-ma’at and I laughed.
“It’s not funny!”
I chuckled softly. “No, but seriously. Having children of my own, and having them with you would be a dream come true, Elizabet.”
She peeked out of the top of her habit. “Really? You really want to make babies with me?”
Before I could answer, Talah-ma’at rounded on her. “Of course he wants to make babies with you, girl! Look at him! He is absolutely committed to you. I have smelled a lot of people in love, Humans included, and let me tell you this, I have never smelled anyone be this in love before. He will move the heavens and stars for you. Count on it.”
Elizabet looked at me in wonder. “Seriously? You feel that way?”
I nodded. “More or less, yeah. Look, back on Earth, I was just a fat guy from Kentucky that most women barely noticed. Here? The first woman I meet tries to kill me, then falls in love with me, and she just so happens to look like everything I want in a woman, has the kind of mentality I love, is just as sexual as I am, and wants to spend her life with me? What are the odds of that happening ever again? Slim to none, right? I’m almost certain that the deities of this world and mine had a hand in this. I’m not going to refuse this opportunity that the gods have seen fit to give me. I’m going to take it and hold it.”
She smiled like a giddy schoolgirl. “Okay.” came her quiet answer.
Talah-ma’at looked pleased and cleared her throat. We returned our attention to her. “As I said, it would take a couple of years. Maybe a little less if we got people to work on it right away. Nothing I can do about that, I’m afraid.”
“Maybe the Haarthuu can’t, but I certainly can.” I said, getting up.
“Ivor? Honey, what are you about to do? Please don’t overburden yourself. You just got yourself comfortable.” Elizabet stood and placed her hand on my arm.
I kissed her softly. “Don’t worry. I’ll have us a room carved in no time.” I turned to Talah-ma’at “Where would you like the door to be?”
She looked around, and selected a spot on the wall to the left of her front door. I nodded and began to mentally sketch out what our room should look like, and slowly began the process of Shaping the doorway.
I started with examining the way her door was hinged into the wall. It seemed to be a simple, well-balanced pin hinge. I then began removing the stone around where our door would be, leaving the intricate carvings intact. Once done, I parted the door from the stone wall, leaving the space where the hinges would be. I thought for a moment, then crafted the pins and holes in the top, then the bottom. Experimentally, I opened and shut the door. It grated terribly, sending shocks of pain up our spines. After a few more iterations over the course of an hour, I managed to make it work, and had a smoothly operating door.
“Now that the hard part is done, time to scoop out the room. What do you do with the excess stone?” I looked over at Talah-ma’at, who just stared at me.
“Uhm, well. Uh, usually, we take it outside to a rubble pit. However, with what I’m seeing here, you might be able to simply turn it into anything you want. Perhaps we should ask the Elder.”
I thought for a moment. “That actually seems like the best choice. Let’s do that.” I brushed my hands clean and stood, facing my new family.
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Talah-ma’at shook her head, and we all walked outside, heading to the feast. As luck would have it, he was still chatting with Thaddeus.
“...we still venerate the other deities, but The Great Mother holds sway over the Haarthuu. Due to this, we have statues in our religious sector of all the- Oh, Ivor! What can we do for you?”
“Hello again, Elder, Thaddeus.” I nodded to both men. “I was curious as to what gets done with the waste stone that accumulates from carving out new rooms and businesses.”
“Waste stone, eh? Well, there is a great crevasse that we have been dumping it in for centuries just beyond the Central Plaza. I can have a stoneworker show you, if you’d like?” He scratched his chin and looked around for someone. “Ah! There we are.” He cupped his hands to his mouth and bellowed “Kiri-tuk! Over here, if you would?”
A stout young Haarthuu came jogging over, a tuber in his hand. “Yes, Elder?”
“Ivor here would like to have a dwelling made. He will show you where. Gather ten of our strongest masons, and see to it, please?” The man nodded, “Thank you, son.” He turned back to Thaddeus. “Now, where was I?”
“The statuary in the religious sector, I believe, sir?”
“Ah! Yes. As I was saying…”
I smiled, and turned to Kiri-tuk. “Is he always like this?”
He laughed. “Always. Ever since I was a tiny hatchling. He would get into a subject of some sort, and just stay there. For hours, or days sometimes.” He smiled, remembering. “Anyway. Show me what’s on your mind, friend.” He held his hand out for us to lead the way.
We walked back to Talah-ma’at’s home, and showed him what I had already done. He seemed impressed that I had managed to craft the pivots to the door, and that it moved as easily as it did.
“Well, to make a room large enough for you and your lady here would take about two years, give or take. We’ll get to work in the morning.” He turned to leave, but I stopped him with a touch on his arm.
“No. I’m going to carve it out today. I just need to know what to do with the waste stone. I can make it in any size and shape you want, I just need to know what to do with it.” I shrugged and looked at the man, who stared at me in amusement.
“Okay, big man. Show me.” He snorted derisively.
I grinned and whispered “Shape Stone” and pulled a one foot cube of stone out of the wall, and handed it to the man. “As I said. I’ll be finishing this today. Where and in what form do you want the waste stone?”
He stared at the small boulder in his arms, grunting with the weight, and tossed it outside the dwelling. “What are you? Wait. Did he say your name was Ivor? As in the Ivor? The Ivor that blew up the bastard that got my sister with child? That Ivor?”
“Is there another Ivor around here?” Talah-ma’at crossed her arms in annoyance.
“No, ma’am. I just didn’t expect it, is all.” He faced me, “I can have men with carts to carry away the stone within the hour, sir. Once you’ve made the room to your satisfaction, let us know, and we will connect the plumbing and ventilation. These are secrets of the Haarthuu, and none may know them. Please allow us these secrets.”
“Very well. With some modifications, if I may? I have some ideas on improving your system. As long as what I’ve envisioned will fit within your system, it should be reproducible everywhere. I don’t even need to know how your system operates. I’ll give you the idea, and we can come up with modifications to make it fit however is needed. Sound good?” I stuck out my hand to the young man, who shook it heartily.
“That sounds amazing. You get started, and I’ll bring back our chief engineer. We’ll make your idea work one way or another.” He jogged off to find what he needed, and I turned and got started.
“Elizabet? Would you be an amazing woman and go get my Bag? I’ve a feeling I’ll need to eat something while I work.
She smiled and nodded. “Of course, sweetheart.” She kissed me gently. “Talah-ma’at? Would you come with me so I don’t get lost?” The older woman nodded and stepped out the door.
“Kids? Come with us. I don’t want you possibly getting underfoot with Ivor. We need to give him space and let him work. Let’s go. Maybe if you’re good, we can convince him to add a room for you three to play or work in.” Talah-ma’at beckoned to the three youngsters, who dutifully followed their mother.
I waved to my family, then turned and started to work. Excavating the stone was simple, untaxing work. The hard part was getting it out the door. Oh well. The gods gave me this body for a reason. The least I could do was use it.
About a half hour and nearly fifty blocks of stone later, my family returned. Elizabet had anticipated my needs, and handed me some of the dried meat. I ate it gratefully. After a short break, I continued my excavation. I had made it to where our door was going to be, and decided to simply craft the door, and start tossing blocks out there.
Once the door was made, the work started to go faster, and I had the idea to make a set of rollers to simply place the blocks on, and let them roll out the door. It took about an hour of finagling, during which the other stoneworkers and carts arrived, and I had set up a delivery system of sorts. In this manner I had the room and the restroom carved out, and ready for the plumbing and ventilation crews in about ten hours.
Ten long hours of hard, sweaty work that had my arms and shoulders feeling limp and numb by the end of it. I did, however, uncover some seams of iron and copper ores, as well as a small amount of gold. During a break I stopped to ask one of the engineers if it were possible to install a shower along with the tub for bathing. Once I had explained the mechanism, she was certain it would work. I also asked about heating the water for the bath with a heating stone that I could make, and could have inserted into the water flow for any of the homes. She and I worked out the details, and I crafted a warming stone for her to mock up as a proof of concept.
All in all, it was a very productive day, and by evening, I had a home that was the mirror of what we had across the city, complete with a working, heated shower.
A shower that I had desperate need of.
Once we had bid the others a good night, Elizabet helped undress me, and get me into the shower. It wasn’t very hot, but it was luxuriously warm, and helped soothe my tired, aching muscles. Of course, having someone like Elizabet give me a massage helped immensely.
Once clean and dry, I sat on the edge of the bed, tired from the day’s endeavors.
“So. you never did tell me what we’re doing when we leave here. What’s going on?” Elizabet had sat beside me, laying her head on my shoulder.
“Ah. Yeah. About that. You see, last night I was taken back to Asgard -that’s where my deities reside- and was given some direction for the future. Apparently, in order to fulfill my duties as my pantheon’s Champion, and that of The Great Mother, I need to travel to the capital city here in Tutland. The Allfather gave very little information, but I’m assuming it has something to do with what The Great Mother told me, as well. That I would do well to enter the Academy while there. Something about entering the academy at that time will help get my gods a foothold here on Chaia and set the events in motion that will help free all of Chaia from bondage.” I sighed, “But that needs to wait until the spring, as going in the winter will be too dangerous. So, we stay here, with the Haarthuu. Learn all we can. I was told that there might be something in my Bag that could help. Let’s take a look.”
Elizabet handed me the Bag, and I reached in, focusing on whatever gift the gods may have placed there. My hands closed on a hard object, and I pulled it out. A book? What good would a book do? Opening it and flipping through the pages, I found that it was written in the script of the local dialect, and turned out to be a collection of myths and tales of my gods.
It appeared I was going to be spreading their tales across the land. That, however, would wait for another day. I was tired and worn out from my work. I got myself under the covers of our bed, and snuggled myself into my usual place.
Life had certainly become interesting.