The construction lasted till the middle of the night and when it finished; we collapsed into a heap as we wondered at the solitary man’s incredible determination to do everything by himself and build so many houses.

Now, the next problem was that we didn’t have any furniture, nor did we have any bedding.

So we collected as many leaves as we could, and we laid them on the hard floor and huddled together for the cold night to pass.

In the morning, we woke up to a loud whoop as one of the female students excitedly held up a paper as she shouted out, “We have the day off! We have the day off!”

Relaxing, the students who had gone into combat ready stances eased up before disbelief was written on their faces.

The Academy was giving them a day off?

How was this possible?

It had to be a trick.

Definitely, it had to be a trick.

Suspiciously glancing around, one brave student walked to the crude door and, yanking it open, he walked out.

Then a strangled yelp sounded out, and the rest of us rushed out to his assistance, only to let out strangled yelps ourselves.

We didn’t have any furniture, right?

We also didn’t have any uniforms anymore, right?

On top of which, we didn’t have more houses at the moment for everybody, right?

Well, in front of us were bales of materials for uniforms and they covered the entire ground as far as our eyes could see, along with 12 large crates.

Grinning at us sardonically was Sir Liam who spoke, “Your materials for the week.”

Finished, he turned away and left us slack jawed as we took in the ‘materials’ that were more than twice or thrice the amount that we wove the entire last week and the unknown things inside the big crates.

Gulping, we turned to each other, and then we stared at the letter that was still clutched innocently in the female student’s hands.

Curses broke out, before I ran my fingers through my hair, making leaves fall out, and said, “I don’t know about all of you. But we’ve been given the day off no matter what happens, and I’m tired as well as sleepy. I’m going to fix both up. So Goodnight, or Good Day to you all!”

Yawning hugely, I went back to the pile of leaves that I had claimed as my own and lay on it with my eyes closed but ears pricked to hear what the rest of the students would say.

Beside me, I heard a grunt and a growl that I identified as Marrok.

Then I heard Sia speak. “I agree with Faust. We should all get some sleep before we wake up and start work again.”

And then I heard a soft thump on the pile of leaves beside me and a faint fragrance of honeysuckle and apple blossom identified the source as Sia.

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Without opening my eyes, I said, “You said the right thing. We’ll figure things out after we wake up.”

I felt a hand take my own, and clasping it back, I drifted off to a happy, dreamless sleep.

Waking up, the first thing I noticed was the hand was gone.

Groggily, I opened my eyes to see Sia sitting upright while her hands darted about as she murmured to herself.

Opening my mouth and closing it again, I watched on in silence as she stayed in that daze before she snapped out of it with a sigh.

Turning around and seeing me awake, she smiled a tired smile and said, “When did you get up, sleepyhead?”

Tousling my hair, I said, “Just a few minutes ago. You didn’t sleep?”

Smiling, Sia shook her head and stayed silent.

Nodding, I rose and stretched as I said, “Tell me what the plan is.”

Cocking her head at me, Sia spoke. “How do you know I have a plan?”

Snorting, I said, “I’ve been watching you since I woke up and I know that look. So out with it. What’s the plan?”

Laughing, Sia got up herself and then whispering, she told me a plan that left me slack jawed at the sheer scope of it.

Wide eyed, I stared at her and asked, “Did you think all of that up in the time that I slept?”

Nodding, she said, laughing, “Don’t be so surprised. You slept for a long time, you sleepyhead.”

Sheepishly, I rubbed my head as I laughed along.

Moving outside, I quickly set up the fire pit and grabbing some monster meat; I began roasting it as more and more students gathered up, salivating.

After breakfast was over, I took stock of our supplies and saw that we barely had enough for another day at the rate that we were going.

Frowning, my expression cleared up as I remembered Sia’s plan. Marvelling at how she had taken even this into account, I turned around as Sia shouted out, “Everyone, gather up!”

As everyone did exactly that, I stayed at Sia’s right side and watched perplexed as Marrok also made his way to my side.

Stepping back, I looked inquiringly at him and he snorted before he turned his head away, but he didn’t move a step away from Sia and me.

Grinning to myself, I turned my attention back to Sia as she said, “Everyone. Yesterday we did a fine job making ourselves a house to sleep in. We thought that’d be the end of it, but today we’ve gotten more work ahead of us and a lot of baling bales to work our way through.”

Gesturing at the bales strewn across the clearing exaggeratedly, she laughed along as the students laughed.

Continuing she said, “I propose that today we build another log house for the materials to be stored in. Also, since most of our uniforms are torn.. Faustus and I will set up a tailoring station where you can bring all your uniforms for repair. We’ll also make new uniforms out of the cloth that you weave since the crates had looms within them.”

Nodding at her words, the students’ gazes became warmer as they looked at me and Sia.

Clearing her throat, Sia said, “Now the problem is our supply of food. I propose that a few of us make utensils for soups and the like for Faustus to stretch our rations as far as they can go.”

Murmurs of assent greeted her words while the ones who had not caught any food before looked at the ground, blushing.

Ticking off the proposals one by one on her fingers, Sia said, “So, first are the utensils and the log house. Second are the materials and the tailoring. Third is, we need some volunteers to go and learn everything from the log house man. Who is willing?”

As hands went up, Sia selected a few and then, smiling, she said, “Right now we only have the basics. But let’s make this place a home with those basics since Yamal Academy is where we’re going to stay for the next few years and those balakashes don’t seem to want us to be comfortable. Are we going to let them have their way?”

Grinning fiercely, the shield maiden spoke out. “No.We. Are. Not!”

And then, with a roar, all of us students went to work.

Down to the basics.