It would take a few weeks for the poolhouse to be built, so Iris decided to work on other projects in the meantime. It wasn't necessarily that the building itself would be that much larger than other buildings that would make it take so long either. Well, the building was going to be rather large, but it would only be two stories, counting a basement for food storage.

It was just that it would take a while for the initial round of drying clay to be done and then the process would have to be repeated in order to join all the various pieces of the building together. Most buildings were not very long or wide, they were just tall. So, the floor pieces, wall pieces, etc. could all be combined together in the first round. Then the floors and walls could be joined at the corners in a second round. Here, the first round of combining stone bricks for a singular wall would take multiple rounds due to how long the walls would be.

Additionally, digging out the areas for the pool, kitchen storage, and bathrooms was a bit more complicated than a normal house would be. The pool was a completely new design and yet had to be very precisely built in order to ensure everything functioned properly. A glass of water might not be that heavy, but several hundreds of gallons of pool water most definitely was. Plus, the matter of the drainage system really was a big deal since creating a sinkhole could ruin the land under the building for years to come.

Combine all of that with the fact that they were working with only a small handful of workers instead of dozens of them and the whole process was just going to take a while. That didn't bother Iris so much since she was hardly in a hurry. No one was going to live in this building nor was it for a timed system quest with consequences. The building could be built slowly, allowing the builders to ensure they got the job done properly.

As things were much less busy now, most of Iris's mates had some time off. Fern still had to go teach later in the afternoon, but he had most of the afternoon free. Basil was still quite busy and Hazel was busy with the pool, but the rest were all home for a while. So, Iris roped everyone into helping her with her next idea.

"Do you remember how I previously mentioned lamb intestines being used for contraception in my world?"

It had been a while since it had been brought up and most of Iris's mates could only give her blank looks, a bit unsure of themselves. However, Caspian gave a nod in confirmation, so Iris continued

"Well, we also had a similar concept for a toy called a balloon. They were usually made from latex and could either be blown up to fill them with air or they could be filled with water for water balloons. Since they were thin and easily ruptured, they could easily pop just by throwing them at someone, stepping them, or dropping them into the grass where they would pop from the sharp end of the grass.

In the summertime, we would throw water balloons at one another as a sort of game and to help cool each other off. I think we could likely do something similar with lamb's skin if we tried."

Ember furrowed his eyebrows before questioning

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"You keep saying this word that I don't understand. What is summer?"

Iris blinked in surprise before explaining

"Oh, sorry about that. I am usually good at remembering to refer to the seasons as you do here, but I must have been too caught up in reminiscing about old times. Your rainy season is called spring in my world, thus the spring festival we have. The hot season is summer, the harvest season is fall, and the cold season is winter. Sorry for the confusion."

Caspian could faintly remember Iris mentioning this before, but it had only come up one time and that was nearly a year ago. Ember hadn't even been there for that conversation, so it made sense that he was confused. This did make Caspian stop and think, though. Had he merely been going along with whatever Iris said this entire time? That did seem to be what most people did whenever Iris declared something as being called one thing or another.

Regardless, Caspian decided to change the topic as he asked

"How would we make these balloons exactly? Also, I don't know about you, but I feel like a lot of the females would be too disgusted to even consider the possibility of throwing the balloons at one another. Most of the males tend to process the meat before their females ever see it, all so that they don't get upset about being shown the guts of the animal."

Iris had thought of as much herself as well. It certainly seemed like an unpleasant thought, but it wasn't like throwing latex balloons at one another was any better. The latex smelled awful and it left bits and pieces scattered everywhere. Iris could remember quite well how her mother always insisted she pick up all of the pieces after playing with her friends. Well, at least the lamb's intestines were better for the environment. If they played out in a field, it was likely it could even be left where it was on the ground without any issues.

"Well, it doesn't matter if they want to use them or not. Everyone is going to have their preferences, it's only meant to give them more options. Besides, we don't have to mass produce them or anything. We can just develop the product and then show them how it works, then they can choose for themselves.

The lamb intestines would be well cleaned and dried before being filled with water and tied off. It's a bit similar to making sausages, really, just that it would have a filling of water instead of meat."

Caspian and the others still felt a bit unsure, but they were still willing to do whatever Iris wanted. After all, it wasn't like it would take them that long to make one or two of them. Changing the topic, Fern asked

"Alright, well, was there anything else you wanted to try? I know my sister mentioned that her friends talk about how much they love a lot of the products you've developed all the time. So, some of the other females are likely also looking forward to what you will come up with next."

Iris pursed her lips, looking thoughtful, before answering

"Well, I did have one other idea. A common cheap option for keeping cool is a handheld fan. In my world, they were made with plastic, paper, feathers, and all sorts of other materials. However, we'd likely be better off weaving dried, thick grasses and reeds from the Green Falls Tribe into a handle and paddle-shaped fan."

This style of fan was often called a dandelion fan and it was a bit of an old-fashioned style. Some Asian countries even made them from bamboo. Still, it was likely to make for a simple enough design that was still effective. The only thing that Iris could think, though, was that it would be unfortunate for the males as their mates would likely make them fan them constantly instead of doing the work themselves. However, that was just the way of this world and there wasn't much Iris could do to change that.