The letter that arrived the next week was unexpected and promised to change his life considerably. At first he hadn’t recognised the handwriting but the smell of scent that suffused the parchment was more familiar and he eagerly anticipated what Elsebeth had to say. He resisted opening the letter in Alhern’s office and left it in his room so he wouldn’t be distracted during his work. He cut a few corners and finished early so that he could read with leisure before the evening meal.

My Dear Nedric,

Although I have written several letters to you, this is the first that I have actually sent. I felt that we were becoming quite friendly at the keep and that this might, if we had spent some more time together led to something more. As we went our different ways I did not wish to presume on a relationship I did not know existed or to dismiss entirely a relationship, which might grow if we were to work together again. This meant that when I wrote letters I was either feeling negative or being too hopeful when I did not know how you feel.

I am writing now because the situation is about to change. When the new bunch of impressors start working, then most of us will be transferred over to you and so will a bunch of other workers. Before long the village will have doubled in size. When I arrive I want to have some idea about what I can expect between us. I have your first letter but you didn’t write about your feelings only about your situation.

Although the senior impressors are staying here in Elseth along with the clerical staff, most other staff will be moving. The company can see that having the workers close to the supplies makes economic sense. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that more and more people move across to Esteril in the next few years.

I look forward to seeing you once again,

All my love,

What his feelings towards Elsebeth were was not entirely clear even to him. They had been developing a warmth of friendship unlike any other that Nedric had known. On the other hand he was somewhat limited in his experience with women and was not sure whether he was ready for a deeper commitment. He felt he really ought to spend some time speaking with her before he made any irrevocable decisions; he was only seventeen after all.

The forthcoming arrival of more workers meant quite a change in the work site. For a start, the buildings they had would not accommodate the proposed numbers. Then there were the additional facilities they would need to accommodate all the different types of workers. The smiths were going to need special premises, as were the impressors as the number of sheds would no longer be sufficient. Then with all the extra numbers they would require a larger canteen and eventually a bigger social area. This all meant a lot of construction. Some of the carpenters started arriving from Elseth and quite a few of the villagers and woodsmen were employed to help.

Supervisor Alhern soon found that his administration load grew considerably and that he was unable to do the basic requirements of his job because of all of the additional demands. As Nedric was the only impressor who was actually keeping to target, he was roped in to do the basic record keeping required to keep the place running.

The place was growing before their eyes. Trees were being pulled down to make enough room for buildings to be constructed. The buildings themselves were being roughly constructed, as there was insufficient seasoned timber to make more permanent structures. This would change however as green timber was being set aside and stored in the large impressing sheds.

The adjoining village was also seeing changes. The general store was being required to provide more and more supplies and was struggling to cope with the increase. Wagons had quite a trek to get to the village from the fairly distant closest towns and farms. Nedric decided to send a letter to Rialto to suggest that he could make money by sending food and other supplies along the boardways and was surprised and gratified when he got an immediate response.

Only three days after he had sent his letter an unexpected carriage appeared with a livery painted on its side, which made it stand out from the usual plain carriages of the company. The writing said RAN Supplies and the carriage contained two men and quite a large amount of different supplies, tools and other essentials. The two men erected a tent and piled everything inside. Then as one got into the carriage, the other started shouting out a list of wares and prices. As the local tavern and stores lacked anything in the way of luxury there was a steady custom. Before these supplies were exhausted the carriage returned with more and with the makings of a small building. The driver brought a letter to Nedric before trying to hire some of the carpenters to help erect the new store.

The letter was, as expected, from Rialto who had talked the owners of the boardway into selling him two carriages, which were now being used to transport goods across Setherland, and into Esteril. Already he was making so much money by getting goods to people quicker than the other merchants that he was well on the way to recouping his original investment. That wasn’t taking into account the money he expected to make from the new store at the site where Nedric was located and by the way what was the name of that place?

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

The last was a very good question. As far as Nedric knew the village didn’t have a name and the area that Nedric worked at was always known as ‘the works’. Nedric decided that he would invent a name for the place and that by repetition and promotion he would get his name to be accepted. He decided to start by putting a sign on the platform where the carriages stopped.

Getting hold of a piece of wood was simplicity itself. The whole site being in such a state of building that all the things he needed were just lying around. A few nails through the plank and into some support posts and all he then needed to do was to paint it. He decided to use a green background with white writing for no other reason than those were the two colours he was able to obtain most easily. He painted the background and then had to wait a day to do the word. The day gave him time to decide on a name.

He decided to put the sign in the ground next to the platform during the evening. Early enough that the sound of hammering didn’t disturb people or draw attention to him but late enough that no one would be around the platform. He was fortunate and was not seen during the operation. It made a bit of a stir the next day and soon a crowd had appeared to view the sign.

Nedric saw the crowd by the platform and wandered over to discover the cause. The group of workers were milling around and discussing the sign that had appeared over night. Nedric had to hide a smile at the commotion. The sign read ‘Welcome to Nigh’ and the group were discussing what it could mean. When one of the other impressors asked Nedric he offered his opinion that that was the name of the place but had no idea how the sign had got there. As Nedric had spent more time in the village than the others they saw no reason to disbelieve him but still fell to wondering who had made the sign.

At this point Supervisor Alhern walked up and after having a short look at the sign turned around to the gathered group.

“Well, you’ve seen it, it’s a sign, I don’t know who put it there but it isn’t causing any harm or offence so why don’t you get back to work!”

Over the next few days, the sign and its mysterious appearance were brought up in conversation several times. Nedric had to hide a grin each time it was mentioned. He didn’t imagine that he would get into much trouble if anyone found out but he wasn’t definite and any way it was more fun for it to still be a mystery. What gratified him was that the name had stuck. People used it in general conversation without thinking about it. It was good to know that he had named an area and that in all likelihood that name would continue long after he had moved on.

One time when Nedric entered the supervisor’s office he saw that Alhern had a large grin on his face.

“Have you had a letter from your family?” he asked.

“No, but I have had a letter from our leaders back in Elseth.”

“So what have they said that has made you so happy?”

“They have allowed me to construct some houses for families. Quite a few of the older workers want their families with them and there hasn’t been anywhere to put them. As I’m supervisor I get to have my family move here first. All I have to do now is convince them that they want to move away from Elseth.”

“Now that’s a tough choice, the big city with all it’s shops, luxuries and entertainments or Nigh with it’s woods and one tavern.”

“I reckon it won’t be long before Nigh is quite a lot bigger and has a lot of those luxuries you are talking about. That store that your friend had constructed is getting bigger each day and part of the plans was to have a larger social area. It wouldn’t surprise me if some enterprising person arrives with plans to open another tavern, or something else. There are people with money here and that attracts all sorts. I might have to hire some guards to keep order in the near future.”

“You think that we will need them?”

“Where there’s money there will be someone trying to get that money, either through selling something or obtaining it illegally. You mark my words.”

Before he knew it the time had flown. The buildings were ready. All sorts of supplies had arrived to enable the new workers to be able to get on with their work when they arrived. They had found supplies of iron not too far away and a track was being constructed to move it to the works. In the meantime they had horses and wagons and more people to act as miners and hauliers.

The large group was expected over the next few days. There had been some suggestion that the main body of people should all be sent in one group but it was felt that it would cause too much disruption of schedules that were already falling behind. This meant that carriages had to go back and forth between Elseth and Nigh much more often than ever before and some delays were experienced as the single track prevented passing in other than a few places where sidings had been constructed to allow passage. Nedric heard more than once comments about the need for two sets of tracks.

Nedric had been handed the job of seeing to the arrival of the new impressors. Most of them were students from the keep so he knew them by sight at least, although a couple were men who had previously been making chillers and saw that a switch of jobs would earn them more money. Nedric found it odd that he was organising, if not openly ordering around, people who were older than himself. Telling younger people what to do did not really bother him but he had no official authority other than that imposed on him by the supervisor.

As the carriage arrived, Nedric could see Elsebeth peering through the window and taking in the sight of her new home. When she saw him she broke into a large smile and waved and he found himself grinning and waving back. He stopped himself before the group dismounted and did his best to look and sound authoritative as he showed his new colleagues to their accommodation.

He gave them time to unpack their things and sort themselves out from the journey. It was no coincidence that Elsebeth was the last person he showed to a room. As she was the lone woman in the group, she had accommodation with other single women with other skills. There wasn’t much order to the place at the moment as there weren’t many single women but the plans were there for more to be arriving in the near future. There were many different skills needed and although few women decided to go into jobs that involved heavy lifting there were some. Also there would be need for people to do many other jobs.

As he showed Elsebeth to her room, Nedric didn’t know what to say to her. They engaged in small talk but there was a tension caused by the length of time they had been apart. Nedric had been carrying one of her bags, when he reached her room he put it down but being distracted he dropped it on his foot. As he hopped around the room, cursing, Elsebeth started to laugh. Nedric couldn’t help himself and started to laugh as well. It wasn’t that funny but neither seemed to be able to stop laughing, when one would die down the other would look at them and then the laughter would start up again. Eventually they both collapsed side by side on the floor.

When Nedric looked at Elsebeth the tension had gone and they were able to speak without the self-consciousness. There was an unspoken agreement that they were going to spend a lot of time together and that thoughts and feelings would be discussed in depth later. For now they could enjoy each other’s company.