If the masters had been so inclined, the group could have disembarked the boat the day before and taken the boardway from the city of Herit to Elseth. The station was within easy walking distance of their new residence. However there was no accommodation for them in Herit and there would have been additional expense. Therefore this would be their first visit and they were looking forward to it.

Sometime this week they would be heading along the boards in the opposite direction to Herit. The new construction would eventually reach into the neighbouring country of Esteril.

The site had two purposes. There was the public area where travellers would join the boardway and there was the place where boards and carriages were built. As the group approached they could see the stunning white marble edifice that marked the entrance. There were quite a lot of workers around still building what was likely to be an elegant tavern with many rooms for travellers.

The construction site was nowhere near as attractive but rather utilitarian in design and atmosphere. Long sheds had been built; some for the building of carriages were filled with carpenters and other workmen and held a warm, earthy atmosphere. The others were for the creation of the boards and these were quiet and in some cases completely empty. Master Karik explained to the students why this was the case.

“As you should be aware, the process of impressing a board takes roughly twelve hours whatever the size of the plank. Therefore we are limited by the length of plank we can obtain, which is dependant on the size of the tree. These sheds are constructed to hold several planks but only one can be impressed at a time. Each impressor works on one of the planks and then moves on to the next shed. The limits are the number of planks that each person can impress each day and the number of impressors we have. The boards have to be kept separated after they have been impressed or the strain on the mountings becomes too great and also the sheds get rather cold.”

Elsebeth raised a hand to answer a question “Sir we know something about impressing but we don’t really know what the process involves, what do we actually do? I mean we’ve been taught all sorts of things for preparing our minds but preparing our minds for what?”

“That is a very good question,” Karik answered. “In some ways the process is simplicity itself, what you have to do is cause a molecule in the wood to change, which is not too difficult really. The hard bit is to get the molecule to then reproduce itself throughout the plank. For some reason this is much easier to do in a once living object like a piece of wood than it is in either a living thing or something which has never lived, we don’t know why!”

“Sir, what’s a molecule?” asked Callendra.

“Another good question. I assume that you lot know more than you do. A molecule is what you get when you break down a substance as small as it will go. Now the ancients write that you can break a substance down smaller than that but then it becomes several different substances called elements. The smallest bit of an element is an atom, so a molecule in theory is made up of atoms. Now one of the ancients wrote that you can break the atoms up into smaller bits and that those bits can be broken down into smaller bits but if you carry on down that line then everything is made up of nothing, which is of course nonsense!” There was a broad smile back on the face of Master Karik but Nedric wasn’t sure if that was because he was happy to be explaining things or whether he was having a private joke when he said that the ancients spoke nonsense. Nedric, who had read rather more than most of the other students, mainly due to the boredom involved in his upbringing, knew that the ancients had written about carriages travelling without horses long before the boardways had been invented.

The day progressed with the students being shown each aspect of the work being done. The smiths who were working on the wheels for the carriages particularly impressed Rialto. As each carriage had to traverse boards that were exactly the same width, the wheels had to be of identical size. This meant that the smiths had devised means to reproduce many of the components at set sizes and because of this they now could create new items much more quickly. They had numbered bolts, screws and nails to particular widths and were now finding a profitable sideline selling these to other smiths and carpenters in the city.

Another area of the workshops that impressed the students was the room where the designers worked. Not only were there more and larger bits of paper than anywhere the students had ever seen before but also everything that had been done or was to be done existed as a model and the small carriages running around a circular track fascinated the students. Rialto wanted to know whether the carriages could be attached to something in the centre so that it would turn constantly and was told that there was no reason why that should not work. Rialto suggested that the carriages could power a small fan and had to be reminded that it was a warm spring day but quite cool in the room. In an area with so many smiths and impressors temperature was easily managed.

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The visit was concluded in time for the students to go back to the town house for their evening meal and they all had much to think about. Most of the students being of a merchant background were thinking of the commercial possibilities in what they had seen. Carenda had particularly liked the models.

“I could sell any of those models for a fortune to any noble with children! Nobody makes anything that detailed and interesting, especially those moving carriages. I would have loved to watch them when I was younger. I could have pretended I was the driver of the carriages, stopping to pick up passengers and putting them off at another station. I could have built tunnels for the carriages to go through, bridges, all sorts of scenery.”

Of all the students, Rialto was the quietest. Nedric noticing this asked his friend what was the matter.

“I have to get a note to my father, through someone I can trust. There are endless opportunities for the person who seizes the initiative.”

“What are you talking about, your father can’t afford to set up his own boardway.”

“He doesn’t need too. That idea the smiths had of making everything standard sizes. It makes everything cheaper to produce, it doesn’t matter what you’re talking about. So all he has to do is start making something else in standard sizes and he will make money. Think about boots of set sizes, they would be affordable by more people and therefore more would be bought. I have to write a note!”

Rialto wasn’t going to get a chance that evening. Having the thought of Strawn still on their minds, the Masters were not about to let the students out into the streets of the capital city with no supervision. They therefore were restricted to the house that evening. This frustrated all of them, as half of the anticipation of the trip was the chance to explore the capital. There were more than a few people cursing Strawn’s name that evening and Nedric was pleased to hear that Rhianna was one of them. He decided to go over to talk to her, ignoring the muttered comments Rialto made as he did so.

“Strawn messed up your plans for this evening as well I would guess. How would you like me to put on a little juggling show for you?”

“I’d rather eat vomit! Go away.”

“I wouldn’t mind seeing what you can do.” Elsebeth interjected. “The other boys keep saying that you are getting quite good now.”

“Well I’ll just have to get my props then. Back in a minute.”

Nedric was back in but a few moments with his props and Rialto’s mandolin. He hoped that Rhianna would change her attitude when he showed her how adept he had become. He cajoled his friend to play the tune they had rehearsed and got the others to create enough space for him to perform. The Masters and the guards were also in the room so it felt like quite a large audience for his first performance. Rialto struck up a lively tune normally associated with comic events and Nedric performed.

It wasn’t that Nedric was a particularly accomplished juggler, although he was reasonably skilful. What made the performance was his stance and face. The boy was a natural; his body seemed to move from one comic pose to another whilst still keeping three objects moving through the air. Even when he dropped, it appeared to be part of the act as he kicked the ball or club back into the air and continued the show. He finished by throwing a club into the air, pirouetting and then trapping the descending club between the other two, which were now held in one hand. Although he had only been performing for a few minutes he was soaked with sweat. It was made worth it by the applause coming from the audience.

Of course he wasn’t going to get away with just that small bit of show. He was asked for more and this was where he became less successful. He had learnt to juggle four balls and was working on five but he couldn’t do tricks that looked less accomplished than those he had performed before. He was stuck; fortunately Rialto helped him out. The smaller lad was nowhere near as proficient a juggler but he could juggle a bit and he had taught Nedric to play the mandolin a little. Together they had been working on a party piece, nothing serious, just a bit of fun. They tried it out on the group who having no expectations just sat and watched.

Rialto started by playing a simple cheery tune known for its repetition and increase in volume. He started quietly whilst Nedric threw the balls in small arcs and made only small movements. At the end of the verse Nedric threw the juggling balls to Rialto who threw his mandolin over to Nedric. The second verse was designed to cover the boys’ inadequacies. Nedric couldn’t play quietly, Rialto made larger movements when he juggled, it looked like this was intentional rather than unavoidable. The verse finished and the objects swapped. This time Rialto played with the tune adding little trills and chords whilst Nedric threw in his more elaborate and skilful tricks. These were harder to perform and less appreciated normally but they fitted with the music. As the final verse began, Nedric moved to stand to Rialto’s left side so that they concluded the song with Nedric using his right hand to hold the strings on the fret board whilst juggling two balls in his other hand. Rialto held the third ball in his left hand whilst playing the notes with his right. As the last note died the applause started and the two lads slapped each other on the back in delight.

Nedric was fairly full of himself as he went over to Rhianna a few minutes later.

“What did you think of the show then?” he asked.

“It wasn’t bad, I always thought you were a clown!” her reply wasn’t exactly encouraging.

“I thought it was rather good,” said Carenda who happened to be sat next to Rhianna.

“It was all right I suppose.” Rhianna turned her back on Nedric as she spoke to Elsebeth. “Anyway, where were we?”

Nedric walked away feeling more than a little crushed. He hadn’t felt so belittled since he was young and helping his grandfather around the noble’s library. He had only been trying to be helpful by putting books back on shelves. He had seen his grandfather do it many times before. It might have helped the old man’s temper if he hadn’t put all the books in the wrong places and many of them were upside down.

After such a rebuttal he decided that he had had enough of Rhianna. She might be the most attractive girl he knew but her attitude was abysmal. There was no reason for her to put him down in that way other than to elevate her own status. For the first time since he met her he realised that she wasn’t all that wonderful.