The lowest level of my fortress was crowded with people. The floor curved upwards to the ceiling in a bowl over a radius of eighteen meters, but only thirteen meters of that was usable to stand in. There were twenty or so lights lighting up the darkness, mostly from villagers with glowing hands raised into the air. John, Veya, Michael, and Chantelle were all near the doorway having been the last ones through.

"This is one of the smallest floors of my fortress." I said. "Only matched by the first floor. The first and third floors I have designated as utility and the second floor is occupied by the Druids. The Druids have a summer priest by the name of Shawn who I am sure will want to see you John. If you wanted a space of your own separate from the Druids I can make you a building on the third floor. For the Warders, the fourth floor has a circular floor-space eighty meters wide, minus the five meter square in the center for the central stairwell, and that will be the site for your new village."

Everyone was silent and paying rapt attention to me as I was speaking. The entrance to the stairwell was around the corner from the doorway that now led back into the safe room of my Pocket Dimension.

"This way." I said. "It's a bit of a climb, sixteen flights of stairs."

Veya frowned. "Some of my people are sick." She said, reminding me.

"This area is safe." I said. "They can stay here and I'll see if the Druid healer can have a look at them. I was going to be making a Portal for your floor eventually, I'll do that sooner and they can use that to avoid the climb. You will want some people to plan the layout of your village, though."

I looked at Chantelle, I didn't want to let her out of my sight.

"Could you stay by me?" I asked.

I felt her send me a wave of reassurance through our connection as she nodded. Veya and Michael started moving through the crowd, stopping to speak to several people as they went.

"I would take you up on your offer of my own place." John said. "Not that my priest wouldn't put me up, I'm sure he's a good lad, but it would be stepping on his toes to have me in his temple."

I nodded and we made our way up the stairs a bit, getting out of the crowd. A few minutes later ten people joined us led by Veya.

We headed up the stairs and I briefly stopped into the Ward room to ask Maaata if she could make some more of the sunlight enchanted mana crystals, she agreed so long as I was providing the mana crystals. I could feel that Chantelle wanted to stay in the Ward room to thoroughly examine what had been done there. She was gone less than two days and Maaata had completely taken over the place. But she followed me up to the fourth floor, Veya's people behind us, when I left. Two of the people following Veya cast a light spell when we arrived showing the entire floor.

"Think about how you want things laid out." I said. "I can provide fresh water from piping from the floor above you, and waste, water and other, can be disposed of through channels to the floor below. I will be back after I see about a healer for the others."

Veya nodded, and I heard several of the others discussing how they would build in the space. They sounded as though they had some experience with building, but it probably wasn't going to be that relevant. I was just going to throw up walls wherever they needed them.

Chantelle and I headed up to the Druid floor. The two guards at the entrance were new to me, though I may have seen them in the storytelling room. They were both boar men, and looked nearly identical with their tusks and crew cut hair. They were taller than I was, and were holding staves framing the door.

"Greetings Lord C.C." They both said in sync with each other.

"Hello." I said. "We were just going to see Greta."

They both nodded and the vines that made up the door over the entranceway parted in the middle, each of them holding half and gesturing us through.

Stolen novel; please report.

We made our way through the entrance hall, and then the hallway out to the fields and to the canvas tent. What I needed was marker stones. The canvas tent was proof that designing the buildings myself made it so that they weren't ideal. With marker stones they could mark out where they wanted walls to be and I could fill them in.

Chantelle coughed, getting my attention. I had been staring at the entrance to the canvas tent for a minute or so.

"Greta, are you in?" I asked loudly.

A few moments later Greta opened the tent flap and stepped out.

"My lord." She said, with a slight bow. "Are you back?"

"I am." I said. "Some of the Warder villagers are sick, I was wondering if you would be able to heal them?"

"Of course my lord." She said. "There are six people awaiting your attention for healing. They have all spoken to both Essy and Ian and these are the ones who would risk the pain. There were five others who have unhealable injuries that will wait to see how the first six cope."

"There are only one hundred of you." I said. "Thirteen were maimed beyond healing?"

"One hundred and three." Greta said. "It is a rough world my lord. Winter is relatively tame as most of the dangerous monsters leave, but summer is a near constant struggle."

She looked sad, her ears drooping, before recovering.

"Where are my new patients?" She asked.

"On the bottom floor of the fortress." I said.

She nodded and we headed back through the druid area and to the stairs, parting ways at the fourth floor.

When we arrived the people on the floor had split into two groups, and were having a heated discussion with Veya standing apart and letting them go at it.

"Veya." I said, calling her over, the rest of the people went silent. "What were they arguing about?"

"Building styles, building materials, village layout, comparative building sizes based upon importance to the village..." Veya said. "Not anything you need to be troubled with."

I shook my head, agreeing. "I made these." I said, pulling out ten marker stones I'd made in my Pocket Dimension.

They were a T-intersection of stone with an extra piece so they could stand up.

"Place them so the stand faces inwards to mark out the places that you want walls and I'll put them up."

It would allow them to control both the placement and width of walls. I took out the five hundred that I'd already made.

"That should do for the first set of buildings." I said. "Then they can be reused for however many sets you need."

I turned to face the others. "I have other things to do, stop arguing and get some buildings laid out." I said. "Your people need a place to stay and I want this done within two hours."

I nodded to Veya and headed back to the stairs as they all rushed forward in silence to get the markers.

"They're all in awe of you." Chantelle said as we got out of earshot. "And terrified of you, too."

I frowned. "Terrified?" I asked.

"They are the builders and craftsmen of the village." Chantelle said. "You defied the Winter God in rescuing them, fed them from an infinite source of food without using magic, and then created a Portal from the keep, which was heavily warded by the way, to here. You are as powerful as the gods and you just expressed your displeasure at them, you could kill them all and no one here would stop you."

Okay, laid out like that I could see the problem. But there wasn't anything I could do about it. I opened my mouth to say that.

"You just need to form an official treaty." Chantelle said. "They will feel safe if they guaranteed protection."

"How are treaties enforced?" I asked.

"The world magic itself prevents breaches of treaties." Chantelle said. "Your providing a safe place, as an example, means that you cannot cause harm to anyone here. And if, at the world magic's assessment, the fortress was not 'safe' then the treaty would not be able to be made. The treaty can break if both parties agree, or if the terms are broken outside of the control of the parties to the treaty."

It didn't seem to me as though treaties were very effective. But if it would make my people feel safer I would do it properly. I started carving a Pocket Dimension doorway into the stone of the outside wall of the stairway on the villager's floor. I needed to do it anyway and it would both provide an access to the doorway to the Forest Keeper city where I could get Mal'Thorn and give me something to do for half an hour while Veya's people laid out the markers for their buildings.

I finished up the doorway, having placed the Pocket Dimension side in the same closed off room as the Forest Keeper's doorway. Veya's people had used about half of the markers I had made, working quickly despite the whispered arguments they were having.

From what I could see they had a dozen buildings laid out branching off from four main roads that led out from each of the faces of the stairway. As I was looking over the layout one of the women of their group approached me.

"E-excuse me my lord." She said. "Veya said that you would be providing water and privies. How should we mark them out?"

Chantelle was right, the woman was terrified of me. I made twenty discs of three different sizes, colouring half red and half blue and handed them to her.

"Blue for fresh water, which will come from a pipe in a wall so place it next to one." I said. "Red for waste water. Privies, washing tub drains, baths, that sort of thing. Large red ones for trash disposal."

She took the discs and ran away after a wobbly bow. I sighed and stepped through the doorway and over to the Forest Keeper doorway, Chantelle following me.