Marley and I had eaten our lunch and returned to the workyard.

We had two orders of business to take care of and could begin them both at the same time.

We sat in his, no in our, office, like we had the previous day and we set about designing my wagon. All the while men who had previously lost their jobs came by the offices to ask if it was true that they could have their jobs back.

Marley did most of the talking, mostly it was him just telling them that, yes, it was true and that if they would like to then they could have their old jobs back.

I was impressed with how these conversations were handled, Marley was apologetic but not obsequious when it came to the men he would rehire.

Each of them all already knew that he hadn't wanted to let them go and while some of the men were still a little sour about being one of the workmen chosen to lose their jobs, they quickly got over it after the brief conversation.

Not all the workmen returned, whether it was because they hadn't heard, had found other work or just didn't want to come back, I didn't know, but the number of workmen that were rehired were enough to open up another two of the other workshops inside the warehouse.

In the mean time both me and Marley were furiously sketching and discussing the plans for my wagon.

It had taken Marley the better part of five minutes to fully understand what exactly I was going for and then he quickly became enthusiastic about the project.

I wanted a wagon fit for a high noble, a noble who had power, wealth and magic.

I would be using this wagon as part of my plans.

It would be a huge affair, like the size of the wagon I had returned to Moreland's Rest on, a wagon with size enough to haul huge amounts of raw ore out of Diggin.

Only my wagon would be closed top and would be for luxury, not utility.

Lord Al Edo would not be seen in anything less, not least because I hadn't truly created the persona I would take on yet.

For now, I was simply laying the foundations.

We came to the mutual understanding that while Marley was a master at his craft, he had no magic or talent with runes and so the two of us would have to personally work on this project together.

It would be a grand piece once it was finished but it would require some hard work from both of us.

We parted ways once more that evening and returned to the office again the next morning.

Marley was busy working on the exact physical plans while I scribbled out runic configurations in a note book.

Marley stopped once to file an order for a wealth of new materials, not only for my wagon but for the mostly empty workyard too.

It was around mid-morning when another former workman came into the office and it was one I had spent some time with.

More surprising was that he actually recognised me almost immediately.

“Al!” Jessep exclaimed in surprise at seeing me.

“It's been a while.” I said with an easy grin. “Still doing everything you can to avoid working?”

Jessep laughed a little bitterly but shook his head and glanced at Marley.

“The opposite actually, I heard I might be able to get my old job back?” Jessep said with a questioning note at the end of his words.

Both Marley and me nodded at the same time but it was Marley who spoke.

“It's true.” Marley said and gestured to me. “With my new business partner, I'm trying to rehire all the men I had to let go.”

Jessep's eyebrows shot up at this.

“I'm mostly going to be a silent partner.” I explained. “All I've done is put a little coin into the business and managed to get my name on it. Other than that, I'm not really going to do anything else.”

“That might be the case.” Marley interjected and looked at Jessep. “But Al is still a full partner in the business now, just as much as I am.” The words were half informative and half light warning to Jessep, whose usual mocking attitude probably got him into the some hot spots.

“You don't have to call me Boss though. Al will do.” I said, then grinned as I added. “Or you can call me Sir if you're into that sort of thing.”

Jessep stared at me for what must have been five seconds, in complete silence before bursting out laughing and walking the rest of the distance to myself and Marley.

“I think I can manage to remember to call you Al.” Jessep said and offered me his hand, I shook it firmly then watched Jessep shake Marley's hand too.

“When can I start again?” Jessep asked and a few minutes later he was heading out of the office door, on his way to stir up trouble in the workshops no doubt.

Around noon I took my leave and promised to see Marley again tomorrow, as I had a few things to do today.

I headed back into town to find myself some lunch and ended up back at the small tea shop once more, enjoying the gentle breeze as I sat outside with some tea and sweet cakes.

I was lost in my own head.

So many plans to put into place and many of them would probably have to change as situations themselves changed.

I would eventually be heading to Gresh, I would take on the role of Lord Al Edo, a powerful lord from a land that probably no one had ever heard of.

That land was of course Althalan's home, long since gone.

I planned to keep an aura of mystery around myself and that, coupled with my clear wealth and possibly a few displays of magic, would hopefully be enough for me to move into the higher circles of Gresh.

That is where I would truly have to play the part of Lord Al Edo, I had to cultivate a reputation as I travelled so that by the time I eventually returned to Clearwater once more, my identity would be as real as truth.

Reputation was very important in the higher circles and it provided a convenient weakness to exploit.

Questioning my credentials as nobility would be as much as admitting that the questioner didn't know something, this was tantamount to admitting a weakness so I didn't really expect any of the major lords or ladies to do this publicly.

Oh they would do everything they could in secret to try to ferret out information on this strange lord who had appeared in their ranks, but unless they sent ships out into the ocean in the exact right direction, then they could never truly verify if I was who I claimed to be.

Marley wouldn't give any information on me that wasn't already known, if anyone asked then he would be vague. I was simply a rich noble who had offered to help his failing business.

I would be counting on subtle things to give credence to my new identity.

Coins minted from a kingdom they had never heard of, but still very real gold.

I would have to use up a lot of the gold ingots and the other wealth I had in my chest, and use them in such a way that it made my prosperity obvious.

I would be able to feign ignorance of certain things, certain protocols or situations under the guise of being a foreigner.

It would help me with a lot of things.

I finished the last of my tea before heading back onto the streets to collect the clothing I had ordered days before.

I ended up back at my room in the inn to inspect my new outfits.

There were three outfits.

The first was much like the clothing I had bought all those years ago, rough and dark material that could take some heavy use though clearly of a much finer make.

Shirt, pants, underclothes and a good belt, all of them dark grey, save the black belt.

I would be wearing these clothes tomorrow when I returned to the workyard, I would have to get my hands dirty and get some carving done as I worked through the runic configurations I planned for my wagon. I had to test them and see if they did what I intended them to do and that they allowed the magic I would put in them to flow freely.

The second outfit was much like the one I was current wearing, it was almost the exact same kind of cut, a strange design for this part of the world. The overlong shirt was a deep forest green, as were the loose fitting pants. The embroidery didn't have the simple hawk I had fashioned on my self-made clothing, but the patterns that accented the shoulders, cuffs and sleeves were of a much much finer quality and a far more intricate design.

While the cut was the same as my own, this outfit had a robe with it, one that was just as thin and light as the fabric of the other pieces.

Wide sleeves and a deep hood that had a very small strip of dark leather sewn onto the inside of the hood's rim, this was to keep the hood in place as the fabric was so light.

I had thought about ordering a heavier fabric but with the summer heat in full swing, I decided that I could put it off for now and wait until I reached Gresh.

The third outfit was simple noble finery that was common amongst nobility here in this time and place. Silken shirt, high quality pants that were mostly plain but would mark me as a noble or at the very least a wealthy merchant.

I would need to buy new boots, I would need some that fit with each outfit and each of their different purposes, but for this day, I had had enough.

I already knew what I wanted to buy and knew where to buy them, I could pick them up sometime tomorrow morning before I went to the workyard.

I put away both of the finer outfits, leaving out what I thought of as my 'work clothes' out for the next day.

I retrieved my notebook, flopped down onto the bed and got back to drawing possible runes for my wagon.

**********

The next morning I was up and out early, I'd hurried to buy my new shoes and boots and taken them back to the inn.

A pair of sturdy workmen's boots, hard-toed and thick leather. I'd put them on right away with my workmen's clothing.

The second and third were left in my room.

A pair of shoes that were close to sandals, these were for my 'foreign noble' outfit and then a pair of rich, high topped leather boots that shone for my other noble outfit.

I'd headed back out to the workyard and managed not to be the last to arrive for the morning.

Marley, was of course already there.

I saw the light coming from inside the office building, I walked by it without entering though as my destination was elsewhere.

A few of the workmen were standing outside one of the open bay doors, some chatting, others smoking their pipes.

“Morning” Said an older looking man with a plume of smoke coming from between his lips.

“Morning,” I returned and gave the group a nod as I moved through the open bay doors and into the warehouse.

I moved through the semi-lighted warehouse to one of the unused workshops, it was here I planned to spend most of my day.

I set about opening up a few boxes and looking through several drawers and taking some tools with me to one of the empty workbenches.

After looking around briefly to be sure no one was watching too closely, I pulled out my book of chests and retrieved my own set of finer tools.

They weren't anything special and their quality was honestly about the same as the rest of the tools in the warehouse, but they were for more finer and intricate work and more importantly, they were tools I was used to using.

I set down the small case on the workbench too, I pulled up a stool but rather than sitting down on it I headed back out in search of some scraps of wood and stone that I could use to test out my runes.

I got a few odd looks from the workmen, mostly ones who had arrived while I was inside, as I picked through the bits and pieces of the scrap piles.

I was on my second scrap hunt when I heard someone call out.

“Al!” Jessep's voice sounded out and I stood up straight and turned around.

“Morning.” I greeted the man as he walked over to me, I noticed the group of workmen who stood back over by the open bay door were watching while pretending not to be.

“Good morning!” Jessep said with his easy grin. “What are you doing? You do realise you are allowed to use better stuff than scraps now right?”

I snorted.

“I'm planning on ruining the pieces I use on a few tests, so scraps will do.” I told him.

“Fair enough.” Jessep said as he finally reached me. “What do you need?” He said looking at the pile of scrap wood I was currently looking through.

“Mostly solid pieces, nothing with too many splits or holes. About this big.” I said and gestured with my hands to indicate the sizes I was looking for. “I've got some stone in the workshop already, just need a few good pieces of wood to carve into.”

Jessep nodded and we both started digging through the pile. We found several planks buried further into the pile, they were in great condition but had been discarded because at one end of their five foot length, there had been a huge knot that ruined them for their intended use.

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The kind of thing you could only find once you'd started milling the wood down and opened it up.

The two of us lifted them up and carried them together with several smaller block pieces I liked the look of, they were balanced on the flat planks.

Once we got inside, we set them down in the workshop I'd started getting ready.

“Thanks, Jessep.” I said as I dusted off my hands.

“No worries.” Jessep said and I could see him eyeing my small engraving tools. He nodded towards them. “You know how to use those?” He asked.

“Mostly.” I said with a shrug. “Been using them for a few years so I've figured out how not to poke holes in myself.”

Jessep grinned. “Well let me know if you want any pointers, I'll only charge you half price for the lessons because you're the boss.”

“Piss off.” I said with a laugh and Jessep's own laughter followed him as he headed back to the rest of the workmen.

I felt the grin still on my face as I lit up a couple of lanterns with a whisper of will, then I got to work.

I didn't start with the wood but instead I set down a block of stone and took a seat on the stool.

The stone block was roughly one foot in length, half that in width and about three inches thick.

Besides the chipped off corner on one end, it was completely smooth and the edges crisp and straight.

I guessed that it had supposed to have been some kind of inlay for something at one point because it was a rich dark colour, something that was supposed to look nice rather than serve a function.

I opened up my small notebook, found the right page then I picked up a charcoal pencil and began to draw in the shapes I wanted.

I could use magic to alter the shape of the stone, I could even get a few of the more simple runes to open themselves in place on the stone's surface but there was too much detail for me to do it all by magic so I would carve them by hand.

I'd found that even if I could use my will to put a rune onto stone, albeit a simple rune, that when I carved the same rune by hand, the one I had carved always seemed to be slightly better than the one produced by magic alone.

I had no idea why this was but I couldn't deny that it was so.

Pouring magic into a hand carved rune was always easier than one I had forced into place by magic, even the function of the rune itself seemed to work better as any power I put into it moved more freely from it to other connecting runes.

I had figured this out back in the mountain, I had spent weeks, months probably, carving runes but at first I had just tried to will them into the stone with my power.

I'd started getting frustrated with them because the memories I had from Althalan and the reality of the runes I had willed into being were different.

They were less effective, almost sluggish and power hungry despite the fact I knew they shouldn't be.

I had no idea why this was, nothing from the grimoire and the memories I'd received gave any hint that there should be a reason for this. It was when I had started reading one of the other, 'normal' books that Althalan had left behind that I got a clue.

It had been a book about runes, although book implied that there was structure and organization to the contents, there wasn't.

It was actually a collection of notes and small reminders on runes and runic configurations that I noticed always referred to carving the runes when it ever referenced the act at all.

Never once did it say anything about using magic to shape the stone, and I knew that moving or shaping stone was something that Althalan knew how to do.

When I started carving runes into the stone by hand, I noticed the difference almost immediately.

I had been happy to have discovered the correct way to use runes but still annoyed that I didn't know the reason for the difference.

I had a theory that something about forcing the stone to change it's shape, about shifting the densities of the stone itself had something to do with it but I didn't truly know.

It was just my best guess from the partial knowledge I had.

Carving runes into stone by hand took a long time, you couldn't rush them because one small chip or groove put into the wrong place could ruin the entire thing. I ended up settling on a good balance between willing the stone to change and carving by hand.

I would will splits into the stone, splits that released small chips of the stone that would allow most of the material I needed removed to come off and away from the stone. Then I could use my tools to carve them into their more intricate and final forms.

They were still slightly less effect than carving the entire thing by hand but they were worlds above using my will alone to reshape the stone.

It was a balance between function and time.

I was using a small file to deepen a groove slightly on the block before me when a hand tapped me lightly on the shoulder.

Slightly startled I looked up to see Marley standing there.

“Sorry, I guess I was caught up for a minute there.” I said and set down the file, turning my full attention to Marley.

“Longer than a minute.” Marley told me looking a little amused. “It's lunch time, that's why I came here. I'm going to take all the lads to lunch, we're going to come back afterwards and wait for a big material drop.” Marley explained.

“I've told them once they've put everything we get delivered away properly, they can have the rest of the day to themselves.” Marley said as he was examining the stone I had been working on. “I asked you if you want to come with us or are you going to stay here?”

I stretched my back slightly and it popped, having been hunched over for hours apparently wasn't good for your back.

I sighed then stood up.

“I'll come.” I said. “Where are we all going?” I asked him.

“Three Hens.” Marley told me. “Just back up the end of the street, back into town, at the corner on the right.”

I thought for a moment and the image of the large tavern with window boxes with flowers came to mind.

“With the flowers in the windows?” I asked.

“That's the one.” Marley nodded.

“Alright.” I said. “I'll just clean this up a little first.” I said and gestured to the stone block.

It was both dusty and damp, I'd splashed water onto the carvings occasionally in an attempt to keep the dust levels down and a few of my tools had the grey wet dust on them still.

“Alright, but remember to close the bay door to when you leave.” Marley reminded me and turned around to head out. “I'll have a drink ready for you.” I told me as he walked away.

“I will.” I said. “And thanks!”

I set about cleaning up my small mess and making sure my tools were clean and ready to use once more.

It was no more than ten minutes before I closed the big bay door to the warehouse and jogged my way out of the yard.

*******

The next day I was once more at the workshop that I had to myself.

I sat on the stool, working on my stone as the sounds from the rest of the warehouse rang out around me.

Cheerful chatter, the sounds of tools impacting on materials, jokes and good natured ribbing passing between workmen at other workshops and the odd emphatic curse when someone hammered their own nail rather than the iron one that went into the wood.

The favoured response to this seemed to be one of the other workmen shouting out 'Wrong nail!' while the others laughed, and whoever was unfortunate enough to have caught themselves would swear all the louder for it.

I mostly managed to block out everything else but found myself grinning silently at my little workbench at the swearing.

The lunch had been a little awkward yesterday, at least at first.

It wasn't until Jessep has started throwing meaningless insults in my direction that I had swiftly returned that things began to get better.

The rest of the workmen relaxed a little more and as they did so, so did I.

I wasn't used to being around so many people all the time, having mostly hidden away in my mountain, but once that awkwardness was gone, I quickly found myself enjoying the company of the workmen.

When I had arrived this morning, I'd gotten another round of nods and the occasional good morning but there had been a more relaxed feel to the casual greeting.

I would have to thank Jessep for mocking me, it seemed bizarre but, I was pretty sure he knew what he was doing when he did it.

He was a lot smarter and more thoughtful than he seemed with his mocking attitude and barbed tongue.

I was almost done with the runes on my block of stone, they were intentionally left incomplete though.

I needed to carve the fine details onto the last rune, it was this last rune that I would push my power into once it was complete, from this rune that power should spread into all the other runes on both sides of the stone.

It was actually a habit to leave the power tap rune until everything else was done, the logic being that if you couldn't empower the runes then there was less chance of an accident while you were still working on them.

It was a habit that wasn't actually my own, or at least it hadn't been my own.

It was just another one of those half-impressions I had picked up from Althalan.

In this case, it was probably pointless but it didn't make much difference in how long it took for me to complete the runic configuration, and I thought that it was just a good practise to have in general.

First though I needed to use a drill and a little magic to bore a hole through the piece.

There was a small mark on the stone that marked the centre of where I would bore my hole and so I changed the tip on the small drill, set myself to the mark and slowly began to turn the drill.

As I did this, I let my focus settle into the stone and softened the area I was drilling through. A surprising amount of dust came up as the holesaw drill bit dug into the stone. It was more than would be considered normal as the stone I was focusing on lost density and the bit moved through it more easily.

A few seconds of careful turning of the drill and the tip pierced through.

I held up the stone and examined it.

My runes were neat and moderately well carved, the hole I had just put into the centre of the stone was clean with no chips or cracks on the edges.

I was satisfied with how it had come along so far.

I dusted my stone off, then replaced the drill and bit back to their proper places before carving my final rune.

I forced myself not to rush and keep my work steady and not too long later I was done.

All I had to do now was empower the runes and see if they worked.

Such a complex piece of work for something that would, if it worked, have such a basic and simple function.

It wasn't even something new to me, I had made something similar back in the mountain. Only back there, I had used my will to shape the stone as it was before I had discovered the reason for the mild nature of my runes.

Air flow.

That's all this was.

Pull in fresh air from one side and push it out of the other.

Back in the mountain, I hadn't needed a very effective rune for this, I could have probably just had a regular hole in the stone and it probably would have done a good enough job, but this was different in a way.

It was the same basic idea only scaled down a lot, the hole that would take in air was also tiny when compared to the ones I had put into the mountain.

And the other thing was that this work was clearly of a much higher standard than the work I had put into the runes back at the mountain, I had only just been beginning to learn what I could do back then after all.

I had improved my skills considerably since my first few attempts into runecraft.

Which was more important than the actual function that the runes would serve, this kind of work was something you needed to pay a professional a lot of gold to do, it was something only the wealthy could or would buy.

Throw coin away for their own comfort, no matter how much it cost.

I set my focus on the last rune I had carved upon the stone and began to let my power flow down into it, the raw forces from with me, sank easily into the rune and I both watched and felt as power then bled out from it and into the rest of the runes.

I held myself like this simply letting the power sink into the rune and the stone at it's own pace.

Then a pressure against my focus and I ceased my flow of power as the rune let me know that it would take no more.

A silvery sheen than no ordinary person could see, seemed to ripple into and out of the runes as the power they now contained settled.

I waited for perhaps a minute or two before another light touch of my will directed at the stone activated their function.

I felt a coolness to my fingertips as I held the stone and knew it was from a new current of air that was being pulled in and pushed out of my stone.

I turned the stone in my hands and as I directed it up towards my face, a small gentle woosh of air stirred my hair slightly as it brushed up against the skin of my face.

I grinned, willed the runes into inactivity and then set my stone piece back down on the workbench with a little satisfaction in my movements.