Ash sat in the empty classroom. A minute later another boy her age entered the room. He sat in the opposite back corner as her. She looked over watching his shoulder.

“Where’s your birdie,” she asked.

“He is quarantined in my room. Until it behaves,” he said with a frown.

“You got to have better control of that bird, Gray. It has been what? A year since it started following you around.”

“About that long. It is usually good, but it gets moody when I do,” said Gray. “It reacts when I don’t want or need it too.”

“Have you tried? I don’t know. Not letting it in the orphanage?”

“Been there and done that. Makes things worse and I am blamed because I now have a cage for it and in theory have trained it well enough. I guess this is my fault by now and I’ve got to accept the punishment. Or at least that is what they tell me.”

“That’s rough. I heard this new guy isn’t too bad though. Can’t be worse than Priest Damon.”

Gray shuddered at that but said nothing. For a while, they waited in silence for Priest Grant and their punishment to arrive.

Priest Grant stepped into the room with quick steps and shut the door behind himself. “Sorry that I am late. Things can be quite chaotic around here as you’ve surely experienced. I don’t think we know each other as well as we should so why don’t we start with reintroductions? I am Priest Grant. New to this city but not new to helping with children of various ages. Today I will be going over your deeds and punishment as is proper.”

Grant looked to the two children as he found himself a seat at the front facing them. “Who would like to go next?”

“I’m Gray. I’m here because of Eddie. If you have seen him fly around then you would know. He can be disruptive.”

“Ash. We’ve met before. And we all saw what I did with their stew.”

“Yes, we did,” Grant said sadly. “I was dealing with them myself, but you stepped in quite visibly. Understand that you will not be allowed near the kitchens for the next week or two at least. Don’t expect to spend your time in the gardens either.”

Ash looked down. “I expected that. Is there more?”

“Do you want me to add more time,” he asked.

“No, I do not.”

“Then do not repeat your actions. You can consider me as your enforcement officer meaning that things will start anew but I will not tolerate repeat offenses. Maybe instead of a history lesson, we should go over the rules at least once,” he said the last line more to himself.

“What is our punishment this time then?” asked Gray.

“So eager to get things over with I see? We will get to that soon, but I would like to go over what you did wrong, why it happened, and what you will do to make sure it doesn’t happen a second, or third time,” said Priest Grant.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Gray protested. “It was Eddie. He is kind of a pet. But he is his own bird, creature, or whatever. I didn’t tell him to poop in the hallway.”

“And yet Eddie did it anyway,” Priest Grant continued. “So, you know it is wrong. The bird seems to like you and the others haven’t had luck keeping it away from you so then it is your responsibility. In that case, how can you help teach Eddie what to do in the future?”

“I don’t know man. Keep him in his cage for longer,” he half-heartedly suggested.

“Anything else?”

Gray thought for a minute. There was some silence and Priest Grant let the boy think over his answer. Finally, he answered. “I could try carrying the cage around. It would be annoying, and Eddie wouldn’t like it, but I could do it. I would then have to let Eddie out when I go outside as well. Whether Eddie still behaves or not is not always up to me. When he is outside what he does won’t always be seen by me.”

“That is a decent starting plan. Though I wish you would let Eddie stay outside.” Next Priest Grant turned to Ash. She had not been dozing off and already had some of her answers at the ready.

“I guess it is my turn to admit fault. I made those boys deal with an itching power I made. It was payback for how they played their game of kickball yesterday. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. I had an opportunity to get back at them and I took it,” as Ash reached the end of her statement her volume petered off.

“I’m glad that you can admit that fault. You shouldn’t have let your anger cloud your decision-making and should have waited for me to meet with them. Even if they were initially at fault your actions ruin the process of betterment and change I hope that you all will be on. So now considering that what are you going to do in the future?”

“In the future, I need to wait even if I want to act right away. They need to be punished by you before I do something at the moment.”

“Good. That is better. Now I want you to consider your actions and the words we have shared while we work together on a project. The people of the city have generously given their time in the expansion, improvement, and repair of part of the orphanage. With their help, the services and use of the orphanage can be expanded in times of need. And while their help is appreciated we don’t want to take up too much of their time so some of it is done ourselves. So, for the next hour, we will see how we can help the stonemason and carpenter who are working so very hard.”

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Ash and Gray followed him down the stairs to the first floor and out the side entrance. Here on the east side, the walls were under construction in the process of adding a few new rooms and extending the hallways to connect to the new area. In doing so the building was expanding to bring it closer to the edge of the property line. The work being done was only a few hours each day due to it being volunteer work. The orphanage funded some of it, but it was also a community effort and people of the city pitched in accordingly.

“How goes the work?” asked Priest Grant to the old stonemason as they approached.

“Good. So very good. Matching the stone hasn’t been too hard. For now, it has just been repetitious work until I get closer to finishing the roof, but that won’t be until the end of the month. Now who are these two little one.”

“I’m Gray and this is Ash.”

“They are troublemakers looking to help now,” Priest Grant said in answer. “One of them could help you while the other could help the carpenter.”

“It is just me for the rest of the day unless he returns in the evening to do additional work. I can take care of them if you’d like,” said the stonemason.

“I will watch them and help out a little while they get used to the work and what you need of them today. After that, you can take them for a while longer. I expect them to be out here for an hour and a half. Maybe a little more or less depending on how things are progressing here.”

“I stick to something like that. You two are very lucky that it is a nice day out with the breeze. Take water breaks if you need to but you better not be slacking off while I’m in charge of you.”

Ash and Gray stepped forward ready to start on the tasks assigned to them by the old man. They would follow through and accept their punishment.

The sun was high and warm, casting long shadows of the group across the newly turned earth and stones that lay scattered around the site. Ash and Gray, still wearing the traces of their earlier tension, now looked with a mix of curiosity and resolve at the materials and tools laid out before them. The stonemason pointed to a stack of stones at the edge of the site.

"Gray, you start by moving those stones closer to the wall we're building. No need for fancy lifting, just make sure you're not straining your back. We don't need another project on our hands," he said, his voice a mix of sternness and care. Gray nodded, moving towards the stones with a determined step.

"Ash, come with me. You'll be mixing mortar. It's simple enough, but it needs to be just right. Too wet and it won't set properly, too dry and it'll crumble. I'll show you the first batch, then you're up," the stonemason directed, leading her to a small, makeshift mixing area.

Under the stonemason's watchful eye, Ash quickly learned the rhythm of mixing mortar. The stonemason's initial demonstration was concise, showing her how to blend the components in the correct proportions and how to test the consistency. As Ash worked she was reminded of mixing the stew and other foods from the kitchen. The stirring spread an uncomfortableness through her arms. Once satisfied she had grasped the basics, the stonemason left her to it, turning his attention back to Gray, who was now hauling stones with a steadiness that belied his earlier reluctance.

The air was filled with the sounds of work: the scrape of the shovel against the ground, the thud of stone on stone, and the occasional grunt of effort. Ash found a meditative quality in the mixing, losing herself in the physicality of the task. Meanwhile, Gray, stone by stone, was busy stacking the stone after the mortar had been added. He had to be careful to stack them evenly or else he had to redo it until it was just right.

Priest Grant observed from a short distance. He found that the physical labor, while demanding, offered a different perspective on consequence and responsibility. He hoped that they kept in mind the words he had shared and would avoid having to come out here again. His focus turned from the two children to the building as a whole. Pieces were out of place during the construction, but the paint had become especially worn down by the elements and dirt.

“It looks like some of the paint needs touching up,” Priest Grant remarked.

“It will be,” said the stonemason looking up at the older walls. “The sun has faded it some. It will be an easy fix though. Quicker than building a wall. If you look for it there is always more work to be done.” The old man added more paste to the bricks and stacked another piece.

Priest Grant nodded. Though he didn’t have a timepiece with him he knew his time outside was up. Satisfied with the continued work the pair were doing he left.

“I’m not sure if this really counts as decent. Or if my previous actions didn’t matter as much,” said Ash more to herself.

“What?”

Ash looked up realizing that Gray had listened to at least part of what she had said. “I’ve heard some things about our new punishment officer. I thought things wouldn’t have been as bad or at least as tiring as this has been.”

“It is always worse than you think. That is just how it is,” said Gray.

“I’ll keep that in mind for the future, but that does nothing to help right now.” Ash set the stirring stick down exhausted from the work. She didn’t know how long it had been, but she felt like it had been forever since they started.

“You taking a break?”

“Trying to.”

“Don’t let him catch you. If you want I can help stir for a minute after a stack this last set of bricks.”

“Sure. That would be very helpful.”

Gray went off to stack the next set of bricks. He hurried to finish. The larger stack of bricks meant to be laid had shrunk significantly in the past hour. While he was nowhere near as fast as the practiced man he still helped enough. Once he was done Gray returned to the pot of mortar. Ash stepped away letting him get closer and gain leverage over the stirring pot. He tried stirring. It was difficult. He wasn’t sure if it was just because he was tired or because the mixture had started to dry. As he stirred and pulled at the edges the mortar stuck there was pulled off and brought back into the center of the pot. For a bit longer they worked together on the mortar.

As the hour turned to an hour and a half, both Ash and Gray were visibly tired but satisfied. The stonemason, now inspecting their work, nodded in approval. "Not bad for a couple of novices. You've both earned a break," he conceded, a rare smile breaking through his otherwise quiet demeanor.

Ash and Gray exchanged looks, happy to have finished the work, and were both ready to get out of the sun. They were both ready to collapse once they got inside. Ash in particular felt like her arms were jelly.

"Let's clean up here," the stonemason said, "Then you two are free to go. Remember this feeling of hard work and accomplishment. It might serve you better than any punishment."

As they tidied the tools and materials, Ash and Gray relaxed a little. The priest hadn’t returned so they didn’t have anywhere to go immediately after this. Ash considered what she wanted to do next. They had a little more time before they had to go inside for lessons. The clean-up was quick work and less demanding. Soon they were let go by the stonemason.

“Do you want to go to the garden for a minute,” Ash asked Gray. “I think I have a few flowers in there that Eddie would love.”

“I would love that.”