Chapter 63: Act 2: Chapter 10

Twenty-ninth day, Twelfth Moon, 252 AC (+73days)

"Pass the sauce down, please?"

I reached down the table to grab the jar and passed it over to Koryn. As he loaded up his plate, I looked around the table. It was the first time all three families had gotten together for a meal since Ethan and Jess had died.

It was also a goodbye party, as tomorrow we would be leaving to go on the tour of my lands. We wouldn't all be going, and not everyone at the same time, so we wanted to have an enjoyable evening as a family.

Watching all the children, both the older and younger ones, play and argue, when they should have been eating was a comforting and familiar sight. The children were loud and boisterous, for which, I was thankful that we were eating outside rather than an enclosed room.

"A good meal to send you off, eh?" Koryn asked as he leaned over to me to be heard.

"Aye, it is good to have everyone together," I replied, with a wistful smile.

"It is. I just wish I could go along for the whole trip. I think it's the adventure of a lifetime."

"Don't worry; the second half will still be as good as the first, if not better since you can see the future site of Osend." Unfortunately, we were unable to take everyone with us on the trip as people were needed here to help guide new arrivals and construction work. My immediate family, less Violet and Tylan, would go on the whole trip, with Donovar and his family for the first half. The first half would follow the coast from Redbridge to Stonefisk and would take about two months. Koryn and his family would take a boat and meet us there, and Donovar and his family would go back to Redbridge. We would then continue along the coast heading towards the Twin Lakes River and the future site of Osend. From there we would continue up the Twin Lakes River and go to the Twin Lakes themselves, and then home. We were planning the last half to take us three to four months.

"Aye, I suppose. You got everything packed?"

"Yeah, we do. We've got the caravan wagons already, and we have the boat scheduled for additional drop-offs along the route. The food is planned out, and all of the equipment we will need is packed as well."

"Excellent! I heard there was trouble with the sawblades though. Did you get it all sorted out?"

I nodded. "Aye, I did. We've got enough sawblades now to start handing them out to the larger villages and kickstart some building and industry."

"Good. That and garum making will really get things going."

I nodded. "It will, though I'm still worried about having enough merchants to transport the goods."

Koryn shrugged as he took another bite of food. "One step at a time."

"True," I conceded. "I'm just annoyed, though I realize the situation. It's part of the reason Donovar, and I wrote out the plan for fortifying the villages along the coast to Stonefisk."

"Oh? You finalized that then?"

I laughed sheepishly. "'Finalized' might be a bit strong. We agreed to phases, but the specifics will have to wait until we do a closer inspection. The first phase will be to identify larger, ideally located villages and kickstart industry with garum and sawmills. Then during our stay along the trip, we will scope out a location for a small wooden hill castle that can serve for my Rangers as they patrol."

Koryn made a face. "Ragnar's Rangers? I can't believe you went with that! It's an awful pun!"

I just grinned. "It's catchy. Anyways, phase two would be to fortify those villages at some point in the future, likely with some local garrisoned men-at-arms. The third phase is to expand small, wooden keeps to smaller villages that would serve as way stations for the Rangers and places for the locals to fall back to, in the event of a raid."

Koryn nodded along thoughtfully, though the image of a wise man was ruined by a glob of sauce on his cheek. "Not bad. Did Jon give you any ideas on locating good places t' mine?"

I shook my head. "Nah, he really didn't have any methods for discovering new mines. Wasn't sure there was any way to do so. I figure I will just talk to the locals and see what they know about. I'm not overly hopeful though."

"Sounds like the trip might be shorter than you thought then?" Koryn asked, slyly.

Koryn's wife, Alessa, snorted. "Oh, please. Stop trying to get out of here sooner." She tilted her head to the side and said in a fake surprised voice, "Come to think of it, that means we can see my mother again! You really enjoyed meeting her last time, didn't you?"

Koryn looked pained. "Ah, right."

The rest of the adults around the table laughed.

"It won't be short as all that, I'm afraid," replied Nyra, directing the conversation away from Koryn's misfortune. "You should know, I've talked your ears off about a good, quick hygiene program to spread as we go. We are hoping that there will be a huge population boom following our tour, especially after next winter.

I nodded along with Nyra's words. Population growth and the seeds of industry. It would be a small kick in the pants for economic growth, but it would hopefully start some economic activity and trade in the area.

Nyra leaned over to me and asked, "By the way, did you send off that letter to Rodrik Stark?"

"Yes, I did. I let him know our tour's timetable and said we would gladly host him after its completion, and I would send a letter once I arrived back."

"Good, good. Once we get back, we can send a letter to Lord Manderly as well. Try and arrange a meeting with Ryden and Alice."

I did my best to contain my grimace as my eyes travelled over to Ryden, who was laughing and eating with his cousins. "Probably," I conceded, "I do need to head over to White Harbor eventually; the cast-ironsmith is uninterested in relocating to Redbridge and is terrible at letter writing. We might as well bundle that all into one trip."

Nyra smiled. "That's the spirit."

I rolled my eyes and caught Zane's eye. "Did you think about giving a few of your newest breed of livestock guardian dogs to any of the new farmers?"

Zane nodded. "Aye, I will give out a few puppies from my next litter t' a few of the farmers I've talked t', that have an interest in dogs."

"Excellent! And have you decided on a dog name yet?"

He shook his head. "Not yet. The common breed's name is Mastiff, and some'll use the location as part of the name. But Redbridge Mastiff sounds dumb."

Everyone chuckled.

"Aye," I replied, "A bit. I'm sure something will come to you."

"I'm sure, whatever it is, will be great," said Cait, Zane's wife, reassuringly.

I turned back to the food in front of me and let the conversation drift away from me. The food was excellent, as always, as there was something special about the food you made and raised. I mean, I missed Chinese takeout, but good, homecooked meals were always a delight – especially when you didn't have to do dishes.

Regardless, it would be nice to get away from here for a while. It wasn't quite a vacation, as there would be lots of work, but it was travel and a new type of work. I could ignore the castle for a while, my plans for growing Redbridge, and my finances, and instead, focus on different things and spend time with my family while doing it. My supervisors overlooking the work in this area were ready to be left on their own for a while – even if Violet and Tylan would still be here, watching over everything – and the tricky part of the castle was done – the foundation.

Our cement stores had run low again since the production was much more time consuming than pouring it, so that is where the focus had shifted back to. Hopefully, by the time I returned to Redbridge, another large section of the castle would be completed.

The rest of the dinner passed in laughter and good food, and soon enough I found myself sitting in front of the fire with Nyra, with the kids having already gone to bed. We sat cuddled on the couch, and as I stared into the fire, just enjoying the moment, Nyra was idly knitting.

"What are you knitting?" I asked.

"Another clothing patch for the trip – just in case," she replied.

"Ah. Nervous at all?"

She let out a little hum. "A bit. A bit excited too. I'm looking forward to all the new sights and experiences, but I think I will quickly loathe riding in the wagon."

I let out a little chuckle, as I tried not to wake the children. "True. The leaf springs make it more tolerable, but it is still awful. We will just have to cycle between riding the horses and the wagon."

"We'll make it work," she said, confidently.

I leaned down to kiss her. "Yes, yes we will."