Work in Progress

"Heh? Our little Anna earned some money of her own. What do you plan on doing with them?", aunt Lira asked after sharing the news with her. "I don't know. Probably nothing right now. I will use them when necessary", I replied. "You don't have to be so frugal. Buy something for yourself, and enjoy. You'll get paid after you finish that project of yours anyway", uncle Crow added. "I'm fine guys. You give me food and a place to sleep. I don't need anything else really", I insisted.

"Anyway, how was your day at work? Made any progress?", aunt asked instead. "Yes, quite a bit of progress. We already created the first part of the starting section, though Formations and calibration will take time. We decided to do it in stages, so that there are no misunderstandings or disorder", I replied.

"That's actually very well organised. Focusing on smaller bits to create one whole course, not bad at all. I'd be tempted to hire you in our line of work. We need people who can manage others too", uncle said. "Nah, I have my own business going on, and it's starting to work out. Besides, this project was for Drak and other kids. I'm not going to be doing such things everyday… I think", I declined. "I had a feeling you wouldn't agree. Anyway, are you hungry?", uncle asked instead. "No, I'm fine. Me and the others went for dinner in the city. I should get some rest though, more work awaits me tomorrow. Good night, guys", I replied before retiring to my room.

The following day, our work on Formations began. We had to place loads of wind Formations, then connect them and add Element collecting Formations. The slide alone required a few of them. Moreover, the Formations of the slide had to fling the person to a specific location. More precisely, towards the first wind stream Formation. That stream would direct them to a second then third wind stream, before they would pass the obstacle wall. That was the plan, at least for the first part of that section. The second part of that section, would contain a large pit and a wall on each side of it. My plan was to fling the people from wall to wall, and across the pit.

The work on the first part alone took us three additional days. The Formations had to be solid, working and supplied by the collecting Formations. "Great job guys, we are pretty much done with this part of the first section. All we need to do now is test the section, and make sure everything is calibrated. I thought about that, and obviously none of us will be testing it. For that purpose, we shall make a wooden puppet of sorts. We can use the puppet for our tests, as well as gauge how well the Formations work", I announced.

Creating a puppet was really simple. A few logs here and there, then some Formations to marry everything together and our puppet was born. "Are we ready?... Then place the puppet atop the slide, and let's watch", I said. With everything ready, Felix activated the Formation. "Swoosh!", the puppet flew down the slide, but the wind was too strong. The puppet overshot the first wind stream, then slammed the ground hard as a result.

"It's obvious this one, we have to adjust the Formations on the slide", Sam spelled out the obvious results to us. "Really? Wow Sam, we are glad you were able to tell us that", Hilan replied. "Guys, stop it. Felix and Liby, can you two take care of that? Me and the rest will check up on the other Formations", I asked. "Of course, leave it to us", Liby replied.

The adjustment took a while, but then the wooden puppet had another try. "Swoosh!", the puppet slid down a bit more gently this time. The puppet landed on the first wind stream without any issues. The stream stopped its fall, then propelled it forwards. The second wind stream was fine, or so it seemed.

Although the puppet got flung towards the third wind stream, the force behind that second push wasn't enough. Inevitably, the puppet crashed once more. "Alright, the slide should be fine. The first stream seems alright as well. In that case, let's adjust the second stream before another test", I told everyone. The daylight was slowly disappearing, which meant we had to finish soon, or leave it for tomorrow.

Though we stayed a bit longer than usually, we were able to carry out one more test. "Everyone ready for the final test today?... Alright, here we go then", I activated the Formations. "Swoosh!", the puppet made it down the slide and onto the first stream. Then to the second stream and the third stream. The only question was, would it fly past the obstacle wall?

The puppet gathered speed off of the third stream, and finally made it over the wall. "Great! We did it. We will do some more tests tomorrow, just to make sure. We also need to check where the puppet lands, since we have to catch it over there as well. Anyway, great job guys. We made a lot of progress already. Let's pack up and get something to eat. My treat", I said excitedly. They were reluctant to agree, but I grabbed them for the late dinner anyway.

"Tomorrow, we can start working on the second part of the course. We are slowly getting there, but there's a lot in front of us", I said during the dinner. "We will manage somehow. Besides, we work very well as a team", Ilina replied. "Yea, it's great to work with you Anna. We were lucky to get such a project", Sam added. "Stop it you guys, there's no need for praise. Anyway, eat up. Don't miss the opportunity for free food!", I said, making them chuckle.

The next day, we tested the first part a few more times just to make sure. The Formations required small tweaks here and there, but everything was in order. "Alright, we can now focus on the second part of this section. We will need a pit, and two walls. Not overly difficult, therefore we can finish this today. Ilina, Sam, Felix and Liby, you guys will take care of the pit. Me, Hilan and Jerim will do the walls", I divided the work. Fortunately, Ama provided us with a container full of water and a heap of logs. This meant we didn't need to use our energy for pottery treatment.

The muddy walls rose from the ground, then got treated with fire. We made them very thick so that they could support a few wind Formations. Liby proposed to add a few supports behind the wall, just to make sure. We agreed, since this would make it much more sturdy. "Guys… This is not in the plan, but how about we make this a bit more difficult looking?", Felix asked.

"What do you have in mind?", I voiced our collective curiosity. "There's nothing but empty space between the walls and the pit. Now, I'm sure it will be fun flying from one side to another… Though it could be better. How about we actually add some obstacles between the two walls? You know, something like pillars extending from the pit", he proposed.

"That's actually not a bad idea. We could make those pillars vertical or even horizontal. With a proper set up of Formations, the thrill of navigating through those pillars would be much better. I'm in for this idea", Sam agreed. The rest seemed to like the idea as well. "Hmmm… Alright, let's do it then. Though the horizontal pillar would be too difficult. We can't add too much work for ourselves. Therefore, we should go with the vertical pillar. Too many of them wouldn't be good either, and the complexity should be too high…", I gave it some thought, but then decided Felix should be responsible for that.

"Felix, that was your idea, so I'll leave it to you. Make it simply but difficult looking at the same time. Take whoever you need, while others take care of the receiving Formation. We already know where the puppet lands, the Formation can be created there", I added. "Sure, I have something in mind already. Can you, Liby and Sam help out with the pillars, while others take care of the Formation. Sounds alright?", he asked.

I had no issues with such arrangements. Felix decided on six round pillars, extending from the bottom of the pit, to the height above the walls on each side. "We have to make the pillars rather thick, but also in such a pattern", he said while drawing the pattern for us. There were three rows and two columns. Each row had two pillars of course, but they weren't facing each other. The whole grid was skewed one way. In other words, the pillars were placed in a slight zigzag pattern. "This shouldn't be an issue, right?", Felix asked us. "No, not at all. This is better than three rows in line, it's not that plain. Alright, let's get to work then", I agreed.

Our work finished just as the sun was setting, but the results were really great looking. "I must admit, this looks much better now. We just have to weave the people past those pillars. This will require six Formations placed between the gaps of these pillars. We will also need another Formation at the end. That is something we will work on tomorrow", I said. "Yea. As an added safety though, we can add a few Formations at the bottom of the pit. That's kind of a fail safe method, just in case something doesn't go to plan", Ilina proposed.

"Sounds like a good idea. Alright, let's get some rest. The first section is almost done, then we have three more sections to go. We are not even at halfway point yet. Anyway, we made a lot of progress. Take care guys, and see you tomorrow", I bid them farewell.

A surprise awaited me at my uncle's place. Dawn finally returned from her work, and waited for me to meet up. "Hey, how are you doing?", she asked. "Great to see you, Dawn. I'm alright, just a bit tired. Ah! Before I forget. Here's the money", I replied. "Isn't that a bit too much?", she asked, confused.

"You helped us out with the items we were selling. Me and Tara agreed to pay you for that as well. Take it", I explained. "Heh, I should do it more often. Anyway, how's your little project going? I haven't had the chance to check it out yet", she asked. "Hehe, I'm not sure if you can call it little anymore, though it's going really well. Drop by one day, I will show you around", I replied. "Huh? Sure, I'll drop by when I get the chance. I'll be busy for a while though. I took a lot of time off from work so… Anyway, where's Tara?", she asked. "Oh, he returned already. By the way…". We shared a conversation for a while, but then both of us decided to call it a day. We were tired and work awaited us tomorrow as well.