“That was the best, mama!” Gloria said happily.

“I wholeheartedly agree.” Alex said. “Thank you, Mrs. Hansen.”

“Please, call me Alice.” Mrs. Hansen said.

“I could never talk to you so informally, Mrs. Hansen.” Alex said. “Perhaps after a while and we get to know each other better...”

“Alex.” Donna said and glared at him. “What did you just explain to David?”

Alex opened his mouth to argue, then noticed the slight blush on Mrs. Hansen's face. “It seems I have made the same mistake and it is my turn to apologize to you, Mrs. Hansen. If I implied anything untoward to you, I am deeply sorry. I only meant that if we can develop more cooperative social interactions, our friendship could grow to the point that I wouldn't feel uncomfortable calling a married woman by her first name.”

Mrs. Hansen's blush didn't fade. “It's quite all right.” She said and reached over to cover her daughter's ears. “I am flattered that a man such as yourself would even consider me as a friend, let alone as particularly worthy of romance.”

“You do yourself a disservice, dear lady.” Alex said with a smile. “I'm sure that...”

Donna quickly reached out and covered his mouth. “You can keep the flattery to other women to yourself.”

Mrs. Hansen couldn't help but laugh at them and their interactions. She let her daughter push her hands away and stood. “It was nice to sit down at the same table as nobles and not feel like I didn't deserve to be there.”

Alex immediately stood and bowed to her. “I would welcome you and your family at my table at any time.”

Mrs. Hansen's blush deepened and she nodded her head at him.

“Please allow me to offer to pay for the sugar bread you just gave to us.” Alex said and reached into his pocket.

I saw Mrs. Hansen's frown and she looked about to speak.

_______________

You have a choice to make. It is only minor and won't really change much for you. It will change the interactions between the army and the Hansens.

A) Tell him no. B) Stay silent. C) Offer as well. D) Say something else.

I know exactly what I need to say. I thought. I choose D.

_______________

“Don't insult her.” I said and Alex looked at me with surprise on his face. “Do you always offer to pay for someone's gift to you?”

Donna took in a sharp breath and Alex closed his eyes for a second and looked at me with sad eyes.

“It seems I keep making the same mistakes as you, my friend.” Alex said and put a hand on my shoulder. “What do you suggest I do to make up for the insult?”

“Offer to buy her more ingredients instead.” I said and I saw the surprise on Mrs. Hansen's face. I knew that she was like me and would want more things to work with, then I said so. “Maybe if she has more things to work with, she might make more things.”

Alex smiled and nodded. “That is a great idea, David. Thank you.” He said and let my shoulder go and stepped close to Mrs. Hansen as he took out several gold coins. “Mrs. Hansen, I won't ask you for a list of things to buy, since that would be like asking for the recipe.” He placed the gold coins in her hand. “Please buy more ingredients for yourself and let your delicious sugar bread put smiling faces on even more people.”

Mrs. Hansen looked at her hand and saw four gold coins. It took her a minute to say something and it was barely a mumble.

“Excuse me? What was that?” Alex asked.

“You can call me Alice.” Mrs. Hansen said, her voice stronger. “Anyone who is generous enough to give me so much, just to make my goods to give to other people, deserves to use my first name.”

Alex smiled at her and took her free hand. “Thank you. It's nice to meet you, Alice. My name is Alex.”

Mrs. Hansen laughed. “I already know your name.”

“Ah, proper etiquette training bites me in the ass again.” Alex said. “My father would be so proud.”

That made Donna laugh loudly and she had to look away to try and get her composure back.

Mrs. Hansen waved at her daughter. “Gloria, let's go to the general store and see what Mack has left for us to buy, then you can come back here and get the pot.”

“We're going to the next village, so if there's anything he doesn't have, let us know.” Donna said.

“Thank you, Donna.” Mrs. Hansen said and waved to us, then she and Gloria left.

“Whew.” Alex said and sat down. “I definitely need more practice interacting with normal people.”

Donna turned to him and gave him a look. I couldn't tell what it was, though.

“You have more experience with it than I do.” Alex said to her. “You know what my father is like.”

Donna nodded. “Why else do you think I laughed so hard when you mentioned him?”

Alex grinned and waved for her to sit again. She did so and moved the chair over to sit next to him.

_______________

You have a choice to make.

A) Sit quietly. B) Stare at them. C) Keep working on the boat. D) Make spider juice. E) Choose two.

The spider juice! Right. I almost forgot about that when I couldn't get a cooking pot. I glanced over at the still half filled pot. I'll choose C and then D when I empty the pot.

_______________

“I'll keep working on the boat.” I said and went over to it and stopped using the vigilance technique.

The inside of the boat was now solid wood and I knocked on it. I was satisfied that it was thick enough, so I picked the edge up and flipped it over. I saw how uneven the bottom was, since it had been sitting on the slightly rough ground, so I added a small strip of wood around the outside edge of the bottom of the boat, then added about half of the potion that was left in the pot.

It was half an inch deep on the bottom of the boat and I smiled. With the 2 inch thick plank and the inch of solid wood inside from the potion, and the half inch on the bottom, the base of the boat was half an inch thicker than the design called for. I quickly divided up the remainder of the number ten potion into empty vials and stashed them into the various pouches of my bandoleer, then gave Alex and Donna a slightly fearful look.

“We'll go sit over here.” He said and they took two of the chairs and wet over to one of the wood piles and faced away from me.

“Thanks.” I said and got to work making the spider juice potion for the new CO. It went quickly, since I had the ingredients on me and used the number ten potion technique to increase the ingredients. It took only half the time as the number ten potion and I divided it up into vials and filled one and a half crates with them.

I kept a few for myself, since we might need them on the trip, and then I made up another number ten potion. While it simmered, I went to the boat and flipped it back to the right side. I covered one of the main support poles on the bottom with number ten potion and placed it in the right spot and held it there to let it properly merge. I went around the boat and did the same with the other main support pole and then I added the four support posts to the four corners.

I went back to the cooking pot and added my gland extract to the solution and let it simmer a bit more, then I infused it with magic. I knew the support posts for the canvas wouldn't last long with only being stuck there, so I made small wood boxes around the bases and poured in some of the number ten potion to merge them right into the bottom and sides of the boat to make them solid.

I divided up the rest of the potion into vials and nearly filled a crate with it. I wasn't stupid enough to leave it like that and sealed it with potion, making the crate solid on the outside. Only my knife would be able to cut it open safely.

I quickly made the oval shapes for the sides and added them, even though they added significantly to the boat's weight. It was then that I realized my mistake. I had forgotten to apply the fortifying waterproof potion to the bottom before I had added everything else.

“Dammit!” I said and Alex and Donna came over to me.

“What is it?” Alex asked. “It looks like you're pretty much done.”

“Yeah, and I forgot to make the bottom waterproof.” I said and waved at it. With the balancers on it, I can't tip the boat on it's side to apply the potion properly.”

Alex smiled. “Then prop the whole thing up.”

“Huh?” I looked at him in confusion.

“You just need it up off the ground enough to get underneath, right?” Alex asked and I nodded. “Then cut me off four logs this high.” He said and held a hand three feet high from the ground.

I did that and he placed two near the back of the boat and two near the front.

“Can we lift it like this? It looks really heavy.” Donna asked.

“No, you are not lifting it.” Alex said and she huffed at him. He chuckled and looked at me. “We don't need massive strength for this, just ingenuity.”

“What's that mean?”

“Brain smarts and figuring things out.” Alex said and walked over to the logs and rolled a full one over to the front of the boat, then another bigger one. He brought over a thick plank and propped it on the bigger one, put it over the smaller one, and hooked the edge on the boat. “Okay, now push down.”

I pushed down on the plank and the front of the boat lifted right up. “WOW!”

Alex laughed and rolled the smaller log in underneath, then he explained what we just did. It was amazing, because once we had a log under the boat, we easily added another and moved them to the ends. Once they were in place, we used another larger log and lifted the front of the boat up and easily placed the three foot tall logs under it, then did the same to the back.

“...and there we are. Easy access to the underside.” Alex said. “Just be careful. If you knock one of the supports over, it will tip.”

“What about the spots where the supports are?” I asked.

“We move the supports slightly by raising each end again.” Alex said.

That's what we did. I used the rag I always used and applied the fortifying waterproof potion to the underside of the boat, moved the supports to apply it to the parts I couldn't get, then we lowered the boat to the two logs again.

“Why are we leaving it on the logs?” I asked.

“We have to get it to the water.” Alex said.

“I usually just drag it.” I said and he laughed for several seconds.

“If that didn't tear up your boat, then you've been very lucky.” Alex said. “We'll have to check your other boat's bottom to see what it looks like.”

I nodded and he explained that large boat builders used smooth logs to roll boats smoothly into the water while I applied the fortifying waterproof potion to the rest of the boat. When he showed me how well it worked, I was amazed. There were piles of logs in the yard, so I quickly set as many as I could out. Alex and Donna stared at me as I did and then they told me to stop at thirty. I did and asked why.

“Watch and learn.” Alex said and nodded to Donna. She rubbed her hands together and bent down, then pushed. It was easy for her. “Grab the logs she passes and put them at the front of the boat.”

I nodded enthusiastically and did as he said. We made a river of logs and Donna easily pushed the boat to the spot where the dock used to be. I took some rope out of my pack and tied it to a tree and to the corner support post, then Donna pushed the boat off of the last couple of logs and into the water.

“The damn heavy thing didn't sink at least.” Alex said with a laugh.

Donna gave him a surprised look for a second, as if that never crossed her mind, then she laughed, too.

“Let's get that spider juice potion to the CO.” Alex said.

I nodded and touched the rope to cast the locking charm on it, added a drop of potion to it, and we left the boat there. I brought all of the logs back up to stack them again. Alex and Donna carefully took the hand cart with the empty vials and crates down to the boat and I carried the crate of number ten potion with me. There was tons of room in my brand new boat and I didn't have to stack the crates and spread them out.

We went back up to John's place and I extinguished the fire while Alex and Donna loaded the two crates of spider juice potion. I picked up the empty large stewing pot to return to Mrs. Hansen and we left the table and chairs there. Just as we were walking up the road, Mrs. Hansen and Gloria were walking down it.

“Perfect timing.” Mrs. Hansen said. “I could only get the flour from Mack and only one bag. The others he has reserved.”

“Not a problem.” Alex said. “Why don't you give your list to David, that way I won't be tempted to try and have Donna make it.”

“I think David understands that just knowing what's inside something, doesn't tell you how to make it.” Donna said and gave Alex a glare to make him and Mrs. Hansen laugh.

“Here's your pot back.” I said and handed it to Mrs. Hansen. “Thanks for letting me use it.”

She looked inside and was surprised it was completely clean. “You didn't have to wash it.”

“I didn't.” I said. “It's waterproof and nothing will stick to it.”

Mrs. Hansen looked at me with wide eyes.

“It's true. He just poured that potion out like it wanted to get out of the pot.” Alex said. “I've never seen anything like it.”

Mrs. Hansen nodded and took out a list and gave it to me with two of the gold coins. “Please buy as much of these as you can at the next village.”

I quickly read the list and put both it and the money in my pocket. “I fixed the bottom of the pot, too.” I said. “I also left the table and chairs in the yard. You can have them if you want them.”

“N-no, I... couldn't possibly...”

“If you don't want them, tell Diane where they are and she can sell them.”

Mrs. Hansen gave me a smile. “I can either take them for free now or try to buy them later when everyone else decides they want them.”

I nodded and we left her and Gloria on the road to John's place to go back to the garrison.