Creating something new, day 41

Pyrotechnics & design.

It's nice to just wake up and feel Iselin beside me. I'm lying on my stomach with my arm hanging down to the floor outside the bed, and even though I for once isn't a morning zombie, I just want to lie there, think about things and life, and feel Iselin lying against my body, her hand on my back and her calm breath sweeping across my shoulders. It's just nice. I know this day will mostly be work I don't look forward to, but that the oil lamp seems to work as well as it does, is a small weight lifted from my shoulders. So rich and powerful I am, still making as much as I can do by myself, but I have to do something with my time here, and I can't spend more on sex. Well, I can, it just feels a bit much as it is.

How will I get hold of experts and skilled craftsmen for the Academy once it is finished? Its a future problem, but something I need to address. I need to build their homes and workshops first, and the ones I need to prioritize are a skilled regular blacksmith, someone who is good at casting and working with brass like Digraldi, and a carpenter. Just for those, there are three houses and three workshops, and I want - and eventually need - to make the forge good and technical. Some form of waterdriven bandsaw, circular saw or scrollsaw would be nice in the wood working area. I should probably make a large saw for planks and a fine saw for detail work with angle adjustment.

I'm quite content with life as I eat breakfast and think. Its some kind of soup with both pieces of fish and vegetables in it, and I eat crispbread with a little salt sprinkled on top. How do you make pickled cucumber? It's good on crispbread. Of course water and salt. There are mustard seeds in the jar too. Probably sugar and a handful of E numbers, so even if I had a label, I wouldn't know what those E numbers mean. I need to talk to a cook. Aha! We need a cook in my mansion, and we need to hire at least one maid to do all the cleaning and washing, as well as someone to take care of our future animals. When I bring it up with Iselin, she lets me know that she and Kari's already realised that. Its kind of funny that Iselin is super competent about practical stuff when it comes to taking care of a household or farm animals, while Kari's super competent when its political, higher social stuff, etiquette such. And both of them are slightly jealous about the others skill and knowledge. I don't know what Ciaras competent in, except needlework, looking pretty and being clingy.

I miss potatoes. And tomatoes. And ketchup on fried potatoes. It's almost worthwhile to try sailing to South America, just to try to bring it back here. I really hope that South America exists as I know it, and those crops are there in a recognizable form, and maize. Or more to the point, pay someone to sail there. Asta might be game. But I can't let her sail away on such an enormously difficult and long journey for the next couple of years. I need to develop stuff for it, and get another ship or two. I don't know what root vegetables they use here, but I'm not particularly fond of any of them; turnips, parsnips or whatever. Alfheimr's names doesn't tell me shit about their Swedish names, but its not like I have a good grasp of vegetables anyway. However, my company have learned what I like, and what I don't like. Food is sustenance and must be eaten, and we eat much better than the average person. Hard bread, porridge and mead seems to be common for most meals, and I understand why, but that must be lacking in vital nutrients. I'm a bit surprised that fish isn't a larger part of their diet, as I expected that they would eat a lot of it, since most people live along coasts and lakes, and are good seafarers. We'll be living on an coastal island, so I need to make sure we eat more saltwater fish, not least to get enough iodine, but unlike meat, fish is just more or less there in the water all year round, and it isn't something we need to raise like a pig or chickens.

This pyrotechnics test of the newest explosive candles shows that they work much better and with a shorter and more consistent delay, and I take the opportunity to quietly practice the speech in my head while we watch each candle burn. I'm most pleased that it's only 40 seconds difference between when the candles detonate. They look completely normal on the outside, and apart from the fact that they are thicker than the most common candles, its impossible to see which one is special without looking at the mark on the bottom. Since I have three identical candles, two of which will give a white flash too, I consider it ready for use, and I won't test anymore firework rockets. I have five thats ready that seems to work okay and is sufficiently sejdish, so I don't want to waste any more black powder. These pyrotechnics tests have consumed more than my weapon tests.

Asta comes to visit and lets me know that the doors have been delivered. The unloading at the islands went really well. The mansion walls have been completed for all the floors and the windows they had, have been installed. Work on the inner roof has begun and materials for the copper roof and the craftsmen arrived while she was there, and they also brought with them the first load of copper pipes. The lantern for the ships compass works well, and apparently it doesn't matter what color filter they use, but orange-red are easier to see the compass in, which is quite logical considering everything is in the yellow-orange-black color range.

I go out for combat training with Hillevi, and as usual, everyone seems busy. Iselin sews something, and Ciara and Kari help her. Bodil and Gunhild practice shooting bows with a thumb ring. Alith accompanies Asta in studies for math and navigation. They seem to have become friends, and I know that Alith dreams of traveling on the sea and raiding. She might want to accompany a future expedition to South America, and it will be a hell of an adventure and do a lot for her reputation.

The rest of my day will mostly be work. Again. These feasts just feels so frustrating, and have fucked up my schedule. I would also preferred to stay here and study my toenails. In less than two weeks it will be the autumn meeting at Tosra. But now 5 days will be wasted on traveling around and visiting those two unnecessary feast. Of course, I won't know anyone there either, because my social life here is basically zero, but for now I prefer it that way.

Kari has obviously noticed something is bothering me, so she sits on my lap, gives me a kiss and asks me to tell her. So I take a deep breath, hug her back and give her a kiss before I start ventilating. It helps. It helps more when she explores my mouth with her tongue, so I push the work aside, lay her on the table in front of me and spend the next quarter with my head between her legs. More time for sex is quite okay, and Kari doesn't complain. I feel better when I continue to work even if my head, jaw and neck feels a bit battered, because just like Alith, Kari tends to use her leg muscles when she orgasms, but thankfully she has weaker leg muscles. I will never let my hair grow long, as it will just give them more to grip, but at least Kari doesn't have Iselins strong fingers, and I'm grateful they've learned to be careful about my ears.

The others have discovered that my mood has dropped, again - I guess its just one of those days - and in the afternoon Iselin and Ciara take me on a horseback ride. Its kind of Kari to lend her horse to me, and Gunhild and Hillevi join us when we just look at nature, talk and take it easy. The guards also dislike the upcoming feasts as they need to protect us, so they will have to be more active guards compared to their life here on the farm, and they won't really be able to feast by themselves, so tonight Gunhild and Alith will travel in to the city to have a nice evening, and Hillevi and Bodil will do it tomorrow. I'll give them each ten penningar to pay for it - about a weeks salary - so unless they go bonkers it will be enough.

Unfortunately, the sky quickly becomes overcast and before we have had time to return to the farm, we've been drenched by a quick downpour with a little thunder thrown in for good measure. Note to self: Always bring the poncho. We can quickly string it up to a tree or two, and we will have a bit of rain protection. The poncho bag already have four thin fast paracord loops with hooks for that purpose.

Bodil lament to Gunhild and Hillevi that she unfortunately doesn't own a horse, so she had to stay back at the farm and guard. It felt sincere as she stood there dry under the roof.

It's apparently Kari's turn to spend the night in my bed. Considering her trips to the seamstress guild, I guess its her own creative idea, and she smile as say she was inspired by the lace embroidery on the necklace I gave her, which she is wearing. Where Alith's Valhalla is sinful luxury that entices by showing a little, Kari have created sexy sinful lust that frames and focuses. Her design are just beautiful dark blue embroidery ribbons, lace and small gold details. I feel like a wide eyed rabbit paralyzed in front of the slightly shy tigress, but it passes when she asks me to bend her over the table and take her, and to not be gentle.