Tosra & The Auction, day 34

When I put on my pants and clothes for a new day after the morning shower, I start to think about that it's all starting to become a routine again, and how I've gone back to old routines and how good it feels. I usually wear a shirt or tunic with shorts here at home, and one pair of pants they had made for me have been modified into shorts. I'm usually barefoot except sometimes when I'm in the workshop, because the steam boiler is in the vault below and makes it quite warm and comfortable on the stone floor, especially where the chimney goes up. But the floor isn't warm elsewhere in the wing, but I can live with that. However, splinters or metal shavings are unpleasant to step on. As long as we don't have guests, I can dress or behave as I want, and even Kari doesn't say anything about it, although Jane likes to mention that I am not very regal. As this Furstdom's regent and the man in the house, I can still do as I please, but all men with a girlfriend or a wife know that's truth within boundaries. Having four girlfriends makes those boundaries more complicated than Baarle-Nassau's, and more supervised than the Berlin Wall ever was.

For the last month I have had pockets again and I have started to carry my Wave multitool in my right pocket where I've had a multitool for the last twenty years, and I have removed the Pocketburner flashlight from my leather bracelet and hung it with the firestarter on the small S-carbine hook with the pill holder with it's backup money, and they are also in that pocket. In the left pocket I have the leather case that Ciara sewed for me with my driver's license, bank card and a couple of condoms. Caecilia always makes sure to methodically clean or replace the condoms no matter who I have been with, so the job is done properly and so I always have condoms available so it doesn't prevent me from having sex with someone. She have promised to also make sure that new ones are arranged if they seem worn out. My personal maid and courtesan thinks that is a high priority, even though she, like several others, dislikes condoms and they have specific uses.

Caecilia really doesn't want me to use a condom with her, no matter what. She can't have children and thinks a condom prevents me and her from full enjoyment of sex, and for the proper end, and that it is an insult to Sex, Freya and her status if my semen doesn't end up in her in some way.

As for the leather bracelets, they have played out their function as all in my vicinity know that it is probably a Midgård thing if I make something shine in my hands, even if they won't understand how, and I can always put the flashlight in the bracelet if I need it because we're leaving for a feast. I've rarely worn the bracelets anyway - it's sweaty and unpleasant even though it looks cool. Hell, I don't even like to wear a wristwatch, but that is practical. Iselin loved it when she understood how I made the stone shine white, and she thinks electricity and LEDs are more Sejd now that she understands it a little better, and we both are so happy that it made her mine.

Caecilia gives me one last kiss before I leave the bathroom to start my work day. I've just sat down in my workshop when realise that I thought I had four girlfriends. Which means I already classify Caecilia as a girlfriend in my mind.

Shit.

I continue to work, and mix detail work on oil lamps, making fireworks rockets and some small work on the electric lamps, switches and other things. I'll admit I can be bad at staying on the task. In secret, I test the steam engine. Maybe I should have waited until at least Iselin is back, but I prefer it to be a successful show, and I don't know how the timing must be on the piston valve that controls the steam. When should steam be released? How much? When should the valve close and start supplying steam to the other side? Sure, I can SWAG it, but testing is better.

That means testing, then disassembling, adjusting, assembling, and starting over with a new test. At least I don't have to think about the steam, or take care of a separate steam boiler, since the steam boiler in the basement is running all the time. I just open or close a tap in the workshop or up in its attic. The machine is surprisingly quiet, but nothing is connected right now and the pressure is low. Sure, I get very low steam pressure, and power, but it is what it is, and it's a double-acting system. The centrifugal regulator doesn't actually seem to be needed, but it does work and it's a good test of that too. And it looks cool spinning around. I'm a little worried about hydraulic locking, but it shouldn't be a problem as the mounting and the piston valve should make water in the piston or system to flow out and down to the steam boiler, either the return water tank, or the boiler. But I havn't really used steam before so there is that nagging worry in the back of my mind.

The guards like the pavilion - really like it - and that they can train on it, even though some can be a bit annoyed by spectators looking on from the road, but the canvas drapes helps a lot. The view is limited since it's about 10 meters above the road below and when the road climbs over the mountain and is at the same height, the distance is about 130 meters. But they love that it's not a muddy area, part of a forest or a cobbled courtyard with people and animals walking around or so.

Hillevi's description of the pavilion is that it feels like I took the finest courtyard, looked at it with a dissatisfied face and thought 'not good enough', and then made it as luxurious as possible, with a high roof to keep rain away and as sun protection, screened the area to be an airy room just for training and other things, and the canvas draperies for wind and rain protection almost feels like tapestries in a castle hall, but airier and with much nicer views. She thinks it's more luxurious than training inside a castle hall, and she has done that. The pavilion even have fireplaces!

As icing on the cake, after training, they can just go in and take a hot shower in the wing, with maybe with a trip to the sauna. Gunhild, who has been away and visited other kingdom's castles, is convinced that there are no guards who are more comfortable than them, even though some more powerful guard captains or knights have their own servants, the maids here also do the laundry for the guards, cook their food, etc. And they love the food and the variety, and it's not unusual one or two of the guards help out in the kitchen to try to learn and improve their cooking skills. The kitchen is ridiculously popular, and Rikvi has all the help she wants and more.

Hillevi eagerly awaits the arrival of Asbjörn's guards so they can see what kind of life they live, and so they will understand that she and Gunhild made such a very wise choice when they left with Kari. There were many who questioned their intelligence: Leave a glorious service as Kings guards at the Royal Castle, for a small farm on an island, for a Sejdmann? What wise warrior does that? Some responded with 'They are women' and just shrugged. It has annoyed Hillevi. A lot. Given how bad a loser Hillevi is, I understand that she is anticipating her upcoming sweet victory.

In the afternoon I ask if Ciara and Caecilia want to come along on a horse ride. They would have asked, so they're just happy that I asked, and at least I need the experience. I didn't react to the fact that they had riding saddles for women here - because why should they? - and they have a saddle with a lump or plate that pokes up for the leg so the female rider can sit more lady-like with a dress, but Jane was surprised. But the rider can not jump with that saddle or ride aggressively. Which is partly why shieldmaidens use pants when they ride - they are warriors. Jane was also surprised that they had stirrups, but I'm not because they make a huge difference to a warrior in saddle, and I just assumed they would have it when they had cavalry and a form of Knight across the sea in the south. Something as useful as a stirrup should spread quickly, and the Elves in the North travel far and absorb stuff from other cultures, but I also know that many can ride without a saddle or bridle. I've seen skilled riders just using the mane. It's a horse culture.

Jane have discussed versions and improvements to saddles, and suggested several improvements on the women's saddle - 'sidesaddle'. A more horn-like protrusion instead of a plate, and that there should be another horn on the saddle, angled downwards in the other direction, below the existing one. It makes it possible to jump with the saddle, and then there was something with a strap underneath for better stabilization and to strengthen the saddles shape with a better inner support to spread the rider's weight. Why would that be called a 'tree' in English? And Jane complains about norse words. Jane have ridden with different saddles like western, hunting and more, but not really jumped that much using a sidesaddle. Jane has taken riding lessons for many years when she was younger - I'm not really surprised - so she has sketched and discussed a new sidesaddle with both Kari and Hillevi, and they have the drawings with them to Borgarsandr to get one created, and will try a better regular saddle as well, along with a Western type saddle and a new pack saddle. Which was what Jane explained to me when they mentioned about getting a saddle made.

It reminds me that I once again made a mistake when I tried to give Jane a jab that she only thinks about things in leather, because she gave me a fairly long and detailed description of how it is not just leather; it's the feeling in it, how it must hug the body, and its stiffness, shape, metal parts, how to strap it, and how it has to be shaped so as not to chafe, and that it sometimes needs to be padded, and so on. Alith and Hillevi, who were standing next to us, probably thought Jane was talking about saddles, but I understood what Jane was really talking about, which she definitely saw I did, and I feel a little uncomfortable about which direction Jane helps Kari focus on.

It's later in the evening when I return to my bedroom from the toilet, and I find Caecilia lying seductively and waiting on my couch. Again. In something thin and seductive. Again. She's not really a personal maid with benefits, more benefits and a personal maid, but it's hard to complain even though I know she's taking advantage of me for a good comfortable life.

I still wouldn't mind if Caecilia said she wanted to leave, even though I probably would missed her a little, and not just in bed. Iselin had missed her more, which is ironic. I assume that Caecilia will never leave, partly because she has given her word, but mostly because her life is too luxurious and comfortable here, and she can not look forward to her own husband or family. Caecilia will always be a Hóra - to me or someone else - as long as she doesn't leave the north, which she doesn't want to do. It's tragic that in maybe 10-15 years she will have very few choices as she is 'too old' for most men, even if they are older.

Shit. I don't like to contemplate that I might be dead in 15 years, and I will probably leave two 35 year old widows, and it always makes me depressed to know that when I die, Ciara is likely to accompany me, no matter what I wish. I wonder if her attitude will change if we have a healthy baby. I don't know if Ciara wants a child, because I avoid influencing her choice to become a mother or not. If it turns out that I actually can have children with them. I wonder if Liv is pregnant?

My contemplations ends when Caecilia basically glomps me down in bed. Iselin's way of taking liberties has clearly inspired Caecilia, but Iselin is a ninja, while Caecilia is enthusiastically 'jumpy' with a high sexual appetite. It's like our time in the bathroom this morning never happened, and that we didn't spend an hour riding together in the afternoon, and it's been weeks since we last saw each other and had sex. I hope Caecilia's sex drive diminishes over the years, because it's crazy high, and I'm not man enough to often say no and disappoint her.

Shit. I might actually be on my last few years.