“Alas, I am defeated,” Haiko said smiling, “I suppose Boko the dancer will be joining us.”

“August? You said you weren’t quite prepared yet?” Rittan said, “Shall we get started on the undercover area?”

August glanced up at the Voithos for a moment before doing a quick check of his mana, judging the time left until it was full.

“About fifteen minutes until I have enough mana to summon,” August said, nodding. “Okay, new building—we have the area marked out, so the next step is to make sure all of the uprights are roughly the same length.”

“Which is?” Kalter asked. “We didn’t decide how big this thing was going to be.”

“Rittan is the tallest person in our group, so if we build it to accommodate his height, then that should work for everyone,” August said before pausing. “Do Voithos get much bigger than you?”

Rittan titled his head at the question, looking like he was not quite sure.

“Rittan is definitely on the upper end of our species,” Haiko said, speaking up. “I’ve seen several others who were of similar stature.”

“I’ve seen a dozen that are bigger by several feet,” Kalter said, folding her arms. “If we make the ceiling nine feet, that will easily cover everyone.”

“Alright,” August frowned, glancing between Rittan and the pile of trees. “Rittan, I’m going to need to use you as a ruler—can I borrow you for a minute?”

“Certainly,” Rittan said, amused.

“What are we doing?” Kalter frowned.

“You and I shall take over where August has left off,” Haiko said, attaching herself to Kalter’s side. “Come along, pet—let’s find ourselves some shovels.”

Kalter hissed something rude under her breath as she was drawn away, but Haiko just laughed, unbothered by the complaint. Despite himself, August felt some relief that he wasn’t the one returning to the hole for more of the dreaded task of digging. The stack of trees was something of a mess, still covered in bark, branches and leaves, but he could already see that they’d done a good job of picking similar sizes.

August got a hand under one end of the topmost tree and attempted to shift it, but it was way outside of what he could manage. Rittan ducked down to help, pulling it out onto the ground beside the pile and laying it down.

“Thanks,” August managed, shaking his head.

He took out his [Flint Chisel], cutting the bark at the ten-foot mark and then moving down the length of it until he reached twenty feet and made a second mark. There were still half a dozen feet of wood left, but the tree started to thin out rapidly after that.

“They need to be at least as long as this mark,” August said, tapping the twenty-foot mark. “With smaller posts, you usually bury them a quarter of the way down, but these are heavy, so we should probably try to bury them halfway.”

Rittan nodded at the explanation and then turned to pull the next tree down off the pile, laying it beside the first. The two of them fell into a steady rhythm of Rittan doing all the work while August marked the area for the offcut. Once all twelve logs had a mark, Rittan found his axe and set upon the logs, attacking the twenty-foot marker.

August picked up the second axe and then started on the other side, trying to ignore the sheer disparity in their output. Each swing of Rittan’s axe was effortless, burying itself in deep, finely controlled and tight around the area of the marker. August’s own attempts were inaccurate and slow after a dozen hits left him breathing heavy.

“We will have some extra for firewood, at least,” Rittan said with easy cheer. “Haiko mentioned we’re using quite a bit.”

August left his axe in the log, straightening up and pretending that he was incapable of talking and doing another action at the same time in order to catch a sneaky break.

“That’s my fault; the furnace sucks, it’s taking forever to dry the clay, but it’ll be done either tomorrow, or the next day.” August managed, talking slowly to keep his breath level. “After that, it will only be burning when we actually find some more metal to use.”

“Another cube?” Rittan prompted, axe breaking through the bottom side of the second tree.

“Yeah,” August breathed, watching the force of the swing. “I wonder if you could sever one of the chains with that tooth.”

Rittan reached down with three sets of arms, digging his fingers into the gap, and then heaved the much smaller log into the air and away from him. August watched the piece of wood that he might have been able to move crash into the other offcuts before coming to a stop. It made him wonder how the man could even hold the handle of the axe without breaking it.

“That would depend on whether the bone would survive intact or not, I suppose,” Rittan said, turning the axe to look down at the tooth. “Perhaps we could use one of the other teeth as a hammer to test it?”

“That’s a good idea,” August said.

He watched as Rittan moved onto the third tree and then looked down at the foot-deep wedge he’d managed on his first. August pulled the axe back out of the log, feeling like his break had stretched too long, and his lack of capability had been noticed. Neither of them broke off from the task, even when his mana had completely regenerated, intent on finishing it before moving on.

“Are you alright, August?” Rittan asked after the job was completely done.

August managed to wave a hand at him from his position flat on his back on the ground, struggling to catch his breath. Entirely exhausted and flushed with endorphins from having managed to knock out one of them before the other man had finished the entire dozen by himself.

“Just waiting for you,” August managed, panting. “To finish your half.”

Rittan’s genuine laughter washed away the last of the humiliation he’d been feeling, and then he found himself laughing along too.