“What do you mean, you’re raising the prices again!? Did the iron get shinier while I was looking the other way!?” Fedenat shouted angrily.
“I’m going through pick axes faster than you can blink, and it’s difficult to even find a damn candle in town, let alone buy enough to light up the mine. The deeper I dig, the more of Travis’s lumber I need to build supports! Do you want me to die in a cave-in, old man!?”
“I want you to be reasonable and stop raising the price! That’s the third time in three weeks!” Fedenat responded.
“Gentleman! If you don’t calm down, I’m going to have to kick you out of my bar!” Edra shouted. “You’re disturbing… literally everyone right now.”
She wasn’t wrong. Thankfully, almost all of the Mitoras refugees had either been moved to actual bedrooms or had been cleared for light labor and walking. More hands to feed my ever-growing need for simple labor. Unfortunately, many of those able were still stuck tending to loved ones, or too unskilled to be of any use.
The mine was a new discovery, and most of Sebinet’s expertise came from wandering travelers and books he’d bought in Denarla. He… was not comfortable in there, and his need for literal wagons full of metal, charcoal, and wood, to protect himself from rocks, gave me a decent idea of why he was so frightened.
“Tell me, Edra?” Sebinet said, only lowering his tone a little at the rebuke. “Tell me how crossbows are going to help me when I’ve got frostbite, or worse, when I’m dead in a cave in?”
I was tired. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a free moment to tell a story, let alone gotten a few minutes to work on the looming problem of the Captain’s deal.
I needed these two to work together to make my first idea work anyway, and somehow the excess money I’d brought into town had created a whole new list of problems. I kind of wished they’d take this fight elsewhere. I was only here because I had to find some Mitoras refugees who could sew. That wasn’t very hard to find. Everyone could sew, but almost no one could do it like Uraleka, let alone Hadra. We’d taken them for granted, and now, three weeks without them, we were starting to feel the pinch.
My stomach suddenly grumbled, and I winced.
Pinches.
Unfortunately, the loud nose drew their attention to me, and both of them seemed suddenly sympathetic.
“Alright there, Mera?” Fedenat asked.
I flushed.
“I’m fine. Just… haven’t managed to grab any soup tonight.”
“Heavens, you’re right! I’m so sorry! I’ll get you a bowl right away!” Edra exclaimed.
She turned around and walked into the kitchen, determined to keep everyone fed despite the dwindling food. Mom needed to get back soon because if we were already struggling only three weeks into Brittle, we’d likely face actual starvation during Frost and Freeze.
If not for Dobretin’s map we might already be starving. The town had swelled to nearly triple its size, and no matter how many hands there were to work, none of them could make food grow in winter. Even Dad’s growth magic had never been able to do that.
I was about to approach a few of the people tending to the injured on the tables, but Fedenat stopped me.
“What do you think, Mera?”
I blinked.
Why were they asking me!?
“I… uhm,” I paused, and turned to them, making sure to give it a bit of thought. I really needed them both working together. Neither of them should be struggling financially, especially considering the sheer amount of both of their work I’d need in the coming weeks.
I could probably solve the problem by throwing more money at it… but throwing money at them was what caused this in the first place. I really needed them to have a solution, before I introduced new complications.
I’d share my future needs with them as a last resort.
Then again… there was possibly another way to fix this problem. I’d needed to get to know Sebinet better for a long time now, and I still hadn’t found the time. Perhaps now was as good a time as any?
“The way I see it, the instability of the mine is the real cause of the problem. Fred, you surely don’t want Seb to be in danger, do you?” I asked.
Fedenat blanched. “Of course not!”
“And Seb, I’m sure you wouldn’t be raising prices if you didn’t feel you needed to spend extra in order to reinforce the mine. Candle prices are going up because the ranchers are trying to ration their cattle, but I can’t believe they alone would be driving you to raise prices, and the idea of you needing to buy a pickaxe, when you are both a miner and a smith is… no offense, definitely an excuse.”
He flushed. “Well… it’s… the mine just isn’t as stable as it was over the summer. I think I dug too quickly and now I’m paying for it.”
“Then isn’t it just a matter of labor? Or is Travis raising his lumber prices, too?”
Last time I’d been to see Travis, he’d only managed to clear out maybe a quarter of all the lumber and logs he’d collected while clearing the woods around Pemolar’s Hill. He wouldn’t need to raise his prices.
“No… just… need more. More support. More safety. More everything. And the price of the stone and iron isn’t cutting it, even when Fred buys every vein I dig up.”
I shrugged. “Then the solution is simple. Both of you spend as much time as Sebinet thinks is needed securing the mine with supports, and devise a warning system in case of cave-ins. You two have always been friends. I… don’t like seeing you divided like this. I went down to the mine a little while back on a whim and I don’t think Sebinet’s concerns are unfounded.”
The two men met each other’s eyes.
“Well… shit, son, why didn’t you say anything?” Fedenat asked.
Sebinet scowled. “I… left the blacksmith to make my own way. How would it look if I came crawling back just because of a little dirt and rocks shaking loose?”
Fedenat bopped the younger Blacksmith turned Miner over the head. “Stupid boy! Didn’t I teach you nothing!? Pride isn’t worth your life!”
Fedenat and Sebinet weren’t father and son. They’d been Master and Apprentice once, but Sebinet had become as good a blacksmith as Fedenat before I’d even unlocked my system. They’d worked together until Sebinet had opened his own shop closer to the mine.
In response to my words, Fedenat’s need suddenly morphed. The new information rearranged his priorities in some way that he wasn’t even aware of. Before, he’d needed a tool to build better weapons for fighting humans, but now…
Now he needed the exact same thing as Sebinet.
To my shock, the need bubbles seemed to float together and combine. My eyes widened in amazement as the astronomical need became significantly less troublesome.
My talent was amazing, but for a long time, I’d felt like it wasn’t quite so astounding as a Legendary talent ought to be. Yes. I’d gained nearly two hundred points in a month, but the rate of gain had slowed down significantly as I’d run out of people I was truly close to.
I’d already discovered that I could change what people thought they needed most by talking to Reid. That didn’t seem very easy to do. But now, with this, the needs were compounded, and the requirements were less than the sum of their parts!
I… could probably make this now!
“Actually, your need just got a bit easier, Sebinet,” I said happily. “Think you could spare about… oh, a ton or so of iron and a few dozen logs?”
“A whole ton?”
“It’s to make exactly what you need. I think it’ll be worth it!” I told him excitedly. I was probably more excited than they were. This particular need bubble had been haunting me for over two months now.
“That’s… quite the risk,” he said.
“I’ll cover half if it’s wasted,” Fedenat offered immediately.
I scowled at the two of them. “Well, thanks for the show of support.”
Half the cost of a ton of ore? Hadn’t he just been bitching about the price of fractions of that!?
“Your crafts have been amazing, Mera. Omoali has been having the time of her life, raising those earth walls for any excuse she can think of, and everyone is thankful for Edra’s new amulet.”
Gods were we. Ever since I’d given Edra her amulet, her water magic had grown as strong as any pressure washer from April’s world. The outhouse over the river was often spotless now.
“I’m sensing a ‘but’ coming,” I said.
Sebinet snickered.
“But… A ton of raw ore?” Sometimes your crafts don’t seem to… use all of the supplies fed into them, you know?
I scowled, then rolled my eyes. “If I have to buy the damn ore from you, then I will. Ungrateful…”
He beamed.
“Would you? That would be wonderful!”
I scowled, as I watched Fedenat beam with pride at his protege.
“My Mom knows where both of you live, you know,” I said, bringing out my trump card.
“Aye but she’s off in the wind doing good deeds for us poor folk. Where will we be if we don’t have the coin to pay for the wonderful grain she’s putting in all that effort to bring–!”
“By the gods, shut up, you old shits,” I declared. “It’ll be paid for. I need every free point I can get after all. Let’s…”
I sighed, as I remembered my prior commitment. Everesta was still cold, and her new baby was out of wetclothes too.
“I… need to find someone who can sew Everesta some blankets and make new wetcloths for the baby,” I said with a depressed sigh. Fun would have to wait a little while.
The two men were about to protest, but Edra suddenly stepped back into the room behind the bar.
“I’ll take care of that, dear. I know just the old crone who’d love to find some folks to help a newborn and her mother,” said Edra as she popped back into view, holding a steaming bowl of soup. She also had two cold mugs of ale, clearly meant for the Smith and the Miner.
Edra had clearly been spying on the conversation from the kitchen, but I didn’t have it in me to be ungrateful.
“You would!? Really?” I asked. Suddenly, I felt guilty. I’d told Irena I’d fetch someone to start sewing right away. Uraleka had left her sewing tools in the awning outside her home just in case we needed to use them while she was away.
“Of course, girl. You do so much already. Everyone can see it. You're tearing yourself thin, trying to hold this town together.”
Normally, Irena, Reid’s Mom, would be helping Everesta, but with Tom injured, she was at home caring for him.
“Alright. I’ll…” I paused as my stomach suddenly grumbled loudly once more. “…I’ll eat this first, but then we’ll be on our way, alright?”
The two men beamed.
Less than twenty minutes later, the Miner and the Smith were staring at me in slack jawed wonder.
I winced.
I was absolutely terrible at keeping this secret.
The craft had created much more than support for the mine’s walls. It had created an entire internal infrastructure. Burning sconces lined the walls, lighting up the inside of the mine. Rough wooden pillars had been transformed into full-fledged support beams that wouldn’t have looked out of place in April’s world, and they ran the entire length of the mine.
Most importantly of all, a train track, like I’d only seen in Denarla, ran straight from the mine’s entrance all the way down to Sebinet’s home. On it sat a shining metal cart that could hold tons of ore and safely transport it.
“Mera…?” Fedenat asked, stroking his beard vigorously, like he did when he was nervous. In a voice eerily reminiscent of Dad’s he asked. “What… rank, did you say your talent was again?”
I met his eyes. I couldn’t fuck this up.
As sharply and coldly as I could, I said. “Elite.”
The old man licked dry lips and nodded.