Chapter 11

The next event of note was the arrival of a letter for Haella and Siffio from Horslas, apologising for his bullying and explaining that he had never known anything else but bullying and so had not known any better way to behave.

Haella read it dubiously; then turned to the letter from her brother at Lemos.

Birgel wrote a newsy letter about what he was learning; and added almost as an afterthought that Horslas seemed a different boy these days.

Haella discussed the matter with Siffio; and they combined to write a note to Horslas. It was a little stiff and very disjointed for being a dual effort but they expressed their best wishes and their sympathy that he had not had a happy childhood!

"We can tell him Banessan's not interfering with us too" said Siffio "They were friends; guess he'd like to know that Banessan is working. And I guess neither of them would ever have got as bad if they hadn't been egged on by ol' Maybret."

"Either" said Haella "Banessan isn't interfering with us either"

Siffio snorted.

"Oh go play with a Harper" he said with cheerful rudeness.

Haella dragged Siffio off to ask the Master if anyone was going to Lemos as she wished to assure Horslas that he was forgiven since her brother said he had changed and he had taken the trouble to write an apology.

Isimy smiled.

"H'llon is taking me on a visit" he said "I'll see he gets your letter. I'm proud of you – both of you – to be such big people as to forgive. When you grow up I'm absolutely certain you'll both be a credit to the Hall!"

The children flushed with pleasure and a little embarrassment for such fulsome praise!

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Isimy wanted to discuss the phenomenon of bullies who were worse in pairs for encouraging each other with Bendarek and with H'llon in his capacity as a logicator.

H'llon told them that the Harper Hall had logged this particular phenomenon where a low-achieving, dreamer type of high assertiveness, who felt that life owed him more than he had, could be pushed to heinous action by showing off to a less assertive and yet not submissive youth who also committed acts in this partnership that he would never have dreamed of had he not been with the leader of the two, H'llon called it the high/moderate assertiveness situation and advised splitting any pair of cronies that displayed such features. His assessment was that the less dominant of the pair could subsequently achieve well with encouragement; but the more assertive was often too lazy or too filled with resentment towards something to achieve all of his potential.

"And that describes Banessan" Isimy grunted. "The boy has a chip on his shoulder the size of a Weyr; as you say, he reckons life owes him. HE'LL never make Journeyman or I'm very much mistaken! Glad at least that Horslas can improve."

H'llon was glad too.

High Reaches Weyr was a great believer in second chances; and he was glad the Woodcrafter Hall also adhered to that tenet!

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Sugaring off was later in the High Reaches than at Lemos; Spring came more slowly. It was three sevendays later before the sap was high enough to tap.

Alaran knew the fun of sugaring off; and Margand had never experienced it! Alaran was looking forward to introducing his friend to the joys of the seasonal fun!

With the better discipline that the Hall now enjoyed, Isimy permitted the whole Hall to join in the celebrations; and put the apprentices into teams to run errands for the Hall cooks boiling the syrup prepared by foresters until it might be poured into the snow to make maple candy; and then the syrup would be boiled further until it grained for maple sugar. Alaran was accustomed to have the boiling of the sap and the syrup done communally, with all the women taking turns at stirring the syrup after the men had reduced the sap, then orderly children queuing for their turn at the jugs of hot candy to pour each into his or her pan of snow. Having teams of children each having their own smaller cauldron of syrup was, he thought, a better idea here; tighter discipline could be imposed, and older apprentices were on their dignity in front of the younger ones they were partly responsible for, and less likely therefore to get over excited and lark about. Supervision by journeymen too meant that there was less likely to be trouble. It was wise not to let discipline slip even whilst permitting something of a treat.

It was of course the candy and sugar cakes the children were interested in anyway, not the rest of the evening's doings; and the Journeymen had leave to go to the dance while the apprentices went stickily to bed.

Margand enjoyed himself thoroughly.

"Well worth freezing your wotsits off for!" he said cheerfully "Those logger lasses are enough to warm any man!"

"And I thought it was only your face that got warmed when that lass slapped you!" grinned Alaran.

"Tchah, she was only teasing…..you didn't see us behind the byre" said Margand.

Alaran chuckled; stolen kisses and gropes were all any young man was likely to get from the girls, who had a healthy respect for their mothers who were likely to dole out indiscriminate blows with a sugaring ladle if they caught their daughters in too intimate a clinch!

"We'll have to learn to ski up here too" Alaran said happily "Plenty of fun to be had with snow, and as there's plenty of snow here we might as well make the most of it. And I wager you'll have more fun with that than with your logger's daughter."

Margand grinned.

"Tchah, every time" he agreed.

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The next event in the Turn was to be the Spring Gather.

After the sugaring off there was a bit of rowdy behaviour for a few days then the boys settled down to work, reminded how little time they had left to complete any items for sale. And then the snow vanished overnight in a few short days, as was usual in the High Reaches; and Alaran wondered at how Spring came with a – well a SPRING rather than sullenly and muddily emerging from winter as at Lemos. There was no real mud; though the river in spate left deposits where it overflowed its bank and flooded the saw mill.

"That's the final straw" said Andreesas "It's inefficient, badly built, and the fardling thing floods worse than a Harper on Benden Red. We are GOING to construct a proper overshot wheel on a runoff channel and gear the power up to a raised structure. I want ALL the kids involved; they won't learn any younger as they say around here."

He had picked up the phrase from Alaran.

"Metal cogs or wood?" asked Isimy.

Andreesas pondered.

"Metal ones last longer, but they can make sparks; and sawdust is always a risk, as flour is. Can you carve skybroom cogs, or use that ironwood H'llon er, acquired from Southern?"

"Not a problem" rumbled Isimy. As one-time carving Master at Lemos, carving precise cogs was well within his capability even with the most challenging of woods!

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Andreesas gave a theoretical lesson to the whole Hall – Journeymen too – on the difference between overshot and undershot wheels; and drew diagrams on the slate board to show how, by taking water off upstream it could be held in a raised pool and so plunge over a wheel for greater power.

"The gradient change here is sufficient not to need much engineering either" he said "I had thought we'd need a shaft to take power up to a mill but I find we can do it more directly. Now what is going to be a VITAL piece of kit? Not you Lemos lot, you should have heard Master Challer often enough on the subject."

The Lemos-trained woodcrafters laughed. Master Challer had his prejudices.

Siffio put his hand up quickly.

Andreesas was surprised; Siffio was a nice kid but not usually the sharpest stick in the bundle.

"Well Siffio?" he asked.

"An OFF lever, sir" said Siffio solemnly.

Andreesas nodded.

"Well done; safety first" he said. "I'll credit that quick and accurate answer to your attainments. The easiest way to ensure safety is to have the power transference cog on a moveable lever so that all that needs to be done is to swing it away from where it takes the power from the power source – the wheel outside – to the saw so they are no longer in contact. And while we are at it we'll have more than one power transference cog, a main one that will stop all work in the mill, and one for every application to which we take power. As we are building a whole new mill we may as well use the wheel to power paper pulping and a power lathe for the most skilled. Master Gerney at Lemos is building a power lathe; he may have finished it by now. It was designed by H'llon so I can guarantee it will be both safe and efficient as H'llon listens seriously to both Master Challer and Smithmaster Fandarel!"

There was some laughter!

"Sir, what about stopping the wheel if some idiot should manage to fall in it?" asked Sarney. "It will be easier for heedless brats to reach than Master Challer's wheel I suspect."

"A good point" said Andreesas "The best way to stop the wheel is to stop the flow of water; as must be done too for wheel maintenance. You recall that at Lemos there is a second channel to divert the water to be able to safely work on the wheel; and we shall do similar" and he added it to the sketch "And a lock-gate that transfers flow from one channel to the other."

"I hadn't really studied the second channel at Lemos; sorry" said Sarney "A display of my ignorance."

"And better to address something that you don't know now" said Andreesas "It's only the specialists at the mill and the nosy types like Elissa who generally find out much about the mechanics of it in any case."

Sarney grinned, less embarrassed to be reassured about that. It would be typical of Elissa to know how everything worked!

Andreesas was grateful actually that Sarney had raised the question so that the new Master had to explain something that he had actually thought too obvious to mention until Sarney made him think and realise that to those NOT associated with the mill it was not so obvious. He made a note to thank the lad for saving his face.

Andreesas had brought along cogs and worm gears of various types to demonstrate how circular motion could be increased, speeded up, slowed down and turned into straight motions, and how reciprocal motion could also turn a wheel. He explained that only the best carvers were permitted to make such things.

Smithcrafters of course learned all this in greater detail; and would learn to make such cogs and gears in metal; and Andreesas had spent half a turn at the Smithcraft Hall when he had begun to work at the mill under Challer in order to learn all he needed. It did the apprentices here no harm to have a basic understanding of how the mill worked. Any of them who were as fascinated by its machinery as he had been could spend time with the Smithcrafters too if they wished.

Andreesas loved knowing how things worked; and that included the turning of the seasons as much as the turning of the mill wheel. The properties of different woods, the way sap rose, all made his heart thrill at the complexities of nature that could in some poor way be emulated by the complexities of machinery!

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Once the building of the new mill got under way most of the apprentices worked with a will; what would have been hard physical labour to cause grumbles if set as punishment was a task to be approached with enthusiasm for their stake in 'their' mill. The cleverer among them too recognised that it would save trouble and work in the long run if the mill were also to make pulp for making paper from!

It would be summer before the mill was completed of course; but with the willing participation of many hands it was off to a good start!

Master Isimy also decreed that the new toolcraft complex would be part of the mill complex; for a water-driven grindstone was to be available for the larger tools, as well as the treadle powered and hand cranked grindstones he was having built. A small crafthall would benefit from as much mechanisation as was practical where mechanical tasks were involved.

The new mill was to be a stone building of two stories, and with a shaft carrying power up to the paper pulping room and advanced lathe room above; the lathe room would then abut Alaran's latheshop for his convenience while Journeyman Caim had a new, purpose-built papershop to replace his converted and rather cramped papershop of the present.

It was ambitious; but achievable!

It was also a boost to the original teaching crafters that the incomers were prepared to invest so much effort in the improvement of their crafthall!

When the lady Thalara was informed of the plans for the mill she asked if she might also lend labour and pay for some of the expenses in return for some of the power being generated that there might be an extension grinding flour for her Hold; and Isimy was happy to agree. The wheel should be built wider, he decided, than had been initially envisioned, to permit a greater flow of water across it to increase the available power. As the water would return to the river downstream any way, there was no reason not to increase the amount diverted anyway for the few tens of dragonlengths that were required, even filling the millpool with the greater amount of the river's flow, the excess using the original river bed that would be a safety feature when the river was in spate. Which would, as Isimy explained to Thalara, give the possibility of further extending the mill to a few more potential applications if anyone thought of them.

Thalara was delighted.

If the Crafthall flourished, it increased the wealth of her Hold as well; and cheaply produced flour would also help her out. She was a pragmatic young woman and a believer in progress, and put all her support behind Isimy.

As Thalara was also a popular replacement for her dead grandfather, himself well liked and respected, even those would be detractors sniffed and agreed to see how things went! Old Holder Marek had established the Crafthall there; and had taken, before the onset of his illness, a personal interest in it. The Hall's decline had almost mirrored that of the old man; and most in the Hold were glad to see the back of Thalara's mean spirited parents who had done nothing to stop the rot engendered by Maybret. Most indeed felt that the Hold would have become as bad as the Hall had not Lord Deckter ruled Thalara as the old man's heir. Thalara had shown herself to be willing to act with the crafthall without excess interference; and to do whatever was necessary for justice. That she was a pretty girl did NOT hinder her popularity!

In fact it was considered a disappointing thing to most of the watching Holderfolk that Master Isimy showed no romantic attachment to their Lady!

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The return of a full, and well-stocked woodcrafter stall to the Gather was also greeted with enthusiasm by the Holderfolk, who had seen over the past few turns little but a few journeyman pieces that were well enough made but decidedly dull. The new spirit at the Hall had brought an exuberance to the work of those who had been so depressed before; and there were competent apprentice pieces too!

Exciting also for the locals was the appearance of lathe worked pieces and marquetry decoration on some of the boxes, all utterly new to those who had not travelled to a Gather where the Weyr woodcrafters displayed their wares, save for the most functional of pieces like the spools Deano made in his craftcot.

Deano himself had made a number of items and was invited cheerfully to exhibit on the woodcrafter stall when he looked to be setting up his own small stall. He accepted gratefully; being sold from a guaranteed craftstall meant an increase in price, and whilst some percentage must go to the parent crafthall the difference was enough to more than cover that. Especially since independent crafters were expected to tithe their place of training or nearest crafthall in any case; and Deano was one of the few to have scrupulously done so.

None of the apprentices had managed more in turning than a few spools to date; but it all helped. And Alaran had produced a range of goods to demonstrate what the crafthall could soon be expected to be producing – much of which was a revelation to Deano too! Margand had done likewise with his specialities, encouraging his star pupils to make a box each with a simple, central geometric design.

He had displayed his virtuosity with box wood stringing and sinuous designs of flowers and leaves just to show what could be done by the skilled. His pupils were almost as impressed as the Holderfolk! Indeed, because they appreciated more what had gone into this, they were perhaps even more impressed and many hoped to reach a stage where they might be permitted to use heat to colour a piece of wood to simulate a shadow over just a part of the one piece of veneer!

Everything sold out; and quickly too.

And as some of the buyers were visiting traders the woodcrafters hugged themselves in glee that the fame of their Hall would soon spread!

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The woodcrafters also took several orders for furniture from those who had hitherto wondered whether they dared approach the Hall and run the gauntlet of what had been an undisciplined rabble; and there was even the order for a new waggon from a cotholder who wanted 'proper wheels' delighting Master Manon.

"It's almost a waste for us to have you up here, Manon" said Isimy to the wheelwright. "You'd get more custom in Lemos; there are few enough roads here that can be made in the mountains and half the turn people use sleds in any case!"

"But the few carts that are needed here require the best wheels that can be made" said Manon "And I know I'm good at what I do. And I can make rocking chairs and wheeled chairs for the old aunties and uncles, and I can put a curve to a chair for comfort and shell knows, warm, comfortable wooden chairs are more necessity than luxury up here at the Heights!"

"That's Faranth's own truth" agreed Isimy. "And I guess if you got known, there's a big trade in racing buggies for the High Reaches Hold and Nabol Race-day Gathers."

Manon brightened.

"I'd like leave to visit one or more if I may, Master" he said "If I can look at what they are using I might even be able to improve upon the design; it's worth checking to see!"

Isimy nodded.

"I reckon I can find you a patron too who'd be willing to try innovations" he said "H'llon is on good terms with a Runnerholder who races buggies as well as ridden runnerbeasts. He also breeds cartbeasts; a possible good customer on several counts. He'd probably be glad if you could train up a journeyman to post under his woodcrafter; for he's just sent his two senior apprentices to Lemos I'm told."

"Hope they're better prepared than our Birgel was" said Manon dryly.

"One is H'llon's cousin; and by all accounts the Master is good" said Isimy "Tragen is a good judge of men and encourages efficiency as much as he punishes laxness. He'd call for the replacement of a man he felt did not do his utmost for his holderfolk – and his beasts."

Manon nodded.

"Good; I like to know that any lad I might send out is going somewhere decent. Why is that boy Alaran signalling to us?"

'That boy Alaran' came over at a run to explain.

"Masters, we'd like – the Journeymen that is – to have the Masters back in the Hall because we're expecting certain…..trouble" he said tersely "The boy Murgen's father is here at the Gather, drinking, and threatening to smash up the Hall and the Master."

"Isn't it MY business to deal with that?" asked Isimy mildly.

"Only if we can't, Master" said Alaran "It's beneath the dignity of a Master to have to deal with a drunken oaf, especially if it gets physical. We have a plan. And it's even mostly legal!" he assured his Master.

"I like the 'mostly'" said Isimy dryly "Very well; Manon and I will withdraw and permit you Journeymen to implement your plan. Let me know if you need help."