A short distance from the butcher shop Jeremy owned was the inn's old barn that, now that Ian and Jeremy had built a new one closer to the inn itself, no one was using. The Sunday after Beth had approached Ian to ask if "her future sister-in-law" might have it for her mechanics shop, Jeremy and Ian went over with Leila to see what would have to be done to get it in working order.
Neither Ian nor Jeremy had ever been inside a mechanics shop and therefore had no idea what was or wasn't adequate. However, with her memory of her father's shop, Leila had more than enough knowledge for the construction. It turned out that very little needed to be done. The stables would provide a placed to park the cars that she would work on and with a little floor strengthening she figured she would be able to drive the cars on and off of the ramp she would build with no difficulty.
The main thing that needed to happen, she was able to say, was that the barn needed a cleaning. The task ended up being a village activity, to Leila's delight, as Ian had talked the town's schoolteacher into bringing over the village kids to help. One of the more mechanically inclined students came over on subsequent afternoons to help her build the ramp and strengthen the floor. His name was Maxwell Erikson and he was twelve years old and already a confident jokester with good reason to be assured in his mechanical ability. She paid a visit to the Eriksons, who assured her that their son would be overjoyed to have an apprenticeship in her shop. So Maxwell became her co-worker and garage man.
She began teaching him what she knew. He – an eager student – was quick to learn. So by the time their first job came in – a beat up generator from the local produce grocery – he knew almost as well as she did how to fix it. After that generator, machines came in on a regular basis, and were fixed and sent back to their owners in working order again. Leila's Mechanics began to earn a reputation in theirs and neighboring villages and, more importantly, it began to turn a profit.
In their spare time, Leila and Maxwell worked on separate plans to build a sister creation to the battle car. And slowly, as Leila's knowledge of nearby villages increased due as much to Maxwell's knowledge as to her own explorations, the winter began to thaw into spring.