Bao Dur approached a roll of paper in his hand. "I printed out the floor plan," he said, grinning. "I thought it would be easier to visualize on the actual site."
He unrolled the blueprints, setting stones on the corners to keep it flat. I traced the rooms with my finger, reading aloud the labels.
"Audience chamber," I said, noting it was the full length of the house, with several doors leading off it. There were indicators that either end of the room could be closed off with folding panels, and large tables could be set up for conferences or dining. Storage cleverly hidden in the walls could contain more folding tables and chairs, so the chamber could be used for feasts or mass meetings.
"Dining room, kitchen, pantries," I recited, and moved to the second page. "Bedrooms….ten bedrooms?" I exclaimed, counting again to be sure, "and a master suite? Who the hell else will be living there, the entire honor guard and their families?"
"Well, you did say we'd have children someday," Canderous reminded me with a wicked grin. "I want as much room as possible. You're looking at the second floor. The honor guard has their own wing on the ground floor."
"It has wings?" I yelped. "I'll own a house that has wings?"
"Two," Bao Dur confirmed. "The honor guard on the right, the servant's quarters on the left."
"Servants?" I gulped.
"It's a big house, cyar'ika," Canderous said easily. "You need someone to help run it. Especially if you're on campaign with me."
"I suppose," I said doubtfully. "I've never had a servant, I wouldn't know what to do with one. It seems…pretentious."
"Servant doesn't mean servile," Canderous said seriously. "There will be plenty of our people that will be happy to make an honest wage working for us. You'll do fine. Not much different from leading men in battle, actually."
"If you say so," I said. "But why ten bedrooms?" I asked, getting back to my former point.
"Kids, partly," my Mate said. "Guests, too; we'll likely have more diplomatic visits than we used to. And friends."
"That will be new," Jarxel said, raising an eyebrow.
"Exactly," Canderous agreed. "We need somewhere to put them."
I noticed that there were six bedrooms in what I was thinking of the family area, as well as the master suite. Those shared good-sized 'freshers, one for every two bedrooms, with doors from each leading in to them, but no access other than the bedrooms. The guest quarters each had their own small 'fresher. The master suite consisted of a bedchamber, office, and sitting room, with a huge 'fresher that looked like it had a sunken tub big enough for four people, if the scale was right. Separate from that was a large shower, with multiple heads. I sighed in rapture.
"I can't wait to try the tub," I murmured to Canderous.
"Might be as fun as the shower," he agreed, with a purr in my ear.
"Look at the rest of the ground floor," Bao Dur urged, and I turned my attention to it.
The servant's wing had another six bedrooms, each with a small 'fresher, and one with a separate sitting room. There was a large common area, and a small kitchen off it. The honor guard wing mirrored it. We'd provide basic furniture, Canderous explained, leaving décor up to the individuals. The rest of the house consisted of a large functional kitchen, a private family dining room, huge common family area, an armory near the honor guard wing, a gym, sauna, and two offices that could be combined into one large room by opening more folding walls. And off the gym was a small room marked "Jennet's meditation room". I sniffled.
"Thank you," I said, touching the space on the blueprint.
"You're welcome," Canderous said. "You missed a room," he added, placing my finger off the family room, next to my half of the office. It was marked "library".
"How did you know?" I asked wonderingly. I'd always wanted a library of my own; I hated not being able to really keep books.
"I watch you read," Canderous said, smiling. "And I can hear your thoughts; you might have noticed."
"Well, duh," I said, turning a little pink.
"I think she likes it," Bao Dur said, grinning widely at Canderous.
"She does," I laughed. "Thank you so much. Did you design it?"
"Modified the basic floor plan Canderous found, yes," the Iridonian confirmed. "It was a good plan to begin with. I added the front hall and the wings, and rearranged things to include the gym, sauna and meditation room. Here's the grounds," he added, laying a third blueprint out.
The outside included three hangers and a large landing pad, a short dock into the pond, several much smaller but decent sized houses, and various storage sheds.
"What are the houses for?" I asked curiously.
"Jarxel will have the largest. The groundskeeper and the housekeeper can have their own place," Canderous explained.
"I thought the larger servant's room was for the housekeeper," I said. "Not that I'm complaining."
"It could be, if they prefer," Canderous shrugged. "Or the next senior servant can have it. This gives flexibility and prestige to whoever works for us. I want people comfortable, and a family feel."
"That's generous," I said, surprised.
"Well, knowing you, you won't be comfortable being waited on in the first place," Canderous said with a wry smile. "They'll all be treated as family anyway if you have anything to say about it. On a practical level, servants that are treated with respect and appreciation will defend the family they serve. This is the Mandalore's household, after all; we need to be able to defend it, if necessary."
"I wouldn't have thought of it that way," I said thoughtfully.
"Yes you would, in time," Canderous said. "You're a warrior."
I already saw that the place is well defended, I noted silently. Security camera, lights, lasers, alarms. But I don't see a shelter for non-combatants in the plans; I can't believe you didn't include that.
I did, Canderous said smugly. Or at least, Bao Dur and I did. They're not on the plans, of course.
The kitchen pantry, right? I said silently. There's a trap door there. I don't see a break in the foundation, though.
Very good, Wildcat. It's hidden well, Canderous answered. A hydraulic system lifts up the concrete. It's thinner there, reinforced with fibersteel and shielding. A whole suite of rooms will be down there with walls thick enough to sustain a pretty big blast. It has a separate power system too. And an escape route in case the house is leveled above it.
"You thought of everything," I said aloud. "How long before we can move in?"
"Well," Bao Dur said, "Canderous found a contractor on Onderon who is very good. Clearing the jungle started around the time the battlefield was done. The foundation was begun not long after that and they finished it yesterday."
"So that's where you've been lately!" I suddenly realized. I had noticed that Bao Dur's tall figure hadn't been seen much around the camp the last few days.
He nodded, a small smile on his face. He wasn't going to say so out loud, but I understood the Iridonian had been supervising the contractors in the construction of the shelter. Canderous, of course, wanted very few people to know about it, and trusted Bao Dur implicitly. I was willing to bet that the contractor was one that had a reputation for doing discrete work such as this, if you knew how to ask.
How complete is the shelter? I asked curiously. I had a feeling he would want it as finished as possible away from prying eyes. Anyone living there, of course, would know about it, but who that would be aside from the honor guard hadn't been decided yet.
Down to the last bedroll, Canderous answered. We kept things simple; all the furniture is either built in or can be folded away. Bedrolls can be stored; saves room over beds. Secondary battery system kicks in automatically if the primary goes out. Cooking and 'fresher is as basic as could be managed. It's stocked and useable right now; I didn't want to do it after the house was built. Most of the Ebon Hawk crew helped with that. The contractors just dug it, walled it, installed environmental controls, and built the escape tunnel. They were under the impression it was primarily a basement and wine cellar, with the tunnel being the secret; the entrance to that is hidden in what seems to be a storage closet. Bao Dur installed everything else with help from Megari and the others.
"Workers will arrive the day after the wedding to start construction," the Zabrak continued, and I gave him my full attention again. "Be about a week for the structure to go up; another ten days for finishing, and however long it takes you to get furniture and such."
"So soon?" I said, surprised.
"They're assembling large parts of it off site," Bao Dur explained. "Construction of the buildings themselves on site will mostly consist of attaching big pieces to each other. Finish work goes pretty quick with the robots they have nowadays. Better start picking out paint chips and such."
"We can help with that," Ladria said, seeing my sudden doubtful face. "If you like." Visas and Megari nodded solemnly.
"I would, thank you," I said with some relief. I hadn't the slightest idea where to start.
"Glad they volunteered," Mira said cheerfully. "I don't have a clue."
"I know a decorator on Onderon," Atton said unexpectedly. "He's reasonable in prices, and owes me a favor."
"Is there anyone you don't know?" Ladria asked him, surprised.
"Well, as I've met the Queen of Onderon, not many," he said, twinkling at her.
"That sounds great," I said to Atton. "If you could contact him for me, Ladria and Megari will help deal with the rest of it. I don't want my house being entirely someone else's idea how I should live."
"No worries," Atton assured me. "He's pretty easy to get along with. Just don't insist on pink anywhere; he gets cranky."
"I'll keep it in mind," I said, laughing.