After feeding everyone and helpfully providing Maria with a list of the things she used in making the I Scream, Katarina went out to finally do some farming while she waited for the children to get out for lunch, and dragged her retinue along with her.

"I must decline," Maria said. "I have paperwork to do. Enjoy your free day, Squire."

"Yes, sensei!" Katarina said enthusiastically.

Maria blinked. "Sensei?" she said.

"It's an Ashinago word," Katarina said. "It means teacher, or master. As in, master of their art, like, someone who's really, really god at what they do. "

"Ah," Maria said. "Well, remember that we will not be using Ashinago terms during training. Please restrict its use to off hours."

"Hai, sensei!"

Maria at least knew that word meant.

As the horde trooped off, Maria reached over and plucked Sophia out of the group.

"Eh? Hey, what gives?" Sophia said at being singled out.

"I don't care about what work is being neglected at the capital, or at Morpork Duchy, or in Lady Hunt's own lands," Maria said, "but you have appointments to find commissions for our business, partner."

"EH?!"

"Oh, you have to work, Sophia?" Katarina said. "Well, that's too bad. How about I see you later after you finish?"

"EH?!"

"I'm sure that will work quite well for her, Squire," Maria said.

"B-but… Lady Katarina…" Sophia burbled.

"Well, it'll be a pity not to have you Sophia, but you have your responsibilities," the Third Prince who was likely avoiding a lot of paperwork at the capital said.

"Take care Sophia!" Lady Hunt said, grinning maliciously. "We'll miss your company, but duty calls!"

"Do your best, Sophia," the Duke's son not doing Duke's son's paperwork said.

"It won't be as fun without you, so get back quick, okay?" Prince Alan said.

Lord Ascart smiled at his sister, and Sophia looked up to him hopefully.

"Do you want me to go with you so you have company?" he said.

Sophia imagine her brother giving up this chance to spend time with Katarina just because of her.

Maria imagined how insensate the people Sophia would be meeting would be if Nicol Ascart went with her, and the infinitesimal likelyhoodof any negotiations being done.

"NO!" the two partners chorused, then paused and looked at each other.

"Er, that's all right, big brother, I can do it, you don't need to come along," Sophia said.

"Yes, please don't, otherwise there might not be any point in her going," Maria said.

"Well… if you're sure," Lord Ascart said, and patted Sophia on the head.

"B-Big brother!" Sophia cried, scandalized.

"I'm so proud of you," he said. "Managing a business with Maria, taking responsibility, meeting all sorts of people every day to negotiate with them… you've come a long way, Sophia. You don't need me anymore."

"Don't be silly, big brother, I'll always need you," Sophia said.

"Awww...!" Katarina squealed. Lord Ascart's smile… well, it didn't change, but it seemed more serene.

"Who'll get the books for me at the top of the shelf?" Sophia said.

Prince Alan burst out laughing.

"You set yourself up for that one," the Third Prince told his best friend.

"So I realize," Lord Ascart said.

"Get moving Lady Sophia, you'll be late for the first appointment," Maria said blandly.

"Darn it Maria, read the mood!" Sophia roared.

The rest of the morning was relatively peaceful for Maria. She inspected the manufactories, checked the quality of the powder being produced, and listened to a proposal by one of the Nightflower workers for a new, more compact arrangement that would be faster and easier to load into the mortars that they could premake ahead of time and store in relative safety. Because blackpowder was never absolutely safe.

Maria had authorized him to make three test loads that they would try later. It would be a good quality control test for the powder and colored charges, if nothing else, and everyone's morale was always high after a test fire. Even after working there, Maria was glad they hadn't lost their appreciation for the sight of the nightflowers blooming.

She also checked on the knights learning to train to shoot. The knights were learning, and had become reasonably accurate with both the pistol and rifle gehrmans, at close range. They'd taken to wearing glass goggles under their helmets to deal with the smoke, and Maria let them, though she insisted some amount of traiing be conducted without goggles. They might not have the luxury of them in an emergency, after all. Still, they were learning, some more quickly than others.

Sir Sanya Espera, a knight with such unusually dark skin he might have had Gerudo or Volgen blood in his ancestry, was especially enthusiastic about the new weapons, and had purchased a whole barrel of powder with his own souls for practicing. He shot with great enthusiasm, if with only average accuracy, but he made consistent groupings, which in some ways was more important than being completely center on the target. He had advanced enough that Maria was having him learn the next lesson after accuracy: speedy reloading. Given the design of the gehrmans, reloading quickly was something of an issue, since the whole cyclinder had to be removed and replaced with one loaded with bullets and powder. It was an awkward design, one that was functional but had to be handled with some degree of delicacy, lest the central rod the cylinder was mounted on break. She, the knights and her smiths and burgeoning gunsmiths of the Arsenal were trying to find a way to address the problem, and Maria feared it would require a redesign.

Still, it did work and could be changed quickly with practice, and Sir Espera was certainly practicing. He wasn't as fast as Maria, but she had been trained as a hunter. She was also not wearing the sort of heavy gloves and gauntlets other knights did, which she felt slowed them down.

It was part of several issues they needed to take into account for the inevitable redesign. While the gehrmans as they stood now certainly had stopping power, some of the knights found them a bit too small, especially when they were in full armor, and complained about the weapons feeling 'delicate'. They weren't, Maria had seen to that herself, but she could understand their reticence about feeling they needed to be careful when wielding a small weapon with mechanical parts that was admittedly less sturdy than the weapons they normally wielder, especially those who used lances, clubs and ultragreatswords. And given the strength of most knights, the current iteration of guns was notably underpowered. Knights, especially those in full heavy armor, could handle far greater recoil. They had already made changes, approved by the crown and the Quartermaster, to scale up the grips and triggers for the benefit of knights in heavy gauntlets. This was fairly simple to do, and they were able to refit their initial stock, but Maria was annoyed at herself for not realizing the problem sooner.

At least the 'production line' idea Sophia had proposed seemed to be working, inspired by bits of legends about the Old Iron King of myth's factories of soul-possessed armors. It had made the smiths concerned, since while Sophia was correct, that having an apprentice learn to make one particular part would allow them to make it faster and more efficiently, it would also limit them, so the apprentices were rotated between making different parts every few weeks. Sophia had also introduced an idea for better standardization, by identifying where different parts had to fit together and making mountings to test whether each made part would fit with all the others its was supposed to. While the pieces wouldn't be completely identical, in theory they would be completely interchangeable, which Sophia said would help with field repair since it would be much easier to just swap out a broken part for a new one instead of trying to fix it. The end result has been a lot of apprentices making lots of relatively simple parts, the journeymen making more complicated parts, and the smiths making the barrels and rifling while the apprentice clockmaker cut lots of gears. It had taken a long time on each one's part, and afterwards they had to inspect each piece and file and adjust it and take notes for more streamlined procedures, but the end result was that instead of making only two guns in two weeks, they made a lot of parts for a lot of guns, and it became a matter of assembling them together. The initial experimental run had given them enough parts for five guns, and that was because some parts were faster to make than others.

The smiths had been hesitant at first, but truthfully it wasn't much different from the idea of things being sized to the dies and punches they used, simply adjusted to fit a specific device. It helped that this was a new form of weapon, which they were all still trying to figure out how to efficiently produce, and so were open to new ideas in making it. Sophia had gone on about finding a way to make all the parts flat so they could simply be punched out of sheets of metal with a press, and then assembled which… actually hadn't been a bad idea, and something Maria and the smiths had noted to include in the future redesign. For now though, they focused on fulfilling the contract in front of them.

Occasionally she stepped out to make sure that no one had tripped Katarina to the ground and was taking a suspiciously long time helping her get back up. Maria was amused to note that Dame Matthew had divested herself of the purple leather armor she'd been wearing and was clearly unused to the hot farm work that the princes were handling with relative ease. She had Sadako lurking in the background, keeping watch. Maria was relieved to see Miss Shelley was there too, apparently having decided that her mistress having a free day meant she was back on duty. She was surprised to see her mother there, and had immediately rushed over in concern. She had not tripped, no matter anyone said. She had performed a perfect hunterly roll to better cover ground faster!

"Mother!" Maria exclaimed over one of Prince Alan's random bouts of strange laughter once she had finished rolling to get to her mother's side as quickly as possible. "Are you sure you should be out? Here, put on my hat, you might catch sunstroke," Maria said, putting her tricorne on her mother's head. "How many glasses of water have you drunk today? Are you sure you're not feeling overheated? It's summer, after all."

"I'm fine Maria," mother said, looking overwhelmed and seemingly not sure of what to do with the hat you've given her. "Anne wanted to check her on her ladyship, and invited me to come along."

Maria glanced sideways at Keith, but he was focused on his sister. Good, his desire for her company was clearly greater than any other lusts he might have at this time.

"Should I have Sadako bring out a chair mother?" Maria offered.

"Maria, I'm not an invalid," her mother said, sounding mildly exasperated. "You and Rafael have done a fine job healing me, and I can definitely that my health is fully recovered."

"Are you sure, mother?" Maria said. She stepped closer so she could speak more softly to give them privacy. "Because you're always out of breath and looking a bit fevered when we talk most of the time, your legs are always shaking like you're feeling weak, and you keep needing Miss Shelley to assist you around the house. Mother, please, let me help. You don't need to pretend to be healthy for my sake. See, you're clearly succumbing to the sun, your face is becoming very red right now!"

Her mother looked aside and coughed delicately, only heightening Maria's concern. Between her bouts of shortness of breath and this, Maria was growing concerned her mother might have contracted some sort of severe, acute respiratory disease! Did she have other possible symptoms she was hiding from Maria out of some mistaken sense of needing to appear strong? Chills, muscles aches, headaches, sore throat? Was that why she had been seemingly isolating herself in the house with only Miss Shelley for company?

"Maria? Maria, calm down, I'm not sick," her mother said.

"Then why are you so red?" Maria asked. "Mother, please, if you've been experiencing symptoms of ailments that I haven't been able to treat with my Light Magic, this could be serious. What if it's a sign of some terrible, unstoppable disease like abyssal taint, some sort of magical side effect?"

"It's not," her mother said. "I… I suppose I have been staying cooped up inside too long that I've gone pale. But if that's the case, then that means I should get out and praise the sun more."

"Well…" Maria said reluctantly. She was still unsure. "If you think it's only that, then fine. But I'm going to have drinks, a chair and an umbrella brought out here, and if you feel even a little bit faint and lightheaded, you're to use them, all right? I took a Medicinal Magic course in the Academy, I know what I'm talking about."

"All right, if you feel that's best," her mother said. "It is a bit hot, so I'm sure one way or another that would be very nice."

Maria nodded decisively. "Good. And wear my hat as long as you're out here, all right? Sunstroke is a terrible problem, it can cause brain damage that makes people forget things as basic as the fact they have magic."

"I'll be sure to wear it," her mother assured her.

"All right then," Maria said. "Can I expect you and Miss Shelley to join us in the dining hall when the children get out for lunch or will you be eating in private at home?"

"I… believe we'll join you," her mother said. "I'm sorry if I've been reclusive it's… just been a big adjustment, is all. It will be nice to see the children again." For a moment, her mother look mischievous. "Though I must say, I thought you would be married before I had so many children calling me 'grandmother'."

"I could ask them to stop calling you that, if you feel uncomfortable," Maria said.

"Don't you dare," her mother said. "Grandchildren are what is good in life."

"I… all right then," Maria said. "I'll go tell Sadako to fetch the drinks and umbrella."

She turned, then paused. "Mother… you know you can tell me if you're feeling sick, right?"

"I know, Maria," her mother said. "Look, it's… I promise I'm well. It's just… an adjustment I need to make. Just give me a little more time…"

Maria nodded. "Well… then take all the time you need and tell me if there's anything time cannot provide, mother." She turned and went to speak to Sadako.

If mother said she was well, then she was probably well. And Maria supposed that the sedentary lifestyle of needing to recover from her ordeal would have made her mother tire more easily. It was either that or she was constantly fornicating with Miss Shelley at all hours of the day and night–

Maria blinked, realizing her hair was hot and she'd just been standing in the middle of the field for the past few minutes. Shaking the bubbling bloodstains of disturbing thoughts out of her head, she winced and decided to go inside and get another hat.

Sadako was standing patiently in front of her, and Maria took a moment to realize that in her black clothes, the woman must be unspeakably hot. She made a note to commission some sort of summer uniform for her maid, perhaps in white… no, not white, some sort of Ashina cultural thing, she vaguely remembered Katarina saying something about that. Pale blue then. "Sadako-chan, could you please get a pitcher of ice water and an umbrella for my mother? And I suppose drinks for everyone else as well… "

A/N: So, my Pat-reon is up now at P.A.T.R.E.O.N.C.O.M -/-SCM2814. If you want to support this fic, that would be great, but no pressure. But if you do, you'll also get advanced access to my new original fiction series about a wizard on the frontier, her dungeon, and the idiots around her...