Hearthglen

by Daniel Schinhofen

  “Oh. Should we wait?” Myna asked.

  “Hmm, maybe a good idea, but we already asked to have it held for us,” Sean said. “I’d hate to be that guy.”

  “As you wish, Master,” Myna said as they exited the shop.

  “Besides, I need to start my experiments soon if I want the bathhouses to be the way I want,” Sean chuckled. “I was happy to see you guys had the building up already.”

  “Of course,” Myna smiled. “We all want our own private bathhouse, after all.”

  ~ * ~ * ~

  Sparring ended with a chaotic mass melee free-for-all. Sean was surprised at how quickly everyone turned on each other, but it hadn’t been entirely one on all. During the scrum, he noted Andrea and Chastity working together, and surprisingly, Ryann and Ida teaming up. Both Fiona and Myna had to deal with the pairs, even as they went after him.

  Chuckling over the memory, Sean walked in the middle of the group as they headed for the bathhouse. Myna and Fiona were on either side of him, walking hand in hand. Ryann and Ida were in front, discussing the melee and their tactics, much to his amusement. Chastity and Andrea trailed them, talking about their day.

  Entering the public bathhouse lobby, the group approached the receptionist. “MacDougal, we have one of the two private rooms,” Sean greeted the woman.

  “Umm… one moment please,” the receptionist said, her professional smile strained as she rang a small bell on her desk.

  Puzzled, they waited, wondering what the issue was. A refined gentleman came toward them with a serious expression on his face. Sean had a sinking sensation in his gut.

  “I’m sorry, sir, but there is a problem with your request to hold the room,” the man said once he reached the desk.

  “What’s wrong?” Sean asked.

  “A patron of higher standing has booked both private rooms for the next handful of tendays.”

  “Every day, all day?” Sean asked with a raised brow.

  “Any day or time you and your staff come to use it,” the man replied, raising his chin slightly.

  “So, it’s not that the rooms are in use, we’re just being frozen out,” Sean snorted. “Who’s the patron?”

  “I’m not at liberty to say, sir.”

  “Denmur it is, then,” Sean snorted again.

  “I didn’t say that,” the man quickly stated.

  “You don’t have to. Fine, fine. If that is how things run, then I really won’t feel bad in the future,” Sean said, an evil smile settling on his face. “Enjoy your next few tendays.” Turning to leave, Sean turned back suddenly, making the women with him pause. “One more thing. The Agreement you have, do you get paid whenever we show up?”

  The manager’s eyelids twitched. “I’m not at liberty to say, sir. If you would like to use the public bath instead, that can be arranged, but the cost would be high due to... some of your companions,” he said, his eyes on Myna.

  “No. I don’t think I’ll ever use this bathhouse again,” Sean said through gritted teeth. “It was bad enough that you sided with an asshole, but you just crossed a line. I have definitive views on people disrespecting my wife.”

  The manager gave Sean a smirk, “The nearest other bathhouse besides this one is two squares over. Have a good walk, sir.”

  Shaking his head, Sean turned to the women. “Ladies, we’ll have to make do tonight. I’m deeply sorry for this.”

  “It’s not your fault, love,” Fiona said, taking his hand.

  “Not your fault at all, husband,” Myna emphasized the word with love.

  “Fuck these bastards,” Ryann said coldly. “We’ll make do.”

  The others agreed similarly, only to be interrupted by the manager coughing once, “You’re all also banned from the premises, effective immediately. If that ever changes, we will let you know.”

  Sean was about to reply, but bit his tongue and led the women from the building. When they reached the street out front, Sean looked angry, but focused. “Starting on Twoday, I’m going to need you all to pick up as much of my slack as you can. Outside of training and sparring, I’m going to be focused on my experiments to ruin those fuckers.”

  “We’ll do what we can, dear,” Fiona told him, taking his hand.

  “We all will,” Ida added, with the others all chiming in with similar sentiments.

  “We’ll make them sorry for this,” Sean said, looking toward the future.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Sean was surprised to wake before Fiona and Myna. He eased himself out of bed and, getting dressed as quietly as he could, slipped from the room. Heading to the kitchen, he saw Andrea yawning as she began to gather stuff for breakfast.

  “Andrea,” Sean said softly.

  With a cry of surprise, she spun around, her eyes wide. “Oh, it’s you, sir. You’re not normally awake at this hour.”

  “I have a lot to do. I’m sure that Fiona or Myna will ask when they wake up. I’ll be in the smithy working on stuff. Have someone come get me when breakfast is ready.”

  “Of course,” Andrea said. “Umm… sir, do you think I have enough energy now to use the monocle?”

  “Huh? Oh, yeah. You and Chastity should both be good, especially if I feed you some while you use it.”

  “I’ll see you at breakfast, sir.” Andrea beamed at him with a brilliant smile and turned back to her prep.

  “See you in a bit,” Sean replied as he stepped out of the room. Odd for her to ask about that now. Doesn’t matter, though, I have things to work out.

  Making his way out the back door to the cold forge, Sean got some copper from the racks and used Mage Sight to examine the bar. Sitting in the dark, Sean closed his eyes as he envisioned the copper kettle he was going to make. Energy shifting out to his hands, he began to Shape. After a handful of minutes, he pulled his energy back, leaving a fully formed kettle in his hands.

  “That’s the first part done,” Sean muttered. “Now to see if I can enchant it to dispense hot water.”

  Infusing energy into it while focused on summoning water was easy. When he pulled back, his energy filled the interior. Did that work? A moment later, the kettle began to heat in his hands, and the spout began to gently whistle.

  “Hot damn, it works,” Sean chuckled.

  His joy was short lived when the water bubbled up out of the spout, since there was no other opening for it to escape from. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Sean grumbled, grabbing at the energy inside and pulling it back into himself. Water stopped pouring from the kettle immediately.

  “The base idea worked, but I need it to dispense water when wanted, not all the time… and I need it to be usable by people without energy to spare,” Sean mumbled, walking the kettle out of the forge and pouring the water still in it on the ground.

  Heading back inside, he took a seat on the forge itself and considered what he would need to do. Sean wasn’t sure how long he tried to get the enchantment on the kettle to work like he wanted, but he hadn’t managed it by the time Myna came to get him. When he heard her calling him, he set the kettle aside.

  “In here, Myna,” Sean said, stepping out of the forge. The sky was growing lighter as the day dawned.

  “Breakfast is ready,” Myna said, crossing to him from the back door. “We were surprised when we woke and found you gone this morning.”

  “I have a number of things to accomplish for the bathhouse to be what I want it to be,” Sean said. “Clear goals always get me moving in the morning.”

  “We’ll have to see about giving you clear goals more often, then,” Myna chuckled. “How’s it going?”

  “I can get this to dispense hot water, but not just when wanted, and not without it being infused with energy. I don’t know enough about enchanting to know where to go next.” Sean showed her the kettle he’d been working with.

  “Maybe Fiona can help. She might have an idea about the basics, having been around the nobles.”

  “Let’s hope,” Sean sighed as they headed inside.

 
; In the dining room, Sean gave everyone a smile. “Even as the first one up, I’m still the last one to the table.”

  “Have any success, dear?”

  “No,” Sean sighed. He relayed what had happened so far, then looked to Fiona for help. “Suggestions please, Fiona?”

  “You’re wanting a way for it to dispense only when you wish it to, and to be usable by people without energy?” Fiona asked to make sure she understood.

  “Yeah.”

  “Why for people without energy?” Chastity asked.

  “How many people would love to have hot water on demand?” Sean asked.

  “You mean to market them to the average person...” Ryann commented. “Wouldn’t they be too expensive for anyone to be able to buy?”

  “That will depend on what it takes to make it work,” Sean replied. “The water purifying runes are infused with energy and only work when they’re being used, but it takes someone charging them to keep them working.”

  “The best way to allow someone without energy to use them would be to embed a gem into them and infuse that. It’ll hold the energy longer and can even be recharged, but it will degrade over time,” Fiona told him. “I’m not sure that will work unless you can use common stones... but even that will increase the cost. As for only dispensing when wanted... I’m not sure.”

  “I still haven’t heard from the gem suppliers that Silvertouch and Gertihs use,” Sean muttered. “I’m thinking I’m getting frozen out there, too.”

  “Possibly,” Fiona agreed. “It wouldn’t be because of them, though.”

  “I’m aware. It would be Denmur being a dick. Again.”

  “Breakfast,” Andrea announced as she walked into the room.

  The scent of cooked meat and fresh bread hit Sean’s nose like a truck and his mouth began to water. “Smells good, Andrea,” Sean said as he swallowed back some drool.

  Everyone made sandwiches except the two Fairies, who just had bits and pieces of everything. Sighing when he finished his sandwich, Sean swallowed the last of his tea.

  “Stoneeyes and Watercaller should be here soon,” Fiona said. “Our usual routine is going to be broken today, but tonight, we should have a bathhouse of our own.”

  “Ida, Ryann, you’re with me to do what we did last time,” Sean said.

  “I’ll be at the smith bathhouse, working on that,” Fiona said.

  “I’ll be with her,” Myna said.

  “Sean,” Andrea said, “about seeing you with the monocle…”

  Fiona glanced at Sean, then handed the monocle over to Andrea. “Just be prepared,” she advised the young woman.

  “I’d like to try after her,” Chastity said.

  “Go ahead,” Sean said, pushing small bits of energy into both of them, glad they no longer reacted like they used to.

  Andrea took a deep breath as she set the monocle in front of her eye. She frowned, then her eyes went wide. Luckily, she had been holding the monocle in her hand, so it didn’t fall away. “Goodness…”

  Myna was behind her, “Let the energy go, and be ready. I’m behind you.”

  Andrea nodded, her eyes tracking to the others in the room before she pulled the monocle away and slumped into Myna’s arms. Ryann caught it as it fell from Andrea’s hand and passed it to Chastity.

  Licking her lips, Chastity mimicked Andrea. Her jaw fell open as she stared at Sean, “Summer’s brass buttocks,” she breathed, then looked at the others.

  Myna did the same thing for her that she had for Andrea, who was slowly coming to in the chair Myna had set her in. “Now you can understand why he can do all that he does,” Myna said as she handed the monocle back to Fiona. “We should sell that to Silvertouch,” Myna suggested. “It would easily fix any money problems we have right now.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Sean nodded. “Wait before we do, though. I might need to use it as a bargaining chip to get gems.”

  Ven vanished in a blur, coming back a few heartbeats later. “The Shapers are at the back gate, sir.”

  “Let them know I’m coming, please.” Sean said as he headed for the door. “Let’s go to work.”

  The work was as long and as hard as it had been for Silvertouch’s private bath, but Sean had multiple drains and a half dozen tubs, which made Stoneeyes and Watercaller raise their eyebrows. Stoneeyes had complained about the extra work to start with, but when she found pockets of easy to work ground, she perked up. Watercaller was smiling the whole time because the pipes already had the runes applied to them and he only had to infuse them with energy.

  The sun was past midday by the time the bathhouse was finished. Stoneeyes was resting in a chair with some tea while Watercaller sat beside her, sipping at his own. “This one went faster even with the extra drains, but with all those tubs, I can see why you would have them.”

  “That’s only the first part,” Sean grinned as he sipped at his own tea, Ryann and Ida both looking worn out sitting on either side of him. “You should take a trip down to the proposed bathhouse in a day or two and see what we’ve been up to. It might also make it easier on Stoneeyes if she can get little bits of work in while we prep the rest of the place.”

  “The hard part for me will be getting the pump to draw the water up,” Watercaller added. “Adding the pumps is the hardest thing I do. The cost of heating the water is going to be the big outlay for Knox.”

  “We’ll see,” Sean said. “I’m working on my next trick.”

  Getting to her feet, Stoneeyes set her cup down. “From what I’ve seen from you so far, MacDougal, whatever you come up with will be a sight to see. I have to check a few more things before my day is done, but I’ll stop by the bathhouse and see how it’s going on my way.”

  Watercaller popped to his feet, “I should go, too. We’ll see you tonight, right?”

  “Yes. It’ll be good to see what people have to say about the work so far. I’ve been told the smiths have all stopped by already.”

  “See you tonight, then,” Watercaller said as he left with Stoneeyes through the back gate.

  Shutting it after them, Sean grabbed a few more bars of copper and began Shaping more kettles. When Ida asked to help, Sean shook his head. “You two just rest for a bit longer. I didn’t give you any extra energy today, so what you did was all on your own. Good job.”

  Both of them beamed and shared a glance with each other. “Sean,” Ryann said slowly, “could we test out the bathhouse before the others get home? To make sure everything will be ready for them, that is.”

  “Hmm, maybe once I get these ready. We’ll need Andrea to bring down the bathing stuff, too.”

  “Venn,” Ryann called, the Fairy appearing a moment later, “can you let Andrea know to bring down the bathing soaps and sundry, please?”

  “Oh, is it ready?” Venn asked, looking at the bathhouse.

  “Almost,” Sean said. “A few touches for ours still, but I’ll have a prototype up and running in a half hour or so. Once you let Andrea know, please inform Myna and Fiona to come home.”

  “Yes, sir.” Venn vanished in a blur of silver aimed right at the kitchen wall.

  “You two just relax until everyone gets home,” Sean said, heading for the bathhouse with three kettles in hand.

  Watching him go, Ryann sighed, “He’s dense sometimes.”

  “Yes, but I find it to be one of his charms,” Ida added.

  Sean’s brow furrowed. What am I dense about? And why would it be charming?

  A half hour later, all the women entered the bathhouse to see Sean tinkering with some pipes connected to metal jugs and spouts. “What are you doing, dear?” Fiona asked as she looked over the completed bathing area.

  “Finishing up the showers,” Sean said as he stepped back from the wall.

  “Shower?” Ida asked, looking at the two spouts six feet off the ground connected to five-gallon metal jugs. “What do they do?”

  “Do you dislike using lukewarm water to rinse?” Sean asked with a grin. “Push so
me energy into the pipe and hot water will come cascading down. Just use small amounts, though, so you don’t flood the tank with boiling water.”

  “We clean there before the tubs?” Myna asked.

  “Yup,” Sean nodded. “The cask in the corner has cold water, and the kettle next to it will summon hot water if you give it energy, so you can fill the tubs as you like. Just remember to refill the cask when you’re done pulling cold from it.”

  “It’s ready, then?” Ryann asked.

  “Yup. Feel free to strip down and try it out,” Sean said.