Recovering Loses

Writers: Bree, Eimi
Date Posted: 4th June 2006

Characters: Fielton, Daigoro
Description: Fielton and Daigoro explore the buildings that have been set aside for the new Vintner Hall.
Location: Vintner Hall
Date: month 12, day 3 of Turn 3

Fielton

"Well," Daigoro said as he sidestepped a pile of ovine droppings, "it will take a lot of work to clean it up, but it seems big enough to house everyone."

Fielton's eyes were busily traveling from building to building, as if adding and rearranging space in his head. "That's something of an understatement," he replied, his voice sounding pleased. "This is a lot of space, Daigoro! We might not be able to house everything in _one_ building like we did before, but we have plenty of space to chose from."

"Yes," the Hallsecond nodded. "I noticed that. I think we could have the classrooms in a building of their own with offices and workspaces in another one."

"The main living area will be plenty spacious," Fielton mused, waving at the central building. "We'll have to have Cinale take a look at the kitchens and tell us what she thinks, though I've heard they're quite a bit larger than the ones she had. I suppose we might have to try and find her more help if that's so."

"She'd like that," Daigoro nodded. "And..." He wasn't sure if he should bring this up now, but it seemed as good of a time as any. "And we should find someone that she could take under her wing who can take over for her. If the need should arise, that is."

Fielton's head whipped around faster than was perhaps healthy. "What do you mean? She's not going anywhere, is she?"

"Going anywhere? No! No no no," his Second said with a shake of his head. "But... Well, Cinale and I are going to be married."

"Oh?" Fielton's brain suddenly connected several bits of gossip that he'd been ignoring, bringing him to the conclusion that he probably should have figured this out before now. "Well, congratulations, Daigoro. But you're not going to tell her she can't work in the kitchens anymore, are you?"
Maybe another husband could have gotten away with something like that...
but, well, it was _Cinale_. Fielton couldn't imagine anyone else in charge.

"Oh no, of course not. Unless she wanted to, but I don't think she does." At least he thought she didn't... "But we will someday want to start a family..."

"Oh." Fielton tilted his head to the side, but failed to properly think about his next words before they came out of his mouth. "Well, I guess I thought she might be a little too old for that."

"What?" Daigoro couldn't believe the Hallmaster had just _said_ that.
"What's that supposed to mean, Fielton?"

Fielton had the grace to look a little ashamed. "Never mind, I just meant that we're none of us young anymore, and rebuilding a Hall and having children might be a challenge. I just don't want to lose the best cook we've ever had right now."

"I would like to remind you, Fielton that Cinale is a good deal younger than both you _and_ I. She has plenty of child-bearing turns left, and when we are married, we're not exactly going to hold back from each other out of fear of having children. What happens happens."Shards, just what did Fielton think Cinale would do? Live alone and unmarried just so she could bake bread for the Hallmaster! Of all the selfish, self-centered...

"What happens, happens," Fielton echoed, turning away to look at the buildings again. Could Badia have been pregnant when she died? The day of the earthquake hadn't been the first day she'd spent all of the morning in bed complaining of not feeling well...

"I suppose we should keep the apprentice barracks in the main living area," he said, changing the subject from the dangerous territory of wives without another word. "It might seem like a nice idea to give them their own area, but then there would just be fewer adults to keep an eye on them."

"That's probably not a bad idea," Daigoro mumbled in response, not quite appeased, but at least they were on a much safer topic.

Fielton nodded and started back toward the main building. "We'll need to get people in here to start cleaning as soon as we can."

"I think we should expand our brewing. Amber Hills is the largest producer of hops in the region. It would be a shame not to take advantage of that."

"I'd thought of that," Fielton replied, glancing over his shoulder. "I want to get the wine production up first, but since we have so much space, I don't see any problem in you using one of these buildings to build a better brewery."

"Well, we can't grow grapes any faster than nature intends," the Hallsecond said ticking a dead critter out of his way. "There will be a whole crop of hops at our disposal and we need to recovering some of our loses."

"I know," Fielton replied evenly. "I just meant that I'd like to see our wine press and supplies settled into their new homes before we start expanding."

"Of course we should be settled. But we will need the marks to make much improvement. Even if we sell off all the stock and precious wines we were able to save from the rubble, our costs are mounting, and there's still tithes to be thought about." Daigoro certainly didn't envy his Hallmaster his job.

Fielton nodded shortly. "You let me worry about marks and tithes. Before we decide about brews though, we need to decide which building we're going to use for what. So let's get to it."

Last updated on the June 4th 2006

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Recovering Loses