Chapter 26: Second Chances

The plans we had laid out for the creation of a library in Ureda required establishing a local presence first, as we did not want a mysterious building to appear out of nowhere. We wanted this to be something the local Uredans felt they had built.

The location we picked for the library was on a promontory a little more than half a mile from the fork in the coastal trade road that marked the turn off to Ureda. At the fork itself, we bought an old building that had been built over 30 years earlier by someone who hoped to establish an inn at what they perceived to be an advantageous location on the trade route. After ten years, when it hadn't become the success they had hoped for, they began trying to sell the business. After five years without so much as a nibble, they simply packed up and moved out, selling the building for next to nothing to a Uredan speculator who had been sitting on it for the last fifteen years.

The original two story building was gutted completely, and the entire original first floor became the kitchen of the new inn. While the gutting of the original structure was taking place a crew came in from Ureda to attempt to dig a new well.

Drilling was something of an experimental technique, as current advancements in metallurgy and mechanics were barely adequate to the task, but the guild which controlled well-digging had been interested in seeing if the drills could be used to deepen existing wells, so a crew with drilling equipment had been brought out and their cumbersome and noisy operation begun.

They dug for three days straight without result, but in the early morning hours of the fourth day they were awakened from their sleep by excited yells. Pressure from beneath the soft clay strata they had been drilling in had forced water up into the hard rock chamber above! A few minutes work with the primitive drill and they had water spurting up from the bottom of the well. They had hit a spring!

The crew quickly began fitting and connecting two foot lengths of reinforced clay pipe over the solid drill shaft, sealing one to another as they went, using wax rings and brass clips, until the had a solid pipe that reached a good ten feet above the surface of the old well. A gripping collar was then used to attach the pipe to the drill shaft, and the shaft was hammered down until only three feet of the pipe remained above the old well.

With the drill shaft still in place inside the clay pipe, an unending procession of laborers began filling the original well hole with loose rock and gravel. Using mostly debris from the rest of the digging involved in expanding existing cellar from the old in to match the floor plan of the new, expanded inn, it took three more days before a firm and relatively dry well head stood where the original stone well and bucket had been.

"I would not be surprised if you had sufficient pressure to pipe your water clear to the roof of your new building and provide running water for every room if you wanted." Guild Master Albru told Borthun and Yela several days later. "It is good water too. Clear and sweet, and very cold. This seam of clay we struck must run clear to the great northern mountains. An incredible stroke of good fortune."

Borthun and Yela did not bother to inform the good Guild Master that such amazing strokes of good fortune were common occurrences when their friend Constantine Fylakas was involved. They were sure some odd happenings had taken place beneath the ground, away from Uredan eyes, to deliver their miracle. They had been much more impressed with the speed and efficiency with which the plans had been adapted and resources shifted to deal with the discovery.

The plans for the inn were quickly modified, and a 'utility wing' was added that extended the side of the kitchen out the additional eighteen feet to the old well site. The utility wing would have a fourth floor with huge boilers which would allow them to deliver hot and cold water to every room in the inn.

The expansion plans were looked on with a great deal of skepticism by the various Guild Masters who oversaw it. But it was a universal axiom of all the guilds that a paying customer was always allowed to be as foolish as he wished, as long as the payment was on time.

A casual comment by one of the laborers, that with so much hot water planned for, you could almost consider using it to heat the rooms caused another huddle between the Guild Masters and the new owners. A heated argument broke out between the various guilds about the best materials and methods for delivering the hot water. The dispute was settled when Borthun brought them all out to the gathered wagons of supplies and equipment that they had arrived with, and showed them his two huge copper boilers. When they walked back to the their meeting room, they were all smiles. Especially the Master of the Coppersmith's guild, whose slice of the project had just gotten considerably bigger.

Borthun wondered to himself if everyone who hired craftsmen to build something went through the same sea of ups and downs that he was experiencing.

Maq blew on the spoonful of seafood stew before he ate it. The piping hot and savory stew, along with the thinly sliced spiced ham and cheese that came with it were not what he had hoped for when he rode out to Borthun's Rest. He had been hoping to get what the menu called a 'Buffalo burger', but the server had told him they were completely sold out of the popular dish, and it would be another couple of days before their next supply wagon arrived with more.

Three months ago, Borthun's Rest opened. An enterprising couple named Borthun and Yela had purchased the building at the crossroads. They immediately hired a crew of local craftsmen and laborers from Ureda's craft guilds to renovate the existing space and then immediately added on to the existing inn.

Maq was the head of the guild of laborers, and he had been taken with Borthun's energy and friendly manner. The voluptuous beauty of his mate Yela did not hurt either. With the Laborer's Guild's busy season finally past, He had the time to take a coach out the the inn. He had been greeted by name at the door and shown to a very nice table. This was his first meal here, and already he was impressed. The service was quick, efficient and friendly, and yet he did not feel rushed. 'The food is certainly top notch too' he thought to himself as he savored another spoonful of the stew.

A sudden slap on the back and a roar of greeting announced Borthun's arrival at his table.

"Maq! What brings such a busy and important Guild leader all the way out here?"

"Anything on your menu is worth the trip out Borthun, if Yela is doing the serving, but it was really that new 'Buffalo burger' that I was hoping to try. I missed both the expected item and the expected server, so I've struck out on both counts." Maq laughed, then quickly added. "But this seafood stew is very good, and I am enjoying it a great deal!"

"It is fortunate that you are here in any case. It saves me the trouble of sending a runner to town. I have a guest who would like to meet you. Lets us move your meal to a private room where the two of you can meet."

With the snap of a finger, Maq's food and drink were quickly and smoothly placed on a tray, and he and Borthun followed the waiter carrying the tray into a room at the back of the inn. Having overseen much of the work that went into the building of these new rooms, Maq knew that these rooms had their own connections to the kitchen, so that even large parties could dine in them discreetly.

"Maq, allow me to introduce you to Brother Constantine. Brother Constantine, this is Guildmaster Maq." Borthun said. With Maq's food placed at the table, the waiter disappeared and Borthun made his excuses and left.

"Please finish your meal, Guildmaster. While you eat, I will tell you of our plans."

Maq picked up his spoon once again and began eating while he listened to the mysterious 'Brother Constantine'.

"My brothers and I are fanatics and zealots, devout worshipers indeed. What we worship is knowledge and learning. We have dedicated ourselves to advancing our understanding of the world, and in turn sharing all we learn with those who might seek it.

In order to further our goals, we have spent several lifetimes searching out knowledge. We have traveled everywhere that it is possible for a man to go. We began searching many years ago for a place where we could gather the knowledge we had collected. A place where people could come to learn and study. We have learned that the people of Eruda are eager learners as well, and for that reason, we have chosen this area to build our Hall of Learning."

"Ah! Well, what did you have in mind?" Maq asked.

"Here, let me lay out the plans for you. First, there are some parts which we will want to do ourselves, in order to maintain the few secret ways of the Brotherhood. Do you think that would be a problem?"

"It will not be a problem if you are willing to pay the fees for a guild membership. As long as the work is done by a Guild member, the details do not need to be made public. This is commonly done." Maq said, glancing at the plans. "These are very nicely done drawings. These plans will be easy to work with."

"Thank you. I left several areas, here and here" Constantine pointed two two areas on sheet that he had rolled out on to the table. "as unfinished, and those are the areas I will be doing the work on, it will be finish work that will follow the actual construction."

"This is a very workable approach. You say you have a location. Perhaps we should ride out there and take a look at it together?" Maq asked.

"Excellent!" Con replied. "I do enjoy working with a man who does not need to be led every step of the way."

"you flatter me, sir."

"Will it get me a reduced price?"

"No, it will not." Maq answered, with a touch of annoyance in his voice.

"Good!" Constantine answered. "I never trust those who respond to flattery. Their minds are seldom on the work in front of them. I have a horse for you if you feel up to a ride."

The two men, accompanied by four others of the Brotherhood, rode to the promontory. They walked the site, talking and gesturing for several hours. Finally, they shook hands and rode back to Borthun's Rest. The first stone had not been laid yet, but the official history of the Hall of Learning had begun.

We were finally going to get to use the apartments in the Meditation Tower on Obsidian. I remembered back when we went through there like kids in a candy store picking out rooms and envisioning ourselves forming a bustling hub of exploration from there.

There had been two real problems with that initial vision. One was that at that time we were still completely dependent on my gift to move us to and from Obsidian, or anywhere else. The second problem was that it just required a certain 'critical mass' of people to provide infrastructure and support in the office and living complex at the tower. At the time we just didn't have the manpower, and even if we had, problem number one would have made it difficult to manage the logistics.