Chapter 36
“Does anyone have anything they want to raise?” Harry asked. “Or are we done for this meeting?” People looked around and while a few shrugged, most just shook their heads. “Alright. If that changes, come and see me or Sigi, whoever you prefer.” He grinned. “So, tomorrow morning, we’re working on the stables. That’s going to require most of the magicals and any hobbit that has some pony knowledge. As soon as the first stable frame is completely up, we’ll move on to the cladding, but that won’t require all the magicals at the same time, just one pair. So, we’ll see about a team, or two, to start on the smials. And on that note… We’re done. Enjoy your evening and I’ll see you all in the morning.”
~~~
July 26th 2920 (Tuesday)
“Why are you here?” Harry frowned at Sigi, as he joined the other magicals, in front of the uprights of the barn’s frame
“I’m here until after lunch.” The hobbit answered. “Then I’ll take you up on your offer of a trip to Bree to buy a pony and probably a cart, too.” He sighed. “I spoke to Squire and he spoke to Hattie. I can use their cart if I need to, as I’ll need to take Violet and father with me to Tuckborough and possibly Violet’s father. But that will depend on the pony I get. Their pony is fine for a quick trip for just one person or a slower trip for two or more, but not a quick trip for four hobbits.”
“Ah. Okay.” Harry nodded. “Let’s get this frame up and then we can go.”
“What’s it going to cost me?” Sigi asked. “This is to be done during personal time, so we need to come to a party on what you want, first.”
“Find and train me a replacement Mayor and I’ll buy your pony and cart.” Harry countered. “I don’t care if they’re hobbit or dwarf, they just have to be capable of doing the job.”
“Have you thought about father’s brothers?” Sigi asked. “Both Hildifons and Isengar have trained under grandfather for a while. Or there’s Bilbo’s Uncle Bingo, I understand that he and Bungo trained under Mungo and his father.”
“That’s your problem, Sigi.” Harry shook his head. “You find them, see that they’re trained and capable. My problem is finding you a pony and cart.”
Sigi nodded. “How long have I got?”
“Yule.”
“Deal.” Sigi held out a hand for Harry to shake.
“Now, can we put this frame up?” James asked form behind Harry.
“Sure, dad.” Harry huffed but joined the other magicals.
“Well done, everyone!” Harry cheered. “The barn frames are up and ready for cladding. Who’s on that team?”
Colin, Fred, James and Remus held their hands up.
“Excellent.” Harry grinned. “So, that leaves… Sirius, mum, Lavender, Cedric and me. Mum? You think you can restrain Sirius? Lavender can show Cedric and I the ins and outs of building a smial.”
“I’d suggest that we all work on one, to get the idea, first.” Lily said. “And then go from there.”
“Sounds good.” Harry nodded. “Who’s are we doing first?”
“Let’s do them in order of arrival. So, Anneg and Kestrel, first, then Lady Cordelia and Miss Camelia.” Lily said. “That’s probably as far as we’ll get today.”
“Alright.” Harry nodded. “And you guys?” He looked at the cladding team.
“We might not finish both barns today, if not, we will tomorrow.” Remus answered. “Then we’ll go over to the Den, until our next construction meeting, which is…? When?”
“Thursday.” Harry replied. “Eight in the morning, in the courtyard of what will be the Mayor’s Office.”
“I think we should put that as the next big construction.” Lily said. “We can use it as an admin point and noticeboard. A billboard of residents and their skills. That way if someone wants a service or a particular item, they can check the noticeboard for someone that can do it.”
There were a lot of nods and agreeable faces.
“Okay.” Harry agreed. “Today and tomorrow, we work on cladding the barns and getting smials built. If the cladding team finish early, they can work on the Den. Thursday, we meet to start on the Mayor’s Office.”
While in Tuckborough, Harry had visited an old hobbit, Rudigar Bolder, and asked permission to view his memories of building smials. The old hobbit was quite happy for Harry to take a copy of those memories and even agreed for Harry to alter his memory, so that he only remembered Harry and he talking. Nothing about magic or Harry copying his memories. Once Harry had returned to the Willow’s Pond, Fred had copied and converted them into training memories, enough that each of the current magicals could receive one and a dozen more were kept in stasis, as a library for the future.
But like he had explained to Lavender… Just because you knew the theoretics of something, it didn’t mean that you could instantly put that into practice. And then there was magic to take into account. Building the muggle way was slow and time-consuming, but building the magical way was quick and easy. But… if you only knew how to do things the muggle way, converting that to a magical method was a challenge. Add in the fact, that they only knew the theoretics of the muggle way…? Yes, it was going to be a steep learning curve.
The first smial, they built using magic as the tool to do things the muggle way. It was still quick, but not nearly as fast as any of them were hoping for.
The second smial was done after an in-depth discussion and in the end, they decided that if the magical ideas failed or didn’t pan out the way they wanted, they’d simply use a levitation charm and lift the soil off the entire site and build the smial, before replacing the soil over it.
This method ended up being the simplest way and took a little less than an hour to build their third home of the day, Sigi and Violet’s mid-sized smial.
After a late-ish lunch, Harry and Sigi quickly cleaned up and Harry introduced the hobbit to the joys of magical transport. He handled it far better than Harry had, the first time Dumbledore had dragged him side-along.
They landed just outside of the town’s gates, under simple Notice-me-not and silencing charms. From there it was a simple matter to find the horse and pony traders. There wasn’t a large selection of ponies and most of them were heavier and larger than what Sigi was wanting.
By the time they had inspected all the ponies, the list of suitable stock had shrunk to four.
“Are they all harness broke?” Harry asked the two traders, that were selling the ponies.
“Aye, lad.” Both nodded.
“And harnesses?”
“Aye, my lass has hers.” One trader nodded, but the other shook his head.
“Nay, not for all three. The liver-chestnut and the roan do, but not the brown.” The second trader said.
“So, three with and one that we’d have to have fitted.” Harry nodded. “And the cost of each pony? Including their papers and also any harness if they have it.”
“My lass is a crown.” The first trader answered.
“My chestnut and roan are the same, but brown is better bred than the others, she’s Ç1, Š5.”
It was a lot less than Harry expected, even if it had Sigi coughing. Harry inspected each of the four ponies again and finally stepped back.
“I like them.” He turned to Sigi. “Which do you prefer?”
“Honestly…?” Sigi grimaced. “I like the brown.”
“I do, too.” Harry nodded. “She’s far better quality than the others, but they’re still very good. Better than I’d hoped for, if I’m honest.”
“It’s hard to find good hobbit-sized ponies.” The second trader said, while the other just nodded.
“We’ll take the four.” Harry said.
“What?!” Sigi squawked. “I’m going to be working for you, for years, at this rate.”
“No, Sigi.” Harry shook his head. “The brown is yours, the other three will belong to the dwarven contingent, for the moment. I’m sure that another hobbit is going to want a pony, sooner or later.”
“Oh… that’s alright, then.” Sigi sighed in relief, earning himself a gentle laugh from both traders.
Harry handed over the requisite coins and took collection of the ponies’ documents tubes, while the traders’ assistants fetched up the appropriate harnesses. The first trader nodded to them and left them with the four ponies and the second trader.
“I’ve also a stud, at home, on a par with the brown mare.” The second trader offered. “If you’re interested, I can have my lad go fetch him, it’d only take a few minutes. He’s much the same size, a pale chestnut roan, ten years old, proven breeder, very well mannered, broken to harness and comes with his harness and papers.”
Harry frowned as he thought about that, they already had three studs, did they want a fourth? But their current studs were larger, more dwarven sized, a hobbit sized stud would probably be a good idea… Bollocks…
“I am.” Harry nodded. “We’ll need to visit the harness maker for the brown mare. Can we leave the others here, until we return?”
“Oh, aye, not a worry, lad.” The trader chuckled. “Just put them in the pen here, they’ll be fine. And Hob’s over yonder.” He pointed across the lane and a few doors down the hill. “Not far, at all.”
“Great.” Harry led each pony into the pen and untying their lead-ropes, hanging the harnesses on the pegs on the higher fence rails. Then he handed Sigi the brown pony’s lead-rope and headed down to the harness maker. Just as they got there, the trader yelled out.
“Oi, Hob!” And when the harness maker looked up, the trader went on. “The dwarf and the hobbit? Fit up their pony, will ya? They’s good people.”
Hob raised a hand and waved back but focused on Harry and Sigi.
“You bought his Clove, then. She’s a fine mare. Going to drive her or breed her?”
“Initially, drive.” Sigi said. “I need to take four people, including myself, to Tuckborough and one of them is too frail to walk.”
“You have a cart, then?”
“We have a couple, but I think this lass might be a big for one and too small for the other.” Harry said. “Do you know of any for sale?”
“Aye, I’ve three pony carts, out back.” Hob said. “Once we fit her up, you can look them.”
“Much appreciated.” Harry nodded.
It took Hob ten minutes to fit a harness to Clove, to his satisfaction. Then the pair left Sigi to get acquainted with the mare, while Harry and Hob went to check out the carts.
“All of these will fit yer mare or any other ponies, her size.” Hob said, as Harry poked at each cart.
Harry finally turned his attention back to the man. “Well, we’ve got four, possibly five ponies, all much the same size, so…? I’m thinking… that box-cart and that light sulky, there.”
“They’s fine choices, young Master.” It was clear from the way that Hob was eyeing Harry’s hair and braids that he did enough business with dwarves to know their significance.
“And what about this little gem, over here?” Harry asked, pointing at a tiny sulky that would be fairly much the right size for Hattie’s little pony, Pebble.
“Oh, no, that’s far too small for your ponies.” Hob disagreed. “Better suited to a pony under three foot, like Bren’s little black and white paint.” He pointed back up the hill and Harry saw the smaller pony that Hob was talking about.
“Something to think about for later, we have a couple of smaller ponies, that it might fit.” Harry shrugged. “But it can wait. Sigi can’t, he’s got to see the Thain and that means taking his bride-to-be, her father as well as his own, with him.”
“Ah, well, that Matron's cart will easily take four hobbits.” Hob nodded. “And yon pony would have no troubling pulling it that far. She’s in good condition and well fit, she’ll be fine.”
“Excellent, in that case we’ll take both the Matron's cart and the sulky.” Harry smiled. “How much?”
“Š15, for the pair.” Hob said and Harry quickly dished out the coins, then the pair of them manhandled the two vehicles out of the shed and into the light.
“Sigi? Bring Clove over here, we’ll harness her to the cart and you can get some practice driving her on the way home.”
“Yes, Harry.” Sigi nodded and led Clove over to where Harry waited. He watched carefully as Harry hitched the mare to the cart and when Harry nodded, he climbed into the cart and waited.
“We’ve got to look at a pony stud with... Bren, was it?” Harry said. “We’ll probably only be a few minutes. Do you mind us leaving the sulky here, for that long?”
“Nay, young Master, that’ll be fine.” Hob waved him off and Harry climbed up to site opposite Sigi.
“You know the basics, right?”
“Yes, Harry.” Sigi nodded.
“Good, then take us back to Bren’s.”
“Bren?”
“The pony trader.” Harry huffed.
“Ah, alright.” Sigi had listened to Harry as he’d spoken about pony handling and how confidence was a big part of it, so he took a few seconds to breathe and relax, before he picked up the reins and guided the new pony out of the harness maker’s yard and onto, what he hoped would remain, a quiet lane. He eased Clove to a halt in front of the pen that held the other ponies that Harry had purchased.
“Nicely done, Sigi.” Harry gave the hobbit a smile. “Continue like that and you’ll have no trouble getting to Tuckborough.”
“Ah, you’re back.” Bren appeared from his little shed, just as Harry climbed down from the cart. “Your timing is good, my lad just arrived moments ago.”
“Oh, that’s grand.” Harry smiled.
“This way, if you please.” Bren led Harry behind his shed and through to a small pen. In it was a pretty pony, he was a dabbled strawberry-blonde chestnut, with a wide white blaze down his face and long white stockings up his legs. “This is Sandy. He’s ten-year-old and a proven breeder, he’s got twelve foals in work, all doing well, most down Sarn Ford way. There’s another three foals that are in training or coming up towards it and so far, they’re showing promise.”
“He’s rather nice.” Harry allowed.
“He’s well mannered, never seen him strike out, nor bite.” Bren added. “Not even when he’s servicing a mare. Never savaged man nor pony, never bolted, and I’ve never seen him even look like doing so. Under harness, he’s got a soft mouth and takes direction well. The more confident the driver, the better he is.”
“Nice.” Harry nodded.
“Aye, that he is.”
“And what would be his cost?”
“Ah, he’s not going to be cheap, young sir.” Bren warned. “I’d not part with him for less than Ç5.”
“Ç5, huh?” Harry would happily have paid that for the stud but he could see that Bren was itching to bargain. “Ç2, Š5.” He countered.
A few minutes in haggling and Harry handed over Ç3, Š9 and accepted the stud’s papers. Then he harnessed the stud up and gave him a booster/treat, before leading him out of the yards.
“If you’d hold him for a moment, I’ll just tie the other three ponies to the back of Sigi's cart. Then we’ll only have to stop at Hob’s for the sulky I bought and we’ll be off.” Harry said to Bren.
“Not a worry, lad.” He laid a massive hand on the little stud’s neck and Harry quickly placed the other ponies’ harnesses in the Matron's cart with Sigi and tied each of the ponies to the cart’s back rails.
“Right, Sigi. I’m back to Hob’s for the sulky. You can either follow me or I’ll meet you outside the town walls.”
“I’ll follow you, Harry, I’m not sure I know how to get out town, not from here, anyway.” Sigi answered, as Harry collected up the reins for Sandy.
“Thank you, trader Bren.” Harry gave the Man a slight bow and lead Sandy away. “No hurry, Sigi, just take it calm and easy.”
“Calm and easy…” Sigi nodded and picked up Clove’s reins and guided the pony after Harry.
Less than ten minutes were needed to hitch Sandy to the sulky and bid Hob farewell, before they headed out of town.
“Where are we stopping Harry?” Sigi called at one point.
“Just a few miles out.” Harry called back, he remembered there was a blind curve on the road, with enough space for the two vehicles and the five ponies. Once there, he cast a calming charm over each pony and transfigured it into a statue, which he shrank and laid carefully in a conjured box, lined with cotton fluff, along with the shrunken carts. Then it was a simple matter to gather up the boxes and apparate back to the Willow’s Pond.
Or that was the intention. They landed in front of the stables, exactly where Harry had planned, with the boxes and with Sigi still hanging onto his arm. But Harry was suddenly exhausted.
“I take it you got a pony?” James said.
“Five.” Sigi answered. “And two carts.”
“Well, no wonder he’s buggered.” James’ eyes widened. “If he’d said, he was looking for more than one pony, I’d have told him to make separate trips for each one, with a few minutes break between them. Apparating with multiple people, or animals, even shrunken and transfigured ones, is incredibly draining.”
“Didn't know that…” Harry muttered, slumping down to lean against a freshly clad barn.
“No, I don’t suppose you would have.” James shook his head in amusement. “Want me to see to reverting the ponies?”
“Please. Just used… standard transfig… and shrink…” Harry nodded calmly but spoke brokenly.
“I got it.” James assured his son and took the first box. He opened it and pulled out the small statue of a pretty pony. “Nice.” He walked a few yards away and with a single wave, cancelled both the shrinking charm and the transfiguration. The pony blinked and shook its head and James picked up the trailing lead-rope and led the pony back over to Harry. “Who’s this, then?”
“That would be… Fennel, I think.” Sigi said.
“Yeah.” Harry whispered.
The next few minutes were busy with unshrinking and cancelling charmed ponies and carts.
“Only you, Harry.” Fred laughed as he joined them. “Only you would go to get a pony and maybe a cart and come back with five ponies and two carts.”
“I need to get Cedric to check Clove’s shoes.” Sigi said. “I need to leave for Tuckborough in the morning and the last thing I need is a pony throwing a shoe.”
~~~
July 28th 2920
Harry looked at the frame of what would be the Mayor’s Office and sighed.
“Do I have to be Mayor?” He muttered to himself.
“Only for a few years, sweetheart.” Lily ran her hand across the back of his shoulders as she walked behind him.
“Two years?” He asked hopefully.
“Three, dear.” Lily countered. “That should give you time to train up whoever Sigi finds.”
“Oh, no, Sigi gets to train them, not me.” Harry argued. “That was the deal.”
“You’ll still have make sure that they do things the way you want them done.” Lily reminded him. “Never take someone else’s word for it, check for yourself.”
“Yes, mum.” Harry sighed.
“I think that’s as far as we can go, today.” Fred said. “We need the mortar to dry some more, before we can move onto the next stage.”
“I agree.” James nodded.
“In that case…” Harry said. “Let’s get the same teams as yesterday, going. Except Cedric? I’d like you to work with dad, Remus, Fred and Colin. I think we should get the forges up. We’ve that many ponies, we need you and a blacksmith quickly. Once we have the buildings up, I’ll apparate into Bree and lodge the position with the Trade-Master there. Dwarven blacksmiths are supposed to be the best, let’s hope they live up to their reputation.”
Cedric nodded and moved across to join Fred and Colin. “I can do that, Harry.”
“Thanks, Ced.” Harry nodded back. “I have no idea what you need, so I hope you do, and don’t forget that you need to plan accommodation, both for yourself and for the blacksmith.” Cedric nodded again and Harry continued. “Mum, Sirius, Lavender and I will work on a few more smials. We’ve done Anneg and Kestrel’s, lady Cordelia’s and Sigi and Violet’s. Next is… Ladies Isadora and Adelaide. Followed by Hattie and Squire and… The Woods', did Jonah and Fred decide on number One Farmer’s Lane or number Five Field Drive?”
“Number Five Field Drive.” Sirius answered. “Jonah figure that it would be large enough for a smial big enough to accommodate all of them, until Lena and Micah are of age and the girls marry.”
“Okay.” Harry nodded. “So, one team for the ladies and one team for the families. Who’s going where?”
“Probably best if Lavender and I do the ladies’ smials.” Lily said. “That way we might give them a little privacy, instead of having two males know where they keep their under-drawers.”
Harry grunted. “Probably a good idea. Thanks, mum. So, Sirius? You’re with me, then.”
“Sure, pup.” Sirius grinned. “I might even be able to keep up with you, no promises, but I’ll try.”
“Let me know if you need a break.” Harry warned. “Don’t overdo it, I did that coming home from Bree and felt like a flobberworm.”
“Magical exhaustion sucks.” Sirius nodded. “I like to avoid that.”
“Yeah, I’ll be doing the same.”
After managing to get both smials completed, the four magicals made their way back to the big house for a late lunch.
“I’m not sure I can keep this pace up.” Harry sighed. “I think we need to introduce a weekend or at least limit the working week.”
“I’m thinking the same.” Sirius seemed even more tired than Harry.
“I’ll talk to the others and see what they think.” Harry said.
“Good idea…” Sirius agreed and leant against the wall and went to sleep.
“I agree, Harry.” Lavender added. “We can’t keep pushing like this, there’s too much to do. We have to take it in stages. Limiting the work week to five days, is probably a good idea.”
“And no major construction over the weekend,” Lily added, “not even your personal projects.”
“Bollocks…” Harry sighed.
~~~
July 29th 2920
On the first morning of his ‘weekend’, Harry found himself spending the entire morning with his ponies. He hadn’t realised how much he’d missed working with them. Dancer and Delilah spurned him for a few minutes, but Onyx and Ebony just pushed their way into his space, leaning on shoulders and nudging his arms. Close behind theme were Athena and Raven, but it didn’t take long for the three little ponies that he’d bought in Bree to join the melee. The temptation of pony booster/treats, drew them across the field and into the mix.
After an hour of grooming, petting and just loving on his ladies, Harry made his way to the other side of the house and the yards that he’d created for the stallions. Little BlackJack danced around him, wanting to play. Harry laughed and laughed and laughed his ribs sore, when Sirius came out and morphed into Padfoot and proceeded to play tag with the colt, until both of them staggered to a halt, colt drenched in sweat and Padfoot panting.
Then it was Golly’s turn. The older stallion literally trembled in pleasure while Harry groomed him, brushing his bright golden coat and startlingly white mane and tail. His eyes closed to half-mast and his ears flopped like he couldn’t hold them up. He looked like he was about melt into a puddle of pony-goo.
After lunch, Harry pulled out his shop-cart and went through his produce. While the smials were up, they weren’t really finished. Doors and windows needed to go in, and all of that required fittings. He pulled out hinges and locks and latches and knobs. He looked at the knobs and shook his head, he had no idea where they’d come from, he couldn’t remember seeing them before.
He harnessed up Golly and hitched him to the shop-cart and let him wander down the hill and across the village, to the smials.
“Afternoon, everyone.” Harry greeted the hobbits that appeared from the structurally sound, but not enclosed smials. “I’ve brought my shop-cart for you to choose fittings for your smials.”
The smiles and joy that greeted Harry, lightened his heart even more than a morning with the ponies, had. “Give me a minute to unhitch Golly and open up the cart and you can have at it.”
~~~
July 31st 2920
“Happy birthday, Harry!”
It might have been early morning and the residents might have been gathered to finish the external structure of the Mayor’s Office, but that didn’t stop them from celebrating a birthday.
Stonag had even baked Harry a cake. Well, not a cake, but sweet breakfast pastries were just as good and far easier to eat between casting spells.
By the time they’d finished the exterior, the sugar from the pastries had definitely kicked in and all of them were bouncing with energy.
“This is why you never give Sirius and James sugar.” Lily muttered as she watched her husband and his best friend duel. Not with wands but with conjured stalks of flowers.
“Thank goodness they don’t know about light sabres.” Colin snickered.
“Oh, gods, no!” Harry laughed and ducked as the tip of Sirius’ stalk broke off and flew at him.
~~~
August 3rd 2920
Sigi and Violet trotted back in the Willow’s Pond, just before lunch, little Clove bright and bouncy in front of the small Matron's cart. A cart that was loaded down with bags and rolls of carpet.
“Moving in?” Colin ran down to meet them, he’d seen them from the roof of the Den and had alerted the rest of the residents.
“Finally…” Violet nodded, her arms full of linen, as she stepped down from the cart.
“Let me grab the door.” Colin ran ahead and opened the smial’s round front door.
“Oh, thank you, Colin.” Violet beamed at the young dwarf.
“Do you have furniture to come?” James asked as he reached the cart.
“We do.” Sigi nodded. “I’m going to ask Sirius or Colin to trade with me for moving it from my parents’ place.”
“I think we can come up with something.” Harry grinned.
Sigi frowned at Harry. “I already owe you enough, you can sit this one out.”
Harry laughed. “Alright, alright.” He shook his head. “I’ll sit back and watch this one.”
“Good.”
“Harry?” Lavender suddenly appeared at Harry’s shoulder.
“Yes, Lavender?” He sighed, she always seemed to yank the rug out from under him.
“We never read Dumbledore or Snape’s letters.” She reminded him.
“Huh.” Harry grunted. “We didn’t, did we?” Lavender shook her head. “Well, I suppose we should see what they have to say.” He paused in mid-step. “I wonder… Ollivander’s been right on the snitch with everyone’s wands, I wonder if he’s put in Snape’s?”
“Oh, my…” Lily blinked. “But what about Dumbledore’s?”
Harry shook his head. “Nope, he lost that to Draco Malfoy and I won it from him, it’s mine now.”
“Should we try and summon one for him?” Lavender asked.
“I’ll be honest?” Harry grimaced. “I’d rather not.”
“Let’s see what he has to say in his letter.” Colin suggested.
“Probably a good idea.” Fred agreed.
“Do you want us to come?” Violet asked.
“Uh…?” Harry looked at the other magicals. “Probably a good idea for them to know what they’re getting into?”
“I think we need to read them, first.” James said. “There could be things that aren’t covered by their contracts.”
“Oh, I didn’t think about that.” Harry huffed and shook his head at his lack of forethought. “What if we read them and then bring a summary to the town meeting, this evening?”
“I think that would be fine.” James agreed. “Sigi, Violet, do you mind? Do you think anyone else will mind?”
“No, I doubt it.” Sigi said. “There’s a lot of your magical stuff that we don’t know and don’t really need to know. You’ll tell us, if it impacts on us, but if it doesn’t, we don’t really need to know.”
“Thank you, my friend.” Harry grinned. “Oh, I almost forgot. Bartleby Nettling? He and his wife Peony have decided to move up here and join us. He’s going to increase our hives from four to about fifty, he thinks we’ll need that many to fertilise the crops that are insect pollinated. He estimates that it will take a year or two, to get there. Unless he finds a few wild swarms.”
“Oh, fresh honey, lovely…” Violet smiled as she emerged from the smial with empty arms.
“And Wilibald Miller?” Harry added. “He’s been up and assessed our stream, to see where he can put a mill. One option is up beyond Farmer’s Lane, on the edge of the crop fields and the other is below the Brew House and dad’s pottery. Either will work, but if it’s up near the fields there’s less travel involved and more room to create a pond-race, I think he called it. A side chanel for the water-wheel to sit in, it means that he can block the flow if he doesn't want the wheel turning. Or something like that.”
Sigi nodded. “That makes sense.”
“Go read your letters, Harry.” Violet said. “We can unload this and meet you for supper and the town meeting. Oh? Where’s that going to be?”
“The Mayor’s Office is up and working, not fully furnished but good enough to a town meeting.” Harry grinned. “We’ve kept the ground floor open just for meetings. Lots of chairs and benches.”
“Very good.” Violet grinned back. “We’ll be there. Six, isn’t it?”
“Seven.” Harry corrected. “And supper is provided.”
“Oh, even better.” Violet sighed in relief. “I don’t think I’ll be up to cooking tonight.”
~~~