I Built This City Chapter 43: Chapter 43

Read chapter 43 of I Built This City by ThePudding on NovelPedia.

Smith Ellen Ellen rubbed her hands together and held them out to the small fire that crackled and popped fitfully. She’d put too much green wood in this fire, which left it smoking and hissing, but for just warming her hands it was enough. The forge couldn’t handle a proper fire yet—Mason Ellen had been very firm about that fact. Trying to get a real fire going would damage the cracked masonry. So Ellen had settled for getting the others to help clean the flue while she cleaned out the smelter. It had been a long morning of work in the cold, and even with the crude mittens that the previous Hunter had put together her fingers had been frozen by the time the smelter had been cleared completely. She flexed them a few times in the gentle pulses of warmth from the fire. It wasn’t large, but in the middle of winter it was more than enough to send the tingle of re-warmed blood through her digits and into the hands. It had been a very hard morning of work for all the Ellens, and she had that uncomfortable difference of being cold, yet also parts of her overheated and sweaty. If they were going to do this sort of thing a lot, maybe they should make a nice bathing shed or something. With the stream nearby it wouldn’t even be difficult to feed it water without manually filling it, though that would be more initial work to get a diverted flow in there. A little fire pit underneath would heat it up for use in winter even. Ellen shook her head clear before she designed an entirely new building. That was more for Mason and Carpenter to do, and she was pretty sure she’d failed to think of details that would make it take even longer. Bathing in winter was going to be tough, but they had plenty of water. She’d just have to settle for a scrub in the house, same as always, if she wanted to be clean. “Whew!” Another Ellen said from behind her. Looking back, Mason Ellen was in the crumbling doorway, also rubbing her hands together. She scooted in beside Ellen to warm her hands, holding them out toward the fire palm-down. “How is it looking?” Ellen just had to ask. “I’m about to clean the rust off the anvil, but we only have a few ingots. Without the smelter our supply is pretty limited.” “Mmm.” Mason sighed. “The good news is that the structure is intact and solid. It’s built well. I found a few cracks on the outside, but nothing that went all the way through, so they can wait until spring if you wanted to fire it up…” She held up a finger. “Provided we can find a way to repair the inner lining. I found a few too many cracks there. It’s been here for decades unattended, so I guess the weather just got to it in there. Using it like this would be dangerous.” Ellen looked up at the stone pillar of the forge’s chimney. She was using it as a simple fireplace right now, but it wasn’t well-suited for that. “What about the forge? Can we get it operational by the end of winter? And the smelter? How long are we looking at to fix this?” Mason sighed. “It’s not that simple. Don’t you remember when we were rushing to get everything done for the longhouse before winter? That’s because of how the mortar sets.” She gestured at the chimney. “If we try this now, it won’t set or cure. And even if it does set, we have to be careful if we have warm days. Up here in the mountains that probably won’t be a problem during winter at least.” “But you have a way around that, don’t you?” Carpenter Ellen entered with a smirk, visible only because she pulled her scarf down. Her breath steamed as she let out a sigh, looking over the ruins of the forge that they’d been using as a workshop. About a third of the building had a crude roof on it already, with a few hooks for hanging meat. Hunter Ellen—Ellen’s predecessor—had used the place to clean and prepare her kills before winter had set in. Using it as a forge would require moving that preparation elsewhere, but there were plenty of options. Mason looked up again, not even bothering to glance at her sister-self. “If we can keep