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I have realised that whoever lives on one of my farms and properties as caretaker will practically run that farm and property too, and become its ''manager'', and in Skiringsalr also get a servant-helper or two like in Borgheim. Since ''my entourage'' is now many people, I will need space in Skiringsalr, and thus a relatively large building will need to be built in Skiringsalr. It will probably be like the guest house, but will have security windows and quite likely with a smaller pavilion because that is nice and useful to have. It will still feel crowded, but we will probably not spend much time there. There really isn''t much point in spending time there. So, shared bedrooms for most people, although I''ll have my own bedroom, and Iselin-Kari as wives will probably share the other larger room with single beds, and Ciara-Jane will share a room with a single bunk bed. The house will also have a small central heating system. Practically speaking, it will be a quarter of the space Thrymheim has, but it won''t have secret cellars, exercise rooms, several guest rooms, a large attic, a large wing, etc. Although I should add a couple of bedrooms just for the ''good to have'' factor. My plans for the future have not quite turned out as I thought, and I wish I had made Thrymheim a bit bigger.
Master builder Pedr is helping me make plans and sketches so that all the lessons learnt from building here go into that building too, and all the updates are included. Pedr really likes the new design, and with a barn for animals, it will be a really nice and comfortable farm, which is true. Although many elves wouldn''t like to have their important expensive animals in a separate barn where they''re easier to steal. I might settle for a guest house style building as a hunting lodge on Orusingen, but there''s a pretty good chance Kari will go for a bigger one. Unless she gets it built in stone or brick to be more impressive. We will still need a barn next to it for animals, horses, carriages etc. The distance between our hunting lodges-farms will be about 5 km or so as the crow flies over hilly rocky terrain, and much further by road. I''ll need to have a caretaker to keep my hunting lodge in good shape for visits, and there might be some animals there too, just for the caretaker. It is possible to send a servant or so there the day before, because even if it takes 3 or 4 hours to walk there, no one will react much to that, and even less if they use a horse or wagon. If they use a wagon, they can bring food and animals.
Pedr will ask a couple of the free carpenters to volunteer to work for me instead, as they are not tied to the king and work here on the islands. I will offer two or three permanent jobs and hire preferably free men to work for them and create a construction team of maybe six men or whatever they see fit. Just building in Skiringsalr and on Orusingen will take time, and I''d guess it''ll take several months and longer if the weather is bad, but there''s a chance they can build two or three houses a year, especially if they get a couple more men. Frankly, the builders are very hard working and work well and fast. I need to send someone to cut a lot of logs and lay them up to dry before construction in all locations, and look for suitable building sites. I''m really looking forward to being able to mass produce planks and just send them to where needed. It''s such a waste of time and effort to make planks by hand.
Anyway, at that rate, that''s at least two years worth of work when including barns and other things, and I''m sure I''ll have more work for them here on the island. Given how much my new house designs have been appreciated by those who live in them and visitors, I suspect the builders will be able to get jobs for other wealthier people who want similar houses. They''re not really that expensive to build, especially given the life expectancy. Kari''s own construction team will probably need its larger size, but they can be split into two groups.
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Shakini asks to speak to me, and wants Iselin and Caecilia to join us, which we of course do. Seeing Agnes and Ryla has reminded her of what she helped Radgeirrson do. What she did. That they''re jealous of Shakini living in Thrymheim is another matter, although she''s been clear about what her new work is like, and she''s just a servant looking after the household. Agnes and Ryla still seem intent on ''earning'' to live in our household and provide us with entertainment, sex and be bodyguards, and are so willing to also help clean, serve and take care of laundry etc. They''ve heard about the Stag Night, and are sorry that they missed that chance to prove themselves.
Shakini explain that it''s not just Ryla and Agnes who have had the procedure done that take away a woman''s ability to have children. They were the longest lasting experiment for one of Radgeirrson''s projects, which was to create what he called ''the perfect personal servant'', who in his eyes should live to please her master and mistress, with music, dancing and sex. As well as submissiveness, they were trained in flexibility, agility, dancing, music, singing and fighting, by older slaves bought specifically for that purpose, but also trained in general maidservant duties, and things like looking after children and riding horses etc. There were actually four of them from the start, but they were told from the beginning that only the two best and most loyal and dedicated would survive, and so they did. They had their first duel to the death against another slave at the age of about 14. Shit. It''s not strange that Ryla and Agnes are the way they are. I''m just glad they''re not trying to get revenge for their master, but since Radgeirrson disappeared, they seem to have a hole in their lives. A hole that is now filled by me.Stolen story; please report.
Argh, that thought brought up sexual associations I really didn''t need!
Radgeirrson was incredibly pleased with Agnes and Ryla, but they had taken so many many years and he wasn''t interested in a repeat performance if that was even possible, especially to get more acrobatic circus children or similar. And he didn''t need more or wanted to let anyone else enjoy his hard work. There was also little chance that anyone would grow up to have breasts as huge and beautiful as Ryla''s, or a voice as beautiful as Agnes''s, or be as good at music. They were his trophies.
Training girls to become submissive sex slaves was easy, but a bit monotonous and not satisfying enough. Shakini explain how Radgeirrson continued to refine his methods, finding girls or teenagers with suitable or interesting personality traits he gave different training to see how they could be moulded and made to do, and not just for sex. He started training an 11-12 year old girl to enjoy torturing others, but Alyva became too sadistic so he contemplated killing her, but Alyva escaped and has not been heard from since. She should be 18-20 years old by now. Alyva worried him, and he stopped that kind of training. I think Radgeirrson should have learnt and stopped after Nidbjorg, but maybe their training took place at the same time. I''m not going to ask Shakini for details. Not right now.
The last years, Radgeirrson began to focus on markets to the south, partly to avoid any problems that might arise in his home region. Since there are more land bound serfs and fewer slaves, the slave market there is different, but so is the feudal power structure and social structure. A couple of years ago, Radgeirrson had three young girls brand themselves as hóra after systematically training them to please a man and indoctrinating them that they wanted to be a hóra, that it was the only thing they were good for, and that was a good future for them. They were taught Laitje, music, dance and etiquette, but mostly trained to always want sex. To like being abused by many men at the same time, and to feel pain and be violently treated. Then he got that woman he knows to perform the procedure that takes their ability to have children, and sold them across the sea to the south, because there aren''t the same hóra laws as here, and they could ''properly serve''.
While I am holding and soothing deeply offended Caecilia, I am damned glad Radgeirrson didn''t give one of those girls to me or someone like them. But he probably genuinely thought me worthy of a proper hóra. Caecilia is not only furious about how Radgeirrson practically forced the girls into it, but how he tainted the whole concept of a hóra, because it''s not just about sex. It''s companionship, art, dancing, music, religion, sagas and so much more. Sure, she loves sex, but a hóra is not just sex, and for other hóra like Baugeid, other things like music are more important. It''s crucial that it is the hóra''s choice when and to whom to offer sex and companionship, and to say no unless they''re worthy, and training those girls to never say no and like feeling pain and being violently treated is ... wrong!
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Jane has of course understood my plans with the guitars, and ''accidentally'' told Caecilia and Iselin all about it when they asked her for confirmation, since Iselin had figured out what it could be because of the look. All three think it''s definitely a good project, and as Jane sits cuddled up next to me on the couch, we talk about that and other future instrument. At least trying to make a piano or similar instrument is looking more and more likely, but not prioritised. Neither the cost nor finding some instrument maker willing to try it, and before that, I need to figure out a mechanism. It''s not like Jane will. At least piano wire / strings should be way easier than for an electric guitar or bass. Hopefully, I can make some interesting sounding instrument or effects pedal out of leftover electronics, and I explain the principle of circuit bending, but I don''t want to waste too important components on musical stuff.
Our conversation shift topic, because Jane is trying to convince me that we really should go for a realistic Renaissance Steampunk, and she has got the others interested in matching clothes. No matter what I or Jane wants, the technology it will be what I can make and what works, and I suspect that wood gas may be better than steam power for some vehicles or applications, and there may be more electric power and vehicles than first thought. I should focus more on producing a lot of electric power and a stable supply, since with enough power, inefficient lightbulbs, motors and heating can be used.
Kari comes in and asks if we can have dance practise, because Kari also wants me and her to dance and preferably in our own way, and Jane is partially in favour of them having their own dance. To no surprise, Jane is incredibly more knowledgeable about dancing than I am, and even though she says she is not that good, the rest of us think otherwise as she has shows us one dance after another. As Jane try to use me as the male partner for one thing after another, and show clips on her phone, Kari quickly focus on something where I lead her, but where she can do sensual or flowing elements, and Jane clearly enjoy the fact that it''s a wild mix of many things that shouldn''t be mixed. Tango, Kizomba and other things. I''ve only heard off and seen Tango before, so she could be bullshitting us. We definitely do our own version of it, but that is okay, and the smile Kari has makes my heart melt.
What Jane makes her and I dance is ... sensual and close in a completely different way, and Jane definitely likes how jealous Kari gets about it and that I''m getting a woody. Kari try it, but she seems so very uncomfortable dancing like this just in front of Jane, that it probably won''t be something we try to do except behind closed doors.