Chương 135: Chapter 131 – Still Growing

The still house had begun to acquire height. Alric noticed that before anything else, which said something about the scale. Buildings were meant to have height, of course. That was one of the few things buildings were allowed to do without attracting comment. Yet somehow, the old inn had gained interior levels. It was also rapidly becoming all stone.

Workers moved across the open frame in steady lines, carrying planks, beams, wedges, tools, and the sort of expressions men wore when they had been told something was safe enough and had decided to believe only the second word. Stairs were going in along the left side, rough but practical, leading upward to the raised sections that would eventually let men reach the washbacks, the boilers, troughs, and this places germination section. The raised sections had begun to make sense.

Ideas could still be forgiven while they remained lines in chalk. Once stone accepted them and men began hammering them into place, forgiveness became more administrative. Alric stepped inside and kept to one of the cleared paths. Dust moved under his boots. The old interior walls were gone now, and the space had been opened out until it no longer remembered being an inn at all. The shape of the future distillery sat inside it waiting to happen. Stair frames climbed where guests had once walked.

Platforms crossed space that had once held rooms. The river side had been cut and marked for channels. Everything around the raised sections was busy. Nothing near the copper bulb was. That absence was as visible as the work itself. The workers gave the big copper onion a wide berth. Alric noted it seemed to have an aura of professional avoidance. He understood though. The copper bulb occupied the lower centre of the still room, broad, unfinished, and somehow, already, it felt threatening.

It was not even a full still yet. It was only the bottom section, the great onion-shaped belly that would eventually hold the wash as heat turned usefulness into vapour. Even incomplete, it dominated the room. It sat low and wide, made of plates hammered into shape, joined in sections that were not yet quite convinced they belonged. Some edges overlapped. Some seams had been pinned, marked, and struck enough times to vent a dwarves frustration.

Parts of the bulb remained open because Stromni needed to climb inside it. Stromni stood beside it with his sleeves rolled up, his beard tied back, and a hammer in one hand. The hammer looked too small for the thing it was threatening, which Alric had learned meant very little. He looked up when Alric approached.

"It's good, innit." Stromni said with a distinct smug grin, his thumb gesturing to the still.

"I love it already." Alric said with a grin to match. A shout came from one of the raised sections. A beam settled into place with a deep wooden thud. No one near the bulb reacted. Stromni did not even glance up. Alric looked at the copper again. From a distance, the lower bulb had seemed rough. From here, it was rough in several distinct and expensive ways. It had the broad swelling shape he wanted, but not the smoothness he had imagined.

Stromni had hammered the plates into something close to honest, yet the seams still betrayed how difficult the work was at this scale.

"You've worked inside it?" Alric asked, glancing from the open copper belly to Stromni's shoulders, as if measuring how the dwarf had fit. Stromni snorted.

"How else am I meant ta hammer it out?" He raised both his hands, one made a fist and punched on the flat one to illustrate some point.

"I was hoping there was an answer that involved less of you being inside the copper monster." Alric said watching the gesture and not understanding. Stromni tapped the bulb with the hammer. The sound rang dull and deep through the copper, then travelled into the floor with enough weight that a nearby worker visibly decided not to look.

"Outside only gets ye so far," Stromni said with a grin, then leaned against it.

"This big, the copper fights you every step. Ye strike from out here, the plate moves where it wants. Strike from inside, ye can fight it proper." He finished the last gesturing with his hands but it looked to Alric like he was showing a gate opening and closing. Alric crouched near one of the lower seams. The join had been worked, then marked with charcoal, then worked again. There were small gaps. Not holes a man could point at and accuse directly. Worse.

Thin, uncertain lines that would only reveal themselves properly when filled with water. Or hot wash. Preferably not hot wash first. Stromni watched him look.

"It'll leak like mad at first," the dwarf said, now standing upright and next to Alric, slightly worried. Alric nodded.

"Yes."

"No argument?" Stromni said looking between Alric and where Alric was looking. Alric shook his head, he placed a finger on a seam and slowly traced down a finger.

"It is large, made of plates, full of seams, and not finished."

"Aye." Stromni said, looking back looking back at it, he shifted closer to glare at a seam.

"If it didn't leak, I'd be more worried." Alric said standing up and dusting off his hands. Stromni considered that, he removed his glare from the seam and directed it to Alric.

"Why?" the dwarf asked simply.

"Because then we'd have missed where it was hiding the problem." Alric said with a slight grin. For a moment, Stromni looked at him properly; he then shrugged and nodded.

"Aye," he said.

"That's true." Alric stretched his back, he took two steps backward so he could see it properly.

"How bad do you think?"

"Bad enough ta annoy me. Not bad enough ta stop us." Stromni said turning to face him, he shrugged one shoulder. Stromni moved around the bulb, stepping over a strip of copper laid on the floor. Alric followed carefully. The far side of the lower section faced the river wall, where the drainage channels had been marked and partially cut.

The stone there was already scarred with lines and shallow grooves, the beginning of the route that would take mistakes or emergencies out of the building and into the river, where the city sent most of its other admissions. Stromni crouched and tapped the very bottom of the bulb.

"Drain's here." Stromni pointed to it underneath, he put the hammer on the floor and used is hand to show. Alric lowered himself beside him. At the base, set into the lowest point of the copper, was a heavy plug assembly. It was crude in the sense that all sensible emergency things were crude. A fitted round stopper, thick enough to trust, seated into a reinforced opening. Beneath it, a short channel led out and down, aligned with the stone route cut toward the river. Alric studied it for a while.

"It opens the bottom and drains straight out." Alric stating the obvious.

"Aye." Stromni said but gave Alric a small glare for the long silence.

"Good." Alric concluded. Stromni held his glare directed at Alric before saying, "Expected more words." Alric leaned closer, following the line with his eyes. Alric reached out but did not touch the plug.

"Can someone pull it from outside?" Stromni's mouth flattened slightly, he turned to look back at it.

"Not yet." The dwarf said looking at the plug with a frown.

"Then we need that." Alric explained wisely but unhelpfully.

"Aye?" This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"A release. Something outside the danger point. A rod, lever, pin, whatever you can make that doesn't jam the first time it matters." Alric explained pointing at the side of the assembly. He followed the drain for settling on the glare Stromni had directed at him for sometime. Alric tried not to laugh and pointed to the plug, drain and the still as he spoke.

"No one should have to crawl under this while it's full. Especially not if it's hot. Especially not if it's leaking. Especially not if people are shouting."

"People will shout." Stromni said nodding, his eyes started to follow the drain and he nodded slowly.

"You'll be here so I imagine so. Someone needs to be able to stand there, or there," Alric pointed to two places along the wall, "and hit a release with a hammer." Stromni did not speak. Alric glanced at him. The dwarf was looking at the drain now in the quiet way he looked at things right before they stopped being optional. His eyes moved from the plug to the wall, then to the channel, then back to the base of the bulb.

"With a hammer," Stromni said taking in the arrangement.

"Not a pull cord?"

"Pull cords need someone to be calm, and it not to get caught on something." Alric used his hands to show the pull.

"Aye. Hammers are honest." Stromni nodded and let out a deep breath out of his nose at the extra work. Stromni turned his head slowly and looked at Alric. Alric looked back. For a moment, the still house carried on around them. Stairs rose. Hammers struck wood. Men shouted measurements. The river moved outside with damp patience. Then Stromni nodded once. It was a small nod, but Alric recognised the weight of it. This was not casual agreement. This was not humour. This was deep professional respect.

For correctly imagining a frightened man with a hammer in the worst moment of his working life. The building was growing around the still. That was the strangest part. The still was not being placed inside a building. The building was learning where the still wanted to be and arranging itself around it.

"How close are we to a water test?" Alric asked looking at the still.

"Day after tomorrow, I reckon." Stromni said, his gaze shifting to follow Alric's. When Alric returned two days later, the bulb had been assembled. There were no external holes anymore, just one at the top; there was a rope ladder coming off the thumper platform. He moved closer, studying it with fresh eyes. He didn't even notice Stromni approach.

"She's all dressed up now, lad, call her Maggie." Stromni said, smiling at it.

"Good to see you too, why Maggie?" Alric asked with a laugh before continuing, "Your first love?" Stromni rolled his eyes.

"We treat her wrong, we regret it." Was all he said refusing to elaborate as well as avoiding eye contact.

"Alright, Maggie looks thirsty. Shall we do this test?" Alric asked, moving underneath the thumper platform.

"Leaks never show all at once. First test tells ye what the copper feels like confessing." Stromni explained quickly, still avoiding eye contact.

"That is not reassuring." Alric said with a frown, looking up at the thumper platform.

"Wasn't meant ta be." Stromni said trying to see what Alric was thinking. Alric glanced toward the workers. Stromni followed his look and snorted.

"Not them."

"No?" Alric said turning to face Stromni.

"No. They stay away from this till I say otherwise. Last thing I need is some plank carrier slipping in water and putting his boot through three days o work." Stromni said, nodding at the workers.

"That can happen?" Alric asked, glancing between the workers and the dwarf.

"With enough commitment, fools make anything possible." Stomni said with the sort of reverence that he was passing wisdom of the sages. Alric accepted that without argument. He moved toward the side of the building where the first raised access platform had been finished enough to use. It was not elegant. The boards were rough, the rail temporary, and the stairs had the slight unevenness of something meant to become better later. It was, however, high enough to reach the thumper platform.

The thumper platform had been built above and beside where the still's upper section would eventually connect. For now, it was a timber deck, that would be replaced with something not flammable, overlooking the copper bulb from a height that made the unfinished vessel below look less like a tool and more like a pit someone had lined with money. Alric focused on it; he raised a hand and felt the familiar tug of the item box form in it.

He visualized where he wanted the three barrels, then placed them with a heavy thump. The platform creaked alarmingly, and both of them stepped back. Water rushed out of the barrels, and ran down into the copper still with a hollow, swelling sound. The bulb took the water greedily at first, the noise deepening as it spread across the bottom.

"That still annoys me." Stromni said with a mock glare at the barrels busy defying physics.

"The item box?" Alric asked, dusting off his hands.

"Aye." Stromni said staring at the barrels suspiciously.

"You've seen it often enough." Alric shrugged, he glanced up at the draining barrels.

"Seen bad ore often enough too. Still annoys me." Stromni added as the last word. He shrugged. Stromni stepped toward the bulb, then crouched near the lower seams, eyes already fixed on the places he distrusted most. While the barrels drained, Alric moved closer to the bottom of the bulb. He began studying the many seams, seeing if he could find leaks. Stromni had leaned closer to one seam. He held up a hand, not to Alric, but to the copper, as though telling it to continue. A thin line of water appeared.

It did not burst. It did not spray. It simply formed along the seam, gathered itself, and began to run down the curve of the bulb. Stromni stared at it.

"Aye," he said nodding slowly. He traced a finger along the seam. Another line appeared along a lower join. Then a third. The sound inside the copper grew louder. Water spread, rose, found more seams, and immediately began making issues known. Thin streams ran down the outside. Droplets formed under riveted sections. One join near the base began leaking urgently. Stromni moved around the bulb slowly, without panicking or swearing. He did not even look particularly upset.

He watched each leak as if it were a student making a mistake he had already predicted.

"I'm going to change out the barrels, and we keep going?" Alric asked. Stromni just nodded, moving around the base with charcoal, making marks on the still. The bulb accepted the water and betrayed them more honestly. Alric repeated what he had done earlier. By his estimate, they would be approaching one thousand eight hundred litres into the still. For a while, neither of them said anything. Water ran onto the stone floor through the leaks.

It followed the uneven slope in three directions before finding the beginnings of the drainage cuts. Some of it went where intended. Some of it went where the floor felt like sending it. A small stream moved toward Stromni's boot. He stepped aside without looking down. Alric leaned on the wall, watching as the water moved across the floor.

"That is a lot of leaks." Alric said looking between them and the puddle forming on the floor.

"Aye." Stromni replied, focused on marking the leaks.

"Not all of them are small." Alric said looking at them. He didn't get a response. The largest seam had now committed to being a feature. Water ran from it in a steady line, struck the floor, and spread in a widening patch. Stromni crouched, looked at it, then nodded slowly.

"Not as bad as I expected." Stromni said with a small grin, studying the leak. Alric stared down at the puddle. He looked at the leaking copper bulb. He looked back at Stromni.

"I am not going to ask what you expected." Alric said stepping away from the puddle, he smiled though. Stromni stood and began marking the worst seams with charcoal. Some marks were short. Some were circles. One was a hard black line drawn with enough pressure that the copper seemed to receive blame directly. Alric began taking the empty barrels into the item box as he went. By the time he finished, the floor, water had spread around the base of the bulb and was slowly making its way toward the river channels.

He stepped around the worst of it. Stromni was still marking.

"That one's insulting," Stromni said, pointing at the leak and sighing slightly.

"Insulting?" Alric asked, his brows lifting.

"Aye. Shouldn't leak there. That's why it's insulting." Stromni glanced across at Alric for a moment but still avoided eye contact. Alric looked at the seam.

"Can you fix it?" Stromni, stopped, turned and gave Alric a look that suggested the question had damaged their friendship slightly.

"I can fix it." He said, his voice full of beardy disapproval. Stromni turned away and continued around the bulb, tapping with the charcoal now.

"This plate needs lifting again. That seam needs more heat. This join I don't like. That one I expected ta hate, but it's behaving better than some people." They moved slowly around the bulb together. Stromni talked mostly to himself, but Alric listened. He understood some of it now. Copper at this scale simply did what it wanted. Water made the intentions visible. That was all. Stromni wiped his hands on a cloth that did not deserve the burden.

"I got work ta do. Copper's here, though. More coming." Stromni said straightening and turning to Alric, trying to gauge his reaction. That shifted Alric's attention.

"Moreen managed it?"

"Aye. Moreen managed it, and then some." Stromni glanced toward the open doorway.

"Word got out." Alric felt something unpleasant prepare itself.

"What word?" Stromni grinned. Alric already disliked it.

"That a royal factor's buying copper through a dwarf." Stromni turned a full grin on Alric as he said it. Alric felt like he should protest, but he simply shrugged.

"It's useful." He said eventually, rolling his eyes.

"Aye. Never expected that, but ya always been full of surprises. Will make all of this easier." Stromni kept the grin and gestured to the entire space. The Stromni walked toward a stack of copper sheets resting safely away from the water. He touched the top one, lifted a corner, judged something only he could see, and let it fall back.

"People are selling," he said softly studying the copper.

"Not asking as many questions as they should. Not trying ta cheat me proper either."

"Proper?" Alric asked leaning closer with a frown.

"Aye. There's ways ta cheat a man that show respect. This is lazy." Stromni nodded and tapped on a plate. Alric could only scoff and chuckle. Stromni grinned.

"Some. Some are greedy. Some figure if ye have royal stink on ye, best ta sell before someone important tells them not to." Stromni shrugged turning to Alric, he adjusted his belt before adding.

"Either way, copper comes." A hammer struck somewhere on the other side of the building. The new stair section settled with a heavy knock. Someone shouted an instruction that received tired agreement. Stromni glanced up briefly, then back to Alric.

"Even the artisan guild's staying quiet." the dwarf said leaning in and lowering his voice. That landed differently. Alric's hand lowered, he leaned in and almost whispered.

"They are, why? You always complained about them."

"Because no one wants ta be the fool who stops a royal merchant, the king's favourite merchant at that." Stromni explained, keeping his voice low and his eyes on the workers. Alric rolled his eyes. Stromni's grin widened. Alric looked again toward the open building, the workers, the still, the stairs, the water. The artisan guild had felt like a pressure waiting to happen. A thing inevitable and something they were going to slam against. They were a large guild, as big as the merchant's guild.

Now it had apparently stepped back, not because it had been defeated, but because touching Alric had become something scary.

"Well, it makes our lives easier, so lets just take what we can get." Alric said after a long pause. Stromni nodded at that and moved to a nearby hammer.

"Mind if I borrow the small prototype still, by the way?" Alric asked as Stromni reached for the hammer.

"Aye, lad, knock ya self out." He said, raising the hammer to his shoulder and moving toward the big still.