On The House

[Yvan]

59 Winter
515 AV

Mithryn's walls were a testament to the power of the Sylira region, seldom did they see any wear and tear, highly maintained and actively manned at all hours of the day and night; the small, agricultural stronghold had versed many a winter and stood the test of time. Some of the smaller buildings within the fortress and beyond, scattered across the countryside, had not been quite as lucky, and with all the heavy snowfall, rooftops had collapsed in on themselves and residents were struggling to deal with the damage alone.

The Order had sent supplies and a team of men, carpenters, builders, and a group of knight's from the city of Syliras, to help repair the damage and see to it that the worst affected areas were tidied up and repaired before things get any worse. Yvan Blythe had opted to join in and lend a hand, arriving with the first wave of knights early morning on the fifty ninth of winter. He owned a small cottage within the farming community; nestle amongst all the other houses in the Mithryn Outpost. He often liked going on patrol in this part of the region where the fields met the woodlands and the safety of the cities walls seemed far, far away.

It was six hours by horse from the city to the outpost and the knight's that Yvan had accompanied to the small stronghold had camped part way over night, rising early to reach the Mithryn Gates by first light. Yvan rode a horse named Hike, famous amongst the knight's back home for his stamina and quiet temperament. He was a dream for any beginner, and Yvan counted himself lucky to be able to man such a fine beast. He shortened the reins as they neared the main gates and ordered the animal to slow up and let the supply wagon by before guiding the horse in beyond the high walls, steering Hike up to one of the young squires who stood shivering in the cold. The boy took the reins and pulled his coat on tighter, trying to stay warm.
"Fetch me a bucket boy, quickly; a bit more movement will warm you up," Yvan ordered.
"Yes, sir," the squire nodded and darted from the courtyard returning soon after with a wooden bucked rimmed with an iron strap.

Yvan carried the bucket over to a tough that was completely iced over and used his hammer to smash through the ice, filling the bucket with water to set down in front of his borrowed horse, Hike.
"Will you see to it that he gets some straw and a stable out of the wind," Yvan requested.
"Of course," the young man agreed and led Hike away once he had drunk his fill.

Yvan wandered over to the wagon then to help unpack the supplies. Rows and rows of wood and shaped roof tiles lined the wagon and lifting them all was heavy work. Some of the knight's stood around watching while a handful of energetic souls started unpacking, namely the builders.
"What about that one," Yvan pointed to a nearby cottage where the top, right side of its roof and half the chimney had caved in, "form a line, we might as well start there," he then suggested and started lifting piles of tiles in numbers of six from the wagon to pass down the line. He wasn't exactly known for his leadership qualities, but as no one argued the plan, he decided to follow through with it.

[Yvan]

An old woman met them on the front step, offering cups of tea and warm blankets, "we'll be fine," Yvan smiled, "we're all here to help, your roof should be mended in no time."
"Such good boys," the woman smiled, eyes squinted with age, “you remind me of my husband, he was a knight a long time ago”
"Does your husband have a ladder we can use?" He then asked.
"Of course, dear, just around the back."
"Found it!" Another knight called and set the ladder against the side of the house.
"Why don't you go back inside and stay warm," Yvan told the woman, "I'll knock on the door if we need anything."
"Thank you, dear," the woman agreed and went back inside to put her feet up.

With work underway, Yvan sent half their crew on to the next house and helped unpack the right materials for the job. After a while, he forgot the cold that had gripped his hands that morning and with numb fingers from all the lifting, he soldiered on, carrying a second pile of heavy roofing tiles up to one of the men in his group. One by one he raised the tiles overhead, passing them up to a man on the ladder, who in turn handed them to another knight on top of the roof. When they had enough tiles, Yvan jogged back to the first house, knowing that the light run would do him good and help warm him up.

"We are going to have to strip back this top corner of the house," a young knight by the name, Finn, who was also a builder, informed him, "you any good with a hammer, Yvan?"
"I have no problem tearing things down if that's what you're asking," Yvan smiled up at the man.
"Good, try and conserve as much of the stone as you can, we will rebuild the frame with timber and then put this puzzle back together."

Without too much more chat, Yvan scaled the ladder and got to work with his hammer, weakening the old mortar with the point of the hammer and chipping around the stone so that he could remove the heavy slabs in one piece. It was slow work and after climbing to the bottom of the ladder with the tenth block of stone, Yvan was already starting to feel worn out.
"Squire," he waved and the boy who had tended to his horse came running, "can you get some water for the men, this is going to be a long day."
The young man nodded and ran back to the guard gate in order to fetch a bucket of fresh water and some wooden mugs, rather than bother the old couple again. When he returned, Yvan had a drink and thanked the boy before getting back to work.

[Yvan]

"Come on, Blythe, I'll show you how to mix up the mortar," Finn called to Yvan, and slowly, he climbed down the ladder with the last slab of stone and set it down gently against the ground.
"I've never mixed any together," Yvan admitted, "most of my cottage is built out of wood."
"Good," the man smiled, "you'll be learning something new today then."

Into a large tub, Finn had Yvan measure out the right amount of sand, lime, and water. Yvan took up a bucket and filled it with two parts sand to one part lime, then measured out and added the correct quantity of water, if not a little less than they needed, "you can always add more water," Finn encouraged, "but it’s tricky to get right if you put too much in."
"Does it take long to cure?" Yvan asked.
"A little longer than usual in this kind of weather we're having," Finn nodded, "but with the new roof to keep the snow off, they shouldn’t experience any problems."

Yvan mixed the mortar together slowly until it was the right consistency, then followed Finn up the ladder to sit on the edge of the wall he had knocked away and help the man build a frame out of the wood planks they had brought along to support the new wall and corner of the roof that had caved in. Finn held the timber steady while Yvan perched a nail on one end and slowly whacked at it with his hammer, careful not to bend the thin strip of iron or catch any of his fingers during the process, "that's it," Finn smiled, "slowly does it."

Once they had the frame built, Yvan climbed down the ladder to fetch a bucket of mortar for Finn and handed it up before returning to take up the first slab of stone he had just spent a good part of the morning taking down. The squire held the ladder for Yvan while the knight slowly worked his way up the rungs and set the block of old stone down on the mortar Finn had plastered thickly along one edge.
"You're looking a bit red in the face there, Blythe."
Yvan laughed, "I'll be fine," he waved and went back down the ladder for another slab of stone.

[Yvan]

"Lift with your legs," the squire called and if looks could kill, Yvan thought before offering the boy a wicked smile.
"Just you watch your tongue," came his quick retort, "or I'll have you doing all the heavy lifting while I hold that ladder."
The boy laughed and made sure he was holding the ladder with both hands while Yvan scaled it with another piece of stone, "sorry, sir."
"Yvan, why don't you give this a go and let me do some of the lifting?" Finn offered.
"Spread the mortar?" Yvan asked.
"Aye," the knight nodded.

The two of them changed places and Yvan looked at the work Finn had already done to try and get an idea of how much mortar he had to put down ready for the stone. He lathered the plaster on about two inches thick and watched as Finn set the first of the last few slabs down.
"Not bad, Rookie," Finn winked and raced down the ladder again to get the next piece.

Yvan plastered more of the mortar on and traced up the edge of the newly added brick to make sure the next one would stick to it accordingly. Finn gave him a few tips when he returned, showing Yvan how to make sure there were no gaps for the wind to whistle through and add the finishing touches to the wall.
"The chimney won't be as much trouble," Finn explained, "the stone is a lot smaller and I've already piled it up high. Why don't you rebuild that for me while I make a start on these roof tiles?"
"Sure," Yvan agreed and moved up along the good part of the roof to get to work on the chimney, adding mortar and stone one at a time to make sure he was doing the best job possible for the old couple who owned the house.

Before long, he had finished with the chimney and was able to help Finn lay the roof tiles. The tiles looked to be designed specifically so that one would interlock with the next, and so on, so forth. Finn was a brilliant teacher and a very patient man, showing Yvan how to correct his mistakes and lay the tiles properly. One by one, the knight set the roof tiles in place and to finish off, they used the last of the mortar to go over most of their wall work, insuring the job was well done, even if not all of them were experts just yet.

[Yvan]

A short walk down the path saw them checking progress on the second house, which had been a lot worse off than the first. Yvan had stayed behind to make sure the couple inside knew that all the work was done and the woman thanked him with a warm wooden mug of tea. The knight scooped up a small ball of fresh snow and added it to the scolding hot liquid in order to drink it faster before catching up with the rest of the crew.

When he arrived he was tasked with helping Finn build a second frame and had to run back to the first house in order to collect the hammer he had forgotten. Yvan almost slipped as he ran back to the second house and chose to slow down a bit, deciding he would be no good to anyone with a broken neck. Again Finn held the two pieces of wood in place while Yvan hammered in a couple of nails, and when one bent, Finn showed him how to remove the nail and find a stronger point for a fresh one to go in.
"You're a natural," Finn teased after watching Yvan bend a second nail beyond repair.
"Don't tempt me to miss and catch one of your fingers," Yvan said in jest.
"Sometimes you can recover a nail," Finn admitted and took the hammer to show Yvan what he meant, bending one of the nails on purpose, only to knock it back up into shape again, "give it a go," he offered before knocking the nail over again.
Yvan practiced his swing and tapped the nail gently back into shape only to watch Finn tear it out as soon as he felt he had got it right, "what was that for?" Yvan asked, confused by his comrades methods.
"Too many times and the nail will lose its strength," Finn informed him, "we don't want a repeat of this."
"No," Yvan agreed.

[Yvan]

Together they lifted the frame and helped set it before each nailing in a wall. With two feet planted firmly on the ground again, Yvan was tasked with mixing up more mortar, and now that he knew how, he did so without complaint, measuring in the right amount of sand to lime, and water ratio. After giving it a good stir, he decided it was an even better consistency than the last lot and handed it up to the man on the roof to work with.

Taking up his hammer again, Yvan knocked in a few more nails, almost as many as he had managed to ruin. He stuck around to help put down the mortar and pile the stone slabs up to rebuild the side of the house that had come down, and passed some roof tiles up to one of the other builders that had been working on the roof all morning.

"I don't think there's much more for us to do on this side of town," Finn stated when they were done with the wall and all the mortar had run out.
"There is always something to do," Yvan told him and picked up a shovel, "come on, let's go clear some snow around the next house and get it ready for the building team to move in and work on."

The two of them set off on foot, weaving through the narrow pathways and trudging through the thick snow. When they founded another cottage in need of repair, Yvan knocked on the door to announce that he and Finn would be cleaning snow outside in preparation for the building work that would soon be taking place before returning to the job at hand.

Both of them worked in silence for some time and every now and then Yvan would stop for a little break or to stretch his arms; shovelling snow wasn't the most worthy way to spend a knight's time, but if it helped the greater community, every little bit counted. By the time the rest of the team had arrived, having finished the work on the second house, Yvan felt that he might fall over with exhaustion, but scooped away the last bit of snow leading up to the house. He put the shovel down then and got another drink before taking off his headgear and to let the cool, winter breeze go through his hair, slick with sweat.
"I think I'll sleep well tonight," Finn smiled, to which Yvan only nodded, too breathless to speak for a chime.
"I think I've lost ten pounds in sweat," he breathed out and put his head gear back on, "but at least we've made a difference today."
"Aye," Finn agreed, "that's three families that won't have to worry about keeping their houses warm tonight.

[Konrad Venger]

Nice job! Your work has pleased The Sloth! Yvan XP: Observation - 3 Leadership - 1 Construction - 3 Socialization - 2 Bodybuilding - 1 Lore: Mithryn Outpost: Ravaged by Winter Hike: A Noble Steed Leadership: If No-one Else Will Lead... Construction: Tiling a Roof Construction: Mixing Mortar Finn: Cocky But Useful Additional: +5 Shield Points for helping out the common people of Mithryn Outpost by repairing their houses Click Me! : Dude, you have GOT to get a Travis Fimmel avatar set up! It would be such an encouragement to have Ragnar Friggin' Lothbrok looking back at me as I grade! This was nicely done and you're writing it good, but MIND your grammar and spelling. Capital letters, mainly, and proper spacing. Makes it look much more professional when you do that. Oh, and from an aesthetic POV, get some kind of template, even if it is just a simple one. Makes things look much better. Just my suggestion, anyway. Oh, and please make sure you go back and edit your post in the Request Thread to reflect the fact this one is now done and dusted. PM me with any questions and later 'tater!