The next few days were mercifully dull. With little metal available, Vonn focused on teaching. The workshop became a classroom for villagers, a river traveler, a member of Spikes' squad who could barely stay awake, and the soldiers who'd been assigned to learn. But no Woven, to Selen's irritation. "Are they not allowed off duty?"

One Elf soldier said, "I don't think they're ever fully off."

"They fought and sometimes died along side you guys. Yet they're still being treated like wind-up toys."

Vonn said, "It's something to think about, anyway."

"It's something to change. Our strategies are the reason they didn't all get thrown into a death maze."

"It was the Commander's leadership, even if he took suggestions from you children."

Selen looked ready to argue, but Vonn coughed and moved on with the lesson.

#

Selen had to go home; she was needed back there. She'd gotten in time to hang out with Vonn and Polestar to chat in English, trying not to let their skill rust. She'd also gotten in on a Swords & Spells game session with the gang and another with the printer kids. And she'd taken photographs of Baron Bogstep with his son, several shots of the Woven, and pictures of the village itself. And Kotta dragged her away twice. She probably didn't get much sleep on this trip.

Ralator found her while she was preparing for another darkroom session in the Company workshop; he wanted to watch. "You mentioned wanting to add pictures to the print shop's production. Why not carve an image into a wooden block and stamp that?"

Selen answered, "They could, and I hear other people already know how to do it. But the kids were looking to copy my photographs. I know the basic concept of using a stone as a stamp, but that's harder than it sounds. It involves coating it with a waxy substance, then an ink-resisting one that avoids the wax lines, then using a certain kind of ink. And I don't have the formulas for those worked out yet."

Vonn sat nearby with his eyes shut and threads of Mana in his hands, training himself to ignore distractions while spellcasting. "Can't help you with that one."

"I'll figure it out. I want these pictures of the Woven and your fellow villagers to go out to everyone. And for sound recordings to go everywhere, and railroads east and west carrying people who've never seen the river. And to have a Baron in your south lands who doesn't keep interfering in the lives of his own peasants who just risked their lives for him."

"Patience," Vonn said.

The printer kids showed up again with more questions. There was a blatant conflict of interest considering he and Master Urika -- Baron Urika -- owned a share of their business. But they were doing the right kind of work, sorting facts from rumors and saying the Duke's man had gotten annoyed by their pesky questions. "That's probably about the right level of pestering," Vonn suggested. A new newspaper broadsheet was due out within days, whenever the kids could get around to finalizing the content and laying out the type.

From what he gathered, everything had quieted down. The northern villages he'd never visited were calm, no flying monsters were harassing his town and gashing people, and the western mine area was facing only rare attacks that the rail system repelled. The Elf lord had sent most of the militia groups back home, retaining just the Woven and the Shieldpoint and south village squads. The latter hardly knew which end of a spear to hold; the commander was probably training and testing them. At least a few Shieldpoint folk were veterans, here near the border.

While Vonn and company worked and built and kept the aircraft and motor-rafts in repair, the army marched. The dungeon had been choked for a week. Vonn and a lot of other people gathered to see off what was hopefully the final expedition. The plan was to open up one entrance just enough to rush a small army through, then seal it with heavy curtains and make a no-nonsense extermination run on the core.

Dad told Vonn, "Absolutely not."

Vonn paused in mid-bite of his breakfast, spoon in hand. "What, going down there? No way."

"You were thinking it."

"A little."

It was an uneasy day at the shop. Polestar had hung back this time and joined only an outdoor patrol, at Ashfall's urging. Kotta had tagged along for Bard support, for whatever value that had to the Woven. Vonn accepted his share of the latest batch of ingots coming downstream on a barge, sent back some basic machine tools, and called a meeting.

"We've completed our commissions from Baron Bogstep and the Duke. We've got metal again, and gods willing, no emergencies after today's dungeon raid. Ralator is going to want help at setting up the new school association, which means we'll be working part time to teach not just apprentices but students. As your time and skills permit, you're welcome to help with that teaching."

Vonn slapped the nearest workbench with both hands and grinned at everyone. "So. What do you want to make?"

"Flying machines," said Birb.

Ashfall said, "More tools," and the apprentices agreed. She was still the main person doing conventional blacksmithing around here, filling an important role in the village. But the shop's increasingly wondrous equipment was making all the work easier, and the apprentice Engineers could be made to do some boring parts.

The Baron's own Engineer pointed out, "Our lord is going to want input. I'm assuming he'll want machine tools to sell, too, but also engines. Something more reliable, hopefully."

Tazo stood lost in thought, nodding slightly. "We would benefit from any of that. I'm mostly thinking about magic right now. Could we control the crystals better, use them in more places?"

Birb said, "We could do more with the 'jet' tubes."

An apprentice suggested, "Have a set of them that pushes upward instead of back?"

Ashfall had taken notes on a chalkboard. She said, "Remember, we should be making a profit while we're at this."

Vonn nodded as he took all of this in. In fact he'd been dreaming up ways to build better equipment and hadn't been thinking enough about the funding. "All right. I think producing and distributing machine tools should be our bread and butter right now. Our funding from the Baron can help pay for engines and aircraft work. I want to see a lighter engine for flight and possibly a heavier model for plows and wagons. So: we'll develop a standardized, easy to build toolkit. Meanwhile, we'll standardize a good-quality engine but also a control system for flaps and propellers and jets. That'll pay off for ground and water vehicles too. Sound reasonable?"

All agreed.