Blink, Blink, Blink And A New Day Arrices
1284 Words
I was like...
A moment I was asleep...
And then I was awake ...
A moment I was again asleep ...
And then I had awaken ...
And before I knew it, it was already a few days before the end of May and I was equally excited as I got the domain helpers to clean and dust twin's room to welcome and usher to their home.
Not only that, but I also had them to clean and dust our room too because throughout winter, the mattresses and covers had a certain musky smell and that doesn't bode well when Heather comes back and sniffed the dirty bedding...!
I was simply giving out instructions and monitoring the progress made around the domain. Even Ben and Frank helped to make those trinkets that could be hanged above the crib to make some sounds when it was blown by the wind et cetera.
I was glad to have a group of dads around me.
Work around Gracehaven had become so automated that sometimes it seems that time had stood still since no one came to ask for any question, queries or any whatnot.
The bread supply had their own schedules. Then wire caged incandescent lamps had their own schedule.
The Standing Icebox and Chilled Copper Tuns had their own daily schedule too. Even the Hair and Body Wash Shampoo and Soap had their own schedule to manufacture daily and deliver weekly.
Every day, silver and gold coins would trickle in from external sales while silver and copper coins would be gathered daily from the sales made in each respective stores internally.
There was a suggestion for some improvements like manufacturing a low king-sized bed frame made of bamboo and reed and a single bed or a bunker bed for their children to sleep.
A plan was brought up and was immediately approved and the bamboo production area was once again busy with the production of these beds. As the beds were made available locally, it wasn't priced too expensive as a large bed costs a silver coin while a single bed costs 50 coppers. A bunk bed would costs 1 Silver too.
Since the residents had their own mattresses and pillows as well as blankets, having these extras inside the homes makes it more homely.
The paths were being upgraded to be gravelled now. It was used to be Layered with halved bamboo but now it had rotted and Earl had our permission and with Frank's guidance, the 5 foot way in between the residential lots as well as our main path had now being converted to a more porous and durable gravelled road.
The livestock area which used to be barren except for the enclosure and the pipeline for the reservoir and water troughs had also been upgraded. Now all the livestock enclosure had a simple thatched roof over their heads even though it was open-aired on all sides.
Crystal was now happier as her workers tending to the livestock would not be sunburnt as before.
The clay production areas, bamboo production area and the weaver materials production area were soon sheltered to have a roof over them to shelter from light rain and the sweltering sun.
Since there was a thatched roof over their heads, a few wire caged incandescent lamps hung from it to illuminate the area and even could extend its working hours if need be. However, things are going clockwork right now, each producing their set of finished products with no rush, thus ensuring higher quality assurance.
The factory was churning out 4 kinds of body soap and 4 kinds of hair shampoo regularly when someone suggested that they have another factory to make perfume instead.
When the news reached me, I was equally intrigued. The perfume was originally Queen Elizabeth of Hungary and known as Hungary water and was later refined by France. Heh... These Frenchie seems to be everywhere from names to foods and now to perfumers even. Hmph... Hmph... Hmph... Hahaha.
I don't have the right knowledge for perfumes because all I knew is that some women would make small sackcloth and stuff some dried herbs or fresh flowers in them and carry them around. It's what people nowadays call it potpourri or something.
So I head back to my library and seek out some journal (in fact I had a set of knowledge induced books where you people would call it an encyclopedia before there are Wikipedia and wiki how) and hauled the dusty thick reference book to the settee and settled there with the book on the so-called coffee table even though there wasn't any coffee during that era.
"What are you looking at, Your Majesty? Maybe I could be of help to you. I'm your trusted professor and Bishop remember?" Eagle came up to me as he magically held a mug of tea in his hands and wonder how and when he brought that up from the courtyard all the way to the domain.
Seeing him holding the mug of tea he asked if I fancy one too. (Eagle later explained that there was a copper tun downstairs that had a heating stone underneath the tun that regulated the heat at 190°F so the contents of the boiled tea could be kept warm all day and all night long.)
"When did you guys install that? Why didn't I know about it?" I asked and Eagle explained it was being used by the soldiers on standby in the ready rooms downstairs and another tun was made ready near the reception of the domain. I was too busy to notice these issues beforehand.
"Hahaha... No wonder the helpers could whip up a cup of tea within seconds. So we have a whole dispenser full of tea downstairs. Hahaha. How convenient...!"
Eagle pointed his finger to the thick reference book that was on the table as I slowly turned its pages carefully to find the right reference.
"Ah... I was looking for perfume, which category does it fall, eh? By the way, you ever carried the metal orb that emits smoke and swinging it around you when you were holding the Mass or as an altar server, do you remember? The smoke smelled nice."
"It's a turibulum, Your Majesty and its old French from the medieval Latin and also called a thurible or a metal censer. Of course, it smells nice because we burnt incense inside it. It would be made from sandalwood, frankincense and some other imported herbs and spices like cinnamon or cloves or aniseed and also the Arabian gum or benzoin."
"I miss those aromatic scents... Why...? Are you intending to create incense in the next project?"
"Not really... Not directly to make incense, but do people who make perfumes comes under the trade of an Alchemist?"
"The answer is YES... Alchemist is the ones who knew about these extracts and essences and knew the exact procedure to separate the oils from their raw product. Like the fragrances from the 4 liquid hair wash."
"The person who recommends on how to extract using the crude distillation method is an Alchemist. She just stayed low profile. Hahaha. But she was caught under my watchful eye, Your Majesty."
"Oh really? And that's really wonderful news then. Oh...excuse me, could you summon the lady who was processing the oils or extract from the flowers to make the hair shampoo? Thank you..."
A helper was called upon and went to the factory to summon the Irish Traveller they had kept a low profile on her abilities after all these months and soon she came to meet us at the balcony of the domain albeit a bit jittery.
- Writer
