He packed the last bit of clay over the now lit pile of wood. He stood and lent back, stretching out and looking above him. Today was one of the first days it had been particularly overcast, luckily it didn't look like rain but the grey sky and drop in temperature lately made one thing clear to him.

  The season is changing.

  It was good they had made a start on the house for Gro-lag and his family. He just hoped they could get it done on time.

  Should we hire some workers?

  If the coin kept coming in at the rate it had been from Gro-Lag's rune work they could easily afford it.

  More strangers on the land, more people knowing about it.

  He doubted Cedric Brampton would be happy with him inviting more people here considering how secretive he wanted to keep the details of his ownership of it.

  But if we become a settlement people are going to know about it. Would they want to come and see his land, would they want to use it for hunting or logging?

  There was a lot of questions he had been asking himself since he had met with the council, questions that made him worry that it was a bad idea to approach them in the first place.

  Nothing to do about it now but wait, can’t change my decision now.

  Thinking too much about it was, like always, making him anxious, so he decided that being productive would probably be a better use of his time. He had noticed that Trelen's pile of green bricks that needed to be fired was dwindling and so he decided replenishing that would be a good task for the rest of his day.

  He left his charcoal pyre burning and made his way to the river bank. During the last few days since he had come back, the tools he had returned with had gradually made their way to various parts of his land where they had been used. Whilst this was handy since they were there when you needed them, if the wet season started early, it wouldn't be fun rushing about to get them all put away so they didn't rust or rot. Not to mention he was still a bit unsure about if things on his land could be stolen.

  He quickly got into a rhythm of digging out a bucket of clay, taking it over to the flattened circle just off from the river where they always set the fire, using the mold to shape it into a brick and then moving back to the river bank to repeat the process.

  He was on his seventh cycle when his almost meditative attention was taken by the sound of a distant voice.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  "Reen-Ge?n-Lüg, where are you?" He heard Ros calling towards him, a touch of concern in her tone.

  He was about to make his way towards her when he heard a small rustling in the bushes.

  "Reenie?"

  There was a pause and a small green head slowly emerged from the brush.

  Ambrose let out a sigh of relief. "She is here Ros." He called in the direction here mother had been calling from.

  He crouched down to be eye level with the girl who was looking rather crestfallen. "Why are you all the way out here on your own?"

  "I wanted to come see you." The girl said quietly, looking at her feet.

  As the girl's mother made her way over Ambrose could tell from her expression that she was not amused.

  "What did I tell you about coming this way, it's not safe."

  "But I wanted to see Ambrose." The girl wined.

  "How come you was hiding then?" Ambrose asked, softly.

  Reenie shuffled her feet and tears looked as if they were coming to her eyes. "The water is scary." She finally said.

  Ros gave a sigh and squatted down next to her daughter. "The water is dangerous little one but if you wanted to come over you should have asked and I or your da could have brought you over."

  "No, you won't!" The girl half sobbed. "You are busy."

  He and Ros looked at each other as the meaning of the girl’s outburst sunk in. Ambrose wasn't sure about her but he could remember a few times in the last few days where Reenie had tried to get his attention. All of which he had answered with a promise to spend time with her later since at the moment he was already engaged. An answer that from her mother's expression might have been one she had gotten a lot lately.

  "We have been very busy lately, haven't we?" He said to the girl. "And I am sorry if you have been feeling a bit lonely."

  The girl looked up slightly from her staring contest with her feet. "It's ok." She said quietly.

  "It's not ok of you have been feeling that way." Said Ros.

  "How about this?" Ambrose said moving from a squat to sitting on the ground with his legs crossed. "We are going to need to be a bit busy for a while just so we can get your house ready quickly, but tonight I will tell you a story and once we have gotten the lake dug out, I will teach you how to swim?"

  The girls face lit up at his words. "You promise?"

  "I promise."

  The girl leapt towards him hugging him with such force it caused him to fall backwards.