Following his nose led him to one of the houses he'd made, one of the new ones, that had been converted into nothing more inside than a dining facility with kitchen and restroom. Whoever did the work didn't bother with wasteful decorations or fancy designs. The inside looked like stone, the outside looked like the same kind of stone and the roof looked like slate. Probably because having a cobble stone roof on a peaked slant would just look wrong. Several men and women were running things inside, and doing it with a quiet efficiency that spoke of professionalism. That and a grim feeling that was understandable, but didn't seem like the best plan. Being grim led to giving up and that never worked well in the long run. So… better to fake being happy in the moment, Tor guessed. Or at least confidence. It wasn't one of his best things yet, pretending or even feeling, confident at all, but that could be learned. He hoped.
A sad and stern older woman, wearing a worn blue skirt and gray button front shirt, the style here it seemed, both with rips in them pointed a ladle at him.
“Grab a bowl boy. Fish stew is all we have, but we've plenty. That and water to drink and you best be thankful for that. Flood like this the water outside will kill you to drink it. Took magic to get this for us. Countess begged help from the Wizard Tor. Give him this though, he got her quick enough. At first I thought she might have just been saying that to keep spirits up. Here.” Without ceremony a black focus stone bowl was filled to near the brim, a metal spoon popped in it and a cup handed to him. Then he was moved over to a table to eat. No one said anything else to him, but a few of the women stared at him for some reason, their eyes watching, but faces blank and drawn.
He didn't shrug and tried to smile back at them a little when he caught them looking, they obviously didn't recognize him and were just being careful he decided. That made sense. People, men in particular, could try to take advantage of women if they weren't, so it was probably that. They'd relax once they got a chance to get to know him.
Fish stew wasn't his favorite kind of food, but it was filling and didn't make him feel ill or anything, it wasn't poisoned or unclean, he knew that thanks to the testing he'd done via the device around his neck. No one seemed to realize what had been done there, since regular people generally didn’t need to worry about being poisoned, but the food was wholesome enough.
Listening to what other people were saying while he ate, Tor rapidly got what the major concerns were. The first was simple enough. No one knew how much of the collected vegetable harvest had been lost. Most of the food here was saved in jars of glass for the winter, so when they spoke of the food being lost, they actually meant lost, buried in the mud and scattered, not just spoiled. They weren't worried too much about not having food, that would come from the ocean if they did the work, no matter how cold it got. It was just nice and healthier to have fruit and vegetables put by as well.
The other concern was simply shelter. Nearly three thousand families had lost everything to the flood waters and wouldn't have time to rebuild, winter being right on top of them like it was for the region. Right. Well, that could be fixed, if people worked together. A combination of magical houses and focus stone construction. Those last would need temperature plates or at least fire places. Both? Yes. Tor sighed softly as he finished the gray broth in front of him, because there was only one group of people that could do that kind of focus stone work fast. The people that had kicked him out of his home.
Maybe he could request the ones that weren't jerks? Actually, in a way that would probably work, he needed the ones that made focus stone materials after all, not the guards or elite military stationed there. Then all he'd need was to grovel and apologize to a few hundred people for beating them up and it would all be good.
He returned the bowl to a table in front of a kitchen window, a pleasant looking girl inside took it and smiled at him.
“Want to help wash up? Everyone should take a turn…” She dimpled at him, her face a little round and warm enough looking, a light smattering of freckles over her nose and her hair holding soft curls and tied up in the back. A blond color that could easily be confused with brown or even light gray in the right light.
It was a good point, “I'll… not trying to dodge out, but maybe later if I get a chance? I have to see to some things first. In a few hours?”
The girl laughed and shook her head at him.
“Well, at least your bothering to make an excuse, most everyone else just says no and wonders off. Still, if you really can get free, come back? It isn't hard, but it's deadly dull in here alone.” The voice was half playful, half resigned.
“I'll do my best.” He promised.
Tor could make the emergency houses himself… but wasn't going to. The first thing he needed was the other builders from school. There turned out to be eight of them in all, including him, five first years, who could all do at least basic copy work, since you had to prove that just to get in the door, one third year boy named Mark and a sturdy looking sixth year girl called Sandra that had to have the darkest skin of anyone he'd ever met who wasn't from Afrak. She was tall enough he figured her for a noble of some kind, but she didn't stand on it, and had come when needed.
She was the one to find first, being in charge of the builders, based on her age and the fact that no instructors from their section had come along. That twice as many math and economics students came as builders was embarrassing, but there was nothing to be done for it now. As a group builders tended to be a little soft and selfish. Brilliant, but that didn't mean self-sacrificing at all. The ones that had come were all special in that way. Just having shown up kind of meant they were better than the rest, to Tor at least. He'd had to go, but they did it just because it was the right thing to do.
It took an hour but Tor found the whole group of them using shovels to dig a latrine. He nearly laughed, but instead shook his head. They had restrooms, magic ones that would do the work for them and could be set up in seconds. Quietly he asked Sandra why she didn't just use one of those. Or really, set up a few dozen. She could get them from Ali after all.
“They're not mine? Plus that mean looking weapons instructor with the bald head told us to dig a latrine and pointed to shovels. I don't want to make him angry.” She panted a bit. Building was hard, but not very physical.
Tor could see that one then. If he didn’t know the man himself, he’d probably have done the same thing.
“Oh. Well, I can guarantee you that Kolb just wants sanitary facilities and would prefer to have the magic ones. We'll need more of them, I'll get some of those, and temperature plates, then we need to make copies. I'll be doing houses, with Sandra. I mean if you willing? It's just copy work, so no one should have a problem with it. No templates, but that won't be an issue, not for any of you, I can tell things like that now, it’s a magical skill I’m making up right now, the ability to know how good a builder is just by looking at them. Seriously though, just focus a little harder while working. Ten at a time at first and we should have this done in a few days.” Tor forced his voice to be confident and cheerful, because he knew that of the whole group, the only person other than him that had ever made a copy without a template was probably Lyn, the first year girl.
No one said anything, they just stared, except for her, she grinned.
“Beats digging ditches. Don't worry I can show you how to do it. He's right, it takes a bit more focus, but it isn't that hard. I've only done one at a time before though…”
Nodding Tor winked at her and grinned. A forced thing but real enough for an emergency situation.
“Again, just a little more focus is needed. Some of you can probably already do fifty or a hundred at a time, you just don't know it yet, but we need to start slow, since this is an emergency and quality counts. People’s lives are at stake here. Sandra, you're in charge, obviously, but would you be willing to work with me on this? Unless, I mean, you have a novel build that needs to be done to help out? I can do the houses on my own if that's the case.” It was all kinds of presumptuous he realized assuming she wouldn't have her own ideas.