But Martya's family was in the prostitution trade. Apparently they didn't really need her for it at all either, and she wasn't wild about the work. Too many uncouth sailors that thought sticking it in and thrusting a few times should have her loving them abjectly. It was a silly idea, of course, but Tor could kind of credit it. After all, he'd liked Petra before, but didn't he feel a little more fond of her now? Like they were closer or something. Lovers. Did it count as that if they'd only done it one time? Probably not.
The girl continued on about how there wasn't much else for her to do, since she didn't want to fish or farm for a living either. Too much work she admitted, for too little pay.
“Um, Martya… Would you like a job?” Tor asked, feeling a little awkward about it.
“Sure… Since you could have had me last night for free anyway. What do you want, a blowjob? Regular sex? I'll blow you for free, just for the rescue and do the rest for that hangover remedy…” Laughing she started to shimmy out of her dress.
Petra crossed her arms and mock glared at her friend.
“Hey, get off my boyfriend you!”
Everyone laughed, even Tor, if not for the same reason.
“No, I meant selling ice. The price will probably go down, around a silver for ten pounds, I'd guess, given the market here, maybe less, but if you sell enough, that should work out. I don't know how much you make now, but… Well, let me show you.” His voice showed his excitement, earning a strange look from the other two. He grabbed the right pendants, there were three of them to make up one manufactory, and went outside to set things up.
He didn't whistle while he did it, but it took force of will not too. It was kind of exciting and happy all at once.
It took about five minutes, because he had to patch into a water feed, just using the one going into his house for now, explaining how it worked as he went. Then, after moving everyone else well out of the way, he tapped the main sigil, which made a white and red hut, about forty foot on a side with what looked like a red tile roof, so it kind of fit into the area, just appear in front of them. The sigil amulet slid into the wall and started glowing a soft pink. He just liked the color and though it worked with the white and red pretty well.
The water was going in not half a minute later. Then they had to wait. Not too long, but a good fifteen minutes.
“There it is! Good, when the sigil turns green like that, then next to it, after about ten seconds, a blue one should show up… There.” Walking the four feet towards the end Tor looked at them dramatically.
“Ready?”
Petra nodded with a little smile, curious, but Martya looked amazed and a tiny bit scared. Why that should be he didn't know. After all, she'd spent the night in a magic house. So a magic shed shouldn't be that amazing, right? Just to get her past her fear Tor asked her to hit the sigil, which set several things into motion at once. Martya jumped back, but laughed as she did.
“What is it doing?” She asked, eyes wide.
Tor just pointed.
The wall near the front vanished completely, leaving only a wall of ice about eight foot high. Then it slowly pushed forward until a foot of clearish white stuck out. A light blue light flashed inside the ice, to show where it was being cut, a crisscross of color, and then the wall reappeared, pushing the whole thing forward again about six inches. The wall of ice was cut into even one foot blocks, or close enough, meaning that there were two hundred and twenty-four one-foot square blocks. He wasn't certain, but guessed that it could do this faster than the blocks could be moved unless they had a large team of people working on it.
“So. What do you say Martya? I mean it's something to try, since you won't actually lose your ability to ply your other trade if it doesn't work out, right? We can easily move it someplace else too, though right now I really think we should build an ice castle in the yard. Not one too high, because it will fall apart when it melts…” Who didn't like an ice castle on a hot day?
Sure, he'd never heard of such a thing before and neither had either of them, but the materials were at hand, so why not? Actually, since they weren't hung over anymore, the girls seemed pretty enthused by the idea, and Petra had an plan, a structure fifty foot long and twenty foot wide… After all, if you wanted a spectacle you didn't go small. Plus the ice was free. For them anyway.
Laughing they did just that, taking hours, and forming an almost solid mass of ice nearly as big as the ice producer itself. People came and started helping after a while, kids at first, but adults soon enough, with food and drink vendors an hour or two after that. Martya quickly realized the potential and started selling the blocks for a half silver each, which seemed a little high to Tor, but had people pulling up in horse draw carts to get it by the load within another two hours. It wasn't even noon and people were coming to see the ice castle, which was kept growing faster than it melted, even with all the sales.
The ground got damp, but no one seemed to mind overly.
People laughed and played, kids and even some of the young adults climbing up on it for as long as they could without freezing. Then they'd jump off, sliding down a ramp of melting ice that people built just for the purpose. He’d smoothed it with a cutter so it was very slick. It looked fun, if wet, so Tor jumped up the side of the castle, which was really a solid rectangle on the bottom and took a turn. It worked, but got him more than a little damp. No one cared though.
At noon Trice, Maria and Marvin all came out with Collette and Ellen trailing by a few minutes. Tor kind of expected the Wards to yell at him for ruining their lawn, but that didn't seem to matter as much as the wealth of ice growing there and the fact that it had been put there as a free entertainment. That part, seemed to be the real selling point. That it was a gift to everyone.
They all looked grumpy and tired, except Ellen who looked well rested and even happy enough, seeing all the smiling faces. Someone had gotten a band to come, which Martya cleverly paid instantly, making it worth their while to spend the day. They played happy tunes that matched the mood of the crowed.
Petra ran up to them and started passing a healing device around which made everyone happier inside a minute or two.
When it came around to Ellen she took it, but clearly didn't think much would happen, having been wise with the amount she drank the night before. Standing stiffly at first, her eyes closed, like almost everyone else had, her face relaxed after a bit and she smiled, a real genuine thing that took in her eyes as well as her mouth. She didn't let go of it for a long time, nearly ten minutes, even as people stared. A popping sound came from her lower back, which made her wince and cry out, but then she sighed.
Eyes still shut she nodded slowly at first, getting faster as she went, “OK Tor… I'll let you have my virginity…” She murmured dreamily, making the crowd of watchers laugh. She smiled again and opened her eyes wide. The whites were a pure now, without the slight yellowish tint of age they'd had before, turning the amulet off she handed it back to Petra, then leaned in whispered something to her, which got a chuckle from the people around them, but a nod from her daughter. That made everyone smile, except Trice who looked suddenly angry. She glared at Petra, and then him, for some reason Tor didn't get.
Did Ellen say something about her maybe? That didn't make sense. As far as Tor could tell they hardly knew each other. Well, Trice would tell him or not, or if it got bad enough, he'd ask. Then she wouldn't tell him, because “he knew what he'd done” or something like that probably. It was a favorite line of his mothers with the boys when she was particularly displeased over something that would have been too minor to anyone else to even notice. Luckily Trice didn't remind him that much of his mother at all.