Maril peered out the carriage window. Owen, who had figured out where Bert lived without any assistance from her, was turning into a driveway.
There was an elaborate looking building near the street decorated with carved wood trim and embellishments. The building was painted teal and all the trimmings were a burnt orange color. It was only a one-story building but was quite tall. The front of the building had a row of closed large double doors. There was ample space to park wagons and carriages near it. This must be the workshop where Bert and his family worked.
The long driveway continued past the workshop. On one side of the carriage, Maril could see four matching brown ponies grazing in a fenced area with a few goats. Sliding across the bench to look out the other window she saw ornamental bushes and flowers with walking paths. No wonder Bert had not been overly impressed with the community garden, his family had one of their own.
Looking forward, she could see the main house nestled between some huge trees. It was tall, three stories plus an attic space with dormers under the roof. Its construction matched the workshop exactly. The carved trim around the edge of the roof was the same, the walls were a matching teal. It had the same orange wood shingles and shutters.
But as the carriage drew past the workshop towards the front door of the house, Maril realized that one aspect of the house was significantly different.
The house was not as far away as she had originally thought. Nor were the trees quite as huge. Instead, the house, which definitely was a three- or four-story house, was not as tall as she thought. Because unlike her house and all the other houses on her street, this house was gnome sized.
Her observation was verified when Hubert Hinkleton hurried out the door and paused to close it behind him. The doorway was not much taller than he was. Maril was amazed, she was less than half the height of her house’s front door. Although she had seen, and her family owned, gnome sized furniture, she had never seen an entire house built to her scale.
The carriage flexed in a familiar manner as Owen stepped off the front of the one-horse carriage. Maril heard an exchange of pleasantries before Owen opened the carriage door for the shorter man.
“Good morning, Hubert, please join me,” Maril called, leaning forward on her seat to look out the carriage door at Bert and to get another view of the house behind him.
Bert climbed the stairs into the carriage carrying the same satchel and jacket he had brought to her house the previous day, “Good morning Miss Maril,” he said pointedly, “Thank you for inviting me to join you. You have no idea the boredom I’m escaping.” Maril took one last look at the scaled house before Owen closed the door.
Bert paused standing in the carriage and blinked at her. She suddenly felt a little self-conscious about her plain tan overalls, they weren’t anywhere near as pretty as the blue dress he had seen her in yesterday.
“Uh,” he stuttered before turning and seating himself on the bench across from her, “You have a lot of colorful pillows.”
She looked around at the dozen or so pillows on her bench, the handful more tossed on his bench, and the pair that had fallen on the floor. Each one was different, but all were brightly colored and patterned. “Oh, yes. I spend a lot of time in the carriage so I decided to make it as comfortable as possible.”
The carriage rocked as Owen stepped back into the driver’s seat. There was a knocking on the top of the carriage and then the carriage started to move.
Throughout the ride out of the minor nobles district, Bert asked dozens of questions about the magic she did. She explained that she really didn’t do anything. All she did was refresh the runes. She wasn’t allowed to make new runes and she didn’t work on new projects. She just put energy into existing runes to maintain existing structures. Her father worked on new structures and important buildings in the city, but she had not been cleared to work within city limits or on new construction.
He asked questions about what runes were used on infrastructure and how they benefited the structure. They compared how similar combinations of runes could be used to support a stone aqueduct and to hold together the wooden parts of a carriage. The waterproofing and sterilization runes on the water channel of an aqueduct were similar to those used to waterproofed wooden containers and dishes. They discussed the similarities for a while, Maril was less enthused than Bert.
About the time they left the nobles district and entered a short section of the town, Maril started to get exasperated at his questions and comparisons. They approached the city gate and the carriage stopped briefly. Owen conversed with the gate guards and showed them their gate pass so they could pass without paying the toll. Bert had gone quiet as they pulled up to the gate and he was gaping out the window at the guards.
Then they were outside the city riding down the highway towards the East Farming District.
Bert’s questions about infrastructure magic slowed after leaving the gate. His focus moved to stare out the windows. He looked out first the left, then the right window, and even turned most of the way around so he could peer out the windows looking forward. He started babbling to himself enthusiastically about the things that he had never seen before.
The bridge over the river was exciting. From the middle of the bridge, they had a good view of a water mill, which was exciting. After they got past the river the big green fields were exciting.
Maril rolled her eyes at him, “Are the bumps in the road exciting?” she questioned.
Bert’s face turned red, “Well, yeah. I’ve never been outside the city. Everything is…” he paused gesturing vaguely, “Exciting. I can’t believe that you do this every day.”
“Well, I don’t actually come out every day,” she admitted, deciding that she may as well warn him now instead of later. “Sometimes I overdo myself and end up sleeping the entire next day or two.”
He frowned at her briefly. When she wouldn’t meet his gaze and didn’t continue, he turned to quietly gaze out the window at the passing fields and clusters of farmhouses.