When Bev opened her eyes she felt like a weight had been lifted. The previous night had been hard. And she didn’t feel good. But she did feel better. More whole. She looked at Kennon.

  “Thank you”

  Kennon knew exactly how she felt. So words were unnecessary. But some things needed to be said even if they were already known.

  They got cleaned up, dressed, and ate their breakfast. Today would be a big day. Today they would be throwing the tent in storage. At least that was the plan.

  Kennon immediately got started milling the last of the wood they would need. Bev got started using it.

  Picking a flat location, Bev leveled it further with an application of earth mold. It wouldn’t be perfectly level no matter what they did. But it was close enough it would be difficult to tell without tools.

  Then she laid down the basic frame, and the floor joists connecting them. When it was needed her sharpness two axe worked as a saw in a pinch.

  Once the basic frame was laid out she gripped one board with her telekinesis, and butted another up next to it. A few taps with her hammer and it was nailed tight. Continuing to hold that board she nailed a board to the other side.

  Then, with great care she made sure all the angles were square, and switched to holding the three boards connected to each other.

  She was a bit surprised how hard it was. Her grip was far weaker than it would have been if the boards were side by side. Apparently size played a role just as much as mass. Well, she wasn’t planning on picking up entire houses with her mind just yet. So it was fine.

  With three perfectly squared boards she nailed in the final edge to the frame. And released it all.

  It wasn’t large. Just a three meter by eight meter rectangle. But it would be enough to hold two beds and their crate.

  The joists were added quickly, and soon the frame was done.

  Void, she wished she had a tape measure. Or a level, or a square. This would likely be the most imperfect structure she ever made.

  The flooring went down quickly. Simple planks on top of joists. She was starting to wonder if she would run out of wood faster than Kennon could mill it.

  At the thought Kennon made a sharp whistle.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  He had already milled two trees! How was he that fast!

  Kennon insisted that they take a break. He took a few minutes to brew some tea from a plant nearby. After about half an hour they were both about to crawl out of their skins from sitting still!

  Bev said that they probably already had enough wood. But Kennon wasn’t going to stop just yet. He was able to work far faster without Tutor talking his ear off.

  Another two hours, and another tree Kennon decided to work on the beds.

  Sadly there would be no fancy mattresses. But they did have tons of dry ferns and pelthorn fur.

  Before long two rudimentary mattresses, blankets, and even pillows were sewn together from hide and sinew. It wouldn’t be the best night sleep they ever had. But it would be better than what they had been getting.

  Kennon also threw together a door by joining planks together. He added on a stone knob. He also formed a stone latch to lock it closed. More out of desire for a door that stayed shut than to keep people out. If people found them they would have problems a locked door couldn’t solve.

  After that he helped Bev with the walls. There weren’t enough hammers of nails to go around. But a second telekinetic grip was extremely useful when framing.

  Soon enough they were on to the roof.

  It didn’t rain in this realm. So it was more to block out bugs and the like. But the planks went down easy.

  After that the door was put in place, furniture carried in. and they were done.

  A decent sized building. More of a large shed than a true cabin. The wood would probably start rotting away in just a few months. The sloped roof would leak if it rained. And against a sun tiger it would put up as much resistance as tissue paper.

  But it was theirs. It was cool and dry. Dark when they wanted it to be.

  And it made them feel like they were living rather than surviving.

  He realized that the last bit was really the biggest one.

  They didn’t need a house. But they did need to feel like they had somewhere to go.

  On realizing that, Kennon grabbed a stone from the river and began to mold it into a winged snake. The symbol of the Vonns.

  They didn’t display it much. He realized now that was because it would get them killed. But you didn’t get a last name without your family doing something important. They had been told of how their parents killed the proto dragon Vonntag who had set up a nest near a village and had been raiding them constantly.

  They slayed the beast in its lair. Supposedly the flames it breathed were strong enough to blind the villagers kilometers away and half the job was keeping the village from becoming collateral damage.

  The story said its meat fed the village for a year, and its scales bought the village enough supplies to rebuild itself three times over.

  All their parents asked for payment was to use a portion of the serpent's name.

  He had no idea if it was true. But it was one of the only stories he had of them. They played with model snakes quite a bit when they were younger. It seemed fair to hang their family emblem outside their door while they could. Who knew, they may not be able to use it again for a long time.

  Thank you for sharing my journey. To help me walk it I have a set up. It is 20 chapters ahead and releases at the same time as the Royal Road chapters.

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