Silent Pain

27

Mother Miranda stepped out of her manor and moved towards the village, flying as a murder of crows. Looking down, she noticed the villagers were working hard on something as they surrounded Marie's stand.

They had a set of blueprints in front of them as the men were talking together. The women were there to give hints and tips. Miranda flew to the ground and transformed into herself, walking carefully towards the group she watched. The group hadn't noticed her yet, and she caught some of the conversation.

"We should do this idea instead of this one; not only does it give off warmth, but it's sturdier, and she can work better if everything stays dry."

"Yes, but if we have an overhang like this one, the wood and materials outside won't get damaged by rain, wind, snow, or other elements."

"Okay, but what if we did this?"

One of the women pulled out another piece of paper and started drawing. It was the blacksmith. She sketched another drawing, and a lot of them seemed to hum at the idea, "So not only does she get full closer, an area for products, the overhang, but also something she can work around as well."

The villagers agreed, and one of the men grabbed a notebook on him, and they started figuring out what this idea would take. Being completely unnoticed, Miranda stepped up and spoke, "Excuse me?" The villagers looked up like they were caught doing something they shouldn't have.

"Mother Miranda, glad you're here. Would you mind looking at this and ensuring it's good enough?" Luiza smiled at her, and Miranda stepped up and saw that there was more than just 1 set of blueprints, four different ideas.

"What is this?" She tapped on the papers, and the men looked up at her. "We will build a new stand for Lord Marie; she's done much for the village. Not only did she work through illness, but she also protected us and did a lot for all of us. She's working on ideas to fix the church. We are working on fixing her stand."

The villagers nodded, and Miranda stood quietly as they figured out the best materials. "What if we did something stronger than wood?" They looked at the blacksmith, "What do you mean?" One asked, "We can build a tin roof with brick walls. The door can be wood and such." She wrote down the materials and started with measurements.

They seemed to like the idea and thought the materials would be accessible. "I can start working on the roofing once I get more materials from Lord Heisenberg." The blacksmith smiled at the metal worker, "I can get the bricks and plaster in about a week." "We can start clearing and cleaning an area so we have a nice place to build."

The villagers scattered, and Miranda smiled. "I say we build it around or over this stand so that she has access to not only an open view of the village where she likes to be but also Lord Beneviento can come by if she needs Lord Marie for anything." The villagers agreed with the idea and started working, returning to their stands and gathering the materials.

Miranda observed as they exchanged ideas, materials, Lei, and gold; each stand had a jar half full for the church donations and one a quarter full for Marie's stand. They split the payments for each jar and traded materials instead.

Once she was done admiring the villagers' work ethic, she took to the sky and flew towards the castle. Finding Alcina in her room, she tapped on her window until the woman opened it and let the crow inside. "Mother Miranda?" She bowed her head and greeted her softly. Miranda transformed and sat on one of the chairs closest to the fireplace, "You'll never guess what the villagers are doing with Marie's damaged stand and tools."

The tall woman looked up, "Nothing troubling, is it?" "No, instead, the opposite. Since Marie is working on ways to improve and fix the church, the villagers have made it their own to fix her stand for her, even building her a small hut for it." The tall woman hummed and smirked. "The villagers like Marie, it seems."