Solo Heaven Lying at your Feet

[Sophia Sunshore]

23, Spring, 519

Sophia stood with her hands on her hips, watching Randal as he marked out points in the ground with deep scuff marks from his boots. Today the pair of them were making a start on the construction of her beachfront home, and they were hoping to get supports into the ground that would be the base for the entire structure. She was not entirely sure just how she would be able to help, but since Randal had built everything else on Syka almost single-handedly she was hoping that an extra pair of hands would be useful, however inexperienced the owner of those hands might be.

The Svefra turned to look over the piles of material that had been bought over to her acreage and stepped over to pick up a post. There were posts of two sizes as one side of the building would have a lower floor than the other, though neither side would be particularly high up, just enough to keep it off the ground. Sophia chose one of the shorter posts, surprised at its weight as she lifted the flat end off the ground. She dragged it over to the first mark Randal had made and lined the pointed end up with it. She repeated this a few times, until she had all the shorter posts lined up with the points at which they were to go in the ground.

By the time she had moved all the posts, Randal had finished marking the ground and he joined her over at the first one. He lifted it up so that the pointed end was touching the ground, and holding it straight started to twist the post while pushing it downwards. Sophia watched as it started to sink slowly into the ground, the pointed end gradually disappearing from sight. “Okay, Sophia hold this as straight as you can now while I start to hammer the rest in.” Randal motioned for her to grip the post, and she did so. He chuckled lightly. “You need to hold it tighter than that or you might as well not bother.”

Sophia stopped herself from scowling, remembering that Randal was the one helping her out, and tightened her grip so that the post was solid. She nodded at the carpenter to show she was ready and he raised his arm, bringing the hammer down onto the post with a thud. Sophia felt the vibrations shoot up through her arms, and she adjusted her footing so she was more stable. Randal continued to hammer the post into the ground and it slowly sunk deeper and deeper, until finally the notch he had marked as an indicator sat at ground level.

The pair moved on to the next post, twisting it first to get it set, and then hammering it into the ground. This time, when it had started to sink downwards, Sophia picked up another hammer and helped. They alternated their swings so that one hit while the other was moving away. Sophia wasn’t as strong as Randal, so she didn’t make obvious dents in their progress, but this post did go in a little quicker than the last.

They did each post in the same way, first twisting, then hammering. Sophia had never used her arm muscles in quite this way before, and she could feel them starting to burn with each hit of the hammer but she persisted, determined to play a part in the building of her own home. By the time all the short posts were in the ground, she had worked up quite a sweat and squatted down to take a break.

Randal had other idea though, and Sophia had barely swallowed her sip of water before he was pulling her back up to move the rest of the posts over. With a light-hearted groan, she pushed herself to her feet and grabbed one, dragging it up to the next marker. These posts were slightly taller than the others, and Sophia had to wait till they were further in the ground before she could join in with the hammering. The pair mostly worked in companionable silence, Randal occasionally warning Sophia to move a hand or a foot lest she injure herself. They worked this way all through the morning and into the afternoon, the sounds of hammering echoing round Sophia’s little acreage.

[Sophia Sunshore]

Midday had come and gone before Sophia and Randal had all the posts in the ground. They had paused briefly for a few chimes to share some strips of dried meat and gulp down some water, but aside from that they had worked almost continuously. The carpenter barely seemed to have broken a sweat at the pace. Sophia on the other hand was tired, her muscles aching from the labour.

Randal let the Svefra ‘rest’ for the next part, which translated to getting them some more substantial food from the Tidepool Bar while he added in much taller posts that would support the roof. Sophia trudged her way over to the City Core, sipping from her waterskin as she did so. She was wearing hotter clothes than normal, as Randal had taken one look at her and told her to change out of her dress and into something more suitable for building. The only other clothing she currently owned, aside from her ‘jungle’ clothes, was a pair of leggings and a short-sleeved top and she was boiling in the ridiculous Spring heat. She would definitely have to expand her wardrobe before the Summer arrived.

It took just over a bell for her to return to her acreage, carrying a large bowl filled with fish tacos freshly cooked by Stu surrounded by salad, bread and some cheese. Sophia had spent the entire walk back trying not to start eating any of it and was relieved when Randal stopped working immediately to join her. After munching the tacos in record time, she went over to inspect the work Randal had done while she was gone.

The carpenter had started driving long poles into the ground in intervals one plank-width inside of the posts they had done in the morning. The poles would serve to hold up the roof, and also as points for Sophia to tie canvas sides down should she need protection from any weather.
Randal let Sophia watch as he finished working these poles into the ground, as she was more likely to get in the way than be able to help properly at this point. Watching the skeleton of her little beachfront home start to appear was exciting, and she was soon letting her imagination race ahead, mentally furnishing the place with all sots of things that definitely wouldn’t be of much use in a place like Syka.

By the time Randal had driven the last post into the ground, the evening was closing in. Since construction was not a particularly safe activity to undertake in the dark, they decided to call it for the night to pick up again in the morning. Before he left, the carpenter marked out a measurement on one of the wood planks and asked if Sophia would mark out several more for him. They would cut the planks tomorrow, and eventually they would form the steps that would lead up to the home.

Sophia did so before she went to sleep, gouging a line as carefully as she could with a blade across the planks. She hoped that Randal would let her cut these ones, as they weren’t exactly integral to the foundations and it wouldn’t matter if they were slightly wonky. Before climbing into her tent and letting sleep overtake her, Sophia massaged her muscles as best as she could, thumbs pressing circles into them as hard as she could bear. If she were going to keep on assisting the carpenter, she couldn’t let herself be defeated on day one!

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