When asked, Kiaya responded, "We have several wagons, but only one horse left." He was shocked when he saw the size of the horses being lowered from the hold. The horses were a little unused to being outside and on solid ground, but when they were hitched to wagons, they adjusted. They were put to good use unloading stuff from the Sovereign to carry to the mansion. When they smelled the grass on the grounds, they perked right up.
A field, paddock, and stable were behind the mansion. The mansion had 30 rooms. After the cleanup, two large adjoining bedrooms were laid out for the ladies. Rooms for the captains were selected, and one large room downstairs was prepared for the doctors. There was a real forge out back of the mansion with an outbuilding that served as a shop for Thomas and Gendry. The bunk rooms were set up and held the majority of the crew.
Arya found Gendry at the new forge and handed him the half piece of platinum. "Have you ever seen that before?" He looked and said, "Yes, it's platinum, but only rarely, and I've never worked it." Arya said, "That's 5 thousand gold coins worth, think you could turn it into more value than that?" Gendry scratched his head, and Thomas walked up saying, "If we had the right clay, I could make ring molds, and we might use that and gold to make rings. We have lots of small gemstones that could go in them. You know, we could probably make some money with an auction, sale of some of our rarer stuff, might be able to foot the ship repair bill." Arya looked at Thomas and said, "Are you always like this?" She smiled when he answered "Yes!" She went back into the mansion, thinking about that auction idea; it just might work.
She entered through the kitchen door and found Bart waxing poetic about his new kitchen. He was in heaven. He asked her to send one of the translators with him to the market so he could sample the local wares. He was humming, and she could smell tarts baking. Calancy and Jiemba were thick as thieves, running around together, and Arya asked after them, "Keeping one eye on Nymeria and Ned, are you two?" Calancy said she had told the two of them to stay in the front yard of the mansion to keep order and inspect each person and wagon. Arya laughed and went to check on them. Nymeria was ensconced under a tree, checking out everything, and Ned was running off chasing a butterfly in the overgrown flower garden. Ned would chirp at the wolf, and she would inspect whatever it was he was terrorizing in the moment. Arya sighed and sat in a chair on the porch to rest, watching everything go on. Bart came out, handed her a small tray of tarts and a drink, smiled at her, and just walked away.
Later that evening, the treekin healer, Caelan, Drena, and Arya rode the wagon to the back door of the healer's house. The Amani healer was ready with all his stuff stacked by the door and both patients on stretchers. They loaded up in the darkness, and he slipped away from a bad fate. The number of crates and boxes he had was surprising, but when they saw his books and his chemical collection spread out on his table in the doctor's/hospital room, they understood. The hospital was a large office room in the mansion, divided by screens into patient areas, doctors' sleeping areas, and lab tables along a far wall. Some fancy screens they had discovered in one of the many privies were used to separate the areas and allow some privacy. Dirk was standing in the large living room, doing a soliloquy about how hard it was to stand on dry land to a room of laughing sailors.
It was decided to grow the field in wheat and oats out back; they could get in a spring harvest before they left. A small team of sailors who were not working the ship chased down a plow and used the one ox to furrow it. Planting followed, and they got a welcome spring rain afterwards. It was a good sign.
Trevor was working the ship with most of the sail crew. He took the shipyard crew leader into the keel area and showed him their ship construction. They could barely communicate with each other, but shared experience in shipbuilding made up for it. When they had taken all their measurements, they got an idea of how long the lapped ship planks should be. They understood the tapers required, got their tools out, and started working on a plank. Trevor was amazed by their tools, which had saws and planes with blades covered with glued-on sparkling bits. Diamond chips were the sparkles. When he was told this, he wanted to buy some of the tools for later use. Some bartering went on, and he secured a selection of tools. It was slow going, and Gendry had to forge the nails they would use, so the days ground on in work.
Arya talked to Caelan and Kiaya about the auction idea, and a date was set, and planning began. One afternoon, a knock came at the door, and Caelan and Nymeria answered the door. Kiaya and a dignitary stood at the door, and the government man fell back, seeing the wolf. The man introduced himself as Antakari, an official from the town, and some paperwork was needed for the auction. It also required a small fee for permission and to pay an official auctioneer. Arya signed papers and paid the fee, and they were set for the auction. The word spread that a very rare auction was going to take place, with extremely rare goods to be had.