The carpenters were gearing up to build a production line to grind wheat into flour. Trevor was going over the plans to build frames for the several extra grinding wheels that they had procured when Gendry came to get him. Gendry began talking about stress factors on the ship's frame, wind speeds, and other things that didn't make any sense to Trevor until they got to Gendry's forge.
Gendry and Thomas had managed to reattach the tube securely with a new fitting and had the device anchored and pointed away from everything so that it would blow freely. They had figured out the lever-notch arrangement and understood that it adjusted the output wind velocity, with one end low and the other high. They had built a solid support frame to keep the tube from wrapping itself into a knot. Jiemba waited for their nod and grasped the stone while Trevor watched. A small gust of wind left the end of the tube, and Trevor was not impressed. Gendry said, "Trevor, that is the lowest setting, watch." Gendry pushed the lever up three notches, and the wind output was swirling trees 50 feet away and rattling the shutters on the back of the mansion. Trevor's eyes went wide, and he said, "That isn't even halfway up on the notch settings?"
To answer his question, Gendry pushed the notch setting just a notch over halfway. The tube began vibrating against the frame, and branches were being snapped from the trees. Dust swirled into clouds, then it all stopped as Jiemba let go of the stone. Trevor understood it all then. His mind was on structural upgrades for the ship to withstand such force. He started talking about mounting the tube output in the center of the ship when Thomas pulled the other stone and box out, realization struck Trevor like a poleaxe. Two massive wind devices would wreck the ship if not properly braced and installed. "Where did these come from?" Gendry explained that they came from an old Zon warship that had been storm-driven onto the reefs and destroyed.
Thomas said, "There's more. We have tested several people for their affinity for wind power. Only three have shown any ability other than Jiemba. What's more, the levels of their ability vary. So we might have two people pushing wind at different strengths, and we might have to use the notches to even out the blowing. That could add even more stress. But think of the possibilities of this if we can make it work." Arya had come to the shop when the wind started blowing, and she had watched it all. She said, "Trevor, we need to figure out a way to make this work. No more being becalmed on the Sovereign!" He nodded, a million structural issues running through his head.
The next day, a meeting was held after the day's work. Kiaya and three members of the shipyard team were there. Trevor, the other carpenter, and a few old and wise crewmen sat in. Thomas and Gendry were there. For translation, they had Caelan, Belaletrix, and Jiemba. Trevor began by discussing the ship's structure and how much more strength it needed to sustain vibrations and stress. Thomas added some information about the wind devices so they all understood the power that would be doing the stressing. They were discussing the weight that would be added by grafting full structural beams onto the existing ones. Trevor commented that the weight would cause the ship's draft to drop several feet and might make her unwieldy to maneuver. They discussed the strengths of different lightweight woods and scuttled the idea that they would work.
Bart, who had served them the evening meal, heard all this and said, "Layers." When it was translated, they all turned to him with questions. "When you want to make a tall cake, you can't bake it in one piece; it would crumble apart. So you make thin layers and put icing between them." The carpenters turned to Kiaya and asked if he had thin woods they could glue together. Kiaya smiled and said, " We have a quarter of the warehouse full of thin river pine used to panel the interior of boats. Trevor asked what kind of glue we could use. "Birch glue and resins would work," one of the shipyard workers ventured. But Trevor countered with, "Thin woods glued together might be strong enough, but they would warp easily." They all sat in silence awhile, and Thomas said, "What if we took some narrow strips of the wood being used for the hull and put one on the top of the thin wood beam and one on the bottom? You could attach them with glue and nails," Trevor said, "That might work!" Kiaya said. "This will add more than a month to the finishing of the ship and will cost 100,000 gold coins more at least." Arya nodded and said, "We must find a way to come up with that much money to make it happen." Thomas admired her certainty and said, "I will add another ruby, which will bring in 70,000 of the amount." Plans were made to begin producing and testing the beams the next day.
As they were leaving, Kiaya pulled Arya to the side with Jiemba and said, "Because of so many people seeing the yard work being done on the Sovereign at the auction, we now have 3 new commissions. One of which is quite lucrative. Also, the older man with the circus gained a hidden benefactor who agreed to buy the grounds and fund a restart of the circus. You have helped many of our people by your actions unknowingly, and we will repay your good deeds, Arya."