3 of Many

[kingtycoon]

Patchwork
World Constructed World Mega City

Fenster
Quickchannel Goldendream’s House  of
Houses

From:
Short Interludes withPeculiar Folk of the
Capitol

By:
Pir Earth over Stone Pinepath

Citizen
Fenster is an unassuming type, a man of very limited physical appeal, but with
a certain avidity of intellect that leaves one feeling overmatched once he
begins.  He is very retiring however and
is not easily drawn into conversation.  I
was compelled by his bashfulness to be introduced to him through several
intermediaries.  Once acquainted though,
he was very pleased to make demonstrations of the prodigies that he has
assembled in his home.  When simply asked
about the impressive model of the city in his house, Fenster was strictly at a
loss for how to explain himself he did, however, answer specific questions
easily and without discomfort. 

Sir,
your model is of exceptional design, it is truly a marvel.  May I ask when the idea to create it came to
you? 

Ah, you see, I ah…  So the model itself, here – this building,
just near my own house, as it appears on the model – this was the first
building.  You see, here by the Quick
Channel.  This building was started many
years ago, in two-thousand and eighty-seventh year in fact.  It’s a storehouse for a vintner operating
just outside the city.  I’ve not been to
the winery, but here you can see, the stone I used is the same.  It’s like this with all the models, you
understand, I use the materials of the building they represent.  They were building the storehouse, you see
and I walked by because it was in my path and I found an unused piece of the
limestone – the cladding for the structure. 
You can see it just outside, it’s the same stone.  Well I took the stone and amused myself in my
idle hours by trying to shape it into a replica of the storehouse.  That was a great many years ago, of course,
but here it is, the first.

So
your models are all built from the stone of the built from the same materials
as the building they represent?

Oh, indeed yes, to me,
that’s the main thing.  That they
match.  You know, the first model – the
storehouse, I made it too large.  It was
the stone I had and I didn’t have the skill, then, to make it any smaller.  If I had, I’d not have needed to give up so
much of my house to the model!  But
yes!  Yes, I am told by other enthusiasts,
there are so many of us, it turns out, when a new building is coming in, or a
road.  Some of the foremen, they’re
acquaintances now, friends even, and they’ll… 
Have you met Dion Shortstreet? 
He’s one of the builders - one of the Knights of Craft-  their religion, you know, the Maker
Faith.  They are great supporters of my
avocation, they see it as a holy work, in their religion.  Well Dion, he will always spare me some
material, and sometimes a copy of the architectural diagrams.  If it’s a structure he’s particularly proud
of, he’ll ask for a model of his own, I can hardly help but oblige!  And he’s a good example but hardly the only
one.  They like to help and I like to
show them the work – the builders.  I
understand that a spare model of the Cathedral of Masons that I made is at Wei,
on their hill – the Churchmen, they say it is a subject of some of their
devotion. 

Just
so Fenster, that is where I first heard of your project.  (Fenster is visibly pleased, he squirms at
his workbench)  But this accounts for the
new buildings, as you they are constructed, you gather a spare piece of the
masonry.  What of the older structures,
Klial has many very ancient buildings after all. 

It’s very flattering that
you’ve heard of my work even at Windheart, they spoke of it to you? 

Yes. 

Wonderful.  You’re right of course, you’re right, smart
fellow-  there are so many buildings, old
buildings.  Well, here, look at this one
(He picks up and hands me a carved piece
of wood, it resembles one of the tiny insula that are common on the Oxbows, far
from the city center) That is a building on a street called Sucker street.  Named for a mollusk of some kind.  That house has stood on the same spot for ten
generations.  Would you believe it?  It’s a very modest old house.  Well? 
Where did I find the wood that would match?  I’ll tell you – I asked them. 

Them?

Yes, the house’s
inhabitants.  I told them I’d like to
take a bit of board from the side or a piece of the roof.  They told me I could.  Well, that house?  They handed me a bit of the roof that had
come off.  You’re best going after a
storm.  In a neighborhood like that. 

How
many houses on just Sucker road?

Sucker Street!  Street. 
Oh, let’s see (He counts, somewhat
slowly, a row of models in his great model of the city)  Seventy Three, thereabouts, North &
South sides.  There may be more just now,
or fewer.  Very mutable, the oxbows.  I must go back soon. 

And
each of these models is made from the same…

Yes, it has to be exactly
the material that the house is clad in. 
Clad, you see, clothing.  I don’t
fashion the guts of the buildings.  Just
the outsides.

Well
what of the palaces of the Kannyltine! 
Some of those are clad in gold, no?

Oh, aye, they are, they are
that… (He has a forlorn expression that
is immediately revealed to be a farce, he is making a joke at my expense, well,
he is trying to)  You see.  Gold. 
The Last Kannyltine.  I wrote to
him, you see.  I wrote a letter and I
went to the scribes to have them make it proper, for his eyes, you see, and he
liked my letter.  He sent some people, I
imagine people of very great status to come and see my project here.  I was not present, you understand, I wasn’t
allowed in their company, but they came here and they saw.  They must have liked it very much and said
something to the Kannyltine – he had his own smith here the very next day with
an amount of gold and he showed me how to hammer it into leaves, and I’ve used
the same bit ever since. 

Remarkable!  Do you think that Ettis XLVII came here
himself? 

Oh!  I hadn’t thought of that, but he might
have!  I wish I’d have cleaned up a bit
more!  The gold is nice isn’t it?  A nice touch, but I’m most proud of the
roads.  And the rivers and the bridges,
and the trees.  Oh the trees.  (The
model does have roads, and it does have water and bridges, but it lacks
trees.  Instead there are leaves
positioned throughout the model.) 
You see, a leaf to match each tree. 
I coat them in wax, they’ll last forever – but the leaves match.

Amazing.  How many buildings are there Fenster? 

Oh, altogether?  Many thousands, probably.  I imagine. 

You
really don’t know?  Exactly?

Ah, yes, I fooled you.  Yes, here it is.  (He
produces a tattered piece of parchment, it is heavily marked).  One hundred and forty seven thousand eight
hundred and ninety four.  Well, ninety 6 –
after today. 

Again,
amazing. 

I must return to my work,
but I can answer questions while I do so, I’ve had so much more time, all these
years since I’ve retired from the service. 
Would you be kind and make the coffee though?