There is quite a commotion in the harbour, and of course rumours are flying about everything that has happened, including what Sasgaerda has done and said.

For the time being, we have decided to keep all the ships from Arkanes. The cog will be crewed and used as the Academy's ship until I can get a better one, and can then be moved to the merchant empire. We are keeping the other ships too, because I have a plan that my sambos and bodyguards like. A plan to build our own small fortress and hire three to five dozen warriors to create an elite force, although we have to start with fewer. Not just guards and the island's security force, but also extra bodyguards and commandos. Teach them everything I think they need to know to be flexible for all tasks and get them working together, give them a home and a future. The fortress will be built in stone, but I'm not sure where, maybe at the southern end of Large Ackerek, but regardless of the location, I plan to equip the fortress with at least one powerful cannon, and it would be nice to have its own harbour for the ships.

The Longships and Knarr will be needed for the warriors, and that force is also the reason why we will keep a whole bunch of horses, lots of weapons, chain mail, etc. We will take the weapons and armour with us. So we are spreading the word that I need a crew for the Cog and will be creating a warrior force to defend the Furstdoms islands this spring, which will be trained as an elite force. It's as simple as not lowering our voices when talking to our bodyguards and sambos about it when people are around.

Every warrior who took part in the raid receives an additional half ounce of silver, and those who were the leaders of the flanks and the Fjölkunniga receive one ounce of silver. Not much in my eyes, but in total, each warrior has received 30 to 50 days wages for two days service, and everyone is overjoyed and proud. The fact that we have actually noted down everyone's names and what they did, and that this will be recorded in a book about the raid, clearly is a huge bonus. I don't think I really understood how powerful my promise has been, and how proud people are of it.

We have announced that there will be an auction and everyone will have the opportunity to buy things, livestock and slaves. My ships have anchored in my own part of the harbour in front of my Merchant Empires buildings, and we let Ovdhon and some merchants make an assessment of the goods and livestock that are noted down, and Ovdhon will be able to sell some of them through the merchant empire. I will sell the family slaves through my own merchants, and a third of the slaves will also be sold in other countries through my merchant empire. Ovdhon is happy about this and that the value of all the slaves is a loan, so that I am not seriously emptying the merchant empire's coffers, but we count some of that silver against me basically buying the entire stock of iron and lead, and ask him to buy much more for my use. A couple of hundred kilograms to start with. Ovdhon will, of course, follow my directives on how slave families and women with children will be sold as a unit. I cannot do anything about future owners splitting them up.

Ovdhon informs me that a third ship is available, and two of the ships will soon be leaving on trading voyages so that the slaves can be quickly sold far away in 'Europe', with one heading south and the Sulaco heading west to the huge islands there, and Sulaco's merchant will also try to obtain 'Epsom salt'. Another important thing is that Gisela has told us that something that appears to be plaster is sold in Frigonia, partly used for art or structures on walls, which is why she let Jane know about it and of course Jane wants it, and I want it too, just to be able to cast something or for other purposes, so I want a barrel or two to be purchased. Or however that is sold. Even if it's not plaster as we think of it, it's certainly useful for other things.

Both ships will have sextants and north arrows, and the captains will collect the latitudes of locations, directions to landmarks and fixed points, and descriptions. I want better maps and information, and I can't trust that the world is roughly the same as I know it from Midgård, and we need to know where settlements and towns are located, and their names. The third ship has been specially equipped to collect ice and will depart for Skiringsalr. The crew of that ship has been tasked with putting up nameplates on that ship with 'Narcissus', and Ovdhon will make sure that the last two ships are named 'Auriga' and 'Betty'.

I spoke with my sambos during the previous days, including Kari over the radio, and they agree with my decision not to take any slaves from the raid to the islands. I don't want slaves from the raid on my islands because it's an unnecessary risk, even if it would speed up construction a little. I find it difficult to see them as anything other than innocent civilian prisoners of war, and it feels awful to sell them, but I don't want to have to see them and be reminded of that or the raid. It's a cowardly way out, but a wiser one. I don't want any slaves on my islands, but that has been a lost cause from the start.

It wasn't really the right time to talk to Ovdhon before the retaliatory attack, but now that it's done, Ovdhon is giving me various updates, and I'm also getting a tour of the ice house, which has become taller and longer than originally planned, but that's not a bad thing. The ice house isn't finished, but they can start filling it while they work out the details and fix the insulation.

One problem is that the ice house is not right next to the harbour where a crane can lift from the ship directly into the ice house, but it's of course just 40-50 meters from the ships in the harbour. At least for the first filling this season, it will take a lot of manual labour to get the ice blocks in, but it is possible to build a short railway with a few horse-drawn rail cars that travel back and forth. The rails can actually be temporary and just laid on the ground, and can be made of wood if wide, as can the wheels. Turning a simple solid and wide wheel out of hard wood is something that craftsmen here can do. The primary advantage of a railway is that a wagon on rails rolls more easily than on soft, uneven ground, and can therefore carry more per load, and the ground is not damaged by narrow wagon wheels going back and forth. Since rails are easiest if they are straight, and it is possible to make a straight line from a part of my harbour to where the ice house crane is, it will be relatively easy. Since I am willing to have the merchant empire funds pay, Ovdhon is willing to try, and a larger stationary crane will be built in the harbour that can lift from a boat to some kind of wagon, or just loaded nets from other ships. Since we don't know how warm it will be during the days and so on, and winter days are short, some unloading and work may need to be done in the dark with lanterns, but that isn't uncommon.

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I also want Borgheim to have a relatively large ice house that is sufficient for its needs, but filling it will be more complicated. Thankfully, there is a small river just a few hundred meters away, so even if the ice needs to be loaded onto a smaller flatter boat, it is still the best means of transport instead of wagon all the way from the merchant harbour.

Ovdhon tells us and show that the merchant empire has a new product to sell, as a merchant ship has arrived from the far northern coast of the kingdom, partly with people who are going to participate in the Northmen's Ting a couple of weeks from now, and a woman has sold yarn and fabric in expensive colours, and he shows us yarn in different shades of purple-violet-pink. The colour is not supposed to be very washing durable, but it is far from the only fabric colour that has that problem. I would have liked something more violet, but these are new colours, and considering how the women react to it, it is certainly a desirable product to sell. Iselin loves the pink hue, so we buy some of each.

Right now, Jane seems to have forgotten about the billiard table, but she will surely remember it and pester me until we try it, so I describe what I need in terms of large flat slate slabs and the hardest possible wood, as well as large hard horns and antlers. I sure don't want to be a reason for excessive hunting of things like ivory, but it's surely available, or can be arranged. According to Haera, there are several larger table games in the southern countries, including something similar to felt table games with balls, but still completely different from how we have described billiards.

I don't care about buying the rest of those glow-in-the-dark stones, as I plan to experiment with making glow-in-the-dark paint myself, but the merchant empire also has fools gold, aka pyrite. This can produce sparks and I believe it was used in wheel locks and other things.

We will keep several of the horses at Borgheim until spring comes and we have built more stables and barns. A couple of horses will be housed in the merchant empire's barn for free, as the merchant house can borrow them for hauling ice or so on. I will also sell two horses cheaply to the merchant empire to be used primarily with wagons and for delivering ice. Apparently, Forsheim, Radgeirrsons' manor and huge farm in the south, will have lots of horses, but that is a matter for the future.

Iselin pointed out that there is room in her parents' barn for six horses, so we are taking the six best ones with us to the islands. In a few days, a week will have passed and that farm will return to my ownership, as 'the dowry' was that the farm belonged to her parents for the rest of their lives, while Iselin inherits their animals, which were a gift, and of course she inherits their other possessions. We have already decided to continue housing the animals there, and there is plenty of space anyway, partly because the barn was a little oversized for their needs, and partly because some of their animals were sacrificed at their funeral. The animals that are there must be taken care of anyway, which nearby residents already offered to do during the funeral. Jane would have preferred that Heila take care of that farm and be far away from us, but Iselin does not want Heila to live in the house where her parents were murdered by Heila's father and mother, so Iselin gets her way. Again.

With all the new animals, it's lucky that it was a good summer here and that the silage we and the other farms made last autumn is working well enough, so there hasn't been a hay shortage given the increase in the number of horses there have been. The farmers on the islands have been really pleasantly surprised that the silage is being eaten, especially by cows and pigs, which outnumber horses, and most of the silage has kept well enough for some of the horses to eat it too, even though the black, decayed silage sometimes looks more like dry soil. Sixty percent of the stored silage has kept well, which is a good enough result for something that has not been cultivated on good land, and lessons learned will be shared. Hopefully, a larger percentage will be preserved in the future as methods and storage improve, and larger quantities when we build more and larger silos this summer. It is mainly the silos on other farms that have brought down the average, and our more robust ones have worked better, so these are important lessons in doing things right. If built properly, the same silos can be used year after year, and I'm willing to invest in that.

The fact that the greenery put tuned to silage doesn't have to be hay, will be very useful on certain types of land where grass, clover, leaves, nettles, ferns and similar plants that grow freely can be used instead of cultivated land, so that more livestock can be kept and less land is used for just hay production, which means more land for food for people. This can be particularly valuable in Norway's landscape, where snow on the ground prevents winter grazing. There will be much more silage made next autumn, and the success of this unusual idea and the tests with fertilisers, where they can see and compare the difference for themselves, as well as the greenhouse, has made the islanders very enthusiastic about other suggestions and ideas I have, especially when it comes to growing food, keeping animals and food storage. I have managed to overcome the understandable caution about doing new things, because who wants to try new things when the old ways are a safer, known method of putting food on the table and not starve?

The oldest man in the crew, 28-year-old Adalwar, has a wife who works on a farm outside Borgarsandr. Like many others, they do not own any land. His wife works as a maid and they have a 7-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter who live with their mother. Adalwar has kept quiet about his family, not wanting to be a burden, but it feels awful that I have kept him away from his family so much. But this is common in this world, and no one has said anything to me or my sambos. It was Asta who asked if we didn't need him for a couple of days so he could visit his family. It was an easy answer, but I spoke to Adalwar. When I understood the situation, I told him to offer his wife to help take care of Borgheim and the animals there, and of course to live there with their children, because at least that would make it easier for him to see his family, and it shouldn't be too much work. The plan is to hire people for that work there in the future anyway, as well as someone to be a radio operator. Our conversation ended with Adalwar happily accepting the position as Borgheims caretaker, and to live there with his wife and children. The problem of finding someone to look after Borgheim has been solved, and now we just need a few people to guard Borgheim, which shouldn't be difficult to hire.

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