THE shop’s doorbell on the first floor rang and a familiar voice called out.
“Bertie! Are you in there?”
“Evance?!”
Dorothée and Diego rushed down the stairs faster than Bertine. Lagging behind them, she hurriedly descended the steps as well. Evance, towering as ever, stood in the hallway grinning from ear to ear while carrying a large amount of luggage. A small elderly person stood next to him.
“Evance! What brings you here?! And introduce us to your friend already!”
“I’m back! I showed your letter to my teacher here and he decided we should go to the Federation.”
The old man doffed his hat and bowed his head lightly. “Nice to meet you, Lady du Jeanne. My name is Eckhart Beck and I’m in charge of Evance’s education.”
The two dropped their bags and followed the other three upstairs to the second floor, where Bertine had them sit down. As he sipped on hot tea mixed with jam, Eckhart explained the reason for their sudden visit.
“I couldn’t just stand still once I read your letter to Evance. This large oaf never says what needs to be said, so naturally I had no idea when precisely he planned on building his dream houses. After I learned that plans were already underway, I realized we could linger in the Empire no longer. And so, we hurried here as quickly as we could.”
“But…I don’t understand,” Bertine replied, her head tilted in bewilderment.
“In order to build a house, we must calculate the magnitude of the various forces on a building. But Evance’s designs are extremely unique. It would take him a decade, if not more, even with experience to be able to do the calculations on his own without problems.”
“I see…”
“I have a wealth of architectural experience, but at the age of sixty-five, I can’t guarantee I’ll still be there to see long-term plans through to the end. Who knows when God will invite me into His garden? So I thought to myself. If the plans are already underway for Evance’s buildings to come to life, then I wish to see them with my own eyes and help him build them. He possesses an innate talent. Which is why I decided I would do the calculations for his structures for him, so I accompanied him here.”
Then Eckhart Beck bowed his head with a plea.
“Please allow me to be a part of your hotel’s construction.”
Though Bertine didn’t know Eckhart himself, she knew of the buildings he’d designed in the Empire. A magnificent headquarters for a large firm. Universities and places of worship. She had even heard of his involvement in creating royal villas for the Azdal Monarchy. His accomplishments were vast and varied.
“Oh, no. It would be my honor to have such an esteemed master of his craft in our midst. I look forward to working together.” She had anticipated the hotel’s construction taking five years to complete, but it suddenly felt much closer and real now.
“Right, then. Let’s get on with it,” Eckhart urged impatiently. “I want to see the planned site to make sure the foundation is strong enough.”
When she asked him if he would prefer to journey via riverboat or stagecoach, he replied, “Whichever is faster.” Diego set out at once to secure their reservations on the first boat out. Then that night, they hosted a welcome party for Evance and Eckhart on the second floor of the house. The two would be staying with them as well.
“This is delicious. What is it?!” Eckhart asked.
“Fried giant clam harvested in the southern seas,” Bertine said. “This is the liver of a large fish steamed in white wine.”
“Delectable. Absolutely delectable. I can’t believe I can dine on such fine seafood despite being nowhere near the ocean.”
Eckhart loved alcohol and poker, so Bertine knew he would enjoy the river journey tremendously. Evance was familiar with the hinterlands since it was his homeland and the two would stay with his family once they arrived, so she anticipated no problems on that front. The only issue was his extreme dislike for writing letters.
“Ah, no need to fret,” Eckhart said. “I’ll be diligent in maintaining frequent correspondence with you. I shall send you updates on the progress as well as any concerns or questions we may have. We can’t trust this giant oaf to handle all that, after all.”
“Oh, thank you ever so much, Professor!” Bertine exclaimed.
Evance shrunk in on himself after hearing Eckhart and Bertine’s exchange.
“You can pay the riverboat staff to take your letters to a delivery company once they reach Ybit,” she instructed. “Then they will bring them to me.”
“Excellent, excellent.”
“Then I’ll give you the capital I’ve managed to accumulate so far. Please use it to buy materials, fund the construction costs, and pay for your living expenses.” Bertine started to take out the money from a leather bag. But Evance stopped her.
“Bertie, I still have loads left from the amount you gave me, so we’ll use that instead.”
He’s always been sincere. Never a lie on his lips. She found herself smiling at him. Although he could stand to do something about his dislike for letter-writing.
Only two years remained until Claudio came of age.