“Looks good,” Ben said as he examined the set of carefully forged carving knives, patting Delair’s head as he did. “Do you think you’ll be able to use them comfortably?”

“I will, I made them for me after all.”

“Ha, good answer. In that case, put them to use and let's see how you handle them.”

He handed her a piece of soft wood to work, watching as she slowly shaped it into the form of a simple yet lovely flower, one he recognized from her home village before she handed it to him.

“Yep, looks good,” He told her brightly as he looked it over. “You’ve got a talent for woodworking in particular I’d say, but the strength of having a general crafting skill is its broadness. You haven’t had much time at the forge or doing alchemy but you seem to be picking both up pretty well. Have you enjoyed trying them out?”

“I have, it’s been fun. I wish I could do more when I get back home.”

She sounded depressed as she thought about it, with her time practicing her skills with Ben already nearing its end despite only just getting to try those new activities, leaving her wanting more. Even if she intended for it to be her means of work one day in the future, for the time being it was fun and a distraction from the world, not something she was in a hurry to end.

It was a feeling Ben understood as well, the desire to throw oneself into their projects to escape the world around them, but the future wasn’t that kind. All things were going to need to come to an end with the battle that was on the horizon, putting a time limit on everything.

But at least she seems a bit better than she did before the first wave. I guess a year can change a lot for kids.

Still, it wasn’t a topic he wanted to dwell on, for either of their sakes, so instead he moved to focus on a different task for them.

“Okay, well since things look good here, let's focus on something else. After all, when I’m not around you’re in charge of practicing by yourself so what sorts of things would you like to make?”

She thought for a moment as her mind flashed across anything and everything she’d like to try creating, ending with an answer that surprised him.

“I want to learn how to make sheds.”

“Sheds?”

“Mhm. Not everyone has one and grandma’s been trying to get everyone to make and preserve more food to be safe but there’s not much room for storing everything so I want to help out.”

“Well then, we’ll have to get you set up. It’s gonna be a lot of work though, sure you can handle it?”The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“I can!”

“Good, in that case, let’s get started.”

In a normal situation, Ben would have been happy enough to get her some lumber to teach her from there, but her village made that a bit more complicated than it needed to be as he flashed back to his own time helping out there, remembering everything he’d needed to do just to complete all of his repairs, changing the starting point of his lessons to one on how to safely chop down trees and dry wood, creating an item for her that would help speed up the process to a matter of hours so she wouldn’t be left waiting months for it to reach a workable point before showing her how to break down a log into usable strips, creating the tools they’d need as they worked through one together to give her a feel for the difficulty of the task and how long it would take her when she was alone.

Even with her current skill level, it was going to be a multi-day process for just one, her strength still low even after enjoying months of the potions Ben had been sending her for all of the work it was going to take to be anything easy, making it a good piece of training for her that was only going to have more obstacles on top of it.

Aside from just building a foundation to build on each time, he knew the dryads only had access to metals through their merchant and relying on them wasn’t going to work, so instead he showed her different ways of joining and interlocking wood with itself, all to create something that would hold together without the touch of iron, even if it meant the work was going to be both harder and longer for it.

But good practice at least. Doing things this way means a lot of precision carving for her, even if it will leave her a little woodwork focused but she can make up for that by continuing on with helping her mom cook and doing some art on the side. Hmm, and before she leaves I should show her how to use the destructive aspects of her enchanting for carving too, plus I could make her some better stone working tools, it’s never too soon to start up on that and it’s safe enough, even if she might need to look for some good stone to work with…

Oh, what the heck, when I drop her off I’ll steal a bunch of Thera’s mana and materialize her a few good options for her to practice with. Which also means I could materialize a few softer metals for her to work with too, but… no. It wouldn’t be the same as having her work the forge and since I wouldn’t be around to watch her I’m not making her one of those, she can practice with everything else and that should be good enough.

Already planning all he’d need to prepare for her by the time she left, the list only continued to grow as he thought of everything he wanted to make for her to use when he wasn’t around as the two continued to work through their project, the task being far faster then it would be if she were taking it on alone, even with him trying to do as little as he could to instead focus on giving her the guidance she would need.

It was late by the time they were done, the young girl exhausted from the work but looking proud as she admired the shed they’d constructed before her.

“You did excellent kiddo,” Ben told her as he picked her up to carry back to Sachel’s for the night. “Think you’ll be able to do it yourself when you get back?”

“I will! …But maybe a little slower.”

“Ha, speed comes with practice so don’t worry about doing things fast, focus on doing them right and the rest will come with time.”

“I will, but Ben?”

“Yes Delair?”

“I’m hungry and Sachel still can’t cook.”

That got a laugh from him. “In that case, I’ll come in for a bit and whip something up with whatever she has on hand, but that means you’ve gotta help too, you know that, right?”

“I will!” She happily agreed, sounding significantly less tired even with the prospect of more work coming her way as they went off to prepare a meal for the night.