“Are we getting horses and barges through? These will be the paired Gates like you see on the canals, where the horses are unhitched, put through a smaller Gate beside the barge Gate, and catch up with their barge on the other side. Obviously we can’t do that since we’re putting the barges straight into the lake from the canal on the other side,” he said, surveying the curved upright and laying a proprietary hand on it. “So each barge will get a strong push on the Empire side, come through here, and drop into the water, with a crewman aboard with a pole who’ll get it out of the way by poling it to the right or left. The horses will come through over there. We’ll either tow or pole the barge to the shore, and either tie it to a previous barge or hitch it back up to the horses to start a new barge string. We reckon on the horses pulling full ten-barge strings. And meanwhile people can be coming through the horse-Gate when there aren’t horses coming through.”

“I was going to ask about the wood,” she said.

“Oh.” He laughed. “These were either breasthooks or keels of the boats that were here. The rest rotted away, but whoever built these things impregnated the wood with copper salts, probably using alchemy rather than pure magic. There’s honestly no way of telling how old they are without a lot of magical shenanigans we don’t have the time or energy for. They’re not less than fifty years abandoned, and not more than five hundred. I’d guess it’s nearer to the five hundred mark than the fifty, but I can’t think about everything I want to, right now. I have to set things aside, for later. Urgency. Focus. It means I just have to let some things go.”

She blinked. But, then again, there were things as old or older than that in the Empire. “What are you doing today?” she asked.

“Tying them to the power source, then turning four pieces of wood into two Gates. There will be a lot of—stuff—going on. Like we did with the Foothold Gate, but more, and with more mages. Then the rest of the mages except the Circle and I go home via the Foothold Gate while Ivar, Alberdina, and you stay here. And the third day I tune the two Gates with your help as an anchor, I open them, some more magic stuff goes on, and the fourth day, I spend flat on my back while Alberdina takes care of me, and Sai makes something about the size of Bay to feed me when I am up to it. And right now, you and I go back to the Foothold Gate and wait for breakfast and lunch to get pitched through.”

She laughed, thinking he’d made a joke.