Emmerling mustered a grunt in response to Mundy, and stepped into the office scratching at his chin with a foul look on his face. His eyes looked over Lilith listlessly for a moment before he turned to Mundy.

“Mhm, yes business. This is business Mundy.” He smacked his palm and picked his teeth with his tongue, “Ya know, we lose more wood an’ we gotta cut some more pay. The men ain’t gonna be happy with that given that we’ve lost plenty of shipments already.”

Emmerling sniffed the air. The whiff of Mundy’s breakfast catching in his nose and roused hunger in his stomach once more. For a moment he gave a look as if he would be sick, but it passed. “The men already been yellin’ at me because there ain’t an outhouse for the latrine pits yet, but I can’t build any outhouses if we ain’t got any wood. Not to mention we are in the middle of dangerous woodland with a hole in our wall.” Emmerling huffed staring at Cliver then to Lilith. He adjusted his cap once more and nodded, “I ain’t ruining your guild, an’ I don’t want to lose wood ‘cause we are on commission. Pay should be straight coinage Mundy.” Emmerling looked at the boss with a tired expression.

He remembered the last wage cut. The men had been happy initially. Four men had been cut from the fort and everyone’s wages went up for some time, but their productivity had been slashed and Mundy had to reduce the daily wages for everyone below previous wages. There had been talks of mutiny, and Emmerling was the one who made the compromise with Mundy. 

With a click of his tongue Emmerling declared, “I’ll take half pay and ya’ll match me so none of the men get angry bout no pay cuts. Then I’ll offer this guild my services till the debt is paid, put Thomas on wall duty. The boy’s gotta learn how to build a proper wall.” He took a sharp breath, "In exchange, my share in the company will be doubled."