Fred also took the time to make two general waste pits on opposite sides of the town. He couldn`t think of a better way to let the humans get rid of all the horse manure. He hoped they got the idea, and didn`t start throwing each other into the pits.

　　Fred heard drums. Again. Except not. They were different from Micheal`s. He could feel the difference. It was higher and quieter, and all it did was beat, irregularly, for almost an hour. Fred assumed it was a new drum, a new drummer, and it was probably Virginia. "Awesome! I`ll be able to talk to both of them." Fred thought.

　　Meanwhile, Fred didn`t feel the least bit tired. In fact, he felt wired, ready to build more. And he knew that, if the town was gonna continue growing, he`d need to give the humans more space. And he suddenly realized that he`d been stewing on a building idea for a while.

　　He`d made a big cubical building, and ever since then, he`d almost unconsciously wondered why he hadn`t built a round tower. He somehow had a memory of a "wizards tower", and though he`d had mixed interactions with wizards lately, he still had this feeling that a round tower was somehow more appropriate to this world than his big cube.

　　His mastery of stone and earth had increased, and was actually rather scary, if he thought about it. So he didn`t. He simply picked a spot about two hundred spans from the big cube building, but still close to the center of town. He measured about thirty spans in radius, and drew a big circle in the ground, showing where the walls of the tower would be.

　　Now, he pressed down, making a giant hole in the ground, plunging into the earth. Like the first building, he planned to make twenty floors, about half of them below ground. Initially he wanted to make one central spiral staircase, but he also wanted one central "waste shaft", into which the humans could dump their crap, with a big cistern at the bottom. He couldn`t think of an easy way to make both things integrated into the center of the building, and he knew he`d also need some chimneys, so he abandoned the whole "central shaft" idea. He wound up separately making a waste shaft and a simpler set of stair flights, near each other, in the center.

　　From the deep hole he`d made, he built up the new tower floor by floor, post by post. It could have been tedious, but Fred somehow found it relaxing and exciting all at the same time. Each floor he made a little bit different, with a different arch to the beams, or a random wall here or there. Each floor was mostly empty; Fred reasoned that the open floor plan of his cube building was accepted, so he would continue doing that.

　　The outer wall of the tower wasn`t as crazy-thick as the cube building, and Fred put actual windows on every floor (that was above ground). He liked the armor glass he`d used on the cube, but felt that the tower should be more open and breezy. Plus (Fred reasoned), the cube building gave humans a final redoubt to protect them. No need to make every building so defensive. Not that the tower was bad; its outer stone wall was still one span thick.

　　Into each floor fred made a chimney and hearth, another big straight hole for waste, and a flight of stairs. He made the cistern beneath the waste chute. He knew the old building had water in the bottom, and there wasn`t any water at the base of this tower. He shrugged to himself; it was a tomorrow problem.

　　He kept building floors on his new tower, and as he got towards the top, he suddenly had an idea; he`d added windows, sure, but what if there were flying beasts in this world? That humans could ride on? Would they need a place at the top?

　　"Hey guys! I could use your help again!" He reached out.

　　"I hear you building something big again, Fred. I`m disappointed you won`t let me out to see it." Martin complained.

　　"Cause you scare all the humans away when you come into town, Martin. It`s not that I want to hide my work from you; you`re just too big and scary."A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

　　"That is true," Martin grumbled.

　　"I, on the other hand, can see your magnificent work first-hand." Kumbanaka chuckled.

　　"Where are you?" Martin and Fred asked at exactly the same time.

　　"In town. Among the humans. It is a trivial thing, for my magic. They think me a good friend and helpful traveler. So I`m in the Glass Citadel, on the highest floor, enjoying the view."

　　"Glass Citadel?", Fred asked.

　　"That`s what the humans call it. You`re putting on quite a show; all the humans are watching. Did you mean to be so& did you mean to call attention to your magic this way? "

　　Fred looked around, realizing how focused he`d just been while building. It was nighttime, but a clear sky and a full moon lit up his tower construction. The humans had all stopped what they were doing and watched. Many of them were brave or foolish enough to get within a span of the new tower`s wall. They reached out to touch the new stone, talking excitedly with each other.

　　"Glass Citadel, huh? I guess that`s cool. I mean, I didn`t make a name for it, I`ve just been calling it the cube building, to myself."

　　"What will you name this new edifice?", Kumbanaka asked with a grin.

　　"I dunno. I`m still building it. Hey, so I wanted to ask you. Both of you. Are there flying creatures? I mean tame ones, that humans ride on? Like horses, but with wings?"

　　"Yes, of course," Martin quickly interjected. "Hippogriffs, pegasii, and giant eagles have all been used by humans."

　　"I`ve also seen a species of flying lizard that humans ride. Not dragons, of course." Kumbanaka hastened to add.

　　"I assume you want to build quarters for them, perhaps an aviary, at the top of your new building?" Martin replied.

　　"Yes, exactly. You guys are way ahead of me." Fred said. "Can you give me any advice on that?"

　　"Go big. I`ve met some sky riders." Kumbanaka said. "They never stop complaining about the cramped spaces they have for their mounts. Give them a huge aerie, and they will come."

　　"Go high," Martin interjected. "Flying mounts are lazy. They don`t like to land on the ground, if they can help it. Also, such beasts are very expensive to feed. Only the rich and governments can really afford them."

　　"This is a boom town, Martin. Fred generates so much wealth that such an expense is reasonable. This top floor I`m in currently holds two princes and their entire retinues."

　　"Two princes?!" Fred exclaimed.

　　"Well, minor princes. Third and fourth in line, respectively. But they were sent here to report back, and they both have big plans for this town."

　　Fred knew that humans kept coming, and that the "Glass Citadel" was already full, but this discussion really woke him up. "Wow, Jim was right, I need to grow. In every way! Okay, so, how big are these flying creatures? How big should the windows and ceilings be?"

　　"As big as you are able, I think," Kumbanaka replied.

　　"Giant eagles are quite large; a twenty-span wingspan. Ten span ceilings and openings should be best," Martin agreed.

　　"Ten spans! Okay, well, I`ll get to work then. Thank you both."

　　Fred plunged ahead with the tower work. He`d already made sixteen of the twenty floors he intended, so he made three more with the same design. He`d originally planned for the tower to end in a simple pointed roof. But now he flanged the tower wall outward, sharply, to support an extra-large top floor. Once done, he added a big flat floor of stone, and put several big (and very tall) posts throughout. Then he simply didn`t make walls; just a big, slightly pointed roof of stone, like an open umbrella. He didn`t want it to be dangerously heavy, so the roof was just a tenth of a span in thickness, which (he reasoned) would still be plenty. He made sure to connect the stairs and the waste pit up to the level, as well as extending one big chimney up through the top.

　　Now that the whole tower was done, he stepped back to regard the whole thing. First, he had once again forgotten a front door. "Oops!" So he quickly made a front and back door, the front big enough to move furniture through.

　　He was happy with the tower as a whole, but he felt the top floor was a bit too open, so he added outside walls at regular intervals. When he was done the walls covered about 50% of the outside of the top floor. He also noticed that the whole tower was simple stone, one boring color. He looked "down" at the black terraced entrance he`d made, and liked the way it looked. So he transmuted the roof of the tower to the same black marble. "Okay, that looks awesome!", he thought.

　　"It looks done, Fred. Jaya!", said Kumbanaka.

　　"It could be the Ranmi Sdvihasav, for all the humans care," grumped Martin. "A pig barn is good enough for them. Did you make a pig barn, Fred?"

　　"All right, Martin, I`m sorry you feel trapped. How about this? You can go outside in the middle of the night, so long as you don`t land anywhere near the human town. No breathing& poison, no eating humans. Okay?"

　　"The town is growing so fast, there won`t be anywhere for me to land& But fine, I will abide, if you insist." Fred could tell that Martin was trying to agree without acknowledging that Fred was doing him a favor. He didn`t want to have a fight about it, though.