One

Dann held the second bucket at an awkward angle, trying to get as much of it into the little pool as possible without overbalancing & falling in. He carefully pulled it out, setting it down beside it’s counterpart & watching with satisfaction as the water lapped at, but didn’t quite overflow, the downhill edge.
“Nicely done!” came a call from above.
He leaned back & squinted at Miller, who leaned against a railing at the edge of the valley wall & grinned down, waving his watering can.
“I’m almost done up here, but the barrels could do with a few more loads to top them off.”
Dann carefully positioned the buckets, delicately stepped into the middle of the path, and started the trudge back up to the top.
“Why’d you put the pond down far down?” He grumbled. “It comes right to the top of the valley.”
“Wasn’t me.” Came the reply from Miller, who was walking slowly along the top to keep pace. “I deepened it a bit with the weir, but the pond was already there when I got here. I did try putting one in up the top, like you say, but it kept spreading out and making a marsh, even when I dug a hole.”
Dann reached the top & slowly turned, looking down into the village.
“There’s not a lot of people down there who use that particular stream for water,” He started, thoughtfully. “But I can’t imagine anyone being keen on marsh water.”
Miller shook his head & lead the way back towards the tower.
“No, they were not. Filled it in pretty quickly after figuring that it wasn’t going to work.”
He looked over the edge again.
“I tried lowering a bucket on a rope, but the angle doesn’t work. Even if you throw it far enough out to hit the pond, you’re pulling up against the slope, so it catches & spills.”
After emptying his buckets, Dann joined Miller at the edge, peering down accusingly at the pond below.
“There should be an easier way than walking up and down, but I can’t think of what it is.” He thoughtfully mimed a fishing pole. “Couldn’t lift enough with fishing gear to be worth it, and it’s not that big a problem to be worth building something special to get right above the water.”
“True.” Miller nodded. “One time I saw a sort of wheel thing that lifted water, in a town down the coast, but it was huge, taller than a house; Had people walking inside it to make it turn.”
Dann raised his hands at Miller’s speculative look. “Oh no you don’t! Don’t even think it.” He picked up the pole & buckets. “I’m already doing half the jobs nobody else wants in this village, I’m not adding a walk to nowhere to the list.”
“You got the rough end of that one,” Miller conceded. “No boat work means you’re first in line for everything else.”
Dann glanced up at the tower. “Don’t suppose you’ve heard …” He began.
“Not even a whisper.” Miller shook his head. “There’s enough boats for almost everyone, enough smokehouse space for almost all the current catch, so …”
“… Not a lot of drive to add to the fleet.” Dann glumly finished the thought, turning to go. Miller grabbed a bucket of his own and followed in Dann’s wake.
—–
A half-dozen trips later, Miller & Dann sat against the full to the brim water barrels in the shade of the tower, watching the sun setting behind the distant mountains, passing a bottle back & forth.
“Wonder if anyone’s ever climbed those.” Miller mused. “The view must be amazing.”
“I’ve been told it’s a view to die for.” Dann offered with a grin, which faded at a confused look from Miller. “Remember that merchant from last year who’d come from Landfall? Sold you that looking box thing?”
At Miller’s nod, Dann continued.
“He said there’s a stone path winding up the mountains out towards the Great Rivers that gets so steep it cuts back and forth across the slope, and you can look straight down onto the path you walked up. People have tried climbing it, but most don’t come back; He said it steals the breath from your lungs the higher you get.”
They both stared at the last rays of sunset for a while.
“View’s probably not all that good.”
“No, odds are it’s not worth it.”
“Tavern this evening?”
“Absolutely.”