Chapter Twenty-Seven - Idealistic Approach

  -Summer-

  The work of putting together a lean-to for the two newcomers (who were okay with sharing, they said) was quick work. The kids were getting used to what needed to be done each time. Mermel was an energetic person, and took to taking down trees with surprising ease. He was able to bring down enough big timber that the skeleton for Deenat and Eefim’s hut was up and braced before they even had to think about it. And since Deenat had been working on making rope in her down time, it was easy to secure the poles without having to lean this particular hut against the cliffside!

  Belbet wanted to cheer, if it weren’t for the fact that she was absolutely exhausted from gathering the midsized poles that would be needed to weave the walls of her sister’s hut. Instead, she fielded questions while the boys worked on pounding the dirt into the proper shapes and pouring the ash-cement she had Dahnei mixing up for them.

  “So what’s with the poles?” Olleb asked, his voice quiet and easy to miss.

  “Hm? Oh. We’re making buildings, like that hut.” She pointed to their little home, and then to the storage-hut which still had no roof. “And that is our storage hut. That’s where we’ll keep the Farm’s excess foods so that when winter comes, it’ll be easy for us to survive.”

  “You don’t plan to keep moving?” Olleb asked, tilting his head, those uncanny yellow eyes following her movements.

  “No, not really?” She explained, maintaining her customer service smile. “You see, our goal is to make this Farm into a Village. And then into a City. Our home will be here, forever.”

  Olleb nodded, following her directions to weave what would basically become the mesh walls of the hut.

  “So how did you and Mermel meet?” She asked, curious about their newcomers. Olleb didn’t seem to be willing to speak much on it, however.

  “We… grew up together. In Beaver Clan.” He answered, pushing his knotted sleek hair behind him. Belbet nodded, noting that the smoke from the smoker was growing thinner.

  She stood, “I’m still listening, I just have to add some wood to this-” She explained, as she did just that, stoking the flames within the smoker higher. On her way back to his side, she checked the cistern pumpkins, and found them filled with a decent amount of water. She tested their weight and found she could easily lift them, even when they were half-filled like this, so she combined them into the boiled water cistern, and stored the rest, counting two full cisterns and one quarter-full cistern. A good water supply for now.

  “His mother was the Brood Mother.” Olleb explained, before realizing from her blank look that this clearly was something she didn’t understand. “Mermel’s mother kept the children with her during the days when the adults were working or hunting. She taught them stories and songs and how to find food that was edible and how to weave baskets and such. Beaver Clan wasn’t very big, only 10 breeding adults or so, but there were close to fifteen children, not counting babies.”

  She nodded encouragingly, moving now to begin mixing the mud for the adobe for the walls. “I see. Go ahead and tie those off, the walls are pretty much done so now we just need to build the clay-oven and then sculpt the walls.”

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  Olleb nodded, and that was about when Mermel crashed through the underbrush, bringing more big poles to store. I instructed him to start digging out pole-holes for the wood-storage area. Dahnei came over with a basket full of the ash-cement, and dropped it off by Mermel, and came back to Belbet’s side.

  Belbet spared a moment to pet her hair and give her a thank you, before asking her to see to lunch, since the sun was getting high in the sky. The Grey-moon crescent that had been hanging around for days now stood in the sky as well, but did them no good. She took a deep breath and turned back to her work, Just like with the oven in her hut, she built up a hearth and then a bit of a cylinder, big enough for a fire. Open on one side of the cylinder, she built the chimney to be as tall as the poles and supported it on the outside with poles. They’d have to be removed after the clay oven was fired.

  Starting up that fire was easy now that she’d done it in her own home so many times. Olleb had gone off, instructed to find sticks so that we could put a temporary roof of leaves-and-stick thatch on it.

  Dahnei’s bright voice called all of them to meal an hour or so later, and Belbet regretted not teaching the girl how to grind flour, because at this point, the food was a repeat of the morning. Herb-and-honey soaked fish with greens and berries. What Victoria would not give for a pasta dinner.

  While they were eating, Kaion reported, “The tiles are done, and are firing again. I’ve added the finished tiles to the hut’s roof.” He ignored where, beside him, Mermel was chewing through the fish at lightning speed, bones and all. For a moment, Belbet panicked because couldn’t dogs die choking on bones?

  She put it out of her mind, focusing instead on the report. “That’s great news! Do you think you can build another kiln so we can fire some other stuff while we’re working on it?”

  Kaion blinked, “I don’t think that’d be too hard to do.”

  “Perfect!” Belbet crowed, sipping some of her berry juice. A bird took off in the forest, and her eyes tracked its path up and over the cliff. She stood up, and stretched, before finishing off her berry juice. Mohniit looked up from his meal, drippings coming off his face.

  “Bath!” He exclaimed, and Belbet was knocked out of her stretch by an instant laugh.

  “Yes, baby, yes!” She laughed, nodding, “Time for bathtime!”

  “I’ll get the soap!” Dahnei cried, abandoning her food to run for the basket of almost-cured soap. It was a lot more solid now, which was good.

  “Soap?” Mermel asked, looking around, and Victoria had the mental image suddenly of a big dog being told it was about to have a bath. She grinned, and nodded as she ushered her little clan towards the river.

  “Yep!” Belbet said, as she and her babies began stripping. She tried not to feel self-conscious, but their furs needed cleaning, and this was a good time to clean her guests as well. “We wash our clothes and ourselves. It helps avoid illness and keep us safe. Ah, Dahnei, run and grab the combs, baby?”

  Dahnei gave an affirmative grunt and took off with the kind of energy only a child could muster in this kind of heat. As always, Belbet took her children into the water and washed them down first, soap in hand, before turning them loose to rinse off and play. Then, she turned her attention back to the furs, taking the soap to them as well.

  After their guests watched her, she gave them each a sliver and told them to clean themselves and their clothes. Then, she began coming out her own hair, and then Dahnei and Mohniit’s. Another round of playing before she was able to sit down and rest in the cool water. Mermel turned his attention on her then, and bounded forward, splashing water everywhere.

  “Hey, hey, you’re Belbet, right? I’m Mermel.” He grinned, “That food was really yummy, so thank you! Do you guys eat like that all the time?”

  “Most days, yes.” She smiled, reminded of a very energetic dog that hadn’t been walked all day. “The goal is to have so much food we don’t have to worry about where our food is coming from for WEEKS.” She explained.

  “That… sounds amazing.” He breathed.

  Mini Character List

  Victoria/Belbet - Our Main Character, 21 yr old pregnant Mom. - If I feed them well and let them bathe, they'll definitely stay around, right? ...right?

  Dahnei - 5 year old paleolithic child. Daughter of Belbet. Jerboa Mouse-Spirited. - If I'm helpful, mama will notice me more than the new people.

  Mohniit - 2 year old paleolithic child. Son of Belbet. Rabbit Spirited. - ugh, hairwashing is awful. BUT! I get to play in the water.

  Unborn Baby - I'm fine, just tired.

  Deenat - 25 year old paleolithic gatherer - Ermine Spirited. - If this woman is a danger to my tribe, I'll end her.

  Eefim - 11 year old paleolithic hunter-in-training - Why wouldn't the woman come into the camp?

  Kaion - 26 year old man. Ram Spirited. - Well, at least she trusts me with the kids more than them.

  Wolf - If the big lady doesn't see me get up, then she can't yell at me. These rocks taste good again.

  Olleb- Tiles and soap... what strange things to make?

  Mermel- If they eat like this every day... oh wow.