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Stories from the Verse
Con Verse Lea
Chapter 50: Takano 72
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Beam 141
The impact of Lauren’s words, that there was so much the people had to learn, came home to Tommy that day. There was a lesson in cleaning and cooking fish, and so the leaders took this back to their people and began building their own fire places so they could clean and cook their own fish. Each one took a brand from Lauren’s fire, which she had built up for this purpose, and each started teaching a few others these survival essentials.
Then that afternoon Lauren again gathered the leaders and Tommy, and began showing them how she built a house. She called it a nest, she said because she learned it from some bird people, and it was a very involved process involving woven green branches with grasses and wildflowers. Late in the afternoon, with the house unfinished, she dismissed the group so they could go teach their people how to catch fish.
“This really is--” Tommy began, but couldn’t think of what she wanted to say. Lauren waited a moment, and then responded.
“Well, I suspect my teachers could have finished it in that time, but I’ve only ever built one before, and I had their help.”
“So, you haven’t built one since then?”
“I suppose I could have done on the tropical island, but I was in a hurry and built a lean-to, and it was never really cold there, so even when it rained I never needed a better shelter than that. And in other worlds there was enough magic that I could use my comfort bubble, or places I could live that were built by others. I expect, though, that we’re going to need decent warm houses, and protection from rain and snow, and this is my best guess for how to do that. Besides, once I’ve taught them to build nests, baskets will be easy.”
Tommy nodded. She could see that much of what went into making the nest would be similar to making a much smaller basket. Also, having seen the fish the others caught, she could see that baskets were likely to be useful.
“So, what’s for dinner?” she asked.
“We still have some fish from brunch,” Lauren answered. “Your choice whether you want to have it for supper, or take it down to the lake and use it for chum to get another fish.”
She thought about that for a moment. After all, her lazy side would prefer just to eat what they had and go to bed--it had been a long day. On the other hand, if she caught a couple fish, they would have a better supper and maybe enough that she could have breakfast before worrying about what to eat.
“I’ll go see what I can spear,” she said. “I could use the practice anyway.”
“Excellent. I’ll help you clean and cook whatever you bring back.”
She hadn’t thought of that, but then, those were also tasks she needed to practice. Grabbing her hunting arrow, she trotted toward the lake.
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with twenty other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #465: Characters Wander. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
