Pit remembered back to before entering school. Following someone around whenever he was allowed. After morning chores all of the children older than him went to school, so he would follow his aunt or uncle when his parents were away. Pit was allowed to carry things like eggs or vegetables and herbs. After school the children had chores they took turns at so everyone learned to help, with preparing meals, feeding and cleaning up after the animals. Pit most liked the hand to hand fighting matches that were the family style. Time was spent every evening by the young learning and being taught, by the elder children supervised by an adult.
Velna at eight was Pit's primary instructor in family rules, responsibilities, and procedures. Anybody in the family older than her,was able to send him to do whatever they needed done. Pit accompanied Velna when she did her chores in the morning and the evening. During the day Pit helped his aunt Khoe who was due to have a child soon, by carrying what he could and handing her what she needed. Thus it was that all younger family members were taught by an older capable child, that way when they were old enough to do chores on their own, they knew what to do and how to do it. Chores were rotated so that the animals, got used to everybody in the family. That way they didn't attack some and ignore others, they accepted new family members readily. The exception seemed to be those damn roosters and drake geese. Every child eventually had to whip at least one of them in a fight growing up, or take a whipping and ridicule for running. That is why every five year old was quite proficient it stick, as a mater of fact Myrian children began wielding sticks before they could walk, cause everyone else did.
Velna had little tricks for everything,before collecting eggs she scattered a small amount of seed, the chickens foraged for themselves mostly. The nest boxes and seed, as well as leaving a fake egg in the nest, kept them from having to search the jungle for the eggs. Selected chickens were allowed to hatch their eggs, they were food as well an egg supply. The geese were treated much the same. Goats were milked daily. If a goat had a kid you only took half of the milk and left the rest for the kid. Goats would eat anything which mostly consisted of the stems, husks, and non edible vegetable matter left over from meals, supplemented with vines and vegetation from the jungle. Life for a Myrian wasn't easy there was much to learn and only a few years to learn it.
Pit had fun growing up also it wasn't all work, there was a lot of fun too. The young dogs liked to chase sticks, and wrestle and wrestle. Learning to tumble and fall by slapping back with your arms to break a fall. Hide and seek,seeing how many times you could spin around without falling down. Velna's Riamm played with him as well when she was at school. Throwing pebbles at a larger rock was fun, right now Pit was the only one not in school in the longhouse at this time, but learning was a way of life it never stopped.
The family had four gardens, one for vegetables,one for herbs, one forvegetables, one medicinal plants and one for plants used in the making of poisons. Kloe had taught him about the vegetables, Squashes, melons, corn, beans, peas,and many others. The herb garden had peppers,garlic,onions,and green leafy herbs that were very hard to tell apart yet. The medicinal garden was one he didn't know much about, the aloe plant was used for burns though . The poison garden was tended by his grandfather Blain who lived just into the jungle outside the Poison Arrow Clan compound. Pit had never been to grandfathers garden,but grandfather often came in to eat with them, he told really good stories and laughed a lot. Blain had stories of the world outside the jungle. Grandfather also said it was quite a dangerous adventure, but I was born in the jungle and will die in the jungle. He also said he was thankful for what he had learned and was able to bring back to his people.
Today pit was to help with cooking supper for the supper meal blood stew enough for 12 to 15 family members tonight. Uncle Milac was in from patrol and he had caught a iguana lizard, which would go in the large pot with two chickens. The chickens heads were chopped off, and the blood drained in a bowl and covered for later. The chickens were dunked in boiling water to loosen up the feathers, then they were plucked. The iguana was skinned and gutted then the chickens were gutted. The only part of the chicken that wasn't eaten was the feathers and the guts. Head, feet, organs all went into the cook pot,the vegetables chopped spinach, potatoes, corn, and peas. Seasonings were salt,red and chile's,garlic,and onions. Rice was added and then the blood went in last to thicken and add the final flavor. Blood soup was a favorite dish but required living or very fresh ingredients. Pit helped pluck feathers, and collect vegetables for the meal. After the pot cooked for the next couple of hours Pit was off to play until everyone home for supper.
OOCAccidentally mixed up past and present tense. Working on improvement. Sorry
