Solo A Focused Mind is a Calm Mind

[Seirei Dawnwhisper]

Timestamp: 17th day of Spring, 514 AV "Seirei." Seirei stirred restlessly. She was having a wonderful dream where she had created a stunningly beautiful masterpiece, and everyone in the caravan was very proud of her. None more so than her beloved older brother, Jared, and her mother. The masterpiece was an elaborate wooden sculpture depicting a forest scene. A pack of wolves ran through the trees, kings of the forest. Looking at the sculpture, one could clearly tell that the pack was on the hunt. Birds watched from the safety of the trees above, and a falcon flew overhead. Even though the viewer could not see what prey the pack was pursuing, one was left with a strong certainty that they would catch it. With this masterpiece, Seirei's reputation was made. People all throughout Mizahar would want to buy her carvings. Her caravan would be rich beyond their wildest dreams. And it was all thanks to her! "Seirei, honey." Seirei stirred again. Part of her knew that she was dreaming. That part of her knew that she should wake up and greet the day. But she was having such a wonderful dream that she didn't want it to fade away. "Mrrr." she mumbled. "Come on, Seirei! It's time to wake up now. You don't want to miss out on this morning's carving lesson, do you?" her mother asked exasperatedly. That got Seirei's attention. Her eyes flew open as she sat up in bed. She most certainly did not want to miss out on her morning carving lesson! The young girl scrambled to get dressed, and all but fled out of their family wagon. "I'm ready, Mother!" she cried eagerly. Seirei's mother chuckled. "I can see that you are." she said with a bright smile. "Should we get started, then?" Seirei nodded happily as she sat on a stool outside their wagon, and waited for the lesson to begin. "The next tool you need to learn about is the drill. The earliest drill ever to be made was a long rod of wood, a bow, and a stone. A carver would place sand or crushed rock at the site in which they wanted the hole to be at, then they would place the rod on top, loop the bow string around the rod and place the stone on top of the rod. Then they would apply pressure to the rod with the stone, and move the bow back and forth. The sand or crushed rock would remove the material that needed to be removed. It would give the carver the hole they wanted, but it was a long and difficult process." Seirei glanced at the drill laying on the chest nearby. It looked nothing like the one her mother described. This was a thing made out of metal and wood, not a makeshift thing made out of a weapon, and other things cobbled together. Clearly the drill had come a long way since its first version. Still, it was interesting to learn the history of the tools she would rely on as a woodcarver. "The drills we use now are far more advanced than the ones our ancestors used, of course." Seirei's mother continued. "With blacksmithing, better drills are possible when it comes to working with wood and stone. But the bow drill is still the only drill that won’t stress ivory." "I'd rather work with wood, anyway. It's a lot easier to get than ivory. Cheaper, too." Seirei said simply. "That's true enough. I prefer working with wood, too." "Are there different sized drills for making different sized holes?" "Different sized drills?" Seirei's mother frowned as she considered the question. "Do you mean like a child sized drill that would fit your hand more easily than this one would?" Seirei shook her head. "No. How do you make different sized holes? I can put my hand through the hole in the bird figurine you made last week. The one separating the bird's talon from the mouse it's trying to catch. But if you were making beads, and needed a small hole so you could put a string, or a chain through for a necklace, you'd need a much smaller hole, right?" "Ah. I see what you mean now. No. We can use different drill bits to make different sized holes, but the drill itself is the same size. But for a much bigger hole like the one on my bird figurine, you can use the biggest drill bit you have, and keep making holes until you clear away enough material to get the size space you want." Seirei nodded, committing the information to memory. "Run off to eat, now, Seirei. Your lesson's over for this morning." Seirei was disappointed, but she did as she was bid. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her just how long ago dinner had been.

[Seirei Dawnwhisper]

Seirei woke slowly. Her entire body ached, but she was slowly getting used to that. She let out a soft cry of pain as she sat up, every muscle protesting the movement bitterly. He would say that this was all my fault...it might even be true. she thought bitterly. He might even be right. The few times I didn't resist when he raped me, I haven't been punished. And it doesn't hurt as much as it used to. As long as I go along with it, he just...gets on with it, and leaves me alone once he's done. He wants me healthy enough to bear his children, after all. But I don't think that I'll ever accept any of this enough of this to just let him have his way without a fight. What right does he have to force himself on me like this? Even if I do owe him for saving my life...I don't owe him this! And I certainly shouldn't have to submit to him for the rest of my life. I'm not his slave! Anger, bitterness, grief, rage, terror, and hatred warred for dominance in Seirei's heart and mind. She hated feeling this way, and that only made it worse. She felt frustrated at her own helplessness. For all that she resisted, for all that she thought back...she was helpless to prevent Lian from raping her every night. She was helpless to escape because she believed him when he told her that he would find her, and she didn't want to find out what would happen when he did. And she was afraid of the death that awaited her if she did manage to escape before she had the means to get to the nearest city safely, and support herself until she could find work once she got there. She was even helpless to control the way she felt about everything...and that frustrated her even more. Working with wood always calmed her. By focusing on the wood, she was able to soothe her troubled heart, or mind. That in turn calmed her, allowing her to think clearly once more. It had been that way ever since she was a child, learning how to carve under her beloved mother's watchful eye. Her love of creating something beautiful out of wood allowed her to focus on her task to the exclusion of all else. So much so that while she was working, all other concerns simply drifted away. Seirei needed that right now. She needed to be able to think clearly. And she couldn't do that unless her head was clear. With chaotic emotions flooding through her, she was in no shape to think at all much less think clearly. How could she expect to make any kind of decisions about her future under these circumstances? Seirei looked around. In her current state of mind, she wasn't in any shape to try to come with an idea for a new project. But she had several different projects in various states of completion. When her eyes set on a sack full of wooden beads, she knew what she wanted to work on.

[Seirei Dawnwhisper]

Humming under her breath, Seirei opened the sack, and dumped the beads out onto the ground carefully. The beads, or the wooden spheres that would become beads rolled around a little, but they didn't go spinning off all over the tent. Seirei counted her spheres, examining each one carefully. Then she seperated them into two piles. The prettier ones went into the first pile. These were ones made of a variety of woods. Each one was a slightly different color, but each was beautiful in its own way. The natural beauty of the wood needed no embellishment. The spheres that went into the second pile all had at least one flaw. For some, the color wasn't that good. Others had a flaw caused by Seirei's less than perfect carving skills. Some of these had chips or gouges that couldn't be sanded away, or evened out without destroying their shape. Seirei glanced at the two piles ruefully. The second pile was considerably larger than the first. Each sphere was useable, but they were far from her best work. I have a long way to go before I'm the master I used to dream about being when I was a child. she thought with a sigh. Used to? I still do dream of becoming a master carver. Someday... Seirei sighed again, allowing herself a few moments to indulge in dreams for the future. Then she began gathering up the smaller pile. Some day all of my work will be perfect. she promised herself as she placed ber best wooden spheres back into the sack. Then she gathered up the rest of the wooden spheres, and placed them in a box she'd borrowed from one of the neighbors. She brought the box, three bowls, a canteen full of water, and three wrapped packages outside, and set them on the ground. She sat down beside them, and filled the three bowls with water from the canteen, splitting the water between the three bowls. When she was done with that, she unwrapped the three packages, exposing three cakes of paint; one blue, one black, and one white. She broke off a small corner of each, and crumbled them into the bowls. Then she mixed them carefully, using three spoons she'd borrowed. When the paint was ready, she picked up a wooden sphere, and placed it in the bowl containing the blue paint. Using the spoon she'd used to mix that color, she turned the sphere over and over. She pushed it down so that the paint covered it completely. Only when the sphere was completely coated with the paint, did she fish it out with the spoon, and carefully place it on the tarp she'd spread out on the ground earlier. One by one, Seirei used that method to paint the rest of the spheres. As she finished with them, she spread them out on the tarp so they could dry in the heat of the sun. When she was finshed with the last sphere, she stood back, and admired her work. Not bad. Some of the flaws are completely hidden by the paint. Others can still be seen, but they are definitely less noticeable. Once the paint dries, I'll drill holes into the spheres, turning them into beads. Seirei grinned. I can't say that I know anything about painting, but then again, I don't really need to if I paint the spheres this way. Still, it would be nice to learn, though. It would be good if I could paint designs on flawed beads rather than just use solid colors like this. If I could, maybe I could even use the paint to turn any flaws into assets rather than just trying to hide them. she mused.

[Seirei Dawnwhisper]

Now that she was finished painting the flawed spheres, it was time to drill holes in the unflawed ones. Seirei went back inside, and got the sack of spheres that didn't need to be painted. But as Seirei looked at the wooden spheres, she realized that she'd made one fatal mistake. The spheres were too small, too fragile to survive being drilled. I can't work with them like this! They'll break if I try. Seirei thought with dismay. I should have drilled the holes before the wood dried. Still...they're too pretty to waste. I can probably try to sell them as is. Someone who knows how can probably use wire to wrap them, and tie them into a necklace. Seirei glanced at the spheres she had just painted, and realized that she had fallen into the same trap with them as well. At least I can still use them. I didn't spend an entire day making them only to find that they were useless. she thought ruefully. Feeling frustrated with her mistake, Seirei put the unpainted wooden spheres back in their sack, and decided to move on to a different project. She had several bowls she'd made since she'd been brought to Endrykas. Each one was finished except for the final stage, smoothing the bowl to bring out its natural shine, and make it useable. Seirei went back into the tent, and gathered the bowls, and a piece of leather that had crushed rock embedded into it. She then brought all of them outside so she could take advantage of the sunlight. She sang as she worked, rubbing the leather over the first bowl gently. Her voice rose and fell with the haunting melody. The song told the tale of a girl who was betrayed by her lover, and killed. Her ghost remained to warn other girls, trying to prevent them from having the same fate she did. It was a cautionary tale, and a beautiful song. Seirei quickly lost herself in her work. Part of her mind was firmly focused on the task, using the leather to smooth the bowls and bring out their natural shine one by one. But even as she did that, she gave herself to the song, losing herself in the story it had to tell. Luckily, she wasn't doing anything that could ruin the finished product if she paid less than her full attention to it. And she kept just enough of her mind on what she was doing to avoid damaging the bowls by sanding them too much. Singing made the work go faster. Before she knew it, Seirei was finished sanding the bowls she had ready for that step. Since her first batch of beads were a mistake of sorts, she wanted to make some more. This time she would drill the holes before she set the beads aside so the wood could dry. Knowing that making a large batch of wooden beads had taken her an entire day, Seirei decided to make a smaller batch this time. After the work she'd already done, she didn't have a full day left to devote to making beads. Once again, Seirei entered the tent. When she emerged, she had a bag of twigs she'd gotten from a trader in exchange for giving his three children a basic lesson in wood carving. Both had considered it a very good trade since the kids showed considerable interest in the lesson, and might well take it further, acquiring a new skill in the process. And the trader had had no use for the twigs since they were worthless as trade goods. But to Seirei, who could use them to make beads. And wood wasn't plentiful in an environment like the Sea of Grass, so any wood that she didn't have to buy was a huge help. Seirei pulled one of the twigs out of the bag. She recognized the wood as belonging to an apple tree, which was good. She knew that wood from a fruit tree worked best for what she wanted to do. The size of the twig was perfect, too. The diameter of the twig was less than half an inch. Seirei carefully peeled the bark off of the twig. Then she used her knife to scrape off the remaining bits of bark missed when she was peeling it off. Using the same knife, Seirei cut the twig into pieces. Each piece was a little bit larger than the size she wanted her beads to be. That would give her a little room for error if she made mistakes. Finally, she used the smallest drill bit she owned to drill out the center of each piece of wood. Seirei knew how fragile the pieces of wood were, so she was very careful as she did so, and she drilled them by hand rather than using her drill. Even so, she broke some of the pieces. When Seirei was finished with the first twig, she repeated the process with the others. One by one, she peeled the twigs, scraping them clean to make sure she didn't miss any bark. Then she cut the twigs into the sized pieces she wanted, and drilled the centers out of each piece. She lost several when she broke them accidentally, but she still had a decent amount of pieces when she was done. Finally, she set them aside so they could dry. In a week's time, she would be able to shape them into their final form. Before Seirei knew it, she was done. Working on some of her projects had done what Seirei had hoped it would; calm her troubled mind. Seeing that it was late afternoon, Seirei decided against starting work on another project. She didn't think she would have enough time to get to a good stopping place before it was time to prepare dinner. And after that...she wouldn't have time for anything else.

[Khida]

Seirei

Skill	Points
Carving	+1
Observation	+1
Painting	+1
Singing	+1

• Bow drill: best for ivory
• Carving: masking flawed work with paint
• Carving: smoothing surfaces with crushed rock
• Carving: wood shrinks when dry
• Drill: one tool, different bits
• Painting: preparing pigments with water
• The appearance of apple wood

Notes

Good job on detailing her process at the end. That's the kind of thoroughness which will get you far... although there's not much I can award for this thread, with the very introspective first two posts. I awarded a point in Carving mostly for that last part. The sanding of the bowls was so briefly touched upon -- one sentence and done; nothing about process or any difficulties or particular successes she had along the way -- I can't really justify giving it XP. Also, bear in mind that the norm is 1 point per skill per post; if you break up activities into multiple posts, you're more likely to earn more points.

As always, if you have any questions, please PM me. Also, please edit your request to show this thread has been graded.