Flashback Learning and Lighting

[Anibesa]

81st Spring, 462AV
"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

Her first year on this strange yet somewhat familiar earth had passed, and somehow she’d found herself travelling with a Svefra pod. It was still strange to her, but she’d managed to adjust slightly, now able to accept what had happened, even though she wished it hadn’t. She was remaining hopeful that she would find her way back one day, but that wasn’t anything she could control.

Sighing she sat on the casinor, her eyes scanning for anything that might be dangerous on the seas, also scanning for land of any sorts while another member of the pod was sailing the casinor.
She couldn’t help but look back at him, enthralled by how he managed the sails and controlled them to guide the boat in the direction that he wanted.

”Tiamon, how you make boat move?” she asked curiously, her Fratava not yet up to scratch, though she doubted she’d ever learn the language fully.
“My father taught me, and I trust Laviku and Zulrav!” Tiamon responded with a laugh and Anibesa tilted her head.
”Laviku is god of sea, but who Zulrav?” she asked, the name being unfamiliar to her, though she knew she may have heard it before and forgot it with the influx of knowledge that had came her way in the past year.
“Zulrav? He is the stormlord, god of storms, wind, and air.” Tiamon answered again, his voice kind and understanding of the naive girl.
”He keep us safe from storms. Help us go where want when Laviku can’t?” she asked again, watching the man as he nodded and grinned at her, before she turned her attention back to the seas, in time to see land appearing in the distance, a shout coming from another casinor from a fellow pod member who had likely been paying more attention than she had, and a grin spread across her face.

[Anibesa]

"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

Soon they were moored close to the shore, in water that was about thigh depth, and the majority of the pod had jumped into the water and now trudged up to the shore, a mix of sand and rock, then dirt and grass as it got further from the shore, followed by an area of light foliage with a few sparse trees.
Ani followed them, slipping into the water and wading through the water, using her hands to try to propel herself forwards and make it easier to walk through the water.
Once she got out of the water she stood for a few moments, feeling the water dripping for her pants to the ground as the fabric clung to her legs, though that feeling was one she’d got used to during her time with the pod.
“We need sticks and logs for a fire. Wood, you know? Can you get some?” one of the members of the pod turned to her and Anibesa nodded, glad to be of help, before Tiamon appeared, offering to accompany her to get the wood that they needed. He probably realised how useless she’d be on her own.
”We get wood?” she said, looking at Tiamon with a grin as the Svefra man nodded and they set off into a wooded area of the area they had landed in.

“We need smaller pieces of wood. Ones that are dry, like twigs!” the man said, looking straight ahead of him as they walked until a crunch underfoot alerted them to dead foliage beneath them.
Bending down, Tiamon picked up a small twig, light brown in colour and likely long dead.
“This is good kindling. It is small and dry, and will burn easily. We light this, then put bigger woods on it to light those too.” he explained and Anibesa nodded, bending down to pick up a similar twig.
”Kindling, start fires with kindling.” she said calmly, holding the twig so it was visible and watching Tiamon for his nodding and smiling when he did.

[Anibesa]

"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

”Big wood lights from kindling?” Anibesa questioned, looking at the man as he nodded, before she put her hand on a tree covered in a green fungus. ”Like this wood?
“No, that wood is wet. It will take to long to dry out and will just cause smoke when we try to light it. Dry wood is better, like the wood we find on the ground. The dead wood, not the living.” Tiamon explained, his eyes glancing around.
”What if smoke needed? Like signal?” Anibesa asked, still curious.
“Yes, then you want wet wood that makes a lot of smoke. But we don’t want smoke now. We want heat.” Tiamon explained again, starting to walk, his eyes scanning over the area.

Anibesa moved quicker to keep up with him, her eyes scanning the area before following the man. Briefly she bent down when her eyes spotted what looked like a moderately sized branch lying on the ground.
”Big dead wood like this?” she asked, watching Tiamon turn to face her and nod.
“Good! That’s what we need. Long, but we can break that up!” Tiamon said, smiling slightly and Anibesa nodded, keeping her eyes peeled for more wood on the ground.
Soon they had gathered a collection of twigs and small branches, and Anibesa arms were almost full of wood, though Tiamon had wanted them to get at least one more large branch.

Her eyes scanned over the ground, trying to a good branch on the ground before something caught her eyes.
”Tiamon? That one good?” she asked, gesturing towards another branch lying on the floor, this one with a moss like substance growing on it.
“No, that one is green. The moss will smoke too much.” Tiamon said and Ani frowned slightly, hoping that they’d find the branch they needed soon as she felt the wood she was carrying beginning to put a strain on her arms with it’s weight.

[Anibesa]

"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

After a few more chimes of searching, Tiamon retrieve a long dead branch from the ground, this one light brown and almost ashy in it’s colour. He tucked it under his arm as Anibesa watched, then started heading back to the rest of the pod, Ani following close behind with a wild number of questions floating through her mind.

”How we make fire with wood?” she called out behind the man, watching him as he stopped and turned towards her.
“I will show you when we get back to the others.” Tiamon said softly and calmly, and Anibesa frowned again at that response.
”But I want know now.” she responded and she heard the man sigh in response.
“We make heat, and heat travels to the kindling. The heat makes the kindling burn, and then the kindling heats the branches until they burn.” He said and Anibesa nodded, not really satisfied with the answer, but knowing that the man was exasperated.

Soon they were back with the other pod members, and their Lia was directing them each in their own tasks.
Both Anibesa and Tiamon sat at the edge of the group, a few metres from the sea, and Tiamon started to organise the smallest of the twigs into a pile.
“Normally we would dig a pit to protect it from air, but we don’t have enough time. We put the kindling in the middle first, and then I’ll show you the rest.”

Anibesa started to do as instructed, creating a pile from all the kindling, though she couldn’t help but notice Tiamon move one of the small twigs and hide it behind him, presumably to keep it from going on the fire.

”What that one for?” she questioned, though the sight of Tiamon rolling his eyes sent a sheepish grin spreading across Anibesa’s face. ”Sorry, I keep working.” she said calmly.

Once the smaller twigs were all piled up she looked to Tiamon for further direction.

[Anibesa]

"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

The man smiled back at her, before handing her one of the larger, longer branches, then gesturing for her to stand up.
“We need to make these shorter, but they might be hard to break. So we use our knees and feet, like this.” Tiamon said calmly, before taking a branch with both hands, then raising his knee so it was rested on the branch between his two hands. Quickly and sharply he pushed his knee forwards, snapping the branch in two.

Nodding, Anibesa tried to copy his placement, holding the branch against her knee and then messily pulling it towards her, though when it barely bent she found herself frowning.

“Try maybe pushing down on it with your foot?” Tiamon suggested and Anibesa moved the branch so it was under her foot. She pushed down as hard as she could, only managing to knock herself off balance as she fell forwards, dropping the branch in order to attempt to cushion her fall as she did so.

The sound of laughter from Tiamon caused her to frown, and she couldn’t help but glare at him slightly.

”How do I do?” she asked, picking herself up and picking the branch up, before feeling Tiamon take the branch from her and hold it out, level with her knee.

“Try this way. Stomp on it!” He encouraged and Anibesa couldn’t but smirk, raising her foot and hovering it over the branch, pushing down on it quickly with as much force as she could. This time the branch snapped in two. It was a clean snap and sharp fragments of wood littered the ground, but the longer branch was now two branches of uneven but shorter length.

“Good, now do that again on your own!” Tiamon said, picking up the longer half and handing it to her, before going back to his own pieces.

Anibesa held the branch out in front of her, before driving down on it with her foot. Rather than snapping the branch, the force cause the branch to slip from one hand, but rather than give up Anibesa opted to keep trying to snap it.
Her free hand took a hold of the end she was still holding and she continued to push down with her foot while pulling the end up.
Eventually she heard a crack and the branch gave way, snapping into two parts as her foot her the ground suddenly.

[Anibesa]

"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

“Good!” Anibesa heard Tiamon say, and she looked at the man to see that he had broken all the other branches while she had struggled with one.

”These go pile too?” she asked, gesturing towards the pile of small twigs, or kindling.
Then she just watched as Tiamon knelt down, arranging the branches so they placed with one end at the base of the pile, the other at the top while it leant on the pile.

Carefully Anibesa copied the man, finding it hard to keep the branch pieces in the right arrangement, and several times she had to return to a fallen piece and stand it upright again.

Eventually they were all placed into the pile in such a manner, with a few small gaps where the small twigs were visible.

”How we make heat?” she asked, wanting to know how a pile of sticks could turn into fire.

“With these!” Tiamon said, retrieving a piece of branch from behind him, and a piece of wood that had a groove cut into it. “This branch is hard, the other piece is soft. We can make heat from these. A flint and steel works too, but we haven’t got one now.”
Then Tiamon pulled the small twig he’d saved from behind him and began to peel wood fibers from it, before passing it to Anibesa.

Carefully Anibesa started to peel wood fibres from around where Tiamon had, her nails proving to be useful for such a task, until a pile of small fibers of wood had been collected.

“This is what we will use as tinder. Small bird feathers work, and cloth scraps will also work. But this is what we have.” Tiamon explained, before piling the fibers onto the visible kindling. “Now, position this so that the groove is over the tinder.”

Anibesa took to piece of wood and held it so it was hovering over the tinder.

”Like?” she asked and the man nodded, handing her the branch.

“Push this up and down against the groove.” He instructed and Anibesa did as she was told, watching as small pieces of wood fiber were being forced from the groove and a few fell and joined the tinder.

“More force now!” Tiamon instructed and Anibesa did so, the feeling already beginning to tire her arm.

She watched as she worked, unsure as to whether she was applying enough force. She began to apply more and more force, a feeling of familiarity coming over her as she became engrossed in what she was doing as something started to smoke.

Still unsure of what to do she continued, until Tiamon put a hand on her arm, stopping her.

“You need to blow the embers... Gently though.” Tiamon said and Anibesa furrowed her brow slightly, before moving the wood and branch to see a faint red glow in the tinder.

Quickly she leant towards the faint glow and gently blew on it a few times, watching as the faint glow took light and grew into a small flame.
She blew it gently again, then saw it beginning to ignite the kindling and she sat up to look at Tiamon, pointing at the flames in disbelief.

”That it?” she questioned, looking at the man as he laughed slightly.
“Yes, that’s it. That’s how we make fire. It is good for heat and light! With this we can stay warm, heat water and food, and scare away predators.” the man said, and Anibesa nodded, a light grin on her smile.

[Gossamer]

Anibesa

Experience: Wilderness Survival +5, Observation +5, Foraging +2, Interrogation +3

Payoff: You know how to gather wood and build a fire now!

Lore: Zulrav: God of Storms, Wind & Air, WS: What kindling is, WS: How to build a fire, WS: Wet wood smokes, WS: Dry wood burns better. WS: How heat works in the fire, WS: How to break off branches, WS: Using a firebow to start a fire without matches

Note: Nice thread… was simple and easy and just part of being who you are. I liked it!

Let me know if I left anything out!

Goss