Flashback Water, Water, Everywhere

[Anibesa]

51st Spring, 463AV
"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

For the second time in twenty days, the pod had come ashore from the Middle Suvan Sea. Anibesa watched as the other pod members set about their work. Some were sewing patches of fabric to small tears in sails, others were mending fishing nets, while a few were heading deeper into the wilderness presumably to gather water or to hunt more animals and plants so they wouldn’t just be eating fish until they came ashore again.

“Ani!” came a shout and Anibesa glanced around in time to see Tiamon waving at her and hurriedly she bounded over to him, knowing that most of her time was spent helping the older man and learning from him. It seemed that Tiamon had taught most of the pod what they knew, though that was only from Anibesa’s perspective, and she had only been with the pod for a couple of years.
“We’re on water duty.” the man said, his Fratava fluent, and Anibesa smiled glad to have understood the words, or at least understood to gist of the words.
”There water all. Easy task?” she asked in broken Fratava before she heard the man chuckle slightly.
“Aye, we can’t drink sea water, you know? It makes you right sick!” the man said, glancing around. “We can make sea water drinkable, but there’s some other ways to get water too. I’ll show you.” Tiamon said, gently patting Anibesa on the shoulder before he pulled her out into the sea as he climbed aboard his casinor.
“Don’t get these wet lass!” his words came as he started passing a few things to her. A cloth, a metal pot with a lid and spout, a knife, and a water skin, before her himself gathered few other things that Anibesa had stopped paying attention at. Those items he placed into a backpack and slung it over his shoulder.
Then the man jumped out of the casinor into the knee depth water before taking the cloth from Ani and tying it onto a loop on his pants, being careful to keep the cloth out of the water. Then he walk up onto the shore, beckoning Anibesa to join him.

”How sea water drink?” she asked, looking up at the man before watching him as he knelt down.
“Well first we need to dig a pit, and make a fire in it.” he said calmly, beginning to use his hands to clear sand out of the way, digging down slightly.
Anibesa moved to kneel opposite the man, digging alongside him as the cleared the sand out of a hole and piled it to the side.z
”Why we fire in pit?” Anibesa asked, looking up at to the man in time to see him roll his eyes slightly.

“It’s better for the fire. If a strong wind starts, the fire would be put out. In a pit it’s got shelter from the wind and will burn for longer.” Tiamon responded.
”What if no sand? Can’t dig?” Anibesa questioned again, curious as to what they would do if sand wasn’t around.
“You can do the same with stones and rocks. You’d pile them up in a circle and make the fire in the centre.” Tiamon said again, still digging, but this time Anibesa was fully satisfied with the answer and she nodded happily. “Right, the pit is dug, so now we make a fire!” Tiamon said and Anibesa scrambled to her feet, instantly glancing around for sticks they could use in a fire.

Within a few minutes, so had found a few dry twigs that could be used as kindling, and as she went to search for larger twigs Tiamon called her over again, the man himself having found a few larger but dry branches, and he’d started arranging the fire.
Quietly Anibesa joined and started to place the kindling in between the larger pieces of wood so that the fire would spread around all the wood initially, allowing the main pieces wood to catch fire easier.
~

[Anibesa]

"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

Then once they had built what would soon be the fire, Anibesa looked towards Tiamon, seeing him with his flint and steel in hand. She watched how he held them and how he struck them together and how sparks came from the steel. She didn’t understand how it worked, only that it actually worked.
The sparks never met the pile of twigs and wood that the two had made and no fire was created, but soon Tiamon handed the two pieces to Anibesa, a smile on his face as he pointed at the red headed girl.

“You try.” he said, his Fratava words encouraging as Anibesa tried to direct the steel towards what would be the fire, before hitting the flint with the steel. The first time she tried, there was nothing, but Anibesa just adjusted her grip slightly and struck the flint again, this time a small amount of sparks forming though not making it to the fire.
Sighing frustratedly, Anibesa repositioned herself and held the flint closer to the fire, before striking it again. This time the spark landed in the tinder and almost instantly she saw Tiamon bend over and started to gently blow the spark, only sitting up when the tinder and kindling had caught.

”Why blow spark?” Anibesa asked, tilting her head as she looked at the man curiously.
“We need air to breathe, and the fire also needs air to thrive. If you gently blow the spark it helps it to become bigger and stronger, turns it into a good fire that won’t blow out.” the man explained and Anibesa opened her mouth to speak.
”What if blow not gentle?” she asked another question and she saw Tiamon shake his head slightly, rolling his eyes as he did so.
“Then the fire will go out.” he said and Anibesa nodded before sitting up straightly, her blue eyes looking over the man, and then around at the other Svefra who were all busy working, helping the pod in their own way.
“Now, we get water!” the man said and Anibesa nodded, watching him as he pulled what looked like a large glass jar from the stuff he had brought from his casinor. “Go fill this with sea water.” he instructed and Anibesa took the jar from him and walked to the sea.
She pulled the legs of her trousers up and waded into the sea to where the sand was no longer being disturbed by the breaking of the waves on the shore and then she bent at her waist, plunging the jar into the water with both hands until it was filled with sea water.

Carefully, she held the jar with two hands and walked out of the sea, back up to Tiamon and the fire with her eyes focussing on the jar, trying not to spill it as she occasionally looked up to see whether she was walking the right direction and whether she was going to walk into something dangerous.

Soon, she had made it back to Tiamon and she handed the older Svefra the jar of water.
~

[Anibesa]

"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

The older Svefra smiled in response, happily accepting the jar of water. While she’d been collecting the water, Tiamon had placed a metal pot onto the fire ready.
She watched him carefully as he poured the sea water into the metal pot, then put a lid over it. The metal pot had a spout at the side of it, and carefully Tiamon attached a piece of cloth to the end of the spout so it would catch any water, then placed a glass jar beneath it.

”What this do?” Ani asked curiously and the man leant towards her.

“Well, when the sea water heats up. The water will turn to steam, but the salt won’t. When the steam comes through the spout, it’ll start cooling down because it’s further from the heat. Then when it goes through the cloth, most of it will get stuck and turn to water, and it should drip into the glass jar.” Tiamon explained and Anibesa nodded carefully.

”And then we can drink?” she asked carefully before seeing the man glare at her. ”We wait for cool?” she asked a different question and saw Tiamon nod at her. ”What if cloth dirty?” she asked again.

“We don’t use dirty cloths.” the man said simply.

”So now we wait?” the young Ethaefal asked and then watched as Tiamon chuckled.

“No, there are more ways to get water. We go get more water.” Tiamon said, standing up and heading towards the vegetation. Anibesa jumped up and followed him closely, unsure about leaving the boiling sea water unaccompanied.

“So, what do plants need to live?” the man asked when he stopped next to a plant with long green stems growing from it.

”Sunlight? Soil? Water?” Anibesa cautiously answered the question three times, until Tiamon nodded at her suggestion of water. ”So does plant still have water in it?” she asked, and Tiamon nodded, cutting off the tip of one of the stems and taking a hold of Anibesa’s hand, squeezing the plant into her hand.

Anibesa watched in amazement as drops of a clear, water like liquid fell into her hand.

“Go on, drink it!” the man said, and Anibesa did as she was told, licking the drops of the water off her palm and smiling widely. “It’s a good source of water, isn’t it?” the man said and Anibesa nodded at him aggressively.

”Is it all plants that are like this?” she asked, her hands gently stroking the plant they had just drank from, before seeing Tiamon shaking his head to say no.

“Only plants that have centers like this. Moist and pulpy. If it’s wood it won’t. Jungle vines are your best bet for plants that have water.” he said, and Anibesa nodded contemplatively. “Do you know any other plants that have water in them?” he asked and Anibesa thought for a moment.

”Coconuts!” she said suddenly and excitedly as the word came to her mind.

“Yes, but you can’t drink too much of the coconut water. It might make you ill if you do.” he said and Anibesa nodded.
~

[Anibesa]

"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

”So we coconut water with water? Where we get water? Plant only?” she asked, her eyes looking around before landing on Tiamon’s face.

“Well, what types of water do we have? If we have salt water, what other water exists?” Tiamon said, and Anibesa thought for a few moments.

”Fresh water? Streams, lakes?” she said and Tiamon nodded.

“We don’t have any lakes nearby, I don’t think, so follow me.” Tiamon said, and Anibesa followed him for a few chimes, eventually they reached a stream, and the sound of it’s trickling was music to Anibesa’s ears. “We need to walk upstream a little bit, and get away from where the salt water can mix with it. Then we make sure nothing dead is in it. Or we could just boil it to try to kill the dead stuff more, or if you have some you can a few things that you can use to purify the water. I think it's made of alcohol, but we don’t have that, it’s too expensive, so lets go upstream.” the man said and Anibesa nodded, watching Tiamon start to wake upstream, and she followed him closely.

Eventually he came to a stop and knelt down next to the stream, cupping his hands and dipping them into the water before bringing his hands to his mouth.

“Come try it, Ani?” he offered and Anibesa moved closer to him, kneeling next to him and copying him.

”It’s cold!” she exclaimed after drinking the water, and Tiamon chuckled.

“Moving water is harder to heat up, so streams are more refreshing if you don’t find anything dead in it.” he suggested and Anibesa grinned widely. “Now fill this.” Tiamon said, handing a waterskin to the young woman and she smiled cheerfully.

She opened her waterskin and then held it under the water, it’s opening facing upstream so the water flowed into it, filling the waterskin slowly. Eventually the waterskin was filled and she pulled it out of the water, sealing it back up and holding it with the now sealed opening held upwards incase of any leaks.
~

[Anibesa]

"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

She looked over the waterskin, checking around the seal and tipping it upside down, trying to feel whether anything was leaking from it, though it seemed to be secure and she quickly stood up, looking towards Tiamon to see that he had filled a waterskin and was now carrying it over his shoulder using a leather strap that had been attached to it.

“Sealed properly?” he asked her and Anibesa nodded before Tiamon turned away from her and started walking along the stream, the same way that the water flowed. “Come on then, back to the beach before we lose everyone.”

”How we know going right... way?” she asked, pausing as she remembered the Fratava word for ‘way’. ”And if lake we do same?” she asked, tilting her head as she followed him, her eyes looking down to the ground and her feet as she tiptoed around the stones and vegetation that might have made her slip.

Suddenly Anibesa felt herself bumping into Tiamon, having only been looking at the ground and not what was in front of her. For a few moments she stood dazed, before Tiamon bent down and pointed to the stream.

“See here, the way the the water is flowing can be seen. Sometimes it’s hard to see, but if you look around the rocks you can see where the water is hitting them and flowing around them.” Anibesa looked closely, seeing the very faint ripples in the flowing water, then looking towards the rocks and seeing the more turbulent flow of water before nodding. “Well, the water in a stream will always flow towards the sea, or to a lake. Since we followed this stream from the shore, we know that this one flows towards the sea, so to get back we follow the flow of the water.”

”That clear. I know now!” Anibesa responded, nodding as she looked along the stream in the direction it was flowing from before pointing. ”This way away sea. Other way to sea.” she said calmly, before looking to Tiamon and seeing him nod. ”So what lakes?” she asked.

“Well lakes are a bit harder than streams.” Tiamon started. “There are different types of lakes. One where the water flows out steadily, so the water is replaced regularly, and one where the water is trapped. Those lakes are usually like the sea, not safe.” Tiamon said, before starting walking again. “Come on. If we find the first type of lake, it’s best to be careful still, but the water will be drinkable. Obviously boiling it will make it more safe, and finding where the water flows into the lake on both types of lake will give us an even better source of water.”
~

[Anibesa]

"Common" | "Fratava" | "Tukant"

”So want flowing water? Flowing water better?” Anibesa asked and she saw the man nod in response and a triumphant smile came over her face.

The rest of the walk to the beach was quiet, just the sounds of trickling water and the occasional rustling of small creatures running away from them as they walked past them. Once they made it back to the beach Tiamon handed his waterskin to one of the other Svefra in their pod, before looking towards Anibesa.

“Keep that waterskin with you. We’ll store it on our boat and just share it as is needed.” he said and Anibesa nodded in return, remaining quiet before they made their way back to the fire they’d set up to try and purify the water.

Anibesa looked at it as they got closer and closer, and she could tell that something had definitely collected in the glass jar. Once they got to it, Tiamon sat next to it and Anibesa knelt opposite him, looking closely at the jar. It wasn’t full, with the clear liquid only reaching halfway up the jar, but what was there definitely looked like water.

”That water? Clean now?” Anibesa asked, unsure as to whether clean had been the right word to use, though it was the first word she could think of that Tiamon would understand properly that seemed to be what she wanted to say.

“Yes, this is pure water now. The salt will not have come with the water, but we probably lost a lot of the water we had.” Tiamon explained and Anibesa tilted her head but opted to not ask many more questions of the man. “Now if you cover your hand with something and take the lid off the pot, you’ll be able to see some of the salt.” he said calmly, and Anibesa carefully covered her hand with the excess fabric of her top and removed the lid from the pot, looking in to see a little bit more water, and some small white crystal like formations creeping up the side of the pot.

”White thing?” she asked, looking up to see Tiamon nodding.

“Salt is good on food sometimes, but we don’t need any. Go rinse the pot out in the water and put the fire out with some water too. We’ll be ready to head back out to sea soon.” Tiamon said, grabbing the jar of water and heading back over to the rest of the pod as he left Anibesa to deal with the pot and the fire.
~

[Ashka]

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Name: Anibesa
XP Award:

• Observation 3
• Socialisation 3
• Wilderness Survival 5
• Land navigation 1

Lore:

• Wilderness Survival: a fire needs shelter
• Wilderness Survival: fire needs air
• Wilderness Survival: making seawater drinkable
• Wilderness Survival: some plants hold water
• Too much coconut water makes you ill
• Boil water to clean it
• Check for dead animals before drinking
• Running water is colder
• Streams run to the sea

Notes: Enjoy your grades