Completed An Ember Adrift From The Bonfire II

[Tazrae]

Timestamp: 45th of 522 A.V.

The Kois Quas Dominion : Gold Lake (second season)

The tall Benshira with golden eyes went back to his lessons. Taz could see the lecture was over and class was back in session. But his words echoed in her mind. You’ll never see the jungle again. And that was punctuated by This might be the last weapon you’ll ever get to learn. She had enough ghosts that haunted her to fuel her nightmares and make sure she never slept again. Taking it upon herself to learn of the monsters that existed in the world was bad enough. Sran’tuka was one of them, though she hadn’t figured out quite yet what he was classified as. He gave nothing away either. Still, she watched learned, and hoped either Lira or the unnamed trainer would let something slip that would finally reveal the monster’s secret.

But the trainer was back to his lecture. And if this was the last weapon she’d ever get to learn, she was going to learn it as best as she could. So she looked down at the weapon in her hand, played out its coil into a lethal length falling gracefully from her hand and flipped it lightly, testing it in her grip. The tall man reached out and snagged the weapon by its thong and let it trail through his hands until there was a boundary where a strip of beveled and rounded hide was attached.. the flipper on the end.

“This is the fall hitch, Tazrae. It’s the official end of the thong where the fall is attached. You will want to inspect it closely because the braiding just above your fall hitch can stretch and become loose, especially if it gets wet. If you get stretched and loose strands, it means the energy of the whip will falter in that area and not transmit cleanly down your whole whip. It won’t crack like you need to and it won’t rend flesh like it will otherwise. When the strands get stretched here, you will eventually break it at that stretched point.” He added.

Taz tugged at the whip, pulling the thong from his hand and coiling it up in her own until she got to the fall hitch and then the fall itself. “And the fall? You mentioned it. What is it exactly?” She asked, noting the fall wasn’t braided, but just a single strand.

The golden-eyed man stepped closer, trailing his fingers over the fall and fall hitch in Taz’s hands. “This is the damaging part of the whip. On almost any kind of whip, the fall it needs to be eighteen to twenty -two inches or longer. We also have to maintain and replace the fall often, so you’ll see that one is worn and needs to be replaced. I got this one out deliberately so I can teach that skill to you.” He added, grabbing the fall and twisting it so she could see the damage. It was obviously tattered. Taz nodded, fingering the worn and frayed leather. It felt like the end of the whip had thinner spots and thicker spots and that the leather might be weak.


Then, he continued. There were only a few parts left.

[Tazrae]

“The final part is the popper. Some people call them crackers. It’s the part that makes the noise when you crack the whip. Its inexpensive and easily replaceable. I’ll show you how to do that as well.” The man added, then ran his hand back up the thong to where it attached to the handle. “This is the transition, where the thong falls off the handle and is attached by the Keeper. The keeper is the ‘hinge’ that connects the handle to the thong. And finally, we have the plait.” He said the word like one would say the word ‘plate’ with a Benshira accent.

“Is the plait really a part?” Tazrae asked softly.

The man shook his dark head. “No, it describes the number of strands the whip maker braids with. It’s often a signature of various whip makers to braid with different numbers of strands. We call the number of strands they braid with a “twelve plait whip” if say the whip maker uses twelve strands.” He explained. “The plait always refers to the overlay, meaning the strands covering the core of the whip. They meet at the whip’s widest point near the butt. In many cases, as the whip thins, the whip maker will drop strands out gradually and finish the whip with fewer strands.” Her trainer explained, his gaze looking up and locking with hers making sure she was paying attention.

Tazrae was.

Quickly, the man ran his hand down the thong until he reached the point the fall was attached to the thong. Then he carefully pulled a small tool from his belt and showed it to Tazrae. “This is a fid. It’s a tapered metal tool that resembles a screw driver though it ends with a point and is dorsally ventrally flattened. You pull the new cracker over the old cracker and thong, then slide it higher on the thong until its out of the way. Then you feed the fid through the keeper and cut the loop on the old cracker, being extra careful not to cut the whip itself.” He said, demonstrating.

He used a large sharp knife he pulled from a sheath at his side. Then he used the fid as a resting place for the blade against the popper. The fid protected the whip from being cut while the trainer could cut the old tattered popper neatly, using the fid as a brace. Once it’s loop was cut, the golden-eyed man grasped the whip and the popper at the same time and gave a gentle yank. The old cracker separated from the whip and the old fall was free and stuffed into one of her trainer’s pockets.

Then he demonstrated how to twist and pull the leather popper through the hitch at the end of the thong. The hitch reminded Tazrae of a small leather funnel, starting out bigger towards the handle and getting significantly smaller near the tip that was only about three inches long. She thought it might be a really hard thing to get the popper through the hitch, but she leaned closer as the man set to work. He held the new fall, and fed the end of the cracker through the hitch, making sure to keep the leather even.

“Don’t let it twist. Keep it straight and feed it through gently. Pull the strand all the way through the hitch. The end loop on the cracker will catch around the thong and once its pulled snug through it will be utterly tight.” He added. “And if you have trouble fitting the end of the popper through the hitch, don’t hesitate to trim it to be more narrow, more tapered, and it should fit in there.” He added, giving her advice.

[Tazrae]

“The last few inches are hardest. Sometimes its easier if two people do it.” He said, handing her the thong. “Hold it steady.” He said, then proceeded, with Tazrae bracing the thong, to finish pulling the thickest part of the popper through the hitch until it was caught up neatly on the end and tight. “You might even have to wrap the cracker in a rag and pull like that if it gets too slick.” He advised, then smoothed the whip as if checking to make sure the popper was on there securely. Once the inspection was done, he nodded to himself. “Good. That’s how one properly installs a new popper.” He summarized, then handed the whole whip to Tazrae.

“Now… I’m going to give you your own whip. You’ll need to break it in and we’ll talk about that in a moment. But first, I want to talk about whip care. I have some rules about whips… some do’s and don’t’s. I want you to listen carefully.” He added, seeming to run down some sort of mental checklist.

“Never get your whip wet. It will happen, occasionally, but dry it quickly if you do. Never use light oils like tallow or mink oil on your whip to dress it. Those sorts of oils will weaken and break down the leather. Don’t use it on rough surfaces like stone rock faces. Don’t practice wrapping on trees. Don’t crack it against the ground or hit any hard surface with it. When you use excessive force when throwing your thong you can do damage. Never use your whip without a cracker. And don’t store your whip in direct sunlight. The leather will break down, Tazrae.” He added studying the older whip she had in her hand.

He reached out to take it and she handed it to him. “Those are a list of don’ts. What are the do’s?” She asked, wondering if he was going to her in suspense.

The trainer raised an eyebrow at her then nodded. “Beeswax dressing…. That’s the only thing I want you to use on it. Keep your fall well-greased. Dress your whip if it gets wet, but only after you let it dry completely out. Dressing it when its wet locks the water in the leather and it will decay. Also, dress your whip if it gets to dry or scuffed up. Keep an eye on the fall and cracker for knots. Sometimes they form when your using it. Untie them immediately.” He added, then stepped back, taking the whip from her and coiling it up gently.

[Tazrae]

“How do you care for one?” He asked, tilting his head to the side to see if she was listening.

Taz nodded, taking a deep breath. “Care for it well and it will last. Basic common sense really, right? If it starts to look beat-up or dried out, give it a good dressing. If it gets wet, let it dry thoroughly and re-dress it. After both times, how long do you let it dry before you use it again?” She asked, thinking of the question in the middle of her answer.

The golden-eyed man nodded. “Overnight or later. You want the leather thoroughly conditioned before you use it gain.” He added.

Tazrae nodded. That much made sense. “Can I carry it at my side? Or does it need to be in some special protective wrap or a whip carrier or something?” She asked.

The man thought a moment and shrugged. “I would carry it in a backpack or someplace safe and watertight until you were in a place you might need it and then have it coiled at your side in a whip keeper which requires one pull of a loose piece of leather to free the whip – a half hitch – so you have it at hand as you need it.” He advised, then shook his head. “You won’t need one here. We are just doing this to exercise your brain and keep you busy while you grow that child.” He said firmly, as if he might have been loosing himself to the fantasy he was building around Tazrae to keep her happy and compliant in an otherwise terrible situation.

“So this was a bullwhip. They are characterized by their rigid handles that feed directly into the thong. They are often wooden handled, but the more recent ones are covered by braiding. Not all bullwhips have a transition knot, but that’s not necessary. Its all aesthetics, Tazrae. The braiding pattern of the handle and thong often differ, and a lot of whip makers like to put in the transition knot to denote the change in braiding pattern. It just looks better.” He added, then turned back to the racking, replacing the bullwhip and taking out another.

He handed it to Tazrae and let her look it over. “That’s a snake whip. What’s the difference?” He asked of her.

Taz took the cool leather in her hands and turned it over and over. “It’s a lot more flexible, that’s for sure. I can coil this one up tightly. The handle isn’t rigid. I could honestly tuck this one into a pocket. I bet it would be great for self-defense because you can conceal it on your body. It’s super flexible. Otherwise, it looks identical to a bullwhip. So, the main difference is no rigid handle.” She added, then handed the whip back.

“Very good.” The golden-eyed man said softly. He replaced the snake whip on the rack and pulled yet another whip off the racking. Like before, he handed this whip to Tazrae as well.

[Tazrae]

She looked it over. It was smaller than the bullwhip by far. It was flexible like the snake whip but far shorter and the fall had no popper on it. The fall and popper seemed to be combined. Tazrae said as much. “Its far smaller, flexible, and doesn’t have a clearly different fall and popper. They seem all combined.” She added, raising an eyebrow and looking at the man. He nodded.

“Good. That’s a signal whip. You are right about the fall and popper. The signal whip has no need for a fall or fall hitch because of its short length. Instead, the whip makers braid the popper gradually and directly into the end of the thong. You can’t trade out the poppers when they wear out. The whole whip must be rebraided.” He said, wrinkling his nose with distaste. “They were made for cold weather and to hit dogs that pull sleds in Avanthal. I have no idea how we have them in our weapons collection.” He said, shrugging.

He held his hand out for the whip and Tazrae dutifully handed it back. He traded it for yet another type of whip.

She took it when he offered it and turned it over and over in her hands. “What’s this one called?” She asked, looking for a clue to what set it aside from the bullwhip.

“Stock Whip.” He said immediately.

Tazrae nodded. “This one has a long rigid handle. It looks about twice the length of a bullwhips handle. It’s also thinner. I think it would provide more leverage to hold onto. I’m not sure why though. And the keeper is weird. It’s made of loops of leather on both ends of the handle. The two loops look fitted together in a temporary fashion to make a sort of hinge … does that meant he thongs are replaceable?” She asked curiously, looking up at him.

The trainer nodded. “Exactly so. And the handle is long and more rigid because they are used from the back of a camel or horse and you want them to swing further away from the flesh of your mount. If you are cracking them to drive a herd, you don’t want to accidentally strip the flesh off your best riding horse.” He said as if the answer should be evident. It wasn’t, but once the man had pointed it out Tazrae could see the sense in it all. “The Kois have developed another type of stock whip. We call it a hunting whip.” The man added.

He took the stock whip from her and traded it out on the rack for yet another whip. “Its almost exactly the same as the stock whip except the hunting whip has a keeper that is elongated to further ease the rider’s ability to hang the whip over his or her arm when cracking it. So you can utilize it on both sides at a full gallop from a camel or horse.” He said, stepping back and demonstrating by pantomiming being on a horse, riding, then whipping off his right and left side with equal ease. Once he did that he handed it to Tazrae for her to get a closer look.

Word Count: 2616

[Tazrae]

Grading!

Tazrae -

Whip + 5, Logic +4,

Whip: What The Plait Describes, Whip: The Fid & How To Swap It Out, Whip: Maintenance And Wear Prevention, Whip: How To Break A New Whip In, Whip: Never Get A Whip Wet/How To Dry It Properly, Whip: Beeswax Dressing Usage & Whips