[Flashback] Waste Not Want Not

[Nya Winters]

Location: Lormar Tower Timestamp: Winter 507 AV Purpose: Learning Tanning & Gaining Hunting XP Sometimes things were easier said than done. And if the truth be known, Nya's mother was at her wits end with what to do with all the corpses Nya tended to bring home. Nothing was sacred to the forest cat, who not only kept the pantry well stocked but their bellies full with whatever needed to be brought in. But Zilvia was a useful sort, and though she herself had no skill in tanning, the merchant that visited periodically was exceptionally gifted. So rather than keep throwing the skins out, Zilvia devised a beneficial arrangement for both of them. In trade for part of the skins Nya created, the merchant... Lykro, was to teach her tanning. Then when he swung by the tower, he could add skins to the books he would pick up and then trade later down the line. Lykro was an interesting fellow. Considered one of the hardy survivors of Taldera and northern Syliras, he traded all up and down the Cobalt range, to Ravok, and sometimes wandering into Avanthal if he had the urge and the time to get there. He ran a string of mules that carried his gear, and rode a big Zavian stallion that Lykro was convinced was part mountain goat. He'd visit Lormar Tower once a season, sometimes skipping winter if the weather got to harsh for traveling. This year though, he'd agreed to come in the late fall, staying a month and then heading to Ravok just before the snows got too deep in the northern reaches for him to make the journey into the floating city. And it was during this visit and rest for the older man, that Nya made her first introductions into Tanning. She was first and foremost made to sit still for almost an hour and handle fur after fur, leather after leather to get some idea of what quality Lykros was looking for. In his words, if she didn't produce good work, he wouldn't feel that Zilvia was holding up her end of the bargain. Which was fine with Nya, who with the appearance of about an eight year old girl, was going through that stage most kelvics pass through where she wanted to please someone... that target currently was her mother. They set up in a clearing that was made up of aspen just behind the tower. Nya had a half dozen rabbit skins and a larger deer hide to work with. Lykros, who'd been there a few days already, was there to meet her and had some basic equipment to give her. First and foremost was a dull knife, a log he'd cut into a large square plank (with the edges sanded) and some twine for binding branches they'd cut later. He also had a large pot, a cleared spot for a campfire, access to water, and a hatchet to cut saplings with. But first, as always, he started with a talk. Clearing his throat, Lykros began to speak. "Making leather is a time consuming and horribly smelly process, but your lucky because its relatively easy if you can stand the stench. And if you get bored of one method, you can utilize another method, since I will be teaching you several. The first thing you need to do is to prepare your hides for tanning. You also have to decide if your going to tan just the hide or if you want to keep the fur intact. I'd always recommend keeping the fur intact in the winter when it is thick and luxurious, and keeping only the hide in the summer. You can use hide from anything.... so if you can skin it, you can definitely make leather out of it. That includes people, Kitten, but I won't be buying any human leather from you anytime soon." The man laughed, slapped his knee, and continued on with the lecture. "Kill it, then carefully remove the skin, Kitten. Then you want to remove any leftover pieces of fat, meat, or membrane attached to the skin. Remember, the skin is what we want, it turns into leather. To really do a good job of removing the meat, soak the skin in water and pound it fur side down. Once you have it carefully pounded - the stretching will help release and expose the membranes and meat - then drape it over a wooden beam and scrape it carefully with a dull knife." He said, then took a breath. "Careful and don't tear the skins. Then you can remove the hair and outer parts of the skin. This is done by rubbing it with urine, or wood ash while its still wet. This will loosen the hair and allow it to be scraped off easily. If your keeping the fur on, obviously skip this step. The process of rubbing it with urine or wood ash loosens the hair and allows it to be easily pulled or scraped off. Next we protect the hair from stiffening or rotting. There's numerous ways to do this... from rubbing it with an oily substance like tallow, egg yolk, or fish oil.... or you can even be done by rubbing salts, brain, or urine.. depending on what color of leather you want to end up with. I'll go through each process carefully with you Nya." Lykros said, then stood up to go fill the big kettle with water and dunk her skins into them. They would need a day or so to soak, as he said, so it was best to get them started immediately so he could teach her as quickly as possible. Then Lykros ordered her to start saving her urine collected in a large pot, and to keep her feces in a pile somewhere close at hand so they could use them in the process as well. Nya wasn't sure she liked this idea, but nodded her agreement (for her mother) and kept her end of the bargain up. With that, they left the skins soaking and decided to meet back the next day to start on the learning process and go over several techniques.