Light You Fire! (Solo)

[Talya]

Timestamp: Summer 77, 515 AV

Talya had left the city behind again. She had left early enough within the day where she knew, without a fraction of a doubt, that she could be well enough out into the wilderness, where there would be no chance she could possibly run into anyone until the morrow. (Unless she came back from her trip a little early, which she most certainly, would not). She had moved into a section lined with trees- a mixture of oaks and evergreens, and perhaps a few white birch, sumac, and maples. She wasn't entirely sure of their nature, as she wasn't to familiar with trees. There weren't exactly many of those for her to study back in Ravok. In any case, she found herself treading upon drying soil. It was firmly packed, but not heavily so, and sank a bit beneath her weight as she moved along. Sometimes, it was blanketed by grass or wildflowers, but often it was bare, if not lined with fallen leaves and tree needles. The sun's light pouring down from the cloudy, blue sky upon the earth, flitting through the upon spaces up above and coming down to caress her skin and keep her even warmer as she moved, her bag bouncing against her back with every step.

Within a few bells, Talya had found herself a clearing to set up camp for the night. It was essentially rectangular, although some parts veered at diagonals, making it seem a bit more like a parallelogram, and more like a rectangle or even a trapezoid from others, depending on where you looked from. On its widest sides, it was perhaps eight feet long, judging from the Ethaefal's estimations, and from the shorter end, somewhere between four and five feet. She knew this place would provide more than enough space for her to make herself comfortable for the night. So she set her bag against a tree, and then stretched out her legs, and rubbed the soreness out of her muscles- mainly around her neck and her shoulders, which had arisen after having been forced to carry her bag for so long. When she was done, she decided it would be a good time to start setting up camp. The first thing she thought she should do, was figure out the best place to put everything- her fire, and her tent, and then set to work on getting everything put together. So, she strolled around the clearing, and looked around. Most of it was simply dirt, although there were patches of grass here and there.

Since grass was flammable, Talya decided rather quickly that she should try to avoid grassier areas, as it meant that if something did go wrong, she was likely to do less damage to the environment. So, she decided to place her campfire on the western side of the clearing, where everything seemed to be dirt, dirt, and more dirt. She would set the tent nearby, under the protective branches of an old oak. There were some grassy patches beneath the area, and what looked to be baby's breath, or some other small, white flower. It would be the perfect place, she thought, as if she managed to position the tent itself just right, she would be able to lie on a thin cushion of grass. If she got it wrong, things might be a bit bumpy, but at least any stone that had been stuck into the earth by the elements wouldn't scratch up the bottom of her tent. She wanted to keep it in the best shape she possibly could, after all. With everything in mind, Talya set out to gather the items she would need to build a healthy fire, for she knew, that even if the sun went down she would have light that way. Light, that could make life much easier when building a tent, if the world grew dark sooner than she had expected, because building a fire had taken longer than it should.

[Talya]

Talya moved away from the clearing and into the thicket of the trees. She kept her eyes trained on the ground, and noticed a number of things- there were wildflowers scattered throughout a bedding of dirt and fallen leaves. There were shrubberies and saplings tucked beneath much larger trees. Trees with such thick trunks, that she thought they could, perhaps be at least one hundred years old. There were berries on some of the bushes, but she wasn't sure they were edible- she hadn't seen some of them before, and left them, as she continued onward. At which point, her eyes began to pick out even more things- there were prints the shape of two slightly inward twisted raindrops. (They likely belonged to a deer, but she didn't know this). There were little pellets of animal droppings, just as there were more leaves and bits of stick, and even larger, fallen sticks. It was these that Talya gathered first, bundling them into her arms until she couldn't bear the weight any more and was forced to return to camp. She groaned as she arrived a few minutes later, and then dropped them near the space where she intended to build a fire.

Then, Talya went out again, and made another several trips. She gathered what fire wood she could each time, and then returned to camp to dump it on the pile she had already started to form. When she felt as though she had gotten enough fire wood to start her fire, she went back out and began gathering kindling. She collected a few leaves, but mainly, she gathered lots of little sticks and twigs, sometimes, breaking them off larger bits of wood she saw scattered across the earth. When her hands were full, she returned to camp, and dumped the pile of kindling beside the pile of fire wood, and then went out again and made another trip before finally returning to camp with what she had gathered. She dumped this on the pile too- she had heaps of things to work with now. She smiled and dry washed her hands, before wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. A bell had passed during the time it took her to gather everything. For some reason, the supplies seemed a bit more scattered today, despite her location. She sighed and ignored this, as she moved over to the piles she had gathered, and knelt beside them.

Talya began by nudging the pile of kindling farther away from the pile of fire wood, separating them a little more clearly. Then, she grabbed a stick off the top of the pile. She lifted it delicately, and guided it over to the side of her future fire. With it, she drew a circle within the dirt. Within its confines, she would construct her fire. Talya replaced the stick with this in mind, and then began to crawl around the circle. With her fingers, she would tear away at the dirt outside the ring. It would crust beneath her nails, darken her skin further. But it would prove fairly easy to handle and move around, as it wasn't dry, or heavily laden with stone. It was still a bit wet from the rain, or the morning's mist. Something. She found that she could pile it up in ridges outside the circle. She would do this until it was about three inches high ahead of her, and then push it over the line she had drawn, and pat it into place, so that it formed a hill-shaped ridge. With the dirt packed to about two and a half inches high, she moved on and on around the circle, collecting dirt to push over the defile she had created. By the time she had shuffled all the way around the ring, and returned to her starting position, she had formed a rise over the outline she had created. It was about two and a half inches all around, and would serve to help halt the fire if things got out of hand.

[Talya]

Talya dry washed her hands as she smiled down at the raised circle she had made. A brown dust rose from her hands, and floated out over the air for a few moments, until she had satisfied herself, at which point, she moved on to the next task she needed to complete- building the structure that would house her fire. A structure that would protect it enough from winds, that if a harsh one blew it shouldn't go out, but at the same time, was open enough where some air could get in and continually fan and feed it. It was a tricky business, but with the practice she had had over the season and the previous years, she felt as though she were beginning to get it down. She decided today, that she would build the structure she was most familiar with. The structure she had the most experience building, and the easiest time with, as she was pretty certain it was the structure she used most often during her past life too. It was the structure known as the teepee. To do this, she would need several pieces of firewood to build the frame. At least eight in all, she assumed. (It had most often needed that many in the past).

Talya knocked the top of the pile of wood onto the ground with a swat of her hand. They rolled over, and tumbled with a muffled thud. The Ethaefal smirked as she hand picked a few pieces out of the pile. She tried to pick those that were of a similar size, as it would make the construction of the wooden teepee far easier than if she had a few small ones, and some large ones. Or some medium ones and some small ones, or even some medium sized pieces and some larger ones, or something. She also tried to pick those without any sort of growths on them- those weird knobs that looked like tree knees, or those little twisting bends within the wood. Or rather simply, a stump left from a stick, growing out of the larger one. Anyway, once she had decided on what to use, Talya set them beside her, on the opposite side of her body from the pile. When she had finished gingerly placing everything on the ground, in what would now be known as her "work area," the Ethaefal pulled two pieces off wood off the top of the pile. She held one in each of her hands. Then, she shuffled a little closer to the ridge circle she had made, by moving upon her knees. When she got to the side of the future fire's site, she took a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth and prepared herself.

Talya knew she needed to be calm, and have steady hands in order to get this right. Otherwise, if she was twitching, or nervous, she would knock the logs over, and ruin the structure. Then, she would have to start back up all over again, from the ever so annoying, square one. She didn't want this to happen, as each attempt meant time, and time was something that she would run out of. Or rather, light was, because eventually, the day would pass and the night would rise. Leth would take to the sky, and there would be very little light left to work with. Which would be rather inconvenient if she still needed to build a fire, as the air cooled, to help keep her body warm, (even if she didn't always register the chill). To give her something with which to cook, if she felt like it, things of that nature. Anyway, she wound up taking another deep breath, and then two, until she felt calm enough to begin making the fire. When she was ready, she placed one end of each stick in the circle. She had them reach to either end of the circle to the west and to the east, so that their points were perhaps, an inch within the circle. (She didn't want the sticks to push against the outline, and screw it up).

[Talya]

When they were placed in what she deemed to be the proper position to begin building the wooden teepee's outer face, Talya pushed them into the ground a bit more, displacing a bit of dirt. This way, they were even less likely to waver as she moved her hands into one another, and then, pressed the opposite end of each stick into each other. They leaned easily against one another's frame, as delicately, she pulled her hands away, so as not to knock them over. When she was done, and her hands had returned to her lap, she was looking at a sad excuse for a lean-to, essentially, as the two sticks had formed a triangular shape with the aid of the ground. But this was not enough, she needed to add to what she had already placed in order to finish building the teepee. So, she plucked another two logs off the top of the pile, that looked as though they were similar in size to the first two she had chosen. Then, she set their points in the outer edge of the circle, in both the northern and southern ends. Then she forced her hands together, and set the ends of each stick against what she had already formed. Now, as she pulled her hands away, she was looking upon a pyramid.

Talya smiled. Her dark eyes sparkled. She was pleased. She took another deep breath though, in through her nose and out through her mouth, as she knew that she was far from done, and the harder portion of her task was now beginning. For as the logs got closer and closer together, there was more room for error. More of a chance that too much pressure would force them over, or her hand would move just far enough to knock one and send them all tumbling down. She breathed deeply again, her heart was beginning to beat a little faster. She was starting to get a little nervous she knew, and would have to do her level best to stomp this emotion out, lest she let it get the best of her, and she ruin the whole petching thing- all her hard work, forcing her to start over again, because she needed a fire that petching badly. So, she wiped her clammy hands on her dress, and reached for the next two logs. She added them to the northwest, and southeast. As she pulled away, her fingers twitched. She knocked against a log, and tried to catch it. But that just made things worse, as she pushed inward and against it.

The whole structure came tumbling down. Talya groaned. Her smile faltered, and her eyes seemed a little duller now. She grit her teeth. She would have to begin again, and so she did. She picked up all the pieces of the puzzle, and moved them back onto her stack of gathered wood. When she was done, she picked up two of the pieces she had just put away, and began to build the teepee again. These two filled the northern and southern corners, and stayed when she pulled away. Then she added those to the east and to the west. These stayed as well. She was pack to the pyramid. She rubbed her hands together nervously, warming them up as she huffed and reached for another two logs. These she added to the northeast, and southwest. These stayed as well. Her smile returned, but it was a small one. She knew she could easily, still screw this up. So, she reached for a single log this time, and added it to one of the open spaces, leaning it against the others. It stayed, so did the next one she added, and the one after that. The one which completed her teepee. She shuffled away carefully, worried that even a tremor on her part, would radiate through the ground, and would ruin everything.

[Talya]

When she had moved just a short distance away, Talya was able to survey her work. She found that she had crafted a marginally lopsided tepee out of firewood. It leaned more onto the eastern side of the circle, and had a small opening directly in front of her. Into this, she would place her kindling, and then she would set it aflame. So she reached for a pile of kindling, and set it in her lap. She then picked an even smaller handful off of that, and brought it over to the opening in the wooden structure she had constructed. She then placed it on the ground in front of the little slit between the pieces of wood, and then, delicately, pushed them inside with her fingers, one by one, as she thought her hand to large to simply place them in, (and she didn't want to knock the structure over and have to start again). When she finished with that round of kindling, Talya reached for another, and added this pile as well, before completing the addition of a third pile, more for good luck than anything else. When she was done, she dry washed her hands, and peered into the wooden tepee to survey her work. She found that the kindling looked like it had been built up toward the front of the tepee.

This simply would not do. She needed to make sure at least some of the kindling made its way to the back of the structure, so that it would be easier for everything to take to flame, and crawl throughout it. But her hand was to large to reach in and move everything back without knocking something over. So what should she do? What could she do to fix the matter? The Ethaefal looked around for something to use, and then found a narrow stick in her kindling pile. She picked it up, and used it to gingerly spread the kindling within the tepee out; nudging both leaves and twigs into the corners and the back of the structure. Being sure not to poke and prod to hard, lest she accidentally force a log to come out, and the structure to collapse. She had no intention of starting her work all over again- especially now that she was nearing the completion of her fire site. Luckily, she completed the distribution of the kindling without incident, and was able to retract the stick and set it back on the pile for later, when she would more than likely need to feed the fire as the hours passed one after the other. Now, she knew, she was ready to light her fire.

Talya knew that this could oftentimes, be one of the most difficult parts of getting a fire together. But she knew she could do it. Sure, she could take a long, long, long time, and likely create a few sparks by rubbing a rock against another rock for awhile, or rubbing two sticks together or something of that nature, but the faster, and far more effective way to do this would be to use a flint and steel. Luckily for her, she had both of those things in her bag, and quickly retrieved them from the front pouch of it before returning to her site of creation, and kneeling beside it. She then passed the flint from her right hand to her left, and gripped it tightly between her fingers. She held the steel tightly in her right hand, and inched a little closer to the outside of the circular, dirt rise she had drawn. She then took a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth as she coerced her left arm forward. Moving the hand closer and closer to the mouth of the tepee- the opening she had left in its side. When her hand hovered on the edge, and was just beginning to dip into the opening, she stopped. Talya then angled her hand, tilting it downward, so that the edge of the flint was directed into the tepee at the mass of kindling.

[Talya]

Talya took a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth, before raising her right hand and then bringing it back down. Swiftly, she struck her steel against the flint, and then allowed the steel to follow the natural progression of the flint, sliding down its length in its entirety. When she reached the end, the steel slid forward, a little closer to the tepee. Tal made sure her knuckles never brushed however, and repeated the process several more times, until sparks began to fly from the end of either the flint or the steel. She wasn't entirely sure which it was. Not that it mattered to her. All that did, was that she was progressing, and forming more and more sparks as the things clicked together, and she kept feverishly repeating the motion, knowing all the while if the next spark didn't take, perhaps the one after it would. Conveniently, (or perhaps, it would be best to say not so much so), none of the next few sparks took to the kindling. But after several more minutes, a spark finally did. Talya smile as she replaced her flint and steel within the pocket of her dress, as the scent of smoke and burning wood began to fill the air all around her.

Talya bent down, placing each hand on the outside of the circle, to brace and balance herself, as she leaned in, and then blew lightly on the fire. She watched the embers waver a little. The glow fade, and then renew as the first of the flame was pushed farther back by her breath. Then farther back as she turned her face away from the fire to suck in fresh air, as its light cast shadows across her nose, and warmed her skin. When she had filled her lungs, she turned back and blew on the fire again, a little harder this time, and watched as the flickering orange flame flowed backward, to the southern edge of the tepee, and then, climb a little higher. Making her think that in just a few short breaths, it would be licking the underside of the tepee. Her smile widened as she blew again, and she heard a faint crackling, the kindling darkening, twisting inward upon itself as the flame began to consume it, and continued to grow as she blew again. The fire wavered angrily, before it jumped up again. It spat a few sparks out of her, and she swiftly pulled her head away before moving back in to blow another time at it. Almost in retaliation for its previous action.

Again the fire grew, and now, Talya could clearly see a pillar of smoke rising out and over it, into the sky. She could smell it clearly too, as she blew one last time, and then added another twig to the kindling pile for good luck, before moving away. She dry washed her hands and then got up, thinking that the fire would be ok for now, and that she better hurry up, because judging by the sun's position, it had taken her over two hours to make. So, she moved onto building her tent, and retrieved everything she would need from her pack. Then she carried it over to the spot she had set aside for its construction. Then she unrolled everything and set it on the forest floor. When this was done, she began building the frame- by putting two short sticks together to make a larger one, and then doing the same with another two. When this was done, she attached them to one another, forming a cross, which she bound in place with a little bit of rope that came with. Then, she laced the canvas over and through this, finishing the body of the tent about half an hour later after struggling with the canvas several times over. When this was done, she bound the tent in place by attaching it to wooden pegs she placed in the ground by each corner of the tent, via another few small strips of rope that came with the tent. Then she was done, and stepped back to survey her work.

The tent was lopsided again, but it would do for now, she was tired, and could always fix it later if it really annoyed her, but she doubt it would. Now, she thought, since her stomach rumbled, she would get a bite to eat, and then wait for the stars to come out- maybe meditate a little.