Been A Long Time Travellin'

[Ixzo]

26th of Fall, 518AV

It wasn’t hard for the lioness to find the space she wanted to use, but it did take a long while. Ixzo found the largest river that fed into the city and then begun trekking up it. She had a large spool of twine, a mallet, a hatchet, and a two wool blankets for the night. It wasn’t much, but for today it would do. The night predator had woken up early to gather the things she needed from the market and head back to where she had slept the night before. If she had vines she wouldn’t have needed the twine, but Ixzo was not familiar enough with the land to know what she could replace vines with. Her goal for the day was to construct a simple A-Frame hut like she had done as a young child in the jungle. Only she would need this to be larger and sturdier than the little things she had built in Falyndar.

Ixzo recognized the area she had slept the night before by seeing her own tracks across the place. Deciding it was too close to the city, the lion kept walking past it, keeping the river to her right and watching the forest to her left for an adequate spot. The forests around Sunberth seemed to be a clustered mix of pines and spruces as well as coniferous trees with lots of shrubbery. She gave up on looking for a clearing pretty quickly, because she would have to clear shrubbery no matter where she wound up. But she would need to find a space between trees big enough for her ventures. It was not too far before she found it. Glancing at the sun to see how long she had walked, Ixzo judged she was about six or seven miles from the furthest outskirts of the city. From here she could no longer smell the slag heap, so that was an improvement. It had taken her just under two bells to reach this place with no shrubbery obstructing her view. It was far enough out that no one would accidentally wander into her camp, but she may have to rush hunters out of her territory. That was fine.

Once she decided the exact area she wanted, just under a hundred feet from the river bank, was a good sixty or eighty feet round, plenty enough room for her hut. Ixzo dropped her tools on the edge of the clearing, picking up her hatchet and ready to begin working. The shrubbery here was sort of thick, but nothing she couldn’t handle. It was but two steps before she encountered her first bush, it had lost all it’s leaves to fall but it was a lot of branched. Ixzo crouched down and searched for its main root, working her hatchet in and then hacking away at it. It wasn’t the largest bush and it took her a few chimes at most before the thing was chopped at the root and taken off the ground. She would have to dig at the roots and tear them up, but she figured she would do that afterwards. Not one to wait time or shy away from hard and dull work, Ixzo moved to the next shrub, beginning to hack at its base as well.

[Ixzo]

While Ixzo worked she began to hum a tune to herself. It was rough and interrupted by the shaking of her hands as she yanked the bushes out of the ground, or the thwacking of her hatchet on the bases, but in time it became more clearer to her. She remembered a song from her time in Kenash most recently. The Kelvic hated how much of her life was wasted away in slavery, but when one was doing dull mind-numbing work for someone else, there was a common theme to keep them going: singing.

Still, the bells passed her into early noon and she found that within enough time the tune was coming back to her. She remembered the whistling parts of the song, although she had never been the one to sing it, she was beginning to remember the words as well. As Ixzo set into a tune with her humming, she found her hacking did as well, making her work just barely more efficient.

” Been a long time travelling
Here below
Been a long time travelling
Away from my home.”

Suddenly Ixzo remembered the song as she worked. She was nearing the end of clearing the area and her throat was begging for water after all the humming. It shocked her a little when she opened her mouth and heard the Common song on her tongue. She had never really understood the words, so she could not recognize the morbidity in them, but she must have memorized them. Shaking off the suppressed memories, Ixzo hurried to finish up clearing the area, and as she hummed the tune again, interspersed with the lyrics, the other half of the lyrics came back to her.

” Been a long time travelling
Here below
To lay this body down.”

Ixzo found the other half of the simple lyrics when she uprooted the last bush. Walking it over to the growing pile of now deceased shrubbery, she looked over her work. She had not cleared the entire space between the trees, but just the few square meters of room she would need for her simple hut. She could clear the rest later, but for now she was satisfied with the result. Deciding to give her throat mercy she walked over to the river, carefully descending it’s bank to lean down and cup her hand into the running water and lift it to her mouth. The cool running water was refreshing in her throat and she took a chime to splash her face as well, the midday sun bearing down on her and heating her temples so that they sweated a bit.

[Ixzo]

When Ixzo returned to her work, she was slightly enthralled by the mostly clear area. There were stumps and twigs still riddled throughout that she would have to deal with, but for now it satisfied her. Ixzo stooped to pick up the hatchet from where she left it and then headed further up the river. She was looking for a specific type of tree that she wasn’t sure she was going to be able to find in Sylira. In the jungles they had bamboo, hollow but strong. There was no such thing like that here, and she found herself stumped for building materials. Here the trees were large and twisted, making simple construction with them impossible, and she didn’t have the resources or know how to fell trees and turn their massive trunks into lumber. Ixzo watched the trees closely, testing them as she passed to see if they met her scrutiny, and looking for something that resembled what she could work with.

The lion’s silvery gaze fell on the pine trees and she walked up to a fluffy evergreen, pushing the branches aside to look at the trunk. It was exactly what she needed, and almost like what she was used to at home. However it would be significantly more work because of all the boughs of branches that surrounded them. Sighing Ixzo wondered if there were different type of pine trees like there were different types of gum and vine trees. Hoping she could create less work for herself, Ixzo continued searching the area upstream of her designated land, paying attention to the pine trees because they seemed thin and sturdy like she needed.

It was then that she found what she was looking for. They looked to be young pines, very thin but not too flimsy. All their branches were high in the sky, easily four or five times her height—at minimum. They seemed thin enough for her hatchet to handle and for her to be able to carry easy, and most importantly, they were straight. It would be perfect. Satisfied with her find, Ixzo began examining the trunk to devise how she would cut it. It seemed pretty straightforward and so she crouched low and threw the sharp of her ax into it, breaking part of the thin trunk with ease.

It took her a few chops to learn she would have to come at it at a slight angle up and then down to create a dent rather than go straight through, like she would a neck. The bark was thick and stiff and where her blade cut it, it did not fall away like flesh. So she had to hack it away herself. Only once there was a large enough hole in it would it give way to a straight horizontal cut.

As the tree fell, she realized it was perhaps five times her length. She didn’t need it that long of course, and immediately begun eyeing it to parse it out. It seemed to fall slowly, catching on branches of other trees before eventually making its way to the ground. Once it did hit, it did not hit hard which assured her it was the appropriate wood that she needed to prop against itself for a classic A-frame hut. Thin, straight, and not too heavy.

[Ixzo]

After it was down, Ixzo set to work relieving the tree of its branches. Once she had completed that, large piles of deep green boughs piling around the top of the tree’s grave, she set to portioning out the trunk. The first one she laid against to measure it so that it was roughly three times her height, which used half of the skinny tree. She was already imagining this would be the length of her hut, and then the legs of the ‘A’ would come down from this one. Ixzo crouched down and hooked the end of the trunk onto her shoulder, straining in her hips and thighs and keeping her back straight as she lifted. It was significantly lighter than she expected, and the warrior let out a joyful laugh at the absurdity of it before continueing on. She would be able to carry a few at a time from here on out, for sure. Once it was properly on her, she latched onto the branch and begun making her way back to the clearing she had prepared. It was slow going because of the shrubbery, but it was not too heavy, just awkard.

Ixzo threw the branch down about where she wanted the spine of her hut to lay and then returned to the stream to sip more before she continued to work. The sun was only a bell past noon at this point and she needed a minimum of eight more branches, not including the back frames and door frames. This hut looked like it would take longer than a day to complete. Hopefully she could at least get the structure and the roof done today. Though it would be dusk before she could start truly building, and idea that might worry those without night vision like herself.

Heading back to where she had found the first tree, Ixzo began searching the canopy for other new trees like it. They were pretty spread out, which meant she probably wasn’t thinning the forest around her enough to be noticeable. Still, she was able to fine about six more, which would be more than she needed. Circling back to her first fallen tree, she measured out her heigh and a half and cut it, discarding the top flimsy part of the tree to rot where it lay. She carried it back to her camp quickly and then sought out the other trees that provided what she needed.

She decided to chop them all down before beginning to de-branch and parse them out in the size she needed. As she began chopping, she found herself falling into a rhythm again and the humming of the same tune from earlier began. Singing had always been a mildly depressive thing for the lion, she had only ever done it during the worst times in her life, that during slavery. The fact that she was doing it now was a cause for concern, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself.

” Been a long time travelling
Here below
Been a long time travelling
Away from my home.

Been a long time travelling
Here below
To lay this body down.”

The humming that had begun while she was working had morphed back into the song. It was a very simple one with not many variations in the lyrics, or at least not many that she could remember. It was in common and she couldn’t be certain she was pronouncing all the words correctly, or that she understood what it meant at all. She knew it had something to do with time, that was about all that she could detect. Still, she liked the tune, it comforted her.

[Ixzo]

Once she had felled all the trees she needed, she almost rhythmically worked through debranching all of them and taking their young boughs back to her area and piling them beside the part she had cleared for her hut. She was not finding any tall grasses in the forest to thatch her roof with, but the evergreen boughs seemed excellent replacements for the job. Once that was done she made her way back around and measured out her length and a half to begin cutting off even sections of the trunk. After she as done she found herself with over twenty similar length thin trunks scattered through her territory. Rhythmically humming her morbid tune Ixzo begun stacking the sectioned trunk of each tree together and slowly dragging them back to her clearing. Even carrying a whole tree at once it was not too heavy, although it did put some sweat on her brow and soften her muscles, but the shrubbery made it awkward. The thin scraggly branches tugged and pulled at her trunks as she passed, making the process harder than it needed to be.

” Been a long time travelling
Here below
Been a long time travelling
Away from my home.

Been a long time travelling
Here below
To lay this body down.”

Ixzo was kept company with her singing, making the long and dull work much easier, until she had all the trunks and bows she needed in the clearing. It was one or two bells before dusk now, and Ixzo decided to make a fire and take a small break, for she had been working hard for bells.

Using some of the dormant shrubbery she had cut down to clear the area, Ixzo used the butt of her hatchet to dig into the ground, creating a shallow dirt pit to center her fire into. She would probably have to build a stove at some point if she could find clay or stones, but that would not happen today. Instead the hunter build a quick little fire using the dried leaves, twigs, and full branches of the shrubbery she had cleared. Once it was going, the Kelvic found she had no urge to stretch out in front of it. She had the materials she needed to build the most basic of huts, and if she wanted it up before sundown, she would have to hurry, there were only a few bells left in the day.

[Ixzo]

Ixzo trekked back to the stream to scoop more water into her mouth and then begun looking at her trunks for size. They were all mostly good sizes, all twenty one of them. Although about three were a little too short compared to the rest. She pulled the dudes out, and then set to straightening the other trunks, cutting off tips here and there until they were all the same size. There was one hunk of trunk that was about the size of her leg and she took it to turn it into a shovel of sorts. She was not raised on the tools of the humans who lived in stone buildings, so she knew the basics of digging a hole without a shovel, she needed a sharp stick and a rock.

The easiest way to sharp a stick was to burn and then shave it, so that is what she did. Taking the short turnk she stuck one end in the fire, and waited for it to smolder before rolling it in the dirt and then taking the blade of her axe to it. It was simple work to sharpen it up. It didn’t need to be any flavor of perfect, it just needed to function. Once it was done the Kelvic turned back to the river to retrieve one of the rocks at its bed.

While she was there Ixzo looked back towards her hut. She could smell her fire and see it above the tree line, but aside from that her clearing was far enough from the riverside that one would not happen upon it from the river, unless by smell, a thing that humans were terrible at. Not enough that her fire wouldn’t be noticed, but enough that her day-to-day activities or scenting her territory would not, that she knew.

Once Ixzo made her way back to her clearing, she snagged her freshly sharpened stick and stone and walzed over to where the spine of her hut lay. On the far end, she stuck the stick into the ground at the base of the spine. It lodged pretty far into the dead grass, and so she slammed her rock on the tip of it a few times, driving it all the way in. She wiggled it while she did this until it was about half way down, deep enough in to hold her post well enough.

Tossing her primitive tools aside, Ixzo found the longest of the three trunks that she deemed too short, Ixzo stuck on end in the fire to begin softening the wood for sharpening. This would need to go straight into the ground, so it also needed to be sharpened, but also not perfectly. Once it was properly smoldering, she took it out and then took the blade of her ax to it, just the same as she did with the other trunk to sharpen it. Ixzo rolled it in the dirt to make sure any smoldering was finished before she brought it back over to the spine ofher A-hut, along with her twine. Laying it perpendicular to the end of the long spinal trunk, she began using the twin to fasten it to one another in quick and effective X-knots. Once it was secure enough she bit the twine off and tied it securely off.

[Ixzo]

Ixzo lifted the L-shape she had made and then positioned the sharpened end of the shorter side towards the hole she had created before launching it in. To make sure it was secure she pulled down on it with her hands. She then walked over to pick up her mallet and begun hammering the dirt down beside it, filling it in as needed so that it was even and compacted enough so that it did not wiggle. Once the tail end of the spine of the hut was complete. Ixzo walked back over to her pile of trunks to grab two of them and position them perpendicular to one another at the ends as well. Taking the twine she began tying them together as well, and then leaving just enough to create a small fork for the unsupported part of her spine to rest on. Then she took the new V-shape she had made and positioned it so the two ends lay about where they would once they stood up properly.

Then Ixzo took her sharp stick and rock and made holes similar to before but at about the angle of the sides of the A-frame now. She did that for each side before standing the A-frame up and sliding them into place, pushing them down manually with her hands as she had before. Also just like before she took her mallet and tightened the dirt surrounding the posts, adding more from around it as needed to make it even. She didn’t want her hut going anywhere. Only once the inverted V-Shape was standing on its own did she pick up the unsupported end of her spine and lift it into place so it slid into the small crook at the top. Ixzo then took more twine and secured that into place as well.

Taking a moment to feed her fire a little more and admire her work so far, it became clearly apparent to Ixzo that her hut was lopsided. It was secure, but it didn’t look pretty. She sighed, but did not move to fix it. She had about two bells before the sun went down now, and while she could see in the dark she wanted to sleep. She still had to attach the supports and thatch the roof, clear everything beneath the hut so she could sleep, and set up her bed. There was still so much more to do to provide herself with the bare minimum, and she had already had a long day.

[Ixzo]

Ixzo took another trip down to the stream to quench her thirst and as she did so, she hadn’t realized she was hungry. The river beneath her was lazy and slow, albeit quite big, and looking into its depths she could see fish darting through. Her mind was focused on the hut, but it occurred to her to try and snag a few of them before the sun went down so she could eat. Storing the thought away, she returned to her hut with a new vigor and anticipation that the quicker she finished this, the sooner she hunted and ate.

First Ixzo took two of the prepared trunks and leaned them against the tail end of the spine, so that both sides were an inverted V, but this side also had a vertical trunk going straight into the ground, denoting it as the back of the hut. It was also the side that was pushed up against the edge of the space she cleared, so it felt fitting. She secured the leaning branches to the top, just at the tips of her reach. Again she could hear herself quietly humming as she tied the twine above her, and was she walked back over to the pile of trunks to begin laying them on the spine of the A-hut forming the sides, Ixzo felt herself begin to softly sing the same Common Tongue song again.

” Been a long time travelling
Here below
Been a long time travelling
Away from my home.

Been a long time travelling
Here below
To lay this body down.”

This time she was finding more rhythm in her words and was able to carry the tone even though she wasn’t quite sure what they meant. Her voice was rusty and not tuned to singing, but she was slowly beginning to recognize the tune from when she first heard the song all those seasons ago, it was growing clearer in both her memory and her voice. Once she had gotten all the side supports of the A-frame built and secured on the spine using the twine, Ixzo turned her attention to the few bough she had collected form the top of the pines she had felled. It was immediately evident it was not nearly enough to thatch the roof of the hut, the hut was completely roof at this point. While she was assessing her lopsided frame it occurred to her that since she would be thatching with evergreen bows and not palm fronds, she would need some horizontal thing to attach them to, otherwise they would only attach to the vertical supports of the A-Frame.

[Ixzo]

Ixzo sighed, not having anticipated this extra step, but her mind was still churning through the various trees she had seen in the forest surrounding her. There was a peppering of very small baby trees that she couldn’t identify. Like the young pines she had used for structuring the hut, they were tall and thin, but far too flimsy and thin to be of use… except that they were similar to vines, albeit slightly thicker. She could weave them through the A-Frame supports and then tie the boughs to them, easy enough. Extra work and extra time, but easy enough. Ixzo set to gathering the infant trees, only needing one quick slash of her ax to fell them and collect them. Once she felt that she had enough, she trodded back over to her hut, dropping the bundle on the ground beside it and plucking the first form the pile.

It was a little more difficult to weave them through the supports than she imagined because they were stiff and the supports were not very secured. They wobbled and moved, and she wondered if the gaping loose weave she was creating would be too loose. They seemed to stay well enough when she finished the first side, but once she got to the other side she could feel the benefit of tension. Each side would hold the other together once they were all weaved in, putting her concerns to rest.

It wasn’t much more work to complete the weave and begin collecting handfuls of boughs to begin thatching. She knew she would need more, but she wanted to sue the ever green leaves that she had so far before collecting more. She used the same x-knot to tie the stems of the boughs perpendicular to the horizontal structure she had added. She noticed that it lent strength to her overall frame too, which was comforting. By the time she had finished the bottom-most layer of thatching, she had worked through all but two of her evergreen boughs, she was going to need a lot more.

Not shy of the extra work, Ixzo begun heading back into the forest with her axe and some twine to create a bundle, looking for the adult furry evergreen trees she had debated earlier. It did not take her long to find one as they were dispersed pretty evenly throughout the woods. Ixzo began to chop at the branches, starting with the lower ones, and piling them beside her. Once she had a big enough bundle to carry she wrapped it in the string to hold it together and dropped it beside her work. Judging by the size of the pile of the baby boughs, she was going to have to debranch a few ever greens before she had enough for the multiple layers of thatch she needed. The thicker, the better. It protected against wind and rain… and as she learned in the north, snow. And she knew as she ran her fire underneath the hut, the smoke would fend off possible mildew. Ixzo knew she would have to get her hands on some grasses soon or keep redoing the evergreen thatching. Because they would not dry stiff and hard like grass would.

[Ixzo]

By the time she had collected all of the branches she needed, dusk was beginning to break. She had been feeding her fire all afternoon, so it lit her area a bit, not that she needed it. The autumn wind was chilling the air around her slightly, and that was what the fire was useful for. Ixzo began attaching all the boughs she had brought to her hut. It took about two bells before she was done, and had some left over even. The sun had long set, and her earlier idea to fish for some dinner was sounding more and more appealing as she continued. Still her limbs were soft and tired and her mind was growing hazy with fatigue. The lioness was used to not eating one or two days at a time, and although she worked hard, the idea of working harder didn’t seem worth it. She would have to search for food in the morning.

Instead the hunter began dragging her blankets underneath her new hut, not looking too closely at the crooked thing, it would function, and that was what was important. There was just enough room between the stumps in the ground for the large woman to stretch out and lay down, laying one blanket on the ground and wrapping the other around her. It was not so cold she needed more than one wool blanket, although she enjoyed the sweet embrace of the wool over her tired limbs, welcoming her into the world of dreams. Still, even as her mind began to quiet for the night, she found the lyrics of the Common Tongue song floating through her mind as she drifted off, almost like a morbid lullaby to the adult Kelvic that had been through so much.

” Been a long time travelling
Here below
Been a long time travelling
Away from my home.

Been a long time travelling
Here below
To lay this body down.”

Song :