@Romeran
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Thorn and Fern
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Blue Mountains
While he tried to act like he could totally manage this task without any trouble, Thorn was inwardly very glad to hear some instructions on what to do. Because, while he had watched Haldan start the fire before, the ranger had managed to light it so quickly, that Thorn had hardly had a chance to see what he actually did to make the sparks. He nodded once to show he had heard and understood the instructions, and then Fern's question drew Haldan's attention away.
While Thorn looked curiously at the items he had been entrusted with, Fern smiled to hear that her question was a good one. "Do you make your own arrows?" She wondered, when he mentioned using the feathers. The idea of making pillows made her smile slightly, thinking of the idea of having a nice, soft pillow to sleep on. But there wouldn't be enough here with this single grouse, so she didn't get her hopes up too high.
She got to work on picking feathers out of the dead bird while Haldan spoke again to give them instructions on what to do.. if he was not back by morning. Thorn frowned and nodded slowly after looking up from the fire making stuff, and remained quiet while Haldan went to his bags and dug something out.
Before he went for the door, Fern set aside the bird, taking a few of the feathers she'd just plucked. "Wait," She requested, going to the door after him. "If you're going fishing, and these can be used for bait.. then take some with you?" She suggested with a smile as she held a few feathers out to him.
After the ranger had gone, and the door was closed after him to shut out the cold, Fern returned to her task, while Thorn went to the wood stove. He had to get a fire started before he could keep one going, and he hoped it wouldn't be too difficult. Going over in his head the instructions Haldan had said, Thorn put the cloth down on some of the smaller pieces of wood, then held the knife pointed toward the cloth. He muttered quietly under his breath, repeating the steps to himself so not to forget anything that might be important, and hit the knife with the stone. Which, he noted mentally, was in fact, a special sort of stone. Not the sort of thing you just pick up in a random cave. He'd make sure to remember that.
He hit it a few times without much success, and then after a few tries, a tiny spark appeared. His heart leapt with hope, delighted to see some sign of success, but it didn't catch on the cloth, and just sort of disappeared in the air before it could do anything. He frowned as he tried to focus on repeating the same motion that had caused it. But it took him several tries to find the right angle again.
When a few of the sparks finally fell on the cloth, he smiled happily. He did it! Only.. it didn't do anything. Belatedly, he realized he'd forgotten to blow on it, and now the sparks had sort of fizzled out. His smile faded to a frown, and he was back to trying again. Next time, he told himself, he'd remember to blow on it to help the flames grow.
The first time, he blew too hard and ended up blowing it out. Trying not to get frustrated, he continued his efforts until, at last, he saw a flame flickering. Now trying not to get his hopes up too high, he gently breathed on it, and carefully coaxed the little flame to grow bigger. His smile grew a bit, along with the flame, and when it had finally taken hold on the piece of wood, he sat back with a grin. "I did it!" He announced happily, glancing toward Fern. "I actually did it!"
"Yay! So, we won't freeze?" She smiled happily. She had plucked a lot of feathers out of the bird by now. "What now?" She wondered, looking toward the woodstove.
"Uh." Thorn paused, thinking back to what he had seen Haldan do, the night before at the wickiup shelter. "I think.. I need to add a bit more fuel." He decided, glancing to see how well the fire was going, now. He added another piece of wood, watching to make sure it took hold. Then he added another and decided to hold off on adding anymore. He was already beginning to feel the warmth emanating from the stove, and hoped that soon, the whole hut would be nice and toasty.
Now, taking a seat on one of the bed platforms, he laid the fire making supplies down and looked toward the door. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it felt like ages already. Fern wasn't even done plucking the bird yet, so it couldn't have been all that long.
More time passed, and the hut began to feel warm enough not to need so many wraps. He pulled the wolf pelt from around his shoulders, putting it down on the bed instead. There was not much to do, now that his task was completed, and he ended up idly watching Fern work on her own. Now that he had nothing to keep him occupied, his thoughts were all over the place.
After a while, Fern spoke up quietly, without looking up. "Thorn.. what do you think he meant?"
"Hm?" He blinked out of a daze, and looked at her. He noticed that by now, he was feeling much less cold, so he took off the hat and put it down, feeling his ears carefully to check that they felt alright.
"When he said, 'if I'm not back by morning'." Fern explained, looking up at him. "What do you think he meant?"
Frowning, Thorn hesitated. In fact, he had wondered about that, himself. "I.. dunno." He answered, shrugging. He glanced toward the door, but it was surely too soon to expect Haldan to return. "Don't worry about it, Fern." He told her, trying not to worry about it, himself. He got up and checked on the fire, carefully adding another small piece of wood.
"But," Fern frowned. "I mean, you don't think.. he wouldn't just..?" She trailed off, looking toward the door.
Realizing she was apparently having the same sort of thoughts that had come to his own mind, Thorn drew in a slow breath, trying to think of how he could reassure his sister, when he didn't even know how to reassure himself of the concern he was entertaining at the moment. His eyes scanned the room, and landed on the pelts that they had all carried in. "He'll come back." He told her softly, somehow sounding more certain than he felt.
Fern looked where he was looking. She was quiet for a moment, thinking. "How much do you think all those are worth?" She wondered, trying to decide how likely the ranger might be to just leave them behind.
"I don't know." Thorn answered. "Probably a lot, I guess?"
"Then.. he wouldn't just leave
them. Right?" She asked quietly, looking at him hopefully.
"I don't know, Fern!" Thorn said, trying not to snap at her, but her questions were not making it any easier for him to not think the same sort of thing. "Just.. shut up, alright? Stop asking me this stuff. I don't know, and no matter how many different ways you ask, I still won't know, until you do." He folded his arms and frowned at her.
Fern looked at him quietly, then nodded slowly and went back to plucking. She was nearly done now. "At least we've got something to eat, just in case." She mentioned quietly.
Thorn bit his upper lip lightly and focused his gaze on the woodstove for the moment. He tried to think if Haldan had shown any signs of wanting to be rid of them, while fighting the worry gnawing at him inside. Plenty of the people they'd grown up with would absolutely do a thing like that. But he shook his head slightly, trying to tell himself that Haldan was not like those guys. He walked up and down the small length of the floor a few times before making himself go sit down again. "I'm sure it was only a.. precaution thing." He told her in a gentler tone. "You know, like a 'Just in case of.. something going wrong, here's what you should do' sort of thing. You know?" He mentioned quietly.
"So.." She frowned, tilting her head curiously. "How much time's passed? And how much longer do we wait before we cook this thing? I'm really hungry." She frowned.
Thorn sighed and lay back on the wolf pelt that was spread out on the 'bed'. "I don't know. We'll give it a while longer. Do you have anything to put the feathers in?"
"Uh.. no." She looked at her neatly separated piles of feathers and frowned. She realized that if the door opened, and the wind blew in, it would scatter them all like crazy. And they could hear wind blowing outside. She thought for a moment, then went to get one of the pelts from the pile and very slowly and gently, laid it on top of all three piles to hold the feathers down and protect them from getting blown around in case the door opened. Then she went over to where Haldan had left some things and began searching around for some better way to store the feathers.