[Hopetoun] Fetchin' Fletchin

[Vega]

3rd Ashan, 721
Following this

"Papa," Vega said. "I need your help."

Jo'qan looked at his daughter as Vega put down a large box. "So I see," he said with a smile. "What is this?"

Vega grinned and started pulling out resources. Supplies. Raw materials. "It's wood. From a phoenix tree an' a charwood. Feathers from an etchwing an' a kazan fowl." Jo'qan raised an eyebrow. "I've got reeds an' leaves. Flowers an' ferns an' things. Different sorts of wood, orange sand, an' yellow dragon tree." She smiled at her father and explained. "We've found these etchwing feathers, Papa, look at them, they're beautiful. An' this phoenix wood is multi-coloured." She sighed slightly and looked up at him. "I want to make arrows, Papa, arrows what are jus' ours, but more than that." Jo'qan raised his eyebrow. "More?"

Only his daughter, Jo'qan considered. Only she would be wanting more than that. "Yeah. I want to make bows. Boxes, too. I was thinkin' that, with all the fruit an' stuff that we've got growin' here, we could dry out fruit. Arlo does that, with the shelves of orange sand thingies. An' if we had that, we could make some really nice drawers, small ones what hold those dried fruits. I need to work it all out an' I need to see what Darius thinks. But, the thing is, it's all a bit abstract an' stuff." She glanced down at the box and she grinned. "I met him, you know, in Rharne? An' I tried to teach him sword, but I was beyond rubbish. Then, I realised that I needed to stop teachin' him an' jus' show him what I meant."

Jo'qan nodded. "An' so," Vega said, "I want to make examples for him. Arrows an' bows, boxes an' bowls. I reckon that we can make really lovely things." She held her gaze on him and smiled. "An' I know he said he was happy for me to do it, but this is his ship, you know?" Jo'qan nodded. They understood things in their own ways and this was a clan - to put it in biqaj terms - and Darius was the elder of the clan. That didn't detract from the individual nature of each person in the clan. Each one was an individual, each one was there because they chose to be.

"I reckon that this place is a long-term place, you know? An' they're goin' to need to do more than survive. They need to prosper, to grow, an' I think I can help them."

Jo'qan sighed. "Eva, do you not think you should think about being here resting?" Vega smiled and she shook her head.

"Papa," she said and she leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. "Papa. I need the same. It's one of the reasons why I like it here." He looked at her querulously. "You need to prosper?"

Vega chuckled. "No, Papa," she said. "I need to do more than survive."

Jo'qan nodded his head. "Then, tell me about this wood?"

[Vega]

3rd Ashan, 721
Following this

They were sitting outside and, as they started working together, Vega saw a small group of the settlement members there. Four of them - two men, two women - who had been sitting together were watching. "Wotcha!" Vega called over with a smile. She'd seen them around, of course, this place only had thirty people in it, but she didn't know them enormously well, but they had a genuine air of curiosity, so she didn't mind in the slightest. "We're jus' puttin' together some ideas, for makin' some arrows an' other things." She gestured. "Anythin' you can think of here that might be useful?" They came over and looked, appearing genuinely interested. There were some questions, too, and then one of the women spoke. "You made this?" She asked about the box which Vega had brought it all in. She'd carved it herself an age ago, but she nodded. "You should teach." Vega looked up in surprise. "Me? I haven't got no skill worth teaching," she said. Her father rolled his eyes.

"This is beautiful," the woman said. Vega grinned. "Well, yeah, alright, I'm good at wood-craft, there's no doubtin' that. But I'm a rubbish teacher. You ask Darius, if you're in any doubt." She had tried teaching Darius some sword-work, back in Storm's Edge, but she had ended up confusing him. "Well, maybe. But I'm sure that people could learn. I'd be willing to try, if you'd like to teach?" The woman spoke seriously, looking at the carvings on the box and the three others with her nodded. Vega sighed slightly.

"Alrigh', I tell you what," she said. "I'll make these samples, an' find out what Darius wants. An' I'll ask him if I can maybe run some lessons." They nodded. Vega grinned to herself. "You lot need to be careful what you wish for," she said. The woman smiled. "It makes sense, to share skills." Vega couldn't agree more and she said so. "I reckon, with a small group of us, we could share knowledge, an' help each other." The woman nodded and - after the four of them had gone back to their business, Vega looked at her father with a smile. "That sounds like a good idea, I think. What about you, Papa?"

Jo'qan thought a lot of things. He was worried about his daughter, about the things she did not show. Rharne had been difficult for her, he knew, on many many levels. Arlo and her family were not there, she had been completely alone and, for a whole arc, she had fought. Endlessly, relentlessly. She had been tireless and hopeful and he worried for her. He thought that, but did not say it. Vega looked up at him and smiled. "I'm alright, Papa," she said quietly. "I am, really. I mean. I'm not. I'm hurtin' an' I'm exhausted, an' I'm tired right out." Her hand reached out to squeeze her father's arm. "But I know it, I know me. An' even better than that, I know what I need. It's not like the last time we were here, when we left." That had been when her legs had been shattered and she'd been burned alive. "I was so busy, then, tryin' to be alright that I made myself worse. I don't do that no more."

Reaching forward, Vega's father put a piece of her hair behind her pointed ear. Vega grinned. "An' there's no point doin' that. That's like spittin' into the ocean in order to control the water, that is." He chuckled. "So, I'm reckonin' that we start with arrows. But can we have a look an' see how good these different types of wood would be for makin' bows?" Tapping the phoenix wood, she said thoughtfully. "This is loads of different colours. You kow what we could call it, if we made one out of this?"

Frowning, her father shook his head. "A rainbow!" Vega said, delighted at her own joke. Her father stoically ignored her.

[Vega]

3rd Ashan, 721
Following this

"So, these coloured feathers are well pretty, but I reckon that we'll be able to make great fletchin' out of them." Vega said. She frowned then, and thought about it and then she looked at her father. "Nuts, Papa, I jus' remembered somethin'," She lifted up the phoenix wood and then, she turned to her father. "You remember, Papa, when we went to Yaralon?" Jo'qan nodded. "For Arlo's birth-trial, 1st Vhalar, that arc - 718 it were, I made him a weapon. A staff that can transform into a bow." Jo'qan looked at her, and raised an eyebrow. "You remember, Papa? I went to the temple of Aeva there. An' that righ' funny old lady called me Vega Treeheart. Remember I told you about it."

Jo'qan nodded. "That's the staff that is three weapons in one, yes?" Vega gave a slight noise of agreement. "What if we made things like that here, Papa? Clever things, beautiful things. Boxes with false bottoms an' cold boxes with the cold-sand an' warm boxes with the warm-sand, an' chimneys made of this flame resistant wood, which turn the heat inwards? Things which are beautiful, yeah, but which are clever. That make livin' easier, more convenient? Things what take the principles we live by of usin' everythin' an' help people do it?" She beamed at him and her father couldn't help but smile.

"What will Darius think of this?" Jo'qan asked and Vega grinned.

"He'll think, 'bloody hell, I'm righ' glad that Vega an' her family are here. They're really makin' a difference jus' by chippin' in.' he will. Or he'll think 'bloody hell, I wish that ginger biqaj would jog on.' But either way, he'll make what decision he does, an' I can't do anythin' about that. All I can do is give him my idea, an' see what he thinks?" Vega suddenly had a hundred thoughts going through her head. "Imagine it, Papa. Bowls what keep the soup warm, cookin' pots made from wood, what don't need treatin' like metal does. Useful things. Quirky things. Weird things."

Jo'qan nodded. "If you want to, we'll put together examples. Shall we start with the arrows?" Vega nodded her head, enthusiastically, and started examining the feathers. "Hey, Papa?" Jo'qan looked at his daughter. "Yes, Eva?"

"You know what these feathers will make?" He knew she was winding up to a joke, the colours of her eyes gave her away even if her expression hadn't - which it did. He raised an eyebrow. "They'll make well fetchin' fletchin."

He sighed and Vega's guffaw rang out.

[Doran]

Vega:

Knowledge:
Fieldcraft: Use every resource
Fieldcraft: Make things which serve many purposes
Fletching: Selecting feathers for flights
Teaching: Identify your weaknesses
Woodcraft: Selecting wood for specific tasks


Loot: -
Lost: -
Wealth: -
Injuries: -
Renown: -
Magic XP: -
Skill Review: Appropriate to level.
Points: 10

- - -

Comments: I still remember that thread in Rharne where she tried to teach Darius how to use a sword and was beyond rubbish at it, and I love how she decided to just show him what she meant because of it. She may not be a good teacher, but she seems incredibly clever to me!

I like that she didn’t just use normal wood and normal feathers to make her arrows, but something special. Rainbow-colored arrows and rainbow-colored bows? Yes, please!

I’m quite fond of Vega’s Papa after the last thread that I reviewed. He seems to be quite perceptive and knows his daughter well, and he seems to see things that other people might miss.

That being said, Vega’s ideas sound amazing. I hope we’ll get to read about her building boxes with false bottoms and cold boxes and warm boxes and chimneys made of flame-resistant wood. I know that you can make such things with alchemy, but I want to know how she’ll go about it.

And I want to know if Vega will indeed run some lessons.

Enjoy your rewards!