76th of Ymiden 722
The lady tunawa chattered among themselves only briefly while Kisaik made his way back into the perimeter of Sweetsong Camp and Fool’s Errand. The knight got the sense that Ce’nija didn’t much enjoy Àìdá'tuli’s constant chattering. Àìdá was a very chatty female, and very flirtatious, as Kisaik had the uncomfortable occasion to find out. She began speaking about having sprouts and flowers and pollen, trying to hold Kisaik’s hand and reaching to touch the flowers in his lichen, like there were no children about! He was positively scandalized.
It wasnt until they’d reached the outskirts of the camp, that Kisaik saw the familiar sight of Alaiwa, his squire, who he’d summoned after him to the Sweetwine. And with him, his parents, and also his menagerie of pets! Aquarius stood tall over them all, silently observing as the tunawa reunited.
Kisaik cleared his throat, as he finally had an excuse to extricate his hand from Àìdá’s. He cleared it again, for good measure, before introducing his family and the rest of the ‘tribe’ such as it was to the girls.
“Ce’nija! Àìdá'tuli! This is our fledling little tribe, such as it is! My parents, Peona and Tsani, and my grandfather, Robalemun. And finally, my lifelong comrade and fellow knight, Alaiwa!”
“Pleased to meet you all…” Ce’nija said, doing a little curtsey with her woven skirt of plant fibers.
Àìdá'tuli, on the other hand, was quite tongue tied, upon sighting Alaiwa. After a few moments, Kisaik nudged her, and she spoke, “You have such beautiful orange bark, Alaiwa! The blue flowers in your hair are lovely! Teehee!”
She stuck a finger in her mouth, her eyes gleaming with amber lust for the male tunawa. Alaiwa merely gave Kisaik a confused look. Kisaik just smirked back at him, as if to say your problem now.
Àìdá'tuli ran forth, and grabbed Alaiwa by the arm, and began chattering off questions and giving far too much information about all things Àìdá'tuli. From her many sprouts by many different tunawa, to her favorite colors, to Alaiwa’s and so on it went.
Kisaik sighed in relief, as Peona came forward. “You found these females in the Sweetwine?”
He nodded, “Aye, they were held by an evil wizard… Not our evil wizard, mind, but an evil wizard. It was really quite simple breaking them out.”
“And you left him at large?” Tsani quirked a brow. Alwyas cautious, that one. “Did he not give you the chance to bring him to justice?”
Kisaik shook his head, and then took note that Ce’nija had fallen quite silent and abashed. He pat her on the shoulder. “He will be, don’t worry. The onus of sap of many tunawa lay squarely upon his spindly evil fingers. We will bring him to justice. But first!”
“We must get you all settled and getting to work in the Camp! I…”
Just then, Kisaik spotted his animals approaching from the rest of the throng. There was his cat, his harpy eagle, and even Peter the Panhandler and his mate! Wait, wasn’t he supposed to be in Faldrass?
Peona, as if detecting his confusion, spoke to it, “They laid a clutch of eggs in Hopetoun Hole. It’s Taggard’s hope that they will hatch soon.”
“Oh!” Kisaik brightened up, as Peter came forth to boop his hand. Kisaik stroked the turtle under his chin. “Lady Saoire will be pleased, I’m sure! I have been rather delinquent in my quest, but hopefully that will all change soon…”
“So where do you need us?” Tsani asked, and Kisaik showed them to the pile of sticks he’d been gathering, in hopes of crafting a sort of raft for the shallow streams adjoining Fool’s Errand. “Here, we’re going to try and build some rafts, to fish for small catches, and scout the area around the Camp. Vega, her folk, and her boats are too big to sail on the shallow streams, so we’ll be doing that for her!” Kisaik was rather proud of his plan to contribute to the Sweetsong Camp. And the idea of having small rafts that could bear tunawa upon them appealed to him greatly.
Tsani and Peona nodded knowingly to each other, and then turned to Kisaik, “Well, we’ll gather some more twigs and leaves and plant fibers for you. Be back soon.”
Kisaik gave them a nod, as he returned his attnetion to Peter. The panhandler was quarking and clicking its throat at him. Finally, Kisaik relented and climbed atop his shell. Then and only then did Peter calm down a little, having his favorite person on his shell, and nowhere else.
Ce’nija looked up at Kisaik, and then at the pile of sticks. “You know, I am a good carver. I can help you with your raft project.”
“Oh? That’s fantastic, I was afraid to ask since you’ve been through such an ordeal lately.”
Ce’nija shrugged, and then began sorting through the pile of gathered plant matter. She began organizing the twigs in order of size, and Kisaik soon helped her with his outstretched arms. Her eyes widened as she saw how far his arms could extend. “Is this… part of your magic?”
“Oh this? No I’m… well I’m different from most tunawa. I have these abilities, this is one of them. I can grow quite tall when I wish to, but afterward I am hungry for sweets. I can also summon a hat and pull tools out of it, among other things.”
Ce’nija was slightly agape for a moment, and then nodded. He supposed there was little for her to do but take his oddities at face value. “Now, let’s get to work!”
So saying, they began piling the sticks in order of thickness, density, and length. Soon enough, they had a set of mostly uniform piles.
Ce’nija pointed at the various piles of twigs. “These’n will be the main flotation, while the leaves will provide more buoyancy.”
Kisaik nodded, as he sat atop his turtle. .Of course, as a competent scientist, he realized the physics of flotation. Some woods, many of them, were less dense than the water they floated upon, which enabled them to buoy the passengers so long as they weren’t too heavy themselves. It was a simple principle that Kisaik learned early in his education. Obviously. A tunawa that knew little of how wood worked wasn’t much of a tunawa at all!
“These plant fibers from ivy, we’lll leave to dry in the sun. Find a bald patch and let them dry up” And the leaves will do as they are. Although we can also bundle them up with twine, once we spin the fibers. You do have a yarn spinner, don’t you?”
Kisaik scratched the flowers in his hair, his mouth turning slightly. “I think? Vega I’m sure has something suitable to that purpose! If not, I can see what I pull out of my hat.”
Ce’nija gave him a skeptical look, at the mention of pulling tools out of his hat, but then shrugged. “Then… Let’s place these pieces of wood somewhere they won’t blow around in the wind…”
And so, Kisaik and Ce’nija began stacking the kindling onto Peter, who was happy enough to take the load. The rest of Kisaik’s animals looked on in silent bemusement, as they began loading Peter up with all of their foraged kindling and plant matter.
Soon enough the plant fibers were left out to dry, and breaks later, into the day, Ce’nija reckoned the ivy itself was good enough to use as a cordage for the weaving of the raft.
So, Kisaik not wanting to feel useless, slid down from Peter’s shell. Thankfully, the Panhandler was suitably mollified by his master’s prior attentions, and left him mostly alone during his preparations to tie up the raft materials.
They sandwiched the longer sticks with dried leaf matter, then placed the medium sticks cross-wise with them. Surely enough, they began constructing the raft by securing its integrity with cords of ivy. Within a break more of work, they had what appeared to be a serviceable, tiny raft, large enough to fit two tunawa upon its surface.
“Shall we take it for a test run?” Kisaik asked Ce’nija, smirking eagerly.
She shook her head, “Wouldn’t we need some form of sail to be able to float upstream again? The current only moves one way on these streams.”
Kisaik pondered that, and then shrugged. “Oh! Yes I suppose you’re right.” The tunawa was so caught up in the idea of being swept along on a rafting adventure, he didn’t consider how he might find his way back. Good thing, then that Ce’nija was a more sensible sort.
