I huffed as I lowered the axe to the ground.
Oplar chuckled at as she stepped over to study my work. "You're getting the hang of it," she said.
Was I…? I glanced to the tree I'd been chopping, and honestly I didn't see any difference from the half chopped tree before and the ones I'd first done this morning.
"Make sure to hit it here the next few swings, then it's ti for the wedge… So then you can ensure it falls that way," Oplar again described the next steps, which I fully understood… at least in theory.
I got it, I did. You chopped originally at the side where you wanted it to fall, and did so at an angle… then you chopped the other side, in as straight a line as you could, and then pushed in a tal block-like wedge into the thinner cut you made as to ensure it fell the way you wanted. It was basically a thod to use the tree's own weight against it. It made sense to , but…
"I don't really get yet how much space to leave in the center," I said. One needed to make sure they didn't cut too deeply, or too much, since you needed the tree to remain standing as you worked on it. And that space of needed untouched tree was still sothing I was trying to figure out. So of the trees I'd watched Oplar fall had barely more than a finger's width in the middle, between the two cuts, while others had as much as my foot in width. And it didn't seem to be because of the tree's size either.
"Just sothing you pick up over ti. Go on, finish this one up," Oplar said as she stepped back to let do so.
Taking a deep breath, both to steady myself and to sigh it out at her indifference… I went ahead and obeyed.
Reading the axe, I aid it for only a mont and then swung. I chopped three more tis, getting the depth Oplar likely had wanted… then glanced over at her. She nodded, and so I went to pick up the wedge and slide it into the cut along the side we didn't want the tree to fall in. The thing was basically just a large tal block triangle.
Once I pushed it in far enough I stepped back and readied the axe once more, this ti blunt side front. To hamr, not chop.
"Ready," I said loudly. I knew Oplar had already stepped back and out of the way, and she was the only one around, but she has drilled into the importance of warning others of when I was about to fell a tree… so once I heard her shout ready back, I went ahead and hamred.
It took only two swings for to hear a crack. A loud one. So I hurried back and away, keeping an eye on the tree as it slowly tipped forward and began to fell. Once I confird it wasn't falling anywhere in my or Oplar's direction, I cald down a bit and slowed as to watch it fall to the ground.
It landed loudly, as all the other trees we'd fallen had, and did so without much fanfare. So branches broke, but not many, and it eventually ca to a rest on the ground without anymore commotion.
Sighing at the sight, I smiled and nodded to Oplar. "I did it," I said proudly.
"Aye. Your strength makes it easy. You just need to do it a few hundred more tis and you'll master it real quick, thinks," she said.
"Surely we won't need that many!" I said. We'd already fallen twenty-three!
"You'd be surprised…" Oplar said with a sigh.
Wow! I glanced around us, at the many trees still standing and the fallen ones mixed amongst them. "Aren't we only going to get twenty-five right now, though?" I asked. That had been the original plan, I'd thought.
"Aye. That should be enough for the foundation and whatnot… honestly I'm not much of a craftsman. But Randle is. He's built hundreds of churches and buildings like them, if he says twenty-five is what we need and is enough for now I believe it," she said.
How so though…? It wasn't like Randle was here asuring the trees we were cutting… he had just asked us to fell ones that were wider than Oplar could get her arms around, and about two stories tall, but that had all he'd really given us for guidance. Maybe one just knew what to expect when turning trees into lumber and materials for building…? Maybe it was such a consistent tree to pieces of wood conversion that one could easily guesstimate such a thing?
Ah well… I guess it didn't really matter. At least we were finally going to begin the process of building the first building, even if it was just a place to pray. I didn't mind the tents too much, since it was growing warr, but I was starting to get annoyed over the lack of a bath. Once every few days we all bathed in these large wooden tubs that Randle had purchased, but it wasn't enough for . I wanted to soak in hot water, for more than just a few minutes… Though I knew that was only because I was spoiled now, after having spent so much ti at locations that had such anities. It was actually kind of odd to consider how I used to live without such luxuries… there had been tis where I bathed in rivers and at lakes for years, back when I had lived alone.
So I was glad to finally start building on our land. And so too was I glad that Oplar had decided to stick around for a short ti as to help us do so.
She and I were a couple hours away from SilverCreek, and thus my new ho. We were a bit deeper into the forest than Oplar had originally wanted to go, but the first section of trees we'd examined had been a tad thin and too new for her liking. So we had ventured deeper into the forest a bit north of SilverCreek, not far from a mountain that lood overhead. With the one I'd just felled, we now only needed two more and we'd be done… at least for today.
After we were done chopping them down, we planned to co back tomorrow to clean them all. To chop the limbs off and ready them for transportation, which then we'd use a wagon and we'd bring others to help us too. Right now Oplar and I were simply cutting them down, nothing more.
I reached up and wiped at my brow, and was a tad surprised to not feel any sweat upon it after doing so. I felt slightly exhausted, but I knew a majority of what I was feeling was not true exhaustion but instead worry. When we had first started in the morning, as Oplar felled her first few trees, I'd been worried a little for her safety. She was as boisterous when chopping down trees as she was when gossiping. But that had proven to be a needless worry.
"Which one do you think we should do next? I'm thinking that one," Oplar pointed with her own axe at a nearby tree. One with high limbs.
At first glance it looked fine. The width and height were similar to the one I'd just fallen and the all rest… but…
"There're nests on that one, Oplar," I said with a gesture up at them.
She followed my point and frowned. "Ah… so there is. Okay… but really, Renn, all trees have life in them. On them. You can't avoid such things," she said as she started studying others for potential felling.
"I know… but I'd rather not see a bunch of baby animals fall out and die just because I chopped one tree instead of another," I said.
"Yes, yes, my bleeding heart predator who doesn't flinch at killing n but weeps over tiny hatchlings…" Oplar said with a sigh.
I smiled at the way she teased , only for her to point at another. "That one then. I don't see no nests, not even a hole or worm!" she said as she picked the next one.
"Sure," I agreed and started for it alongside her. We walked slowly as Oplar placed her axe on her shoulder, and sighed a little.
"It's too bad I can't linger, Renn… I suggest when it's ti to get more wood, you bring soone else along with you. You're a tough little cat, for sure, but it's better to be safe than sorry," she said.
"I know. I'll make sure to bring soone, I promise," I said. I'd bring rit, I think, sothing told she knew a lot more about building and stuff than she let on.
"Not that you might need to. The mont Vim shows up it'll be for naught!" Oplar said with a laugh.
"Surely not even he can do all of it that quickly," I said.
"You'd be surprised! I've watched Vim build entire villages, aye whole villages, in re days. When he really gets going with a fire under him, he's actually very good at it…" Oplar said as she scratched at her chin, as if seeing it happen here and now before her. She spoke as if in awe.
"I've seen him work, yes… and I admit he does so well, but I've still not seen that myself," I said. I wouldn't, and couldn't, lie. I knew Vim was good with his hands. I've watched him fix and build many things over the years, and he always did so swiftly and with rather amazing skill… but I've never seen him actually build a whole house, let alone a whole village…
Honestly I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. A part of wanted to say it was a good thing, since it ant no one had needed new hos or anything, but at the sa ti…
"Aye, well, it shouldn't be too long till' he shows up. As I said, I'm shocked he isn't here already," Oplar said as we neared our next tree.
"Probably got sidetracked again," I said as I glanced up it… to both confirm there weren't any bird nests or anything on it, and also to start checking which direction would be the best to send it. It looked, thanks to how many more limbs were on one side than the other, that the best way would be to send it in the direction we were standing…
"He does so a lot, yes. Tressi and the rest were actually a tad surprised he had not gone with them… supposedly Raccoon had foreseen him with them, cooking, in one of her prophecies. They reasoned it would be another ti, another venture… maybe when they all go to Lun or sothing," Oplar said.
"Raccoon?" I asked.
"One of the saints. Her actual na is Raccooni. It sounds silly, but a lot of us used to be nad in similar ways back then. In fact it used to be tradition to share nas with our ancestral bonds… I think it ended because we now all try to blend in with humans, so don't risk it. It likely ca back into fashion on the other continent, what without humans there and all," Oplar reasoned.
Oh…! "Like Hands…!" I found that very interesting, and it made wonder if Hands will now regret falling for a rat instead.
"Ah, hadn't thought of that… he fell for that rat girl, hadn't he? Ah well, she's cute at least," she said as she began to step away from , as to round the tree.
I followed her as I nodded. "I never got to et her… I should have, though? I wonder why I hadn't?" I wondered. She'd been at Lun hadn't she…?
"Hm? Why would you have?" Oplar asked.
"Wasn't she at Lun? I was just there."
"Ah…" Oplar shook her head. "She's not at Lun. She and a few others stopped at another location near the plateau, north of Bell Church. She's not at Lun," Oplar said.
Oh… that made sense… "Where's that?" I asked. I didn't recognize such a location… the map of the Society in my mind didn't have any locations in that area, did it?
"One of the places they've been hiding from us. Like that church near Vorli that Vim went to. It's a place they made after Light and the rest landed years ago," Oplar said.
"Wait… years ago…?" I was very shocked to hear this. Did Oplar an…? "Are you saying Light and the rest ca back years ago?"
"Yeah…? Didn't you know? They returned like six years ago, supposedly," Oplar said with a frown as she lowered her axe to the ground. It thumped on the grass near her feet hard enough to make my tail twitch.
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"No… I hadn't known. No one had said that," I said, slightly offended to find out so late like this.
Oplar shrugged. "I hadn't either, until a few months ago. They said it was for a reason, but who knows what it could have been."
A reason…? A prophecy, then, maybe. Still…!
"I don't like all the secrets…" I said with a huff as I turned to study the tree before us once more.
"I'd usually agree, but such secrets give birth to so juicy gossip!" Oplar said.
Yes but they also sowed doubt and ruined trust…
Keeping such thoughts to myself I pointed at the tree. "I think it should be felled that way," I said with a point towards the direction we just ca from.
"Why's that?"
"That side has all the big branches. So it'll be heavy on that side," I reasoned.
Oplar happily nodded. "Aye. Good, good… see? You're getting it."
Sohow I doubted that. "When I inevitably drop one on myself, I'll let Vim know you're the one who taught everything I know as he pulls it off ," I said.
Oplar nearly dropped her axe as she laughed. "I bet ye' will!" she shouted between her laughs.
Smiling at her loud laughter, I began to wish she could indeed stay longer.
She claid she had letters to deliver. Important ones. Ones that could only give her a few days with us before she had to run off as to deliver them… and it was too bad.
I liked having my friends nearby. But I also liked it that they all had important things to do. I knew what it felt like, now, to have such duties. To have things that you needed to accomplish, and people that relied on you to do so. It felt… good.
I used to be jealous of those like her. Envious beyond asure. Now I felt, almost, that I was equal to her. Almost.
"Not to change topics too much… but can I ask sothing, Oplar?" I asked, since I felt now was a good ti. I'd been aning to ask this whole ti while we were alone, but I'd been letting her direct the topics mostly. She had spent all morning, and most this afternoon, telling of all the gossip she's encountered lately. Such as Landi giving up her nation, a ghost or sothing like it at the Crypt, and of course the rumor going around that I was pregnant and as such was why Vim wanted to step down. To be a dad. It was the cutest, and nicest, rumor I'd ever heard concerning him or . Especially since it was actually kind of correct.
Vim might not be willing to admit it, not even to himself, but it was obvious. Part of the reason he wanted to step down was to… be with . And that wasn't just believing in a silly wife's hope or happiness. It was so obvious even rit had noticed.
"Hm?" Oplar smiled at as she stopped laughing, waiting for my question, and I realized I had allowed my mind to wander a little.
"Celine. The uh… new one," I added, feeling silly as I did. Another Celine. At least she wasn't a saint. "Can I ask why you want to leave her here? Not that I mind, of course, she seems like a good girl and all, but…"
"But this place isn't up and running yet and as such is kind of ssy? Yeah, I know… but you see she's… well…" Oplar went quiet for a mont, and then seed to decide sothing internally. She nodded, but not at … at herself. "She's like us, Renn," she then said.
"Us…?"
She nodded again. "A thick-blooded predator. But also one who… is different. I don't think she'd be too welcod in Lun, or any of the churches. Kind of like your little Fly bird, which by the way why isn't she here...? Is it because she can't blend in with humans?" Oplar asked.
Gosh…! "Yes… Lilly adopted her, thankfully," I said.
"Wait… what? Lilly did?"
I nodded.
"Oh… she was an owl then…? I thought she was so weak small bird," Oplar said with a smile.
I slowly shook my head. "Nope? She's a robin, or at least so she believes," I said. Fly had told such a thing last ti I'd seen her, before Vim and I left the Owl's Nest a few months ago. I wasn't entirely sure how she had co to such a conclusion, but I didn't feel like there was any reason to doubt her.
"Well, still… quite an odd thing to happen… but then of course she's also letting Lellip into her flock too…? Maybe she's old and sickly or sothing…" Oplar mumbled as she tapped the butt end of her axe with a thumb.
Gosh why did everyone always act so shocked to hear of Lilly's recent actions…! They were all acting as if it was impossible for the owl to have a kind bone in her body, or sothing!
"Still, I get what you're saying Oplar… But are you sure she shouldn't go sowhere without many humans? We're not even up and running yet and we already get visitors nearly every day," I said. We had actually not been getting as many as before, now that Randle had posted notices throughout the town telling people to basically wait until the church was built, but we still got a few on occasion.
"I'd agree if she was raised by one of our own, Renn, but she hadn't been. She didn't even know she wasn't human until I told her. So she's perfectly capable of blending in amongst humans, she considered herself one until not too long ago," Oplar said.
Ah… right… I nodded gently as I realized Oplar, of course, was perfectly correct. I'd not heard her full story yet, since I'd been busy and hadn't wanted to pry since she seed to not want to really talk about it, but I had heard enough to get the gist of it. She had been raised by people who had not really been her parents, they had died in the recent plague… the one sourced by Landi's monarch, and had not known at all who or what she was until Oplar had found her. And Oplar had not found her in a normal state, either.
The poor girl had been a slave. Or at least, had been about to beco one. She had gotten caught stealing food and was being sold in a town in the south, Oplar just happened to be walking by her as she was being bidded on by onlookers. I'd feel terrible for the poor girl if not for the utter luck she had displayed in being seen, noticed, and purchased by Oplar during such a terrible mont.
"How much had she been anyway?" I asked, interested. She had ntioned the night she had arrived six hundred Renk, but surely that had been a joke. It was such a small sum for a person, especially soone like her...
"Celine…? Just a few coins. Converting it to the local currency… six hundred or so Renk maybe?" Oplar said as she pondered it.
Hearing that made sad and made regret asking. "So you hadn't been joking... Why so little…? She's adorable, I'd think a cute young girl would go for more," I asked. It was kind of depressing to think, but it was the truth. There were more than enough weird and cruel people who would happily pay and abuse such a pretty girl.
"The south isn't doing too well, thanks to the plague and wars that just ravaged the lands. In a healthy economy she would have been pricey, but down there starving young girls are as common as rocks upon the road. Basically she, like most slaves down there right now, is more trouble than she's worth. To be honest I was kind of surprised other people were even bidding on her in the first place," she said.
Wow… it was such a different world compared to here. It was so strange that only a thousand or so miles could make such a difference in lifestyle… and even more so how crazy it was to think that the people there had no clue how we lived up here, and vice-versa.
"I'm glad you saved her. That was good of you, Oplar," I said.
The bear gave a wry grin as she shrugged. "Eh, it's what we're supposed to do… anyway, I'm hoping you'll keep an eye on her. At least while you're here and all. I had kind of hoped to see if I could make her my successor, since it doesn't look like I'll be having children any ti soon, but the girl seems to not like traveling much. She's the type that wants to sow seeds and settle, which I can't fault or bla, so I'll abandon the idea," Oplar said.
A little fascinated to hear such things, I nodded gently as I watched Oplar step up to the tree. It seed she was going to chop this one.
So Oplar has been looking for soone to take over her position, has she…? First I'd heard of this. And… it was sad to hear her speak so plainly about the fact she didn't think she'd be having any children anyti soon. She had not said that just in a matter-of-fact way, but also in a defeated kind of tone. As if she'd simply accepted the fact and was now having to live with it.
That was very sad to hear… maybe I should start trying to help people find partners even sooner than I planned…? I was going to wait to really try until I got everything here handled, and a building built, but…
Oplar swung her axe, and my ear fluttered as a piece of bark flew off and hit a nearby tree. She easily pulled the axe free and then went to swing so more at the tree.
Her swings were heavy, but sure. They sunk deep into the tree but slipped out of it as if she'd not cut too deeply. Each swing showed just how strong Oplar really was, and it kind of worried a little.
Why was soone so strong so afraid of confrontation…? She was likely not far off in strength to , even as I was now with the heart inside of … which ant she was very strong indeed. Plus she had stamina. Like she wasn't sweating, but unlike myself she had chopped twice as many trees as I had… and I knew if I kept doing this long enough to match her in number, I'd be sweating by then.
After a few swings Oplar stopped and stepped back to study her work so far. She huffed at the sight and then pointed at a spot with her axe. "I cut too deep there," she said.
I frowned as I studied the spot, and couldn't really tell at all. It looked fine to .
Maybe I just wasn't cut out to be a logger.
"Also, I wanted to give the girl a chance to adapt first," Oplar then said as she went to aim her axe once more.
"Hm…?"
Oplar nodded as she swung the axe. It chopped a large chunk out of the tree and she shifted her stance as to strike at a slightly different angle this ti. Before she did though, she spoke up again. "The world's getting noisy again. And with all the folk from the other continent returning, the Society is becoming chaotic. I worried if I took her to Telmik or Lun we'd just end up losing her," Oplar said, then swung her axe once more.
"Lose her… because we've beco busy?" I asked, trying to understand.
Oplar swung once more then stopped. She stepped back, admiring her work and nodded. "That and the type of busy. All the people coming back are basically mbers of the church. If not outright mbers of the Church of Songs, they at least abide and live amongst those that do… and well, she's a pagan, Renn. And more importantly she's basically a human pagan. I worried if I took her to where those like Light will be in control we'll end up losing her. I want to give her a bit of ti to adjust and learn herself before forcing her into such a situation," Oplar explained, speaking evenly as she did.
I slowly nodded as I understood what she was saying. She was basically saying that Celine, though like and her and thick in the blood… was actually anything but. She was in essence a human. One who had grown up down south, far south, where there was a different style of thought. A different religion, and everything. And Oplar worried if she left such a young girl, who was still learning and adapting to the new world around her and her own self… then we'd lose her. Either she'd run off, or grow to hate the Society and its mbers because she failed to assimilate into it properly.
Vim once had the sa worry for , in a way… it was one of the reasons he had tried so hard to find a place to stay and call ho way back in the beginning. Though I think part of it had been his instinctual desire to separate himself from , as to avoid falling in love with .
"And although we'll be making a church, I'm here as are others who will be separate enough from it to not cause issues," I said, understanding Oplar's idea.
She nodded. "My hope, at least. We'll see. If not I'll just take her to Lun or sothing. I think she'll need to live amongst humans, she thinks too much like they do. Between her predator blood and ntality she'll never be able to live anywhere like Tor's village or the Bell Church… so," Oplar shrugged lightly as she sighed.
Right… "Do you think such… environnts will get worse with the rest of Light's people showing up? What with their percentage of the Society basically tripling?" I asked.
"I've no doubt. I've already had a few people worry over it. Like the Armadillo's or the Cals… but they should be fine. It's not like they ever really mingle with any of us anyway," Oplar said.
Well… that might be true, but what if that was the very reason they didn't mingle with us? Because they already felt ostracized?
I tapped the handle of my axe and frowned. "Was the Society split back in the day like this, Oplar? To the point that there were entire groups that basically didn't associate with one another?" I asked a question I already knew the answer to.
"Yeah…? Even excluding all of the idiots who left to the other island we still had many who kept to themselves. But I an… Isn't that any society, Renn? If it's not faith, it's politics. If not that then it's culture, or bloodlines. I an we even have mbers that are just outright racist, so what do you expect?" Oplar said.
"We do…?" I knew we had plenty who had great aversion to others, but wasn't that more so from instincts than anything else? From things they really couldn't control? Such as why I, before losing my sll, had made people feel off-put and uneasy? That wasn't really outright because of simple unjust hatred, it was sothing… deeper.
She smirked at . "Oh, co no Renn… you and I both escorted one of them ourselves!"
"Wait… Ah," I slowly nodded as I realized who, or rather which group, she spoke of. She ant Sillti's people. Those who lived at the Summit… guinea pigs, as Vim called them. "Sillti's people."
Oplar nodded. "I an they're not so bad we can't coexist, or aren't friendly to visitors… but there's a reason no one else has ever tried to live there with them, you know," she said with a smile.
Right… The Summit was actually a rather reclusive village, and was nice to boot, with a lot more mbers than nearly every other location… even if they didn't like predators like myself, they should indeed still have others living amongst them. Because it was not just a safe place to go live at, but also a place one could be comfortable at too. Yet they didn't. So… it was simply because they didn't want anyone else to live amongst them, then…? Or maybe they would just make anyone who tried so uncomfortable and unwelcod that they didn't want to anyway?
"And it was even worse back then…" I mumbled as I thought of so of the books I'd read in the Telmik Archives not too long ago. Not only had I read prophecies concerning such things, I had also read plain old journals and stories written by people who had witnessed such events. The Society had been rather chaotic back in the beginning. Sotis so bad that Vim had to step in, and did so not gently.
"Aye… to a point. Most of those types never agreed to join the Society. My own family, extended, were amongst them. My mother had a whole village she left behind to join the Society, you know," Oplar said, sounding proud as she did so.
"Really…!?"
Oplar grinned and nodded… and I realized I was about to hear all about it.
Which I did, even as we finished chopping down the last couple trees and then headed back to camp.
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