Solveis ended up taking part in two of the classes that the fort offered.

First, she went with Livia and Girselle to Van and Patra’s weaponry class. They had been led there by Girselle who had become a little obsessed with Patra. In truth, Solveis was almost obsessed with Patra too. Patra’s casual cruelty was fascinating. How could this group of kind, mutually supportive people choose to have her around. The more Solveis saw of Patra though, the more she didn’t think that Patra meant badly. She was often quite cruel, striking with her words at a person’s most sensitive points. She seemed to want to be joined in verbal sparring though, and she seemed to most respect those who challenged her back. Van’s unflinching response to his sister’s cruelty made Solveis think that it must be culturally normal for them, for their family at least, if not for their people as a whole.

The weaponry class was too advanced for the children, but they were still included. Stefanie and Indie took it upon themselves to make sure that the three girl children felt included. They found smaller versions of the tools for the girls to practice with, and one of the two of them stopped often to practice with the girls and re-explain things to them.

Later, Arlendr and En decided to attend Marty's class on natural resources. Solveis eavesdropped on their conversation and decided to follow them. She literally followed, walking behind them, to the spot in the west woods where the class was being taught.

Marty went over the natural resources that were available on this very island. He discussed which plants were edible or medicinal. He toured the whole island, taking at least a couple hours. (As he took the group all around Molil, Solveis and Arlendr noticed new construction being built in various areas. In one area, all around four trees, there were wood panels and other such resources. Apparently, they were going to use the four trees as pillars for a bunk house building. Wood panels were already being attached between the trees. Arlendr and Solveis telepathically critiqued this construction. Better than the head-pike, they thought.) During Marty’s tour, Arlendr and Solveis were called upon for their experience a few times.

When Marty arrived at the hopping spots, he started by explaining, “This is not a very common formation of earth. Most people aren’t familiar with it. Imagine how useful it could be for us to be quite familiar with it and to use its uniqueness to our advantage.” Then, he called upon the knowledge of the inhabitants, “What do you call this formation?”

“It’s my hopping spots. And we are on the plateau now,” Arlendr said in his usual imperial tone.

“I haven’t heard the formation called by that name before.” Marty laughed.

Arlendr defended himself with more knowledge. “I know all about it. It’s hard for the humanus-legged to descend and climb again, but not for me. And it’s good down there. Good to hide, good to move far fast.”

“Yes. That makes sense,” Marty replied. “But it’s dangerous too, no?”

“Yes. Dangerous too. – The water rises fast when it rises. It’ll swallow you up up if you are too far out. You have to climb up fast. You have to know where to climb up. It’s too hard to climb up the tall spindle pillars, and besides, they can’t be jumped to, because they’re too far apart.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Marty put in. “One day we’ll all climb down there, and do a session just on that.”

En, who was afraid of the depths below, which he had never dared approach, widened his eyes at the thought of going down there on purpose. En had never gained the faun siblings’ comfort with the hopping spots. They hopped from rock surface to rock surface, quickly and confidently, even far out where the jumping distance was quite far. He only ever went as far out as where he could walk from one surface to the next.

When the class was over and the group returned to the fort, Solveis used her brother to start a conversation with Ranulf.

“Remember that Ranulf was talking about making a stone oven, and roughing it properly? You have to ask him about it, so you can know what he knows,” Solveis informed her brother, while Ranulf was near them. Ranulf was still packing tools away which had been used for the lesson.

Arlendr approached Ranulf and spoke. “You are going to make an oven,” Arlendr stated the fact.

“Yes?” Ranulf admitted the truth of the statement, unsure of why it was being posed to him. “What about it?”

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Before Arlendr said something demanding to the adult, Solveis spoke up, “We’re curious about it.” Then, feeling self conscious, her voice broke up and she began to ramble, “Uh – We’ve done that a little too, and we like to know how to do things the hard way, or just to do more things – you know…” Solveis found herself holding her two small hands together and looking at the ground. She found herself becoming aware of En who was now eavesdropping on her and Arlendr’s conversation.

“Would you like to join me? Of course you would! I know it. – You know, I recognized that you made your own clothes right away, little one,” Ranulf directed more at Solveis than at Arlendr. “I know you need this knowledge too. I already know how to mend clothes and the like, but I may ask you for information on design if I find myself in need of it. – Anyway, if you are around in the mornings, when I set off to work on the oven, and vegetation gardens, and such, I’ll fetch you.”

“Thank you,” Solveis thanked the kind guy.

“Thank you,” Arlendr copied his sister’s reply surprisingly civilly.

“Are you really going to learn that stuff?” En asked the other two when they were away from Ranulf.

“I already know it. And I will know it more because of him,” Arlendr informed En.

En was intimidated by taking on this new kind of skill. For him, clothes were something that mothers dragged you out shopping for. Food was something that you bought at a market. The fact that it came from plants and animals was a far removed reality, and pointless to get better acquainted with. It seemed like a huge learning curve, and like moving backwards from what the rest of the world wanted. It made him feel intimidated, and somehow, in the wrong.

Solveis saw En take on his cowardly hunching stance. She decided to ask him about it. Since there was no Girselle around, it might be safe to do. “So, why not learn it? I already garden our little patch. What if I knew how to make everything I need to live!?” Solveis’s eyes glistened with the possibilities. “Imagine if, by the time I’m an adult, I have all the knowledge necessary to live, no matter what circumstance I’m in. What true freedom. I could get an education, or not. I could live here, or on the mainland, or anywhere else I want. I could buy gourmet meals or eat simple preserves. I could live on nothing and do art, or I could become learned and do whatever. It’s anything and everything. Who doesn’t want to know anything and everything?”

Solveis realized that she would owe a great debt to the fort people. It was because of them that she could have this great gift of preparation and knowledge.

En had an ‘ah ha’ moment. He realized that Solveis did garden the little patch outside the cabin. – He had known it before. It had seemed like how the sun rises and sets every day. It is true, but you never think about it, and it doesn’t matter. Then, when you do think about it, suddenly, it really does mean something. – En saw one level higher into the functioning of the world. It was true that knowledge and understanding could give one great freedom. He hoped that Arlendr and Solveis would actually keep attending the survival skills class, and that they would really work with Ranulf. He hoped that Solveis, at least, would keep to it, so that he could follow her lead into this other world of experiences.

Besides the two classes, Solveis also took the fort people up on their offer of kayak and canoe trips. The fort people had acquired some various, small sea vessels: kayaks, canoes, paddle boards, and more. She went on a tour with them. She, Arlendr, and Livia each used their own kayaks. Girselle and En shared a canoe. They followed a group led by Van, who was riding his paddle board. They started at the beach, not the dock, which seemed weird, and unnecessarily challenging. They went around the north and east part of Molil. From there, they went out east, all the way out to Livia’s island, to the small north dock of that island. From there, they went north into open sea. Then, they started back toward Molil. Then, they were going to go west, past Molil, towards the island over there with the deer-hu. This was too much for Solveis though, who didn’t enjoy getting so much exercise that it made her sweaty. Livia was restless too, so this gave her an excuse to go to the dock with her young friend.

She told her brother, who was near her on his kayak, “We’re going back to the dock. Catch you later.”

“You are weak and tired,” he scolded her.

“We’ll accompanied you,” one of the fort guys told her. A couple others broke off with him and went in the direction of the dock. Solveis sensed that weren’t going back just to keep the kids safe, but because they were tired out too.

Girselle and En, who had been navigating their vessel with surprising precision and speed, turned to follow too. In the process of changing direction, there was a scuffle, a bang noise, and a yelp. En had had his oar forcibly taken from him, and the side of his arm was all red. He played it off though, as if nothing of significance had happened.

Girselle and En got to the dock just after Solveis and Livia who were quicker because they had made that kayak trip a million times before.

The fort people took their own canoes as well as Girselle and En’s away to the fort.

Solveis complemented En, since it was safer than complementing his sister, “I didn't know you were so good with canoes.”

“We’re all island people now!” Livia cheered.

En answered, “We fish a lot. We use mom and dad’s boat all the time.”

“It’s the only thing we do together that doesn’t make me want to attack him,” Girselle said, not meaning to be ironic.

Solveis raised an eyebrow at the two B siblings. Girselle realized that she had in fact attacked him today, and looked both abashed and proud. En gave a sad little smile.