Weekend by weekend, the children watched the building of the fort. In only a few weeks, a sort of rectangular gazebo had been built where the post had been put in the ground. It had no walls. The few trees that had been within its borders had been cut to stumps, which were used as chairs. It was a simple place, with a couple of large coolers, a furnace, a cooking range, and storage of well-sealed dry foods. Lastly, there were some long tables with chairs.
The children were invited to be around and to eat meals with the camp. They were respected as the true inhabitants of the place, and actively included, as much as was appropriate. Adult only meetings were sometimes held for which Sir. Lou firmly, but kindly, asked the children to respect their privacy.
All the childrens’ parents happily gave permission for their children to eat occasional meals with Lou and his friends.
The fort members seemed to generally enjoy those meals and to find the children entertaining.
The meals tended to be in the style of campers. All the meals were of simple foods which traveled well, didn’t require being extensively cooked, and were hearty and filling. One day, they ate their midday meal at the large tables, a meal of sticky seasoned rice, some kind of bean paste, and dried meat.
Solveis was a huge fan of the simple, texture consistent foods, as long as they weren’t pickled for preservation.
Arlendr voiced his opinion of the food. “I thought your everything would be too gross to eat. You’re too young to cook right, and the stuff comes from bags. Food from bags is cheap and bad.”
Solveis elbowed her brother in his ribs, in an attempt to stop him from being so cavalier.
Girselle tried to join in with the young cavalierism, but she would have been better at being snide, and her comment fell flat, “Yeah. What’s with the food from bags?”
En tried to say something interesting, and not rude, “We have been making some of our own food lately too, like baking potatoes and stuff. This dried meat would be a great addition.” After he spoke, he remembered that the cooking had been a secret from all grown ups. He shrunk in fear of his friends’ anger and future retribution, but none of them had seemed to notice his blunder.
Solveis noticed his blunder though, even though the others had not. These new adults somehow didn’t classify as grown ups in the minds of the children, so the others hadn’t noticed. Solveis felt reasonably sure that the information wouldn’t get back to the parents in any meaningful way, so she left it alone.
Ranulf responded to the conversation of the youths, “It’s a good skill. Potatoes are a good start. You have an oven somewhere? A handmade one I hope. – Personally, I think we’re doing it a little too cushy here, with our proper stove. I might just make a stone stove, just for the practice. I’ve never made a quite large one before.”
“Deprivation and hardships aren’t the only ways to have a good time,” Marty teased his serious friend.
“Maybe not, but they are a life skill. One which most could do with learning,” Ranulf responded seriously.
Solveis noticed that Livia had slid down to the other side of the table and was talking to Stefanie and a few people who Solveis hadn’t met yet. Solveis dragged her food over and joined the group, leaving Ranulf and friends to debate how intense the wilderness experience should be.
“Giovani! I know Giovani!” Livia shouted excitedly, as she hopped in her seat.
The oggo man, who Livia had been replying to, answered her, “Yes, I’m sure you do. It’s not exactly a rare oggo name. And you’re not the only Livia I’ve met either.”
Livia lost interest in what Giovani had been saying and asked the next person at the table what their name was, “What’s your name? I like your gray gray horns.” She referred to his horns as ‘gray gray’ because they were quite dark, like the rest of his coloration, which was varying shades of dark honey brown and gray brown.
“I am Anselm,” A deer-hu man answered. “You are precious, but a little lively. I’m not surprised that Stef claimed you for her little pet.”
Stefanie blushed. “I hope I’m not just chatty.” She sought the approval of her friends.
Solveis was thinking how useful Stef’s and Livia’s chattiness was. She was meeting these new people, with no work on her part, because of those two. She wanted to say, in reassurance, ‘It’s amazing. It’s a skill society depends on’. But, this was a group of new people, and even considering speaking made her heart beat hard and blood rush to her head.
“You are here for a reason, don’t worry,” Giovani reassured Stefanie.
“You! You! You look kinda like Sulvi’s the-mother,” Livia greeted the last new member of the group, a faun girl.
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“Yes, I probably do. Though I think that my people are not from quite the same part of Geith as yours. I don’t have your reddish coloration,” she agreed. “I am Ingibjorg, or Indie, for those less comfortable with faun – or goat-hu – names.” She stood and greeted Solveis with the faun handshake. “You must be Solveis. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
It was comforting for Solveis to hear her own name pronounced so perfectly. The fort people had accidentally begun to adopt Livia’s pronunciation of Sulvi, which was at least more novel than the more common mispronunciation of Sole-veez.
Stefanie looked a little surprised and asked Solvies, “Have we been saying your name wrong little one? How do you say it?”
Solveis tried to express clearly. “Sole-vase,” she said in a low, breaking voice. She coughed and got up her courage, “Sole-vase,” she pronounced clearly enough.
Then, Indie helped her out, “It’s ‘sole’, kind of like hold – And then ‘vase’, in between basic and vest. Sole-vase. – That Sulvi, is one of the common mispronunciations.”
Solvies squeaked out again, “I don’t mind, I know it’s not a common name all over the world.”
The whole group began repeating her name, trying to get it right, with Indie giving minor corrections.
“I call her Sulvi,” Livia told the table.
All the adults laughed.
“I bet it’s like a pet name now, isn’t it?” Stefanie cooed at Livia, who she did seem to particularly like. “Oh, yay, here comes Jing to join us.”
A eptill man of a dusty tan/green coloration walked up to the table, silencing Solveis and Livia with his presence. Solveis had known a few eptill in school. They had mostly been the really energetic kids who annoyed the teachers and were good at sports which required much running. This man, though, was a sturdy person who sat still eating his food and looking like an adult.
“Nice to meet you both. I just heard them say that you are Solveis and Livia, right?” He greeted the children.
“Yeah!” Livia replied happily. “I’m Livia.”
The whole table laughed because of her again. She laughed too, not truly knowing why they did so.
“I think they’re struck with you, Jing,” Giovani told the eptill guy.
Seeing an adult oggo talking with an adult eptill was a new experience for the children. Not that it could never happen, certainly, the different humanus types were capable of living in the same areas and speaking together, but still… It was not to be expected. It made Solveis think of important business meetings, where men and women of every part of the world put on their most formal clothes, meet together, talk seriously, and shake hands.
“Don’t worry children, I’ll be around for a while, you’ll get to learn all about my eptill ways. You may even get to see my tail!” Jing teased the girls in a friendly and strongly accented voice (they don’t actually have tails).
“So now you’ve met all of us, and we’ve met all of you. What do you girls think about our little operation?” Stefanie asked them.
Livia was too distracted; Solveis found herself expected to fill the silence. The first response which bubbled into her consciousness was, “I guess I wonder why you’re here?” She regretted saying it, as it had sounded much more accusatory than she had meant.
Indie answered on behalf of her group, “We’re here for a community of people who want to learn from each other and who choose to be dependent on each other rather than on – well you know – the systems that make up the world. For the time being, anyway, we’re striving to have a sort of together independence, which would allow us to travel away at any time, to go and help whoever may need help.”
The answer was vague, but it gave Solveis enough information to be going on.
Giovani addressed the girls again, “We’re all going to be staying here for a while, and learning from each other. I hope you will take an interest and learn from us too. We’ll even organize little classes that you can join.” When the girls didn’t answer, he continued, “I’m doing close combat. And, Ranulf is doing survival skills, which is generally interesting, I think.”
Solveis thought it made sense that Giovani would do close combat. He was a dense guy, like all of Livia’s family. He was big, strong, and sturdy. She was curious if his skill, when he seemed so naturally gifted, could translate to those who were less naturally substantial. Solveis couldn’t decide to take part in his classes though because learning a physical sport from an adult seemed like too much for her. Survival skills, on the other hand, interested her very much.
Solveis wasn’t going to reply to the adult conversation, but even if she had meant to, she became unable. Livia had just shifted over to the other side of the table and yanked Solveis’s arm, to get her to slide along too.
Livia jumped into a flowing conversation. “Are you gonna build another cabin?! Like Girselle and En’s dad did?!” Livia asked, responding to something that Marty had said.
Solveis and Arlendr glanced at each other. Not another head-pike. Maybe Sir. Lou’s people were not to be trusted.
Ranulf explained, “Oh no. We’re not trying to make any real alterations to this island. Besides, we’re not trying to pull permits or anything. We just need somewhere to hide out from the cold nights that will be coming soon. Just simple, temporary, pop-up dwellings. A couple of bunk houses, probably. We’re working on sketches and plan now.”
Marty continued to topic, “Yeah. We just want a refuge from the bugs and the cold. We gotta start soon though, because it will be getting properly cold soon. – Don’t get me wrong. I think I’ll sleep in my tent most nights. We like to have our tents scattered all through this hill.”
“Exactly. Besides,” Ranulf added. “It’s a good survival project. We’ve got lots of projects. Growing our own food, fishing, the bunk houses, and a couple of shower stalls too.”
“How have you been showering?” Girselle asked them.
Stefanie joined the conversation. “Some of the braver people have been washing in the sea. Your family has been letting us use the cabin showers too though, which I greatly appreciate. A shower isn’t a shower if it’s not warm.”
“That’s not exactly survival training,” Ranulf gently scolded her.
“And every moment should be mere survival!” Marty teased both his friends.
“Speaking of cold water,” Ranulf continued, rolling his eyes at the two less dedicated members of his group. “We’re hoping to get canoes and things. You kids have kayaks, right? Come do some water activities with us sometime. – You can always turn back if it gets to be too much exercise.”
Offended, Arlendr told him, “I don’t need to go back. I have a really good kayak. It’s fast.”
“In that case, try out one of the heavier vessels and grow stronger!” Ranulf said.
“I will!” Arlendr replied. He and Ranulf were bonding.