Chapter 8: Thread and Fabric

After waiting for the silkworms to finish creating their cocoons during autumn, I checked the ones that I had placed inside the cups, and I was so happy with the output. It was already wintertime, and they had become perfectly shaped cocoons.

I decided to ask my father to make a small wooden reel similar to a fishing reel and a mini weaving tool. It would be hard to explain how to make these tools because paper and pencils were not yet invented. So, I could only use smooth wooden planks and carve the drawing using a knife to show my father the output I wanted to make.

I waited for my father to return to the Elder Healer's treehouse from his daily routine during dinner to show him my drawings. He came home earlier than usual, but he seemed to be in a bad mood. He was covered with snow all over his hair, beard, coat, and feet. He looked like a young version of Santa Claus with a scar on his face.

I welcomed him with a huge hug, using my small arms and wings spread widely while my tail was wagging on my back as I showed a cute and lovely smile. His face suddenly brightened up as he saw his cute little Hatchling waiting for him at home.

Since the day my mother avoided my father and me, he never slept in my mother's treehouse and stayed in the Elder Healer's treehouse with me. I could see him feeling exasperated every now and then due to my mother's indifference to us. All I could do to console him was just hug him and smile to lighten his mood, then divert his attention to other things.

There were times I wanted to talk to my mom to ask her why she was avoiding us, but I decided not to go near her since she was always surrounded by her two beloved males. Whenever I stood near her, Dov or Drake suddenly pulled her away. Even when she saw me, she never approached me and avoided my gaze. So, I gave up and only looked at her from afar as she took care of my siblings and her male partners beside my father.

After dinner, I decided to tell my father about my plan to give him a little more time to adjust his mood. The Elder Healer prepared the dining table upon seeing us approach the dining area and heated the already cooked meat soup prepared for dinner. We sat and ate our food quietly. The Elder Healer was watching my father, observing him as he ate quietly while feeding me. She seemed bothered by the silence, so she suddenly asked, "Was there any trouble in the tribe? You looked exasperated."

He gritted his teeth while furrowing his thick eyebrows. He looked exasperated, and his anxiety was clearly portrayed on the look of his expression as he looked downwards before answering, "It's nothing much. I was just exhausted due to the continuous load of work. Also, I tried to persuade Freya to spare some time for Ari, but she still refused, saying she was busy with her other Cubs."

I could feel the sadness in his tone as he expressed his words. My heart was aching from his sadness, so I tried to divert his attention and asked, "Father, play with me tomorrow. Let the other tribespeople work less and rest. You all have worked too much lately, and winter is already starting. Rest for a day and play with Ari, please. I want to make a toy with you tomorrow."

He bitterly smiled at me before responding, "Okay, I'll spare some time for you tomorrow and let the other tribespeople get some rest too."

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The next morning, my father went to gather the tribespeople first, then informed them to take a day of rest and spend time with their families. The tribespeople were elated and excitedly went on their own ways to enjoy their one-day vacation.

When he got back to the tribe, I showed him my drawings and explained to him what we needed and what we should do. He was so baffled at first while making them and thought they really were toys since they had a mechanism. Then, when one part moved, the other parts moved too. My father enjoyed making them since it was new to him, and it looked magically amazing.

It was so easy for me to design a mechanism because my father in my previous life was a mechanical engineer, and he used to teach me about mechanisms during our bonding time. Since he could not hold me or touch me, playing with him was quite tricky. Learning mechanics amused me, so I had so much fun when he taught me how to build simple machines. He also used to think that I would end up being an engineer like him.

The day after my father Lev and I made the mini weaving tool and the mini reel, I started working on the silk thread. I told the Elder Healer that I would not be able to accompany her again on collecting herbs because I needed to relocate the cocoons of my silkworms so they would not swarm around the house once they morphed. She agreed without doubting what I was about to do.

When they all went out to do their own tasks, I started to dry the cocoons by placing them in front of the fireplace since the sun would not be coming out until spring arrived while preparing for the things I needed. After drying them, I cooked the cocoons in a pot until the fiber loosened up. Then, I used two bamboo chopsticks that I made and stirred the cocoons slowly in a circular motion until the thin fiber of the cocoons stuck to the chopsticks.

I pulled the long strings of fiber and used the reel I made to turn them into thin thread. I used a wooden guide to keep the cocoons in the pot while I was reeling the thread.

Before lunchtime, my father and the Elder Healer arrived and saw me cooking the cocoons and reeling the threads.

"Father! Grandma Lony! Look! I made silk thread! We can make clothes using this thread," I exclaimed proudly, showing them the result of my experiment.

They looked at me with terror in their eyes.

"Child, you should not be playing with fire. You could have burned the whole house down," my father scolded.

I tried to hide my true feelings and remain expressionless. Although they were puzzled, they immediately took the reel from me to prevent any harm that might come to me from the hot pot. My father lifted me up and assisted me in spinning the thread.

Once we finished spinning the thin thread, we twisted several threads together to make it thicker, while the Elder Healer cooked our lunch.

When the food was ready, my father took me to the dining table to eat. We completed the thread-making just in time, and despite knowing that I would be reprimanded later, I was overjoyed.

During lunch, they scolded me for my dangerous behavior. "Ari, do you know how dangerous what you did earlier was?" asked my father, his eyebrows furrowing in worry and distress.

"I'm sorry, Father. I know it was dangerous. I won't do it again. Please don't be mad anymore," I replied, hugging him tightly and trembling as I wept uncontrollably.

After we finished eating, I asked my father to help me make the fabric while the Elder Healer concocted medicines for the Younglings and ill members of the tribe. Using the mini weaving tool, we began making the fabric. When we finished, my father was amazed.

"Wow! I didn't know that a thread could turn out like this," he exclaimed.

"I wish we could make a bigger one. The silk fabric looks so beautiful. I want to make fashionable clothes from this," I said excitedly.

Happily, my father hugged me and promised to enlist the help of the tribespeople to make a bigger one.

We also made a chakha, or a spinning wheel used for making threads from different types of fiber materials, such as cotton, wool, rabbit fur, spider webs, and other similar materials.

It took us three months to make a bigger weaving machine, so we had already made enough threads to create larger fabrics by that time.

It took us years of trial and error before we could make better machinery to produce a higher quality set of fabrics.

Using the machineries we designed, we started making fabrics. My father assigned the male Younglings to operate the machinery and make threads and fabrics, while the female Younglings were assigned to breed the silkworms.