Episode 4 - Rope

As they were walking back to their homes, they discussed their roubies and compared them against one another's. 

"Look at my roubie, it has a nice pattern on its back!" said Kaleo. 

"So does mine, look! It looks like a leaf!" Yarrik replied.

"Yeah, mine looks like crystals." added Iopac.

"They all look the same!" shouted Aokdi. "Kaleo, we are here." 

Aokdi, with his hand, turns her head to the side and points to her house. The base is a giant tree trunk with roots that seem to be grown in a particular artificial way that makes an entrance that resembles a tunnel. The small leaves of the tree grow on thin branches that droop down that gives a feeling of fluffy fur. There were also some at the entrance to the house too, carefully spaced out and some of the leaves have even been cut to resemble a specific pattern, from where they were standing it looked like a circle with lines all around it. Lastly atop the entrance a few branches have been made to grow into a circular shape, a window. One could see the table and flowers placed on its ledge. 

"Aw, do I have to go now? Can I at least see them off?" Kaleo cried

Aokdi gave a deep sigh "Sure." 

"Yeh! Thank you Aokdi!" 

They continued walking for a short while before arriving at Iopac's and Yarrik's House. Their house was a dome made out of many really thin branches. The main tree trunk was inside at the center, not visible from the outside since no light gets inside the house. An entrance had been made by redirecting small branches using mud, and it was covered in many slightly bigger leaves than the ones on Kaleo's tree. However the entrance wasn't a hole covered by leaves, it was a proper door, with hinges made from carved wood. 

Yarrik proceeded to rush home while lightly holding the roubie in his hands. 

"Alright see you." He said not looking back. 

Meanwhile, Iopac stood by and gave proper respect. 

"Thank you for today. Forgive him and I hope you have a good day!" He placed his hand to the chest and bowed his head a little. 

"Eh," Aokdi gestured with his hand to send Iopac off, "he'll learn one day. Have a good day." 

"Good day!" Kaleo bowed her head. 

Yarrik approached the door and opened it. 

"AH!" He fell on his rear.

The others quickly turned their gaze to it and there in the doorframe was standing a man with a giant mask stretching to his chest. A vague shape resembling a monster, ears like small horns, stretched out and asymmetrical eyes reaching to the nose and teeth compacted into a small square to resemble a maw. The broad parts were coloured white while the pupil of the eye was red and inside of the ears. Two pointy pieces of wood were sticking out one on each side right under the ears. 

"Oh? Guess I got you!" says the man as he takes off his mask. 

"Ai there Ritis" greets Aokdi.

Ritis waves back. 

"RITIS!" cried Yarrik, now infuriated. 

Ritis and Aokdi started laughing and Kaleo followed moments later while Iopac slowly walked over to Yarrik. 

"Are you Alright?" asks Iopac as he reaches out his hand to help him up. 

Yarrik takes it and stands up. "I'm alright, Ritis won't be though." He furrows his eyebrows. 

"We won't waste your time then. Good day to you Ritis, Iopac and Yarrik." Aokdi waves as he leaves.

"Yeah! See you later." followed Kaleo.

"All good to you too!" shouts Ritis "Alright then come on in." 

He walks back inside the house and the boys with him. Inside the house was a bit gloomy but most of the stuff was lit up by roubles in cages. The floor was made of many roots overlapping each other, despite 

Ritis is a man with a slender, but muscular build, he has red hair and grey eyes. Other feature that is quite noticeable on his face would be his stubble beard, just like his hair adding a slightly reddish shade to his face. Most notable thing about him are the many scars he has on his body, a mark of claws on his back just under his left shoulder blade, two dots resembling a snake bite below his neck, a chain patterned scar on his left arm stretching from the bicep to the forearm with a slight rotation, and many smaller sized scars not visible without closer inspection. 

"What's the creature your mask is based on?" asked Iopac 

"This? Ah it's an Umbreline, a wild ferocious cat further to the south. They live their lives away in the shadows where they drag their prey to. Big in size, big claws, big fangs that don't even fit inside the jaw, but very small eyes. Tiny." He pinched his fingers together and placed them up to his eye. 

"If they are that tiny, why are the eyes on a mask so big?" asked Yarrik.

"I didn't make the mask, our neighbour did. He said that small eyes are not scary enough so made them very large. To be honest it did scare you." Ritis smirked.

"I wasn't scared by the mask!" Yarrik cried. "I just… didn't expect it."

"You seemed pretty scared to me. Oh and the way you screamed 'Ah' was just so hilarious. Ahhh, but I'm sorry though." 

"I will not forgive you." Yarrik mumbled. 

"What did you say?" 

"Not forgiving you!" 

"Really?"

"Really!" 

"Alright, and here I had a gift for both of you, but guess Iopac is going to get yours." He raised his shoulders.

"Really?!" Iopac's eyes widened.

"What?! That's not fair! What gift is it?" 

"Why tell you? You're not going to get it anyway." 

"Agh!" Yarrik's eyes began tearing up a bit.

"Can I know what it is?" 

"Nah." 

"Aww."

Both kids sat at the table in the kitchen. The kitchen was a small space that contained all the basic necessities, a closet that has spherically carved out areas to store fruit and other of the sort, a table that grows out of the roots from the floor, and chairs that look like a smaller version of the table. Unlike most homes, Ritis has a unique amount of working hinges in his. He comes to one closet and searches for something in there. 

"You know what? How about this, you do a little favour for me and I'll give you your gift privilege back, how about it?" 

Yarrik squinted his eyes in suspicion. 

"What favour?" he asked.

"Simple." He places a basket before the two boys on the table and pulls out plant fibres, stacked together into many thin, soft strands. "I'm gonna need you to tie these things up, make some rope." 

Iopac and Yarrik looked at each other and gave a deep sigh. 

"Alright." they said simultaneously with their heads down. 

*** 

As they were weaving Yarrik decided to start a conversation. 

"Why are you doing this? He's gonna give you the gift anyway." 

"I'm doing this for two reasons, first I don't want to lose my gift privilege and lose favour with Ritis, and second is just helping you out."

"Oh… thanks." 

"No worries, always got your back." He gave a smile. "Also I'm done with my part. Are you?" 

"Huh? You were way to fast! Give me a few grains." He began rushing to finish tying his side.

"There's no need to rush, take it slow. It's better that you do just good enough." 

He turned around and looked at Iopac, he had a reassuring look. 

"Alright. Lets finish." 

***

"Now we have to tie the ripe together. I will do it and you go call Ritis." Iopac took Yarriks half of the strand and began tying it with his. "Go, or I will finish before you even get up."

"On it." 

He stood up and began hurrying to another room in the house, which was divided by walls made of roots covered in mud and wool on top. Since the house is round he has to go through one room to get to another. First he goes through his and Iopac's bedroom, there was a lot of their stuff lying around, like clothes, a few little bags filled with wooden miniatures resembling different kinds of beasts, and obviously the beds up against the outer wall. One bed was on the floor while the other was offset and a level above, they did not overlap, were parallel against each other, and looked like stairs, the top bed did have a slight wall placed on it to prevent falling into the lower one. 

Passing the bedroom he gets into another one, this time though it's only one bed, and Ritis was napping on it. Yarrik saw his chance. Carefully and quietly he approached the edge of Ritis' bed, while his back was facing him, and prepared to scare him. 

"What are you doing?" Ritis asked not turning around.

Yarrik froze in shock and with a shaky voice replied "We finished the rope." 

"Well that's good." He turns around and gets up. "Let's go see it."

"How did you know I was here?" 

"Instinct."

"Instinct?"

"Yeah, you'll get one when you become a hunter." 

"You think I'll become a hunter?" 

"Kids like you always do, even when they don't think so." 

Ritis walked first and Yarrik followed closely behind him, overthinking Ritis' words. They enter the kitchen. 

"Done" Iopac says while holding the long rope in his hands.

"Is it sturdy?" 

"I think it is." 

"We should check it." 

"How?" 

"Come." Ritis went outside, and found a true with a strong, thick branch on it. He tied the rope to it and led the other end free. "Alright, now try swinging on it." 

"Ooh let me go first!" said Yarrik. 

Ritis chuckled, "Sure, there's time for both." 

Yarrik first held the rope with both hands, then jumped and grappled with his feet.

"Alright! I'm ready!" 

Ritis held Yarrik by the waist and began pushing him, Yarrik swung back and forward for a short while until he got dizzy. After he got off, Iopac got his chance, although he did not stay as long as Yarrik did. After Iopac got off, Ritis tested it, and managed to swing, though unlike the boys he had enough strength to support himself with just his arms.

"Right first test confirmed." Ritis said.

"First? What are you testing it for?" Iopac asked.

"A rope is a tool, perhaps the greatest tool if you know how to use it. You can kill with it, you can swing with it, and you can tie stuff and carry stuff with it." 

"And you trusted us with making one for you?" Yarrik asked.

Ritis smiled, "Not at all, you're the ones who will use it." 

Yarrik and Iopac look at one another, their eyes widened with excitement. 

"You're gonna take us hunting?" Yarrik asked

"Is that our weapon? How are you going to kill something with it?" Iopac added on with questions. 

"Blah! Shut up. It's a tool not a weapon, just because you can kill with it doesn't mean you can. As for the hunting part, perhaps, perhaps not. Who knows?" Ritis raised his shoulders and walked back to the house. 

Yarrik and Iopac followed along closely, mumbling to each other. 

When they got back Ritis gestured them to sit at the table.

"A job well done, deserves a reward!" He pulled out two necklaces. Sharp, pointy and small teeth tied by a well weaved together thin string. "Don't harm yourselves with these though." They both put their hands out and took them. 

"Wooow, pretty! What beast did this belong to?" Yarrik asked. 

"Why are they so sharp? What are they used for? Did you have one?" Iopac added more questions.

"Ahh, let's see this. They are sharp because I used them to pick my teeth, you can use them for that too, or you can use them to carve messages and marks on trees in case you get lost and start spinning in circles. Yes I had one, the one you hold right now Iopac. And the creature I got this from was a Blisk. A snake with teeth not just inside its jaws but also on the outside. It jumps and wraps itself around you then with the teeth on the outside it starts cutting you down and eats you through its skin! They never got to me though, the necklaces are proof." 

Iopac and Yarrik put on their necklaces. 

"Won't this cut us though?" Yarrik asked.

"A little bit, but not that deep you won't get much more than a scratch, unless you try. It will help you maintain balance and will help you train your focus." 

"How will it train our focus?" Iopac asked.

"Simply, if you are paying attention to the itch you are focusing on trivial things, if you are not then your mind is focused on important things. Or something like that."