31. Every moment matters

"Timber!" Loud voice could be heard somewhere from the forest. Soon, crashing of branches followed it, making it one less tree in the sparse forest left in the valley.

Ever since Ivory mentioned a story from some ancient forestry safety guidebook, Blaze took great pleasure in yelling that word every time he felled a tree. He considered himself a master woodchopper now. Ivory told him correct word would be a 'lumberjack' but he did not care.

He climbed up the side of fallen tree, and started pruning branches off. He found it to be easiest to just walk on top of it and swing his laser left and right, letting branches go down by themselves. They felled so many trees, that they left branches where they fell, just taking the trunk of the tree, depositing it outside of marked area to dry out.

Area was marked by Mani. After they made their cottages and sorted out living area, they took a walk around and checked the terrain where their station is going to land. It was not as big as they expected it to be, honestly, considering how huge that pyramid looked when they saw it first.

They found all four cornerstones and cleared area around them first. Then Mani did some calculations and went with Yax in full circle, well square, and used wooden stakes to mark the line where their home's edge will be.

Then they started to clear the area. Used to be frugal with resources, and since most of the trees were first class materials, they decided to cut all the bushes and small trees first. That way, while they collect and move big ones, unnecessary lumber can dry out and later be burned to ashes.

Burning freshly cut wood was near impossible, so not like they had much choice. Blaze remembered his own experiment with that. Not great results acquired and Floreo laughed at him for days. Even Echo smiled. But that was fine.

Standing on top of the log and watching around at Yax and Cid working on their own trees, Blaze breathed and sweated and enjoyed himself in the fullest. This was life. He jumped down, grabbed the top part of his log, and started to drag it towards the edge.

Outside of the space they were clearing, logs were drying under the sun, stacked on each other in square pattern. From afar, they looked a bit like some weird buildings. There was quite a lot of them in the end. He had no idea what they will use it for, but hey, life was long, future unpredictable.

Back at the camp, Jone worked with Echo on preparing today's lunch. They had some fishes caught fresh from the river for grilling; acorns, that were left to soak through night to remove bitterness, to boil and mash; mushrooms and wild vegetables for poaching. Everyone would come back before noon, to eat and rest in the safety of the shade.

Even after two months of unsheltered life, Jone could not find any skin damage on himself, or anyone else. Even though they used up all the sunblock lotion Hama made for them, their skin did not burn nor blister. They did not shrivelled like Ah Kin either.

Was getting into shade during time sun was in zenith so important? Or was that lotion so effectively protecting them even when they hey had none left? Or was their skin different from the start? They were, after all, young improved models.

Jone had no answers. He was just glad that they were doing fine. Even Ivory was all right. After that first panic attack they adjusted the tea mixture and it was now a daily ritual. Every morning Ivory had his tea, and Mani had his coffee and world was a peaceful place.

"Timber!" Another yell came from the valley and Jone snickered. Blaze was having time of his life since they arrived here. He enjoyed woodworking, constructed not only their cottages but a pergola for kitchen as well.

He even learned to hunt, and once a week he and Yax would go catch a deer or a sheep up at the hilltops. Meat was protein. They had no soybeans, and fish was not enough. Cute or not, once they were turned to cutlets, no one had issues with eating them.

Jone did not ask Blaze what's going on between him and Echo. So far there were no signs of any great intimacy between them. But they had a good relationship as roommates, splitting chores and taking care of keeping it all withing acceptable hygiene level.

Same situation as he and Ivory, basically. Rooming up, supporting eachother, making their daily routine stable to prevent any mishaps.

Jone chopped off fish's head with single precise strike of his knife and pushed it into a bucket to be used for soup. Yep, they were indeed compatible roommates.

Not like that old pervert Cid, who caused Floreo to be bedridden for a day. Nope, hey were nothing like that. Or that sticky Yax, who spent every possible moment glued to Mani. Groping him and whatnot. Shameless.

Echo watched bucket getting filled with fish heads, and contemplated if he should inform Jone that it's too much. Forget it, they will just left it boil until evening and make a meat jello out of it for tomorrow.

At the same time, Mani and Floreo were busy with their latest experiment. Of course, they already did their morning chores, which was to collect dry branches for firewood. They had lots of freshly cut timber, but that burned rather poorly so they had to collect already dried, dead branches for cooking.

While doing that, they gathered as many ivy they could pull down from trees they passed by. Some ivy was too old and thick, some was too thin and weak, but they managed to collect quite a lot within the thickness and length they needed.

After dragging their haul back to camp, they sat on stumps that served as stools, and started peeling bark off ivy they collected. They got really good at it during past few days, and before lunch time they had a bunch of long peeled ivy stems.

Ivory came back from his task a that time, holding a basket that was made by weaving peeled ivy stems that he made to make mooshroom gathering easier. He now used it every day when gathering fresh food from the forest. Sometimes, he even used it to catch firsh with it.

He saw what Floreo and Mani were doing and just had to ask "Making baskets for yourself? I could've made it for you." It would not be a problem for him to make few more, he did make like for of them, and thought it enough.

Mani and Floreo exchanged glances "Thanks for the offer" said Mani, "But we are making something else" Floreo finished. Then they got up, gathered all their ivy, and took it to the river to soak it in a shallow pool they dug in gravely bank.

Ivory rolled eyes at them. They were finishing eachothers sentences now, what a fast bonding. He took his haul to kitchen area. At least Jone and Echo were still normal.

Soon, the three lumberjacks came back from their morning shift of logging.

At first, they thought to rotate the tasks to keep it fair and interesting, and it worked somehow while they were clearing out bushes, but..

Yax was horrible at cooking, so he got banned from that immediately.

Mani was too obsessed with following square patterns while cleaning forest areas, so he got banned from that.

Blaze was passable at cooking, but he just couldn't estimate correct amount of food to make, so they were either left hungry or had too much when he cooked. So, banned as well.

Echo got lost when collecting food, had to look for him for half a day. Banned.

Jone would get sidetracked to collecting everything edible when he was supposed to just chop bushes. Banned.

Floreo, Cid and Ivory were only ones who could do most of things in passable manner, and after a while, they just decided to give up on rotating tasks.

Current workload division proved to be optimal for everyone, and they found a comfortable routine pattern that they all agreed on.

Floreo and Mani came back from the river, and started to set up table for lunch. They made it from a long log cut in half, and placed it under a huge chestnut tree near the kitchen area.

That way they were in shade while eating, but still, they would go to their individual cottages after that. Sun glare was way too strong for full four hours around noon, so they used that time to take a nap, before going back to work in the afternoon.

While food was being brought over, Mani caught Blaze and dragged him to the side, with Floreo bouncing after them.

"Blaise, Blaise, come, we need a favour."

"Sure." Blaze laughed at chattering Mani, delighted by how open Mani became towards him. Brotherhood rocks!

Mani took a branch and draw a rectangle "Can you make us a wooden frame this size?"

Floreo inspected it, took the branch and enlarged the drawing a bit. Mani scrutinized it "You are right, should be this big." They both looked at Blaze with expectation.

"No problem," Blaze said, "It's easy. What do you need it for?"

They both smiled "To use it for making a bed, of course."