Solo A Place to Live

[Alea Davenport]

89th Fall, 512

Alea shivered as she made her way to the site of her new house at the crack of dawn. It was almost winter, but fortunately the house was almost finished. Sharai had said that, barring sonething going wrong, they should be able to finish and Alea could move in today. As she climbed up to the Petal of the Timid Cougar with her backpack filled with her possessions, she could see the great stag's head come into view. An unfamiliar feeling, made of equal parts pride and joy, welled within her at the sight of it.

The stag's antlers were still a bit short, but Alea could already see Groth attaching more branches to them. What appeared to be a dark black nose was actually the main entrance to the house, which currently had a large black fur hung across it to keep out the chill, but in the warmer seasons it could be folded up or taken down to allow air and visitors to flow through freely. Alea pushed the pelt aside to enter and survey the progress they'd made. Deciding to unpack later, she dropped her pack on the floor, which was bare wood aside from a comfy-looking couch along one wall. The thought occured to her that a few throw rugs would make it much more cozy; she would have to look into that. Near the back there was a neat stone fireplace, with a chimney that would allow the smoke to snake its way through the hollow antlers. Near the fireplace was a small staircase, which Alea took up to the small upper floor.

This was even more simply funrnished than the downstairs. The only funtiture was the bed, but what made this floor interesing were all the nooks and crannies. First, on either side of the bed were two windows, about two feet across, which looked like eyes from the outside. There were ridges above the eyes to help keep rain out, but also, sitting beside Alea's bed were two round glass windows which were obviously meant to fit in the eyeholes. Alea took a moment to see how they fit together. The glass had a wooden frame, that had the same interlocking pieces that graced all Jamoura construction. She placed one of the wondows in an eye-hole, and with a few chimes of trial and error and jiggling, she figured out that these pieces locked by twisting them together. She installed the second window and continued her inspection of the house.

In the back, right up against the trunk of the tree the stag's head was built on, was a cranny between the two stag ears. These ears were designed specifically to catch a cross breeze, to keep the home comfortably fresh and cool when desired. Of course, since it was almost winter, the air passages were currently blocked by removable wooden panels, attached in much the same way as the windows. Above her was a small opening: the base of a hollow antler (not the one serving as chimney). The opening was about six feet above the ground, but there was a small ledge halfway up so that she could access it if she wanted. She had been thinking of using it as storage space.

She was about to head outside to help Groth when she heard a very suspicious noise. A yowl, followed by a small thump, and then a scampering sound. Before Alea had time to wonder just what was going on, she saw a small pick cat-nose peek around a corner higher up in the antlers. She couldn't help a small laugh. It looked like Tom was getting used to his new home. Shaking her head as she walked back toward the windows, she turned her mind from the antics of her cat to the challenge of getting outside.

Removing one of the windows, she eased herself out of it, trying not to think too hard about how far the ground was. She'd had the idea to make the stag's eyes her own secret way of getting into and out of her house, but for it to be sufficiently special, there had to be something to deter just anyone from using it. As such, it was not exactly the safest route. Still, it was designed to be possible for a novice climber like Alea.

She held onto the ridge above the eye and sat on the sill as she pulled one leg at a time out of the window and placed with on the rough, sharply sloping stag's cheek below. The wood was rough enough that she didn't slip, but it was still terrifying to be standing on a near-vertical surface with nothing but a tenuous grip on something barely qualified to be called a handhold, and the dizzying emptiness stretching below her farther than she could see. She was paralyzed by fear for a few moments, and it took several deep breaths and stubbornness of will to get her moving again. After all, she couldn't stay here forever, and going back inside was too much like giving up.

From her foot that was still on the window sill, she pushed off, trying to get up onto the safe part of the stag's head in one go. But she miscalculated, or fear held her back, and she only gained about an arm's length before nearly falling to her death. Her foot scrambled for purchase, unable to find the window sill again, and her hands clawed at the wood on top of the eye ridge, much like a cat would in a similar situation. Sadly, unlike the cat, Alea's hands were not exactly designed for gripping bark, and they sustained a fair bit of scraping in her painful bid to keep her grip.

He free foot, meanwhile, had found purchase on the steep slope next to her other foot, which left her body at an uncomfortable somewhat sideways angle. Trying too hard to survive to have time for fear, she immediately proceeded to awkwardly and slowly edge her feet up the slope. With every step, she also clawed her arms further onto the eye ridge, and soon she heaved her torso up as well. Now that most of her weight was centered on a flat surface, she felt safer, but it still took a great deal of wiggling and kicking to bring the rest of her body and her legs up with her.

Scooting herself forward inch by inch, she finally managed to get enough of her onto the flat ledge that she could roll over onto her back and sit up. She breathed heavily, her legs dangling over the ridge, trying to recover from that madness. She examined her painfully sore fingers, sucking on any that had blood coming out of them as she tried not to think about how she would get back down. When she had recovered, she pulled her legs onto the stag's forehead with the rest of her, and then went to help Groth.

[Alea Davenport]

"Good morning, Alea," the Jamoura said in a pleasant gravelly voice. Alea merely nodded in greeting. She and the other Jamoura had been working relentlessly on this house for almost a season, and Alea was at the point where just the thought of more work had her almost too exhausted to speak. It was all she could do to pick up the now-familiar pail of sap and get to work.

Over the season Alea had become familiar with Groth's way of laying out the wood so that the pieces to be used soonest were on the top. The pieces for the antlers were mostly longish, hollow tubes which gradulally became smaller and fit inside each other. Some Jamoura, Groth or Sharai or someone, had marked the antler pieces to indicate exactly how much wood should overlap. When Alea asked what the markings were for, Groth explained. "If too little wood overlaps, the joints will become unstable and fall apart easily. But if you overlap too much, the antlers will end up looking short and stunted. And I don't think a stag with stunted antlers would suit you," he added with a wry grin.

"Huh," was all Alea could muster in response. Certainly she wanted her house to look right. She would just be glad when it was over and built. This late in the season it was getting uncomfortably cold outside, and Alea put on her mittens. Having learned her lesson with the sticky resin, Alea figured out that a stick wrapped in a scrap bit of cloth worked just as well as a hand for spreading the stuff, and she wouldn't be trying to rub the stuff of her hands for bells afterwards.

She spread resin around the bottom of the hollow tube, just up to the mark. She also spread some resin inside the larger tube already attached to the anlter structure, for good measure. She put the new, smaller tube inside the larger, being careful to only go up to the mark, then twisted it back and fortha little to make sure the resin was good and even across the whole surface. She held it like that for a few seconds, to let the resin dry enough to hold the wood, and then she moved on to the next piece.

She repeated this procedure many times over the course of the morning. Some of the pieces branchs, rather than being just a straight tube. Groth corrected her sometimes when she was about to install one of these backwards. She was glad she had him there to make sure she wouldn't have to take it apart and try to do it over again, because one the resin dried, there was no easy way of taking it apart.

Groth was working on the antler that contained the chimney, which mean that Alea's antler was the one full of narrow passages for the cat to crawl through. Tom made a few more appearances while she was working, exploring the ever, lengthening tunnels. She reached out to pet him when he passed. Sometimes she could reach him, but usually he was more intent on exploring than on standing still long enough to have his fur stroked. At least he wasn't actively trying to run away from her.

When Groth called for lunchtime, Alea realized she only had a few pieces of antler left. She had been climbing the anlter as she built it up, and she realized that it was just about tall enough to reach the petal above. It was like a ladder... but no, the rungs weren't straight, it was more like a nice, easy climbing tree, with branches sticking out in all directions, but in such a way that there was always one in easy reach. She climbed back down, and spent lunchtime contemplating the potential uses of a secret path to and from her home.

[Alea Davenport]

After lunch, it didn't take long for Alea to finish her work on the antlers, and by that time, Groth was also finished. He did one last climb around the house, and informed her that the JAmoura construction team had done all they could. The house was finished, barring any furniture rearranging Alea wanted to do. He congratulated her, and told her offically that her work on this house had been enough to earn the home without costing her a single Miza. She bid goodbye to Groth, wondering briefly if she would ever have reason to see him again. The thought left her mind as a wave of relief filled her. It was done. The house was hers.

She went inside, but there was really nothing left to be done. The only furniture she had was the couch and her bed, and those were already in ideal positions. She did, however, notice her pack on the floor. With a sigh, she decided that as long as she was here, she might as well unpack.

In the end, she ended up stuffing most of her belongings either under her bed or in a pile next to it, the pile consisting mostly of camping gear and the like. Up in the storage antler she placed anything small and valuable, like her map of Taldera, and the small carving of her that Banir had given her as a goodbye present. When she last saw him he had left for the Spires. Maybe now that her house was finished, she should look for him.

Clothing was in a pile at the foot of her bed, and she put her fishing gear in a corner on the lower floor. Finally, she flung herself onto the couch, completely exhausted and glad that she could finally breath easy. She had a house for the winter, and she did not owe anymore money or work to anyone. She still had a little money left, so she could afford to rest for a couple of days before looking for a job.

She must have dozed off, because she was half in a dream when she felt something fuzzy crawl up next to her. At first she thought it was her cat, but Tom always slept next to her head; he would never sleep on top of her, and the fuzzy thing was definitely curled up on her stomach. Her confusion woke her enough for her eyes to snap open.

All she saw immediately was a pure white ball of fluff. "Eh?" she mumbled, still groggy and confused. She reached out a had to touch the fluff. The fur was fairly short, but softer even than Tom's. The thing emmitted a squeaky chittering sound, and Alea felt a tickle on her stomach ad it stood up on spindly legs and skittered around to face her.

"Gah!" she said, starled at the sight of eight black eyes staring at her from above several wriggling mandibles. Reflex had caused her to jump up off the couch before she could think. This caused the unfortunate creature to lose its grip and try as it might to cling to Alea's shirt, the huge white spider slid down to the floor. Not to be deterred, it promptly snuggled up against Alea's leg.

Alea, by this time, had mostly gotten over her shock, and seeing as the spider did not seem intent on harming her (unless it planned to cuddle her to death), she was starting to find it rather cute. She knelt down to get a closer look, petting its fuzzy body absently. Where had it come from? What WAS it? Was it going to stick around? Alea couldn't help but laugh at the thought; it seemed she was destined to collect animals. First Tom the cat, then the Gilding she named Beast, Yuros the stag kelvic, and now this spider...Zed.

Alea hadn't realize she was going to keep him, but then the name popped into her head, and she knew he was going to be one of her ever-growing family. What did spiders eat anyway? She would have to figure out how to make sure he had enough food if he was going to stay with her. Still, she could to that tomorrow. Right now, she planned to relax.

Sitting back down on the couch, she let Zed cral up into her lap, and soon she dozed off, letting go of all the tension the urgency of building the house had caused within her. Once winter came, she would be safe inside these walls, the walls of her soul, her stag. Her Yuros.

[Capricious]

Alea Davenport

Award

Skill	XP Earned	Lore Earned
Construction	1	• My House Makes Me Proud
Organization	1	• Alea’s Home: Layout
Climbing	1	• My Antlers Have Many Uses
Observation	1	• I Shall Name You Zed and You Shall Be My Zed

Congratulations! You have a home! And a Crystal Spider! I look forward to seeing Alea and Zed interact. I believe you played the spider to the true nature and I adore Zed. There weren’t many points I could award in this thread, as you did not describe working on the house in enough detail to earn excessive points and Alea barely organized. I did give you one point in observation for noticing future uses of things, such as the stag horns.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.