Solo Building Bridges

Hiberna helps out with some tasks at her old home

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This northernmost city is the home of Morwen, The Goddess of Winter, and her followers who dwell year round in a land of frozen wonder. [Lore]

Building Bridges

Postby Hiberna on November 2nd, 2020, 10:40 pm

Building Bridges
Fall the 37th, 520 AV


For most of her life, Hiberna had spent the first half of the day stomping down trails from one location to the next through the freshly fallen snow, but for the last couple years that hadn’t been necessary. Instead, they faced new problems. There was no new snow, because it was too warm for new snow. In fact, it had been warm enough they’d been having the opposite problem. All the old snow was melting, and that meant the paths were now littered with spots where the ground was showing through, spots that were now mud. The mud was just one more reminder that Morwen was gone. For some, sinking into a foot of mud was just an inconvenience. Maybe their socks would get wet. Maybe they’d lose a boot. But for those who were carrying a heavy load, these mud pits halted them in their tracks, slowing down or completely stopping whatever work there was to be done. Which was why Hiberna was back with her old hold, Snowsong, trying to come up with a solution. Though she wasn’t a carpenter or woodworker, she did understand their work and knew where their supplies and tools were, and that made her useful there, at least more useful than she was to Iceglaze, the hold she’d married in to. Three years of living with them, and Hiberna still felt as useless as the day she had arrived.

That’s why she was out in her full winter get up with her fur-lined boots and parka and her heavy mittens. It wasn’t cold, at least nor as cold as it had been before. In fact, this was probably the warmest Avanthal had ever seen, certainly since its Goddess had made it Her home. The temperatures hovered around freezing, sometimes frozen things thawing and sometimes melted things freezing again. But this cold felt different, foreign. Hiberna rubbed her left hand over the back of her right, pawing at the mark of Morwen she knew was underneath, the mark that she knew was still gray and dull and lifeless. Everyone who was marked had felt it the moment Morwen had left. Hiberna suspected that even the Vantha who weren’t marked still felt their Goddess leave. Now, though, the marks and this new, empty cold were just a few more reminders that Morwen was still missing.

She and her Snowsong companion, Parrsni, stared down at the mud pit that was a short way from the Snowsong Arvinta.

“What do you reckon we could do about these?”

Parrsni shrugged. “Dunno. You have any bright ideas?”

Hiberna shrugged back and stared a little while longer. “What if we filled it in?”

“With what?”

“Sawdust?” Hiberna shrugged. It wasn’t much of an idea, but it was the best she had. “That’ll absorb some of the water, right?”

Parrsni nodded. “Yes, it would.” Then he shook his head. “But not enough. Not when you have a foot of mud to slush through. Not to mention, what happens if more snow melts?”

If. Everyone always spoke that way, as if it wasn’t a sure thing, as if the world wouldn’t continue to just warm up around them, and Hiberna couldn’t blame them for thinking that way. She had a hard enough time not thinking that way herself. After all, that had been all her people had ever known. The world was frozen, as far as they were concerned, and that was something that was never going to change. Except it had. The world was changing around them, and the Vantha couldn’t seem to come to grips with that. It was always if, not when.

She nodded at his statement though, because he was right. “Yeah, I shoulda thought of that, I reckon.”

Parrsni nodded, then shrugged. “So if not that, then what?”

Hiberna glared at him as her eyes turned red. Facial expressions were a bad habit she’d picked up from Solemn, her adopted brother and bondmate. Vantha generally let their eyes do the talking, the unique color change alerting others to shifts in their emotion. Hiberna had learned to communicate with both, and sometimes it bought her odd stares from her fellow Vantha. “Hey, you’re supposed to the expert here. I’m just here to lend a hand.”

Parrsni nodded. “You’re probably right.” He looked back at the mud and shrugged again.

Both stared at it for a while, several chimes passing before Hiberna opened her mouth with what she was sure was another bad idea. “Well, if we can’t fill them up, we can always go around them, but eventually, the new trails will just get the same problem. So if we can’t fill them in and can’t go around them, then I guess we gotta go over them. But how?”

“My thoughts exactly.”

Hiberna took that to mean he didn’t have any thoughts of his own, and that suspicion just seemed to be confirmed when he went quiet again for nearly a chime. Sighing, she put her mind to work and spoke when she had another thought. “Well, I suppose they gave this job to Snowsong for a reason. We’re the best carpenters.”

“We?”

Hiberna smiled, her eyes shifting to a brilliant violet as she thought lovingly and longingly of her home hold. “I’ll ever not be.”

His eyes shifted, blue indicating happiness. “Isn’t that the truth?”

They both nodded, their eyes never leaving the mud pit.

“So what can we do?”

“Don’t look at me.” Parrsni shook his head. “I’m not building a bridge over every single one of these we find.”

“Not a bridge. Just something we can walk across without getting wet.”

“So… a bridge?”

Hiberna burst out laughing at that, and Parrsni joined in. When they finally had the breath again, Hiberna put words to what she was thinking. “Just something to walk across, like a plank, but something that’s a little broader, a little more substantial, something that someone with an armful of something heavy wouldn’t have to think twice about walking across.”

Parrsni’s eyes lit up. “Now you’re on to something. Come on. Let’s get back to the arvinta. I’ll show you what I’m thinking when we get there.”

WC=1,028
Last edited by Hiberna on November 22nd, 2020, 4:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
Hiberna
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Building Bridges

Postby Hiberna on November 4th, 2020, 2:46 am

Happy to have some direction to go, Parrsni spun on his heel and headed back for the Snowsong Arvinta where the tools of his trade were waiting for them. A song popped into his head, an old one but one Hiberna recognized, and he began to whistle it as he wandered away. Hiberna smiled as she watched his ambling retreat. It was something she missed about her hold. Often, while there was work to be done, someone would have some sort of song to accompany it. That wasn’t to say that other holds didn’t keep their work lively and entertaining, but Hiberna had been born a Snowsong, and song was what she knew. Picking up the tine in her head and matching his pitch, Hiberna began to hum quietly along, so quietly only she could hear. This was her way. She was in her element when singing lullabies, song so soft they were meant for a single individual.

Hiberna twisted to follow him, but she was standing too close to the edge of the mud. It wasn’t the sort that one sank into, not where she was standing. Rather, it was the kind of mud that created a slick layer on top of a completely stable layer underneath. It was the more insidious type. One didn’t know they were standing on it until they started to slip. Hiberna started. Her foot jolted in one direction as her torso twisted the other. Her arms short out from her body to try to stabilize her listing body, and in a desperate attempt to stay upright, she tried to plant the other foot. It found itself in the same predicament and slipped in a third direction, shifting her balance once more. Her arms swung around in one last effort not to fall.

It would have been better for her if she had just taken the fall, far less humiliating at least. Parrsni had turned back at her stammered ‘oh shit’ and caught most of her inelegant attempt to stay vertical. Her final effort threw her too far off balance to recover from, and she tumbled down on her hands and knees into the mud. Parrsni burst into laughter again, and Hiberna, arms and legs half submerged in mud, glared at him again, her eyes turning red.

“It isn’t funny,” she hissed, trying to pull an arm free, but the mud had a grip on her mitten and was trying to pull it off her hand. She stopped.

Seeing her anger, Parrsni stopped laughing, shrugged, then laughed again. “It kind of is.”

Glancing down, Hiberna found her parka spattered with mud and felt ridiculous. She couldn’t help herself. Her eyes broke from red to green as laughter bubbled out of her. It was musical and infectious, and it made Parrsni laugh even more. The two fed off each other, and pretty soon both were laughing so hard they could barely breathe. Slowly, laughter subsided, and all that was left was the bitter, northern wind whistling through the buildings.

Clenching her fist so the mud couldn’t pull her mitten off, Hiberna slowly pulled her hand away, and the gentleness of her gesture seemed to convince the mud to release its claim on her hand. Limb by limb, she worked herself free until she was standing, the bottom half of her boots still covered in mud. Step by squelching step, she made her way to the edge of the mud puddle, catching a chuckle from Parrsni as she did.

“What?”

Parrsni performed an exaggerated imitation of her waddle through the mud, and Hiberna joined in his chuckle, finishing the slow wade to edge of the puddle. When she reached the little shore line, she held her hand out for assistance, and Parrsni took it readily, mud and all, pulling her well free of any mud that could send her sliding again.

“You need to stop wasting time and get to the Arvinta.”

“Hey. I’m not the one playing in the mud.”

Cleaning her boots off in some nearby unmelted snow, Hiberna laughed. She shrugged, he shrugged, and they both made their way back to the Snowsong Arvinta.

As soon as they opened the door to the Arvinta, they were assaulted with warmth. Layers were an essential part of Avanthal attire, and the moment they were through the door, they were shedding their outer layer. The Arvintas were always kept warm to stave off the cold, but the difference between outdoors and in was shocking. Leaving her parka on a hook near the door and her mittens and boots in front of one of the large fires to dry, Hiberna followed Parrsni to a wood workshop off the main hall.

The smell of wood and the sound of song filled the air around her. “By the Goddess, I’ve missed this place.”

Parrsni nodded. “There’s no place like home.”

Hiberna nodded. “Isn’t that the truth?”

“But they have been treating you well there, yes?”

“Of course.”

“Good. The way Jarrec speaks so highly of you, I was pretty sure, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.”

That was news to Hiberna. She had always assumed her husband was largely indifferent. Not indifferent. That was an unfair description. He respected her and was even happy to have her as a part of his hold, but it was like he didn’t see her beyond what she could be to the hold over all. It was an arranged marriage, as most in Avanthal were, but she and Jarrec hadn’t known each other before their betrothal. She was pleased, charmed even, when he had made no demands of her their wedding night, when he respected that they hadn’t known each other well enough then, but now, she was wishing he showed some interest in her.

Hiberna shook her head to clear the thought. “Let’s get to work. What’s this idea you have?”

WC=979
Hiberna
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Building Bridges

Postby Hiberna on November 6th, 2020, 11:51 pm

Fresh cut wood was a smell every Snowsong grew up with. Whether it was one they were fond of or not depended on the individual, but it was a smell they grew up recognizing in all of its different flavors. For Hiberna, the smell was one she had always cherished. It was as natural to her as the crisp scent of new fallen snow, and she had learned to identify all the different woods just by their smells. Which was why she was surprised when she couldn’t identify what the wood was whose scent was lingering in the air.

“Is that pine?” Her question showed her hesitance.

Parrsni grimaced and shook his head. “Cedar. You really couldn’t pick that one out?”

Hiberna shook her head in shame. Parrsni had been the one who taught her those many smells, and she couldn’t meet his eyes. “No. I’ve been gone too long.”

“Isn’t that the truth?”

The longer she stood there immersed in song and wood scent, the more she realized she was homesick. Not that she couldn’t come to the hold whenever she wanted, but here, everything seemed so familiar. Here, she felt useful. In her new home, in her new hold, she didn’t feel useless, but she did feel unneeded, like she was extraneous, superfluous. She wanted to be needed. She wanted the world to fall apart if she wasn’t there to play her part. But it just wasn’t so. Still, she had a part to play now, even if it wasn’t a necessity.

She pried Parrsni for information. “So what’s this idea?”

Parrsni’s eyes lit up, and he rushed over to where a pile of long planks was sitting up against a wall. His antics were child-like, and Hiberna could tell he was eager to show off his plan. Quickly, the Snowsong carver brought several boards over, laid them on the ground butted up against each other side by side, and stepped back. He gestured proudly to the collection and awaited Hiberna’s praise. He didn’t get it.

Hiberna looked at it, looked back up at his expectant joy, and looked back down at the gathered planks. “I don’t get it.” She grimaced as she met his eyes again and watched his face fall. “Sorry.”

To demonstrate the usefulness of his invention, Parrsni strode across the planks, turned around, and gestured victoriously to them again. “See?”

Imitating his imitation of her waddle, she ambled lazily across the planks, finished, and stopped. The look he gave her and the change of the color of his eyes said he was not amused. She looked at the collection on the floor again and shrugged once more. “I’m sorry. All I see is a bunch of boards on the floor.”

“That’s exactly what it is, except it will be on the ground over the mud. When people step, it will be on solid boards and not the squishy mud underneath. Also, if we do it right, the board will distribute the weight better, and people walking over the pit won’t make it worse.” Her stare said she didn’t understand that last bit, so he went on. “If the boards aren’t sitting in the mud but beyond it in the snow and ice, then when weight comes down, it’s on the snow, not in the mud, and the pit won’t widen.”

Hiberna glanced down at the boards again with a new appreciation for Parrsni’s brilliant but simple plan. Perhaps its brilliance was in its simplicity. This was starting to make a little more sense.

Something popped into Parrsni’s head, and he shook it, realizing he didn’t have something he needed. “I forgot to measure the pit. I’m not sure how long I need to make the planks. I could just guess…”

Sad that they were momentarily stymied, Hiberna’s face fell with his until she remembered something. With a grand gesture to her mud-spattered pants, she gave him her idea. “I pretty much filled the length of the hole. If we make it me height and add a little to each end, it should be long enough to do the trick.”

Parrsni’s eyes lit up. “Now you’re thinking.”

Quickly eying her to estimate her height, he bent down, butted two boards flush against each other, and made a mark on each at the same length. Handing one board to her, he took the other for himself. “If you saw on that mark, you can use the piece that makes as a reference for the rest of your cuts.”

He was off to his work in a moment, leaving Hiberna to stare at the plank she was holding. Despite growing up around all of this, she felt woefully inadequate. Her life had always existed with all these tools around it, but she had never made use of any of them. This was how she could be useful though, and she wasn’t about to miss the opportunity. Taking her plank over to a large work table, she set the board down and looked to Parrsni to see what he was doing. The experienced carpenter was doing no measurement and making no lines on his plank to keep his cuts straight and had already made several of them.

Definitely not as confident in her own ability to make a straight cut, Hiberna looked about at the tools available. There was a saw, and though she wasn’t ready for it yet, Hiberna grabbed it. A quick scan of the tools on the work bench closest to her didn’t bring up what she was looking for, so she peeked elsewhere. Sitting out next to a half-finished project was a flat metal square and some chalk, and she could see by the marks on the boards there that whoever had been using this before her was using it for the same thing she intended. She stole them away back to her bench, and placing the square flush with one edge of her board, she drew a straight line with the chalk and set her saw to it.

She had seen things sawn hundreds of times and was sure it couldn’t be that complicated. Lining her saw up exactly with the line she had drawn, Hiberna pushed the saw cross the line slowly to stay accurate. This was not as easy as she had anticipated. The saw’s teeth kept catching the wood and skipping over it. Cursing, she tried again.

Parrsni shook his head as he walked over from the third board he was already cutting. “That’s not how it’s done. Here, let me show you.”

WC= 1,093
Hiberna
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Posts: 12
Words: 11127
Joined roleplay: September 1st, 2020, 12:20 am
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