Clara shrugs and walks inside for supper.
Jewel waits with Tarjun, anticipating the fun of scaring Clara for what seems like hours...... until she realizes that Clara probably isn't coming.
Standing up she looks around, then turns to offer a hand to Tarjun and help him stand. "We'd better get home or supper will be cold. I'm surprised that nobody is yelling for us. I didn't think to tell Mom or Dad where we would be!"
Clara sits comfortably at the dinner table, enjoying dried sausages, while Jewel sits behind a bush imagining the punishment for getting home late and Tarjun jumps at shadows, which are not scared at all.
"Supper is ready." Shelly calls in a honeyed voice as she hears steps entering the house.
And indeed the table is laid, and the smell of a delicious soup fills the house.
Jewel quickly washes up before sitting at her spot at the table. "Smells great. Tarjun made a really good fish trap today. I'm hoping that it catches a bunch of little fish to feed the owl. Then she can protect her nest easier until the chicks are born, err.... hatched."
To Tarjun's surprise noone mentions them being late. After supper everyone goes to bed.
Early in the morning Heihei, the stupid rooster, crows far too early for the taste of those staying out late. The weather is wonderful. It's warm with a fresh breeze, a few white clouds in a blue sky and the sun is shining. Everything is green and growing. And everything includes the weeds which stand a foot tall between the cabbages again.
Wishing she could stay in bed, just a little longer.... Jewel rolls out and dresses. She hardly tastes breakfast thinking about the fish trap. If it worked they'd just take a little fish from it out to the nest. Then they'd have the rest of the day for fun!
As they leave the house she groans at the sight of the weeds. "Sometimes I wish Erastil would grant a spell to pull weeds! Clara would probably try the scepter and burn the cabbages!"
Clara enjoys her breakfast. As she sees the work Jewel does she tries a different set of skills to start the day. "I'll go and see what Tarjun and Jewel are doing in the field!" she calls into the house before leaving immediately.
Then she sneaks away to somewhere else where no work is seen.
|
Tarjun was having a wonderful dream about roaming the sea as the Pirate King, with a peg leg, a pet parrot and a cool eyepatch. He had just captured a merchant vessel transporting the Queen's pancakes, and was about to enjoy his lion's share, when the rooster woke him up.
"Stupid Heihei," he grunts, and, shifting position, tries to go doze off. But the ship and his crew mates are foggy, their contours indistinct. He has lost them, he realizes, as the second rooster's crow snaps him awake, for good this time.
"Sometimes I wish I we'd be on the sea," he grumbles back to Jewel, and gets to work after this obscure statement.
He doesn't notice Clara at all, partly because he's never facing her direction, partly because he seems too deep in his day dream to care.
Once the work in the fields is done, Clara magically reappears with Jewel an dTarjun. "Are we going to check on the fish trap?"
Jewel wipes sweat from her face and glances around. "Guess we're done here. Let's go get some water and check with Mom and Dad. There might be something else they want us to do." She helps Tarjun to stand straight and get started back to the house.
"Okay, I'll wait here for you." Clara tells and disappears into the shrubbery again.
As Jewel and Tarjun ask if there is more work or if they can leave to the river, Shelly packs them lunch. A cheese sandwich and an apple for each of them. "Have fun. And be careful. Don't fall into the river - you could drown!"
Jewel takes the bag lunch and turns toward the door. She glances back at her Mom's words. "Mom! We're careful. And the trap isn't in deep water!"
She and Tarjun head out toward the river.
Clara sneakily joins the two on their way.
As all three appear at the river, they find that an otter is delighted of the new feeding place, where fish is provided for free without hunting it.
Jewel laughs when she sees the otter ruining their plans. "Tarjun wait! He's just enjoying an easy meal.... No need to fight with it."
She approaches the otter, activating her Feral speech hex. "Hello Mr. Otter. I hope you don't mind, but we'd like to have one little fish from our trap. We need it to help feed another animal that can't hunt for herself right now. You can have the rest if there are any, and I'll help you get them out without damaging it."
Jewel's diplomatic way come too late. The otter flees with what it could grab.
But the trap was successful. Even though the best pieces are gone, two and a half fish are left.
Jewel falls down giggling as the otter runs off. "Don't worry Tarjun. The otter just wanted an easy meal! We can fix the damage once we get back. Let's take the fish to the owl so she can eat...."
The owl still sits on her nest. As Jewel approaches she looks at her with suspicion. But her gaze wanders to the fish again and again.
Jewel uses her Feral Speech hex as she approaches, "Hello Mama Owl. We've just got a couple of fish for you to eat so you won't have to hunt. I'm going to set this bucket down and pour the fish out. Then we'll all back away to let you eat. Hope your babies are doing really well...."
She watches the owl as she does just as she said, backing away and leaving the fish flopping on the ground near the nest.
"Goodbye and we'll come again tomorrow with more."
The owl dives down, picks the fish up and lets it slide down her throat with with stretched out neck. Then she quickly returns to the nest. She closely watches Jewel and the other kids further back.
"Takes one to know one!" Clara parrots the insult she overheard once.
Jewel shrugs and turns away. "She's a hungry mamma. She might be more talkative once her babies are safe. Let's get back and see what needs to be done with the trap. I hope it wasn't seriously damaged!"
Back at the river you find that Tarjun has now one sock less with no holes. The otter wasn't nice to it when getting to the fish. The rest of the trap is still intact.
Jewel looks at the trap and the missing sock. "Well, Unless someone wants to learn how to make socks, that idea can't be done again. And Mom won't be happy if all of your socks are gone, regardless whether or not you want to wear them!"
"We just need something to hold the bait inside of the trap. The fish swim in to eat, and stay cause they aren't smart enough to figure out how to get out. Maybe if there were just a little cage area attached to the bottom? But there'd have to be some way to open it to add the bait...."
"Why not throw in some swimming bait and then hit the fish over the head with a club?" Clara suggests.
"Well, the idea is to draw the fish in to the trap but not actually let it eat the bait. That way other fish will smell the bait in the water and can swim in too. Fishing with hook and line works too, but that means we have to spend the time doing it."
"I guess that's OK though. The eggs should hatch soon so we'll only need to catch fish for another week or two...."
"But we've already fed the owl today. What sounds like fun? We should have a few hours left before dinner!"
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEIwqmr_-_w]Best idea ever!!! :D[/ooc]
"How long does it take to catch a fish with a line and a hook?" Clara inquires.
This needs an experiment. As she has no fishing line and no hook and no fish bait, she uses a stick, some twine and beef-jerky. Then she holds the bait in front of Tarjun's face and starts counting in her mind. 1, 2, 3, 4, ... That should do as a representative data collection.
Jewel just laughs when the others add their suggestions. "Clara! Are you trying to catch Tarjun? He's not a fish!"
"We don't need any more fish today. Let's go up to the shrine and play with the little catapult."
"I just want to evaluate how hard it would be to catch fish. They are less smart than Tarjun, and if it works for him it can't be harder with fish."
"So I got you within a minute. You couldn't resist. I just need to add a hook." Clara concludes.
"And you need to find bait for the fish that they like as much as Tarjun likes jerky. Then you will have solved the problem of world hunger! Until there aren't any more fish...."
"I'm not going to work my ass off to feed the whole world. They can do their own fishing!" Clara objects.
"That's it! We need to teach the owl how to play air force for our games!" Clara calls out excitedly.
Jewel just giggles at Tarjun's comments, but Clara's words....
"That's an interesting idea Clara! But first the Mama Owl will need to hatch her babies. But maybe after they hatch, and grow a little, maybe we can train the babies! We don't want to make them tame exactly. But maybe we can teach them to trust us? We are the Guardians of Erastil after all!"
"Owls are afraid at day. They only hunt at night." Clara comments precociously. And invalidating her own suggestion just a minute ago.
"What? Owls aren't afraid during the day. They just see better than their prey at night."
"But you have a good point. If we want hunting birds for during the day it'd be easier to choose birds that like hunting during the day. Like Tarjun says, maybe a falcon, or hawk.... Or an eagle would be really cool!"