Chapter 4 - Plans for the Future
"Well now this isn't what I expect could happen," muttered Chiion as she rides up on her horse to see Quna and Scion sparring.
What was surprising to Chiion was not that Quna was sparring with Scion but was that Quna was overpowering Scion with skills that Scion taught her, with sticks that Scion and Quna found earlier to train with.
"Tch..." muttered Scion as he then dodges a thrust by Quna and counters.
"Hah!" yelled Quna as she then repulsed the counterattack by Scion and thrust again towards Scion.
Scion kicks away the thrust and swings down on Quna. Only to be then shoulder bash by Quna, causing Scion to back flip away after the impact. Quna then lifts her stick towards Scion in form she prepares to strike just as he recovered and in a brief second he had his stance in the same form as her stance. They then look at each other for one last decisive attack as sweat trickles down their foreheads. They then both simultaneously step forward and take swing a hard slash at each other and as soon their sticks collided in unison the sticks breaks and disperses from the impact and from the point that the two stick's collided also began to illuminate the area for a brief second.
"Wha... what was that?" muttered Chiion in surprise as she then quickly spurs her horse down the hill she was on, down to the beach.
Quna and Scion then collapse from exhaustion as they see Chiion riding down towards them and then jumping off.
"Hey there Chiion sorry for leaving you there," said Scion as he waves to her.
"No matter I decided to come on my break so it is expected," said Chiion as she shrugs and then steps further and stands on the edge of the beach line where the ocean wave touches barely. "So... this is the beach and in front of me must be the ocean... what an amazing view." said Chiion as she looks out.
"It's an amazing sight isn't it?" said Quna as she gets up and looks at Scion.
After Scion gets up as well, he then shrugs, "It sure is... not what I expect to see in my life."
Seeing that the two have regain their ability to stand up Chiion took the opportunity to ask, "Besides that you two, what was that light I just saw when your sticks collided?" asked Chiion as she turns around sees the two walking away. "Hey that's rude to ignore me like that!"
"Where else is there to look after this Quna?" asked Scion as he then puts on Equinox back on him.
"Hmm how about the frozen north? I heard there are some interesting things going up there," said Quna as she then puts her weapon set back on her as she then smiles at Scion.
Scion then frowns as he then rubs his head, "But that will take us about a month just to get there you know."
"You TWO..." muttered Chiion as she looks at the two behind them as they turn around and looked at Chiion who was now clenching both of her fists tightly. "YOU CALL ME ALL THIS WAY, ONLY TO DUMP ME HERE!?" yelled Chiion with one thinking that her hair was flying up in rage as her blood veins bulging as well in anger however that was not the case.
"Huh? I guess we could build a house here so I was going to get some wood?" said Scion confused why Chiion was getting mad.
"And food as well?" Quna added on to Scion.
"Wha...?" said Chiion surprised by the reason, "Why didn't you say that to me in the first place!" said Chiion now embarrass of her sudden outrage. "Then I'll scout for a good place to build at."
Inaudible to Chiion, Quna and Scion silently sighed a breath of relief avoiding Chiion's massive lecture of etiquette.
"It's a plan, let's start right away then!" said Scion, then he and Quna then start running towards a forest near the beach.
"Geez why do I seem like I'm the crazy one here," muttered Chiion as she then turns and starts to look around for a good place to set their place at.
Chiion then walks down the beach for about three hours, and looks to edge of it and finds the spot that seem to be a rather good spot to build something at.
Chiion then whistles out to Loi that is as inaudible like Scion, as she then looks up and sees Loi flying down to Chiion landing in front of her.
"Well now Loi tell Scion that I have found the place and it is about twenty meters from where I last met Scion on the beach towards the right side of the forest exit. Relay that to him okay Loi?" said Chiion as she then sits down.
Loi then chirps in accepting the request and gives a small salute to Chiion and then flies away into the woods.
Scion-
Scion was tying up several logs of wood together as he was planning to make this a secondary base if he ever creates a primary base in his life. Then he hears a chirping noise that only Loi would make when Loi brings a message to him from Chiion.
"Oh? She sent a message huh..." muttered Scion as Loi then lands on the ground and then starts to write.
"I see..." said Scion as he nods and watches Loi then erases the message. Loi then flies up and lands on the hilt of the Tension Blade with its dutiful eyes looking at him. "Tell Chiion that I have thirty logs on hand and will be getting to her as soon as possible."
Loi then chirps in accepting the request and gives a small salute to Scion and then flies away towards the beach.
"Well now I better get these set of logs there in one journey so it looks like I got to leave the Tension Blade here for the moment," said Scion as he then unbuckles the straps to Equinox and then strikes the ground embedding it into the ground. Scion then lifts the entire set of logs all at once and starts marching towards the beach.
Chiion-
"Hey!" yelled Scion as Chiion turns to look at him and waves at him. "I got the logs here,"
Gasping Chiion hesitantly looks at Scion up and down to make sure she wasn't being tricked by his lifting load, "Really now, how much does that weight anyways?"
"Probably about three tons would be a rough estimate." said Scion as he then drops the load with a loud thud on the sands and turns to head back into the woods to retrieve the Tension Blade.
"Well now I'll get the preparations ready when you come back with Quna then," said Chiion as she sees Scion waves in confirming her request to return with Quna. Chiion then starts marking the ground after calculating and idea of what the size of the building they are going to make.
Quna-
Being an experience fighter, slashing and killing her targets in one hit would be possible if she could hunt small creatures such as squirrels and rabbits. Unfortunately and yet surprisingly the only animals that was in the area were several danger beasts and with that in mind she could only hunt them.
In her past situation she had killed about eight different danger beasts only to have most gathered danger beasts steal her kills and while at it faster than she could catch them. She had to hunt quickly and quietly while at the same time trying to stay alive. It wouldn't be long before she got into it so much that she had killed at least twenty of the danger beasts before retreating with the gathered meat.
"Quna!" yelled Scion a voice she could hear from quite a distance.
"I'm over here!" yelled Quna as Scion then came into her view of vision and stops in front of Quna.
Scion then surveys the mound of dead danger beast plopped on top of each other as he then carefully asks, "Help?"
"It would be appreciated if you could do so." smiled Quna as she points towards the other half of the gathered danger beast.
"Geez, what are we going to do with all this meat? Have a party?" said Scion surprised with the amount of meat that was now just gathered.
"We could," said Quna as she shrugs and smiles slightly before they then carry on with taking the meat back to base.
Scion then lifts up the remaining meat and they then carried the meat batch out of the forest and eventually to a planned area of which Chiion was building a fire.
Hearing their footsteps on the sands Chiion then yells out, "What took you guys so-" Chiion didn't even finish that sentence after she turns around to see the two carrying the meat on hand. "Wha! What are we going to do with all these meat?! Have a party or something!?" yelled Chiion surprise with Quna and Scion carrying a bit too much meat.
"We could," said Scion as he then chuckles at the déjà vu moment.
Quna and Scion lay the gathered meat on the placement of large leaves and turn to work on the house.
"So this is how the house would look like... isn't it a bit... large?" said Quna.
"Yes that's the plan we are going to make a house here that will stand for a long time," said Scion smiling.
"A beach house huh? This is going to be something." said Quna as she then takes out a log and lays at a different spot than it was from the other logs and then looks at the meat.
"Those meat won't cook fast so we should put them over the fire before we start the building process." said Scion as he then takes the meat and places some over the campfire to cook for the time being.
Scion then takes out the Tension Blade while walking over to the pile of logs and in several distinctive strikes hits all of the logs ripping the bark and then separating all the logs into planks and several study pillars.
"Urgh… that took a lot out of me," muttered Scion as he collapses after sheathing the Tension Blade and rubs his right forearm.
"Okay I'll handle the marking then," said Chiion. Then she then takes out a small dagger out of her ponytail as she then marks on all of the logs where to cut them and looks at Quna for some log work.
Quna nods as she then takes her sword and slashes at all the cut points with perfect accuracy making the planks smaller on one log. Then Chiion then takes the set of planks and throws them into the spot scattering the planks about as she continues this process for the remaining logs. Then looking closely to the shape of the building and the design itself Chiion then nods and starts to place the planks to where it needs to be at for the building.
Five hours later, Chiion and the others then completely finishes the sides of the beach house, drenched in sweat from all the work put into it.
"Hah... This is quite the building process," sighed Chiion with a sense of success.
"Well now all that is left is to put in roof and gather the furnitures when we can." said Scion as he rubs his chin.
"Furnitures... we're going to need some money right?" muttered Quna in question.
"Not necessarily," said Chiion as she smiles, "We could produce the furnitures ourselves, since I have been traveling for quite some time."
Quna and Scion mummers a sigh of amazement of her knowledge. "So what should we do?" asked Scion.
"At the moment we will need to eat the meat that we have gathered and I guess we could make the leftovers be jerkies... Then we'll make the furniture when we get the materials," said Chiion as she takes a wooden bark and starts carving words onto it.
Quna then surprised then mutters, "Eh? We're not going to make them here?"
"Of course not!" yelled Chiion, "We don't have the necessary materials to do that so when we get the materials we'll have to send it back here to be later made."
"Understood, until then we'll dub the beach house project under process." said Scion as looks over Chiion's shoulder reading what she was writing.
"Well then what are we going to do for now?" asked Quna.
"We are going to the North and do some work maybe?" said Scion.
"Well, if you are going towards the North then I'll do some gathering in the South," offered Chiion.
"That's okay we'll keep this a secret from the others and give this as a surprise." said Scion as he lifts his finger to his mouth.
"Alright... would that mean I have to buy some kind of transportation from now on?" asked Chiion as she thinks about it.
"Hmm..." murmured Scion thinking about it.
"I think that's the best course of action," said Quna as she then nods at Chiion.
"Nah buying one is a hassle if we get a terrible condition one. So if that is we are doing, then I will need you guys to build me a wagon," said Chiion as she then looks at the two.
"Alright let's work on it tomorrow then, I'm so hungry I could eat three danger beast whole!" said Scion as he rubs his stomach as all three of their stomachs growls.
"Ah... it would be nice if we had bread with it..." mumbled Quna as she walks over to the fire where Scion was eating through the meat.
"Bread?" said Chiion as she tilts her head in wonder following Quna hearing something from her.
"Oh!?" gasped Quna as she begins to blush, "L-let's eat right Chiion?" said Quna as she then takes a drumstick and blows on it.
"Right..." said Chiion as she looks at Quna suspiciously before blowing her meat drumstick.
"The sunset looks amazing here..." said Quna as she watches the sun set in the distance.
"Well it's dark already we took half of the day to get here and about eight hours or so to build what we can call a simple small house but, it was worth it by its own rights." said Scion as he licks his fingers from his six meat meal.
"Yes..." said Quna as she bites into the meat which could only be considered her first meat since they began eating a while ago.
"Well then I'm going to sleep, so best get some sleep early, for tomorrow's morning work," said Chiion as she yawns and quickly finishes eating her meal.
Standing up Chiion then walks out a way from the fire and pulls out her portable tent and cot and goes to sleep after setting it up as usual.
"She's quick to go to sleep." said Scion as he looks at Chiion's tent.
"Especially when it is dark." said Quna as Scion then turn his head towards Quna.
"Well if she is sleeping we should be getting some rest as well then," said Scion as he stands up.
Then Scion goes to the wall of the small house and sits down leaning against the wall as Quna goes and follows him and sits next to him.
"Can I sleep next to you?" Quna muttered as her voice softens quickly, as she instantly falls asleep before Scion could respond and her body slides down and her head sits down right on Scion's left shoulder.
Scion looks at Quna and could confirm that she was asleep and he whispers quietly, "Yes, you may Quna."
Scion then notices Quna's face, changed in response to his answer, into a smile as the oceans waves crashes onto the shore.
Quna wakes up and jerks up in embarrassment as she was sleeping on Scion's shoulder all night. Noticing that Chiion was already awake drawing on the sands a building model of the wagon that Quna and Scion are going to build for Chiion.
"Morning Chiion." said Quna as she gets up and yawns.
"Oh? I was expecting Scion to get up first but it's okay if you are awake as well. So I have a question for you only," asked Chiion not really looking at Quna.
"Yes?" responded Quna in accepting the question she began walking to Chiion. "What is it?
"What is Scion to you?" Chiion asked as she stops drawing and looks at Quna.
The question stopped Quna in her steps as she mutters out, "Eh..."
Chiion then gives an answer to her own question, "Scion to me is my savior who let me live a longer life, someone who I owe a debt to and probably my own life if it comes to fighting him. So again what is Scion to you Quna you who has been with Scion for at least eight years?"
"He's..." began Quna before Scion appears behind Quna and pats her head and Quna stops speaking.
"Ehn what are you girls talking about now? We should get the wagon built and move onto finishing the house fully." said Scion as points at the still unfinished house.
"Well we're going to need to do it now and then once the roof is in place we'll have to come at another time to finish it." said Chiion as she smiles.
"Okay let's do it then," said Scion as starts walking to the house.
Quna then follows suit and they set up the rest of the roof which Scion then lifts and kept it balance for the rest of the roof to be built upon.
"Done!" yelled Quna as she hammers in the last piece.
"Well now this wouldn't have happen if not for Chiion's careful planning." said Scion as he pats on Quna on the head.
"Yeah so we the house done we can start moving furniture in right?"
"What are you talking about? This is just the house we are going to keep our materials in for the moment." said Chiion.
Quna's widen in surprised, "Whaaaat! Y-you mean this isn't the house?"
"No! Of course not!" Chiion blatantly yelled at Quna making the scene a comical moment. "Building a base is significantly longer than you should expect considering we would need bathrooms, bedrooms, a cafeteria, a meeting hall and an armory!"
"So for the time being," said Scion as if throwing a rope to Quna and her knight in shiny armor coming to her rescue, "We should continue and focus on finishing the wagon for Chiion to use to gather materials for a later date."
"Well you got that point right not only that though..." said Chiion as she looks at Scion before frowning at his pampering side. "We'll need the entire Pack of Wolves here to finish building the base in a year's time."
"I see so let us begin our building shall we?" said Quna understanding the intent.
Scion then goes into the woods and not before long brings back a giant tree several times bigger than himself.
"Wow... how... no words can describe what I'm seeing here," muttered Quna amazed by Scion's strength.
Lowering the tree Scion then takes hold of his sword and in a flash rips the entire bark of the tree off causing it to be bare just as he drew his sword.
"Leave a portion of the tree in a circle making it easy to build the wheels later with the other portion being the shape of the wagon, I think about six by four feet for the body should be okay." said Chiion instructing what Scion needs to do next.
Scion then nods as he again slashes the tree and cuts a large portion of the tree into planks leaving the other portion untouched.
"Now for the wheels make it like this," said Chiion as she then takes out her small dagger and carves a very clean and distinctive shape of the wheel on the tree's inner rings.
"Should we have six wheels? That way you will have extras on hand if a wheel breaks off?" asked Scion.
"That's okay, even if I did need another I know the shape and it's diameter so it won't change even if we get a bigger log or a different wooden wheel." said Chiion as she shrugs.
"Okay..." said Scion as he then cuts six identical wheels in several distinctive hits before sheathing the Tension Blade. "Gah... Overexerted my muscles again!" said Scion as he tries to massage the muscle on his right arm.
"That's some exertion if it could do that." said Chiion amazed.
"I'm not omnipotent you know. I'm human just like anyone else." said Scion as he frowns.
Then it was Chiion and Quna's turn to frown at Scion, "That's hard to believe, whenever I see you in battle you never seem to tire," said Chiion.
"Yeah well you don't see my losing side all too often." said Scion as he looks at Chiion straight in the eye saying that.
"Well anyways shouldn't we get the wagon built then?" asked Quna.
"That's right go on then get on with the building Chiion," said Scion.
"Okay okay geez..." said Chiion as she then takes out a small sack that makes a metallic noise when dropped onto the sand.
Being rather curious Quna asks Chiion, "Where did you get this?"
"I'm a merchant as well when off duty so I was able to gather basic crafting materials such as glass bottles, nails, sewing kits, first aid, whetstones, and a mortar and pestle set."
"So prepared." Quna looks at the gathered items in the sack.
Chiion then rummages through the sack and comes up with a handful of nails in one hands and a hammer in the other hand as she then lays the nails on another cloth placed on the sand.
"Alright let's begin the crafting of a wagon then shall we Quna?" said Chiion.
"Indeed," said Quna as she then takes a plank and begins to follow Chiion's orders.