Author's note~ Hope you enjoy.
Giving himself over to the moment, Adrian emptied his head as best he could and tried to find a bit of peace.
Dawn was breaking in the glade, the birds just starting to break the silence and signal a new day. Newt was curled on his side beneath the large tree, sleeping a blissfully dreamless, deep sleep when the bird song started pulling him back towards consciousness. Muttering incomprehensibly, he burrowed his head under his arms and tried to will himself back to sleep, shivering slightly at the coolness of the morning. A sharp crack echoed in the clearing, then another, the noise refusing to let him slide back into slumber. Sitting up reluctantly, stretching luxuriously, he tried to rub the grit from his eyes, glancing around groggily for the source of the disturbance.
"Ahhhh, good morning sleeping beauty," Adrian commented dryly, cracking a branch in half across his knee in the middle of the clearing. "Welcome back to the world of the living."
Newt blinked owlishly at the man, his brain struggling to come up to speed. Adrian just shot him an amused grin, bending down and stabbing the broken stick into the ground at his feet. He straightened, took five careful strides, then marked the spot with another piece of broken branch. His crutch barely slowed him down at all. Turning 90 degrees, he repeated the actions, then once more, until he had marked out a area; a rough square, about 16 feet on each side. Nodding to himself, he walked all the way around the square before stopping on the side that faced into the forest (and towards the med-hut), positioning himself in the approximate center of the line and planting two more sticks about three feet apart. Seemingly satisfied with his efforts, Adrian walked over to where the boy still sat, dusting his hands off before offering one to Newt.
"Up and at'em kid. New day, lots to do."
Newt shook the last of the cobwebs from his head and took the offered hand, letting the man haul him to his feet with a little groan. He was a bit stiff from sleeping on the ground, but for the first time in what felt like ages, he felt rested, recharged, ready for another day. Falling into step beside the man, Newt kept pace with him on the way back towards the center of the glade - and breakfast.
"Sleep well?" Adrian asked curiously, glancing at Newt out of the corner of his eye.
"Like a bloody rock. About time too, one more restless night and I'd be shucking useless out there."
"Well, you look a hell of a lot better than you did." Adrian noted, with a hint of satisfaction. "You had shadows under your eyes big enough for a bear to hide in, and you were out cold last night, you must have needed it."
"Must have", Newt agreed, amiably. "I don't usually sleep well out here in the woods, and I'm normally a fairly light sleeper; one of the guys in a nearby hammock grunts or farts, and I'm up like a shot. I must've hit my limit, hard, to be able to conk out so completely out here."
"M'hmmm." Adrian hummed absently, still watching the boy.
Newt noticed the speculative glance and crinkled his nose in irritation at Adrian.
"What?"
"Nah, nothing kid. Just thinking."
Newt snorted at the obvious platitude, but before he could comment further, they reached the dining area outside the cook hut. It was mostly abandoned at the moment, but the smells of meat frying caused his stomach to snarl in a very demanding way. Focused on filling his gut, Newt let the topic drop and happily accepted a large steaming plate from Frypan, moving to a table and falling on his breakfast as though food were about to be outlawed. Adrian snickered lightly, but sat across from him and inhaled his own meal with just as much gusto. When both plates were clean they sat back a little, letting their stomachs settle for a moment before getting on with their days. Though he knew he'd probably regret gorging on a heavy breakfast before running all day, Newt sighed contentedly, enjoying the full feeling in his belly. Half a dozen other gladers had started to trickle into the eating area, but the duo were still separate enough to talk without being over heard. Newt leaned forward, face neutral, and spoke softly to the man across from him.
"You ready to tell me what the hell happened yesterday?" Adrian contemplated how best to answer, choosing his words carefully.
"I don't think it will come as a shock that I've been under a bit of strain since I got here. Being stuck in that box for a couple of days, dealing with my injuries, coming to terms with my...circumstances here, it's a lot to process. That message...was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back. I needed some time, some space, to...contemplate, come to grips with certain things. All that shit just piled up, so I figured I was entitled to one night of brooding."
"And the message? What did it mean?" Newt asked, unable to bring up the hair pin and keeping his voice as non-confrontational as possible. He watched the man's face; his nostrils flared slightly, and his face hardened into an unreadable mask.
"Nothing in particular. It was just a nasty, well aimed personal comment. Don't worry about it."
Newt knew that there was more to the story, and desperately wanted to push, to find out what was really going on. He really wanted to help, but something in Adrian's tone warned him to leave well enough alone. Acquiescing reluctantly, Newt resolved himself to waiting until the man was ready to share the information freely. It was a hard decision to make, but his gut told him it was the right one. He stretched a bit, considerately changing the topic.
"What were you doing this morning, playing with sticks in the woods?"
Adrian smiled, understanding, and appreciating the switch to a new subject.
"I was marking out a place for a small hut. I can't very well just live in the med-hut, can I? I'm most of the way healed, I'll need a place of my own so I can stay out of everyone's way, find some peace and quiet. Besides, you snore like a wild pig, I like the idea of actually being able to get some sleep of my own at night, thank you very much."
Newt snorted at that, slapping his hands on the table as he pushed himself to his feet,"I should get going, the doors will be open soon and we'll be heading out. You okay on your own today?"
Adrian nodded carelessly, gaining his own feet. "Yeah, no worries. I'll meet with the builders, keep working on the med-hut. Start teaching Jeff a thing or two, if I have time. Good luck."
Newt gave a casual backward wave as the two parted ways.
By the time the builders arrived at the med-hut, Adrian was already hard at work. After placating a concerned Jeff and setting him to the task of organizing the contents of the medical supply boxes on one of the bunks, he had begun working on the frame for the door to the new office. He had it completed and was weaving long, thin, supple branches into the frame to create the door itself when the burly teens arrived. Hands moving quickly, Adrian explained as he worked, and by mid morning had finished the door, demonstrated how to hang it on primitive wire loop hinges, and even shown the boys how to make a simple one-sided turn latch and sturdy bar system for securing the new door. The small office was now entirely segregated from the rest of the med-hut, and while six adolescent boys and one man standing in the empty space made it feel stingy, the space was more than generous enough for its intended purpose. The boys looked around the new office, reluctantly impressed with the impressive change in so short a time. Gally watched Adrian silently as the man paced the small space, measuring spaces with his hands and muttering to himself. He finally turned back to the keeper of the builders.
"It's a hell of a lot better than it was, and a giant step in the right direction." Adrian stated, pleased with the progress so far. "But there are a couple of things that we'll need to make to really make this a place of healing. The outside wall is probably the best place for a small wood stove, for boiling water and making medicine. The little chem stove I threw together will work in a pinch, but something more substantial is needed for the long run. Also, we'll need to build a table with a hard, non-porous surface that can be cleaned and disinfected, kept sanitary. We'll put a simple basin on one end, lay a drain pipe to the outside, so that med-jacks can wash their hands properly."
"And just how," Gally interjected in a snarky tone, "are you planning on doing that? Putting a fire in a wooden building...you'll burn the place down the first time you light it! And a table with a basin, with a drain pipe? How the shuck do you expect to build that with no real supplies? Mud and hope? It'll never happen!"
"Considering that you claim to be a builder but couldn't come up with the incredibly simple idea of using mud as caulking to make a more secure, wind and weather proof dwelling, I'm not particularly surprised that you think it's impossible." Adrian retorted in a cold, level tone. "If you have two brain cells to rub together, I'd be shocked. Shut up, listen, and you might learn something useful." Gally sneered angrily, but kept his mouth shut. "When I took a swim and cleaned up at the pond the other day, I noticed a smallish deposit of clay; a different kind of dirt. It doesn't have the best grain, but it should be serviceable. That being said, I doubt I'd be able to make, fire and move a clay slab and basin without cracking it and making it useless. With the abundance of wood ash from the cooking fires, and a decent amount of clay and a bit of water, I should be able to make a very simple form of concrete, and use that to make the table surface, basin, and drain pipe. I'll also use it as mortar; we'll bring in a few good loads of river smoothed rocks, and build a proper wood stove for in here. Everything will be solid as a rock once it's cured. One full day, maybe two, and this place should be done up right."
"Cement?" Gally snorted with derision, turning to look at his astonished crew. "Out of ash and more mud? No shucking way. This slinthead's out of his mind, crazy as a shank during the changing!" The boys started laughing along with their leader, shaking their heads at the ridiculous idea of mud and ash turning to stone.
"Oh really, crazy am I? You sure about that?" Adrian asked calmly, a devious little light flaring in his eyes. "What do you gentlemen say to a little bet?"
~Ruby