Chapter 3- Lyra's discovery
After Kleavor had left with his hunting group to find game to bring down with their bows and arrows, Iscan opened up the lesson about safely cutting down a tree. He had chosen a tree with a thin trunk as it was easier to demonstrate. In hand he had an axe while another man near him had another cutting tool, a saw
"There are two ways to cut down a tree," Iscan explained, "You can use an axe, like the one I got here," he raised the axe in his hand to show the children the tool, "Or you can use a saw, like the one Trunklegs has," he nodded to the other man, another muscled man and expert woodsman named Trunklegs, named from his thick legs that were thick and strong like tree trunks, and he showed the class the tool made with a serrated piece of metal nailed to a sturdy metal handle at both of its ends. Plumeria released a yawn.
"Boooorriiing," she uttered but one of the older girls gently nudged her to get her to pay attention as Iscan continued.
"Now that I have introduced to you the main tools we use to cut down trees, it is time to discuss safety," he said, before a frown formed on his face, "First off, you MUST handle these tools safely. Their blades are VERY sharp and they can easily cause serious injury if you mishandle them."
"Indeed," said Trunklegs, "This especially applies to the axe. Since you have to swing the axe to ram its blade into the trunk, space around you is essential."
Lyra looked on in wonder as Trunklegs went on to discuss the right way to use the axe, the right body posture and the right way to hold the handle and he demonstrated this by taking the axe from Iscan and gently swinging the tool and gently tapping the trunk with the blade. Of course the children will be using smaller versions for they were not strong enough to handle axes designed for adult use. The two men then went on to mention safety while the tree falls. There must be NO-ONE in the path of the falling tree and the cutter themselves must be positioned in one of two safety spots as not only was the falling tree dangerous to anyone in its path, but its cut trunk springing back at the cutter could cause injury as well. Further, determining the direction the tree will fall was also mentioned.
"When we are about to fell a tree once cutting or sawing its trunk enough such that it can happen, we must yell TØMMER loudly to alert everyone else that the tree is about to fall so that they can get out of the falling tree's way," continued Iscan, "That way we can avoid injuring others. Now that we have introduced to you the safety of using the cutting tools and felling a tree, it's time for you to get into groups to learn the skill for yourselves. We'll use trees with thin trunks first as they will be the appropriate level for you children and we'll cut down two trees per group so that you can learn how to use both the axe and the saw using the smaller axes designed for your smaller arms to use. As you progress with your wood sourcing skills and get older, you will move onto larger trunked trees and will have to use bigger tools like larger axes and bigger saws requiring two people to use. After we have felled our trees, we will show you how to cut them up to obtain our wood but that will not happen until all of you have felled your two trees, so off you go into your groups."
With that, the kids began to sort themselves into teams. Lyra teamed up with Wisteria, Volstagg, Fandral and Hogun (to her dismay) and another teen boy named Bear and they went to two more trees with thin trunks, one for the axe and the other for the saw. As soon as Lyra's team was by their first chosen tree, they got prepared to apply Iscan's lesson, starting with the handsaw. Lyra wasn't very keen on chopping wood but her father Flint had told her that it may be a skill she may need in the future if she wanted to help source the trees for wood. Normally, sourcing woodlands for trunks was a man's job but women could also carry out the job too. However, the biggest tree trunks were best left to the men for they were physically stronger than the women due to gender-based physiological differences like more muscle mass in men.
Lyra and her team then mentally mapped out the safety zones and determined the direction they wanted the tree to fall and as soon as they had finished the planning, they set to work with Bear making with the initial few back and forth movements of the saw in the area of the trunk opposite to the tree's planned felling direction. As soon as he had started the initial few inches into the trunk, he handed the saw to Wisteria and she took her turn. Scattered throughout the area of the forest, the other teams did the same. The teams were positioned at safe distances from one another so that no-one would be crushed by a falling tree or potentially injured by a swinging axe. Even axes built for young wood cutters were dangerous and required space to use. Then Volstagg, Hogun and Fandral took their turns and then finally, Lyra took hers. As Lyra continued sawing, her face straining from the effort, Iscan came by to check on them. When he saw their progress, he smiled.
"Well done, you six," he said when he saw how far the team was through their first tree, "You're almost ready to fell your tree," and when he saw Lyra struggling, he told her to let the blade do the work and to not force it.
"It's a difficult job, Uncle," grunted Lyra as she worked the trunk.
"It can be but the more you practice, the better you'll become at it," said Iscan, "Though woodland sourcing will not be for everyone, it's still an important part of our tribe's life as it's where we get our wood for various uses like making wooden furniture and as firewood."
"Is that the only reason why we have to cut down trees?" asked Lyra.
"Not quite," replied Iscan, "It's important for the forest as it helps the ecosystem. Of course it would NOT be responsible to cut down too many trees at once in a short amount of time. That is irresponsible usage of our resources from nature and it would not be good for the natural environment in many ways. But the removal of a few trees can be beneficial to a forest, especially to new trees coming up."
"Like us and nature living together mutually," said Lyra with a smile.
"Exactly, my niece," said Iscan. Then as soon as Lyra had finished sawing the tree such that it was about to fall, Iscan commanded the six to get back into one of the safety zones. Wisteria yelled, "TØMMER!" to alert the other groups as the cracking of the tree's wooden trunk breaking also cracked the air. A WHUMPH sounded as the tree crashed into the ground in the planned direction. As it did that, its sawed trunk bounced upward. Lyra winced.
"That could break someone's jaw if they had their face too close to that," she said.
"That is why you must get back to a safe distance as the tree falls," said Iscan. Then he smiled at the group's achievement, "Very good, now try the other method with your other tree; using the axe and so be VERY careful when using it."
Lyra and the other five smiled and went to their other tree with the small axe. As before, they took it in turns on using the axe to jab into the trunk and applied the correct body posture showed to them by Trunklegs in his mock demo. Then after the axe method, the team felled their second tree. Once both trees were down, Lyra and her group set to the next stage of sourcing wood, cutting away the branches of the trees such that only their logs remained and they did this using smaller knives and saws to do the task. As she cut away one of the larger branches using one of the smaller handsaws, Lyra talked with Wisteria.
"I've seen large saws designed with two handles back in Trunklegs' workshop," she said, "What is that type of saw for?"
"It's for trees with larger trunks," explained Wisteria as she cut away some of the smaller branches with a knife designed for the job, "And because of its size, it requires two people to use."
"So how is cutting down some trees actually beneficial for the forest?" asked Lyra.
"It helps reduce the number of trees to a limited degree, making room for smaller trees to grow," explained Bear as he carried some smaller branches away, "Also, it helps improve the health of the ecosystems of the woodlands."
"I know that cutting down too MANY trees in a short amount of time can have the opposite effect," said Lyra, "Like Uncle Iscan said, doing that is UTTERLY irresponsible."
"Indeed cutting down too many trees can harm a forest, cousin," said Wisteria, "And it's not good for us either. That is why it is important that we need to be responsible for the number of trees we cut down for the wood. If we cut down too many, it can be damaging, even detrimental, to the forest."
Lyra nodded in understanding and continued sawing off the branch. Once she had done this, she carried the branch to a pile of other branches and put it on there before returning to the tree to saw off the next branch. The Quartz Tribe also made use of the branches of the trees they chopped down as to ensure that little to none of the trees' parts go to waste. After all, branches were often too small to be used to make wooden things like wooden tables and chairs.
As Lyra was about to saw off the next branch too thick to be cut from the trunk with a wood knife, Plumeria approached the group, her nasty glare on two particular girls. Then once she was near Lyra, she bumped into her on purpose and knocked her over. Lyra released a shriek as she fell and barely avoided twisting her ankle on the way down to Plumeria's disappointment. Bear, Wisteria and also Volstagg, Fandral and Hogun the triplets stopped their work and shot the bully a glare.
"Plumeria, what are you doing here?" asked the second one and when she saw Lyra sitting down, she immediately went over to her cousin to pick her up.
"Plumeria tried to get me to twist my ankle!" Lyra snapped.
"I did not," Plumeria snapped. Wisteria helped Lyra to her feet and shot the nasty girl a glare.
"Get back to your group and to work, Plumeria, or I will be bringing Dad or another adult here," she commanded. However, Plumeria defiantly remained. She wasn't bothered about learning how to source the forest; she wanted to cause other kids trouble.
"When are you gonna learn to stop being nasty and lazy, Plumeria?" asked Bear. Near him, Volstagg, Fandral and Hogun looked on nervously. Then Plumeria gave Wisteria an acidic glare and gave her a hefty shove. Lyra stepped aside to avoid her cousin stepping onto her foot or bumping into her but Wisteria managed to regain her footing before she could fall backwards.
"'When are you gonna stop being nasty' yaself, slug-face," Plumeria retorted nastily. Wisteria glared back at her, really angry this time. However, she did not give Plumeria a hefty shove back for she knew she'd end up in trouble for one and it would stoke the fire for another.
"We should be learning to source the forest, Plumeria," she replied, "NOT pick fights."
"I came to tell that little worm there," Plumeria nastily replied and shot a finger point at Lyra, making her wince as she said this, "that if I find HER with my Norman again, I WILL deal with her."
"Oh, shut up about Norman, Plumeria," retorted Wisteria, "You're ALWAYS hittin' on him."
"Yeah, he's not interested in a bad-tempered girl like YOU," put in Bear. Lyra said nothing, too afraid of Plumeria and her temper to speak but then the nasty girl's temper fire REALLY flared.
"Are you callin' ME a seductress, fox-face!?" she retorted loudly at Wisteria.
"No," replied Wisteria, but then Plumeria lashed at her, raised a hand and without hesitation struck her face with it HARD and with it she spat a NASTY name too offensive to write. Then Lyra sprung into action.
"STOP IT, PLUMERIA!" she yelled. Plumeria shot the younger girl a HORRID glare, seized her by the top, yanked her to her and fiercely pushed her away. Lyra stumbled backwards and cried out in pain as she landed bum-first on a hard rock.
"Don't tell me to STOP IT, (bleep)!" snapped Plumeria. She then approached Lyra, who was weeping, raised a hand and was about to slap her face when suddenly, and to Lyra's surprise, three young boys sharing an identical appearance but distinguished by their clothing colours rushed in and ran between the two girls. Wisteria looked on as Volstagg, Fandral and Hogun then took their turn to tell the nasty girl off. As they did that, Bear came around the trunk of the tree and quickly helped Lyra to her feet.
"Stop it, Plumeria," Volstagg demanded.
"Yeah, return to work," put in Hogun.
"Stop bein' NASTY!" added Fandral. Plumeria glared at the triplet brothers of Wisteria and Herbert and cousins of Lyra and did something truly nasty. Making sure no-one else was looking including Wisteria, Bear and Lyra as they continued to sort themselves out, Plumeria quickly reached down, seized a stone and then tossed it at another man as he showed another team of kids, all of them boys, how to cut off the branches, hitting him on the back of the head to the triplets' alarm. Cries of pain exploded from the man and he turned round and shot a glare Plumeria and the triplets' way, his hand on his head where the stone hit and an ANGRY glare on his face. Lyra, Wisteria and Bear looked on in appal as the man yelled, "WHO THREW A STONE AT ME!?" attracting the attention of the rest of the class and their assistants and stopping the progress of the lesson. Immediately, Plumeria shot a finger point at Volstagg, Fandral and Hogun and said, "They did, Hawkeye."
"We did NOT," said the first triplet dressed in yellow.
"YOU did it," said the second dressed in red. The third dressed in blue nodded in agreement but Plumeria yelled at them as the man, Hawkeye, angrily approached the four. Plumeria then backed away and allowed Hawkeye to seize two of the triplets, Fandral and Volstagg, by their arms.
"You three are comin' with me for that," he growled, "Your father Iscan will NOT be pleased. Throwing stones is NOT a tolerable behaviour."
And with that and before Lyra, Wisteria and Bear could protest, the triplets were ordered by Hawkeye to go with him despite their own protests. As the triplets went away with Hawkeye, Plumeria flashed the remaining three a NASTY glare, borderline villainous and left to return to her group.
Later, it was break time and the group was given free time to rest before the next phase of the lesson on this outing. However, three of the boys had been punished and penalised. Iscan had grounded Volstagg, Hogun and Fandral for throwing a stone at Hawkeye despite the fact that it was Plumeria who had done the deed for the rest of the outing. However, Iscan had planned to have a talk with his three youngest sons back at Hav Av Stjerner about this once the outing was over for he had second thoughts about the incident. After all, the triplets may be rambunctious and irritating but they were not downright stupid enough to throw stones or cause trouble, and even Lyra knew this. Despite this, the triplets were put to early work in helping to load the carts with the pieces of wood that had already been cut up as part of their penalty to their chagrin. Plumeria, who was enjoying her break with her clique, among them Viola and Veruca, was feeling VERY proud of herself and looked forward to causing Lyra trouble at the next opportunity. She was not one BIT guilty about landing Volstagg, Fandral and Hogun into trouble and had hoped that the triplets will get some serious punishment. After all, this girl was a nasty piece of work like her mother Maleficent who LOVED to cause problems. Proud at her nasty achievement of landing the triplets into trouble, the nasty queen bee girl and her group continued to enjoy their break. While everyone else in the group continued to enjoy their break time with some going out to sightsee up and down Aventurine Woods and also to the nearby Emerald Grasslands, Lyra decided to go out on a short exploring trip.
"Uncle Iscan," she called to the tribe leader as he looked over Volstagg, Fandral and Hogun as they continued to load the carts with some of the smaller branches cut from the trees' trunks, "I'm gonna go to the Emerald Grasslands nearby to explore a little with my mare Snø, perhaps to collect a few rocks for our village."
"Okay, don't go too far from the group, Lyra," Iscan replied and with that, Lyra went to get Snø and left in the direction of the Emerald Grasslands while Iscan returned his attention on his triplet sons as they continued their task. The group had entered into the area of Aventurine Woods where the patch of trees narrowed so the edge to Emerald Grasslands was not too far away. And so off Lyra went with Snø and her cart to the grasslands on the other side of this narrow area of the woods alongside some of the other kids, several adults accompanying the younger ones. Though the teens were allowed to go off on their own for they had more sense, they were still commanded to stay near the group.
Lyra emerged from the opposite wall of the woods and into the open green field of the Emerald Grasslands with her mare and cart. She took in a breath of the air and took a moment to admire the grassland. Emerald Grasslands was mostly green but sprinkled over the greenery was a variety of colour from various wildflowers that grew in the area. Some of the other kids frolicked in this area with a few of them picking some of the wildflowers to take back with them to the village. However, Lyra was not interested in picking wildflowers right now. She wanted to collect a few rocks. Against the backdrop of the sky were the massive Asgard Mountains with the tallest mountain, Mount Odin, rising high into the sky, much of its summit smothered in a thick blanket of white due to how high it was. Bordering the grasslands was rocky terrain and this was where Lyra wanted to go, and so she went there, guiding Snø by the reins there. During a previous trip, Lyra was told that this area was one of the homes of the dragons the Quartz Tribe hosted during the dragon riding and taming days but now, it was mostly deserted with nothing but common wildlife such as birds, foxes and the more dangerous predators like bears inhabiting the area. Deer sometimes came out here to graze and Lyra remembered seeing two bucks locking antlers during the breeding season as they fought over mating rights. Smiling at the memories of that previous trip, Lyra continued towards the rocky area. As soon as she was there, she began to choose certain rocks light enough to place into Snø's cart. She didn't want to choose rocks that were too heavy for not only were they a hazard for her to lift, but it would also put immense weight onto the cart, putting additional strain on Snø to pull the vehicle. Not to mention the group has to make the uphill ascent on the return journey to Hav Av Stjerner and massive loads would be a danger during the climb up that hill, and Lyra did NOT look forward to that demanding ascent back to the village at all.
Lyra chose three rocks and placed them into Snø's cart but as she ventured further into the rocky area, she noticed something black in the ground where the rocky terrain rose slightly. This roused her curiosity and she went to investigate it. As she approached the black in the ground, she noticed that it was a hole. This hole was bordered by rocks and some clusters of green grass and went further into the ground like a huge mouth. Compelled by her curiosity to investigate this hole which was a small cave to possibly find something interesting like fossils (which can sometimes be found in caves), Lyra brought her mare towards the cave's mouth and prepared to enter. She knew that she should not go too far into the cave for caves can be dangerous places so she planned to enter into the cave as far as she could as long as the entrance remained visible. Lyra picked up two of the rocks from the cave and placed them into Snø's cart before deciding to venture in further. However, as she did this, something caught Lyra's eye. Lyra turned her gaze to the glint and examined the object closer. To her surprise, the rock was of a different colour to the other rocks. Although it was round or ovoid in shape, instead of being a drab grey, white or other earthy colour, this rock was instead a deep blue colour. Its surface shone like the surface of shiny metal and Lyra ran her fingers over its surface to feel its texture. It was smooth and metallic to the touch. Lyra, intrigued, then turned her gaze further into the cave and noticed some more rocks of unusual colours. Some also sparkled as though they were made of metal but several were drabber and did not shine and to Lyra's further surprise, several appeared to glow as though bioluminescent. Lyra had been in another cave during another trip to somewhere else on the Isle and that cave's chambers' ceilings were decorated with a galaxy of glowworms resembling an underground night sky. Those rocks had a pattern similar to those glowworms except that they had a different colour. One glowed with red glowworm-like spots and bathed the cave nearest to it a deep red with its light, another had green spots and still another's spots were a glowing blue. Somewhere else, several more rocks also had glowworm like patterns. They were yellow, magenta, white and yellow. Lyra's eyes widened all the more at her discovery and she immediately picked up one of the unusual rocks to examine it closely and in the light. The rock in her hands was ovoid and shone a beautiful sapphire blue. After examining this rock closer, Lyra immediately placed the rock back down, quickly and carefully returned to the outside of the cave's mouth and gently guided Snø closer to the entrance. Then she oriented the mare and her cart such that the cart's back end faced the cave. This done, Lyra set to collecting the unusual rocks several at a time from the cavern.
Lyra's mare's cart then began to be filled with the unusual rocks as the young girl quickly but carefully entered the cave, picked up more rocks and placed them into it before returning to the cave to collect the next set of rocks. Lyra did this in careful haste, knowing that the break was short. Then as soon as she had finished collecting as many as the unusual rocks as she could and checking the cave's mouth and throat for any more unusual rocks, Lyra finished her hunt, exited the cave and took a moment to admire her collection of unusual rocks before covering them. She counted the number of unusual rocks she had found and took note of their surface texture, patterns and colour and had come to a total of 25 unusual rocks. Two of the rocks were very dark, as black as night except for a few lighter spots. Two more were white with a smatter of pale blue speckles sprinkled over their surface such that they looked like a cake her mother Diamond once made for Lyra for her birthday but oblong; one was navy blue melting to yellow and white from top to bottom, this pattern reminding Lyra of the colour of the sky at dawn or dusk; eleven of the rocks resembled lumps of colourful metal, their surfaces shiny, smooth and metallic. One was silver, one was gold and the other nine were metallic green, deep metallic red, metallic purple or violet, metallic blue (this rock was the very same one Lyra found first); metallic lime green, metallic magenta, metallic amber or yellow-orange and metallic black like a rare onyx. One rock was larger than the other rocks and had three colours. It was azure blue on one side, yellow in the middle and red-orange on the other side, giving it a three-colour look. Another rock resembled a large opal stone; its surface decorated with a sprinkle of colourful metallic sparkles and stripes and was also larger. Finally, the remaining seven were black with a sprinkle of glowing glowworm-like blotches. Their colours were red, green, blue, cyan, yellow, magenta and white. Lyra felt a massive wave of pride at her discovery wash over her as she admired her collection of highly unusual rocks. This was indeed an extraordinary discovery. Then she heard a shout from one of the men standing at the edge of the woods and shot a look at him. It was Trunklegs and he was calling for the children out on Emerald Grasslands to return to the group for break time was over. Immediately, Lyra threw a cover over the bizarre rocks to hide them from view, darted to Snø and carefully but quickly guided her back to the woods. At the same time, Kleavor and his hunting class, among them Herbert and Norman, returned with a successful kill, a deer and as soon as they were back with the rest of the group but a good distance away from the tree sourcing groups, they set to learning how to do the next, and pretty gruesome, stage of processing game: skinning and butchering their kill to obtain its skin for clothing and meat for food. Lyra gazed at the group with a repulsed glare. She was glad that she did NOT have to deal with that gruesome task but that was how the Quartz Tribe got some of their clothing and meat.
The rest of the outing went by and soon, it was time to head back. The group packed their pieces of the trees they had felled into their horses' cart with the hunting group doing the same with the products of their kill into a specially designed cart for transport back to Hav Av Stjerner. This done, Iscan and several other men led the children back to the village. As soon as they were back in Hav Av Stjerner (including negotiating the climb uphill and helping the horses to pull the carts up it before this), the group dispersed and returned to their houses and their parents as it was end of day. Lyra greeted her parents Flint and Diamond before returning Snø to her stable. Before this, however, she took Snø and the cart to the shared barn and to her family's section. Once there, Lyra set up a large compartment built under the barn's floor and accessible by trapdoor and a ladder as a makeshift nursery by bundling a number of blankets stored within into bundles on the floor. This compartment was sometimes used as a shelter by Lyra and her family and some other families in the event of a bad storm but that was during the stormy season. This year was spring so there was little worry about preparing for any inevitable storms right now. Then as soon as she had set up the blanket-nests, Lyra quickly returned to Snø and her cart and began to unload the latter of the unusual rocks, taking them down into the makeshift nursery a few at a time and placing them in groups into the makeshift nests. Lyra had not told anyone else of her discovery in that cave and had decided to keep these rocks a secret for now. However, she had soon realised that these 'rocks' were not actually rocks at all. From her knowledge about dragons from her favourite dragonology book back in the library, she had discovered that these 'rocks' were something else entirely.
Lyra went back and forth from Snø's cart to the compartment, now turned into a makeshift nursery and with each trip; she carried a few more of the 'rocks' to the nursery. She continued this until all 25 of the 'rocks' were out of the cart and in the nursery. This done, Lyra stood back to admire her work. The compartment was just big enough to house all the 25 'rocks' and three-coloured and opal-like ones were clearly larger than the other 'rocks'. She had grouped the 25 'rocks' based on their patterns with the two jet black 'rocks' in one blanket 'nest', the two white-and-blue-speckled 'rocks' in another and the twelve single-coloured metallic 'rocks' into two 'nests'. The seven black glowworm-patterned 'rocks' were in yet another nest blanket and the large opal-like rock and the rock with the three-colour pattern were in their own blanket 'nests'. The compartment was built to hold warmth without the need for a heat source so the design of the underground chamber should be enough for the nursery which Lyra was glad for. Then after gazing at her work and sure that the 25 'rocks' would be safe since, after all, the compartment was rarely used besides being a storm shelter and was under the Delphinus family's area of the shared barn, Lyra returned to the surface floor and closed the trapdoor. She then returned Snø to her stable and returned to her house to have tea with her parents.