|
ELDALA wanders towards the Basin in the late evening sunlight after her night out on those lush islands. Like a walk of shame, minus the shame, the salty-sweet taste of the ocean still on her tongue. It had taken her just about as long to get back from there as it had from the Threshold to home. Though she's already gained quite a bit of muscle since then and found the distance to be far more manageable now. /I don't think I could ever be happier than I am in this moment./ It was a thought of one living in the moment, certainly, but also one most often had by youths. Not even a month had passed by and the small mare had already experienced so much. She'd seen different landscapes, witnessed the magic of the giving tree, and met many new and exotic faces. If this was to be her life until her time came she could be no happier. The hazelnut mare passes through the huge sentinels and finds she no longer fears them but, instead, looks upon them fondly. They were the markers of her homeland and seeing them after a hard day's travel were cause for exhalation and a good stretch.
She looks around as she stretches and, seeing no one, makes her way towards the other end of the valley. The Basin was already under a good carpet of snow now but the day had been warm whilst she'd been gone and the cold weather birds had come out to play. Her ears followed the remnants of their airy songs as they echoed across the beautifully desolate land. The trees, the clearing, the lake, and the mountains made up everything her eyes touched; alone, they were wonderfully simple but, together, made a complex landscape which was a sight to behold.
The little mare soon reaches her destination: the hot springs. There she finds a nice, secretive corner where she can begin her work. She drops her soaked moss(now wrapped in big leaves and grass to keep it from drying out) and begins to look about for a good sized rock in the general shape of a bowl. She doesn't need to search long, for living surrounded by mountains of rock does have its advantages, before finding just the right one. Obtaining the properly shaped branches takes a bit longer, though, and she finds the sun is near gone by the times she's done.
If Eldala had thought the materials difficult to find, the setting up of her makeshift boiling pan was even harder. She frowns and curses multiple times as the branches fight against being placed in their spot over the hottest corner of the hot spring. Eventually though, the branches are set up in a nice way. The bowl sits just on top of the water without being submerged(and therefore losing all the dye) and she hopes this will be enough to properly warm the dye and wool. The sea snail remains(mixed with sea salt) are added to the bowl along with some water, birch bark placed on top to prevent some evaporation, and thus it stays for around 5 days.
She had dutifully monitored the brew, adding water when it was needed or moving the bowl about and so on, but now was the time to add the wool. She'd grabbed some from Johnny's cave while he was out and hoped he wouldn't mind. After all, the horse still had a massive pile of the material.It was the ultimate moment of truth, really, for this moment would either make or break her gift to Johnny. The mare stayed nearby the makeshift pot the entire day, checking periodically and shoving it around in there with a stick, before deciding it was done. As she gently wrings out the excess dye she notes that the wool has taken on a REALLY lovely color. Certainly, it was not the exact color she remembered from her birth home, but it was still a nice shade. Here and there were imperfections, obvious ones, but she knew that those wouldn't affect the overall color once weaving began. Pride filled her soul at the sight of this work and she couldn't have been happier.
Once it was all properly processed she began to bounce around, looking for a good way to carry the stuff back to his cave. /Perhaps I could just leave it in his cave and surprise him that way? Or maybe wait until he comes out? Hmm.../ She hoped he'd show her what all she might do with this. Maybe she could even grow her craft some today. It had been an entire week's worth of work, after all.
|
.svg/2000px-Google_Chrome_icon_(2011).svg.png){kind=icon}
