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SirOwen wrote:Days 11 and 12

Jaxsen Reiter

Jaxsen follows Raythan's advice and seeks out Liam. Not finding him, the young Monk goes over the fencing and corrals, makes the acquaintance of the other people who have been helping already and tries to tighten up loose boards, drive posts in snugger, make sure the stock is fed and watered. Anything he can see that needs improvement, he will work to improve or repair.

And then he will discover the hives......

Jaxsen will spend several minutes just listening to the hives. The sound seems an almost holy thing to him, relaxing, meditative, even. Then, as though something in the sound spoke to him, he goes to work. He begins to work on raising and narrowing the bases of the hives, making it more difficult for walking and climbing predators to get to them.

He goes over to the fishermen's area and collects sections of worn out netting. 'Too weak for fish maybe, but strong enough for what I need.' he says to himself. He then begins taking the nets and precisely tightening the weave with bits of string, eventually closing it to the point where the bees can come and go, but nothing larger can pass through. He spends the day and into the evening working on the weave, listening to the humming of the hives, humming along and mixing prayers to Bralm with the rhythms as he works. His focus is intense and he works quickly yet carefully, making sure of the size of the weave is exactly what he wants to defend the hives from any larger predators. When he is happy with the weave, he allows himself to stop and set them aside. He eats and drinks, finally, before going through his evening exercises, ritual bathing and devotions in the dark.

The next morning, Jax gets up gathers some bamboo. He avoids the strongest sections as they will be needed for other things, and just takes pieces strong enough to support the netting. He then begins to dig holes and set the bamboo stakes around the hives, just tall enough to allow the netting to protect them without touching them. He ties the sections tightly, making the frame as strong as it can be given the materials at hand. When he is happy with it, he will take the sections of netting and lay them over and across the frame, careful to overlap the sections, knowing that gaps will be found.

When the project is complete, Jax enters the framework and begins to remove the predators already inside. He is careful not to kill them, knowing that they, too, are the Queen's Children. Finally, he sits down beside the hives and allows himself an hour of meditation, relaxing in the sussurant hum of the hives. When he finally gets up to leave, he is careful to make his devotions. "Thank you, O Queen, for this gift. I shall endeavor to protect these lost Children, and work even harder for your edification."

OM, I am guessing this should be wrapped up by lunchtime on Day 12. But if you think longer, just let me know.