Anarchistbanjo's World

The weather and shelter were going to be serious problems during below zero weather. He realized it would be important to hunt the larger animals like the deer and elk. They would migrate with the weather and he needed to know where they liked to go in the winter time so he could find them when he needed to. The cold weather would allow fresh meat to keep longer and he would only have to hunt once a week or so to keep two people in fresh meat.

With that in mind he spent the next two weeks teaching Sarah how to hunt with a bow. He taught how to set dead falls and other traps for larger animals. These were things he realized the others needed to know also.

At nights they worked on the hides and talked. Sarah’s father had told her quite a bit about claiming sanctuary and she had known pretty much what to expect. Still it was a lot harder than she had imagined and it took a while to get her toughened in to the daily grind. She was used to a much softer lifestyle. They joked about how different this was from the day she had taken him into the big city for a visit.

The bright side was she had been used to handling the items in her father’s store and came up with interesting ways to use leather and how to make tools that Tobal never even thought of making. He asked her about where his father got all those items and she said she didn’t really know. She only knew he would leave on trips from time to time and bring them back with him. He used to tell her there was no other store in the world like the one they had and that she should be very proud of it.

Sarah spoke of her mother and wanting to visit her grave. Tobal asked if she knew where it was and she didn’t. It was by some waterfall and shouldn’t be too hard to find. She was a little put off that it would be several years before she would finish training though.

Tobal felt a chill at the base of his spine as she talked about this and something deep inside him was screaming that Sarah’s mother had died at the lake like his parents and she was buried in that mass grave at the abandoned gathering spot. He didn’t know how to bring this up to Sarah yet, especially since they were so closely watched. He felt he would go back there himself first and check things out before talking to her about it.

The month went by quickly and all too soon it was time to go to the gathering spot. He didn’t think Sarah was quite ready to solo and wanted to work with the others in preparing them for the coming winter months.

The days were getting shorter by early September and there was a chill in the air at night and frost in the mornings. The first major snowstorm could come any time and they could be snowed in for weeks. He talked with Sarah and she thought spending another month on winter preparation was a good idea. She needed more winter training and he thought the others did too.

The morning of circle Zee, Nikki, Kevin and Ox all proclaimed their newbies ready to solo. They were all interviewed and questioned by the elders and approved for soloing. Each of them had winter gear they had to show the elders. It was very clear the elders were concerned about the training newbies were getting now that a sudden storm could snow a person in for weeks at a time. Tobal made a point of congratulating the two girls and Kevin. He didn’t care about Ox and avoided him as much as possible.

Zee was a little cool toward him but returned his congratulatory hug and started talking a little.

“I was mad at you for awhile,” she said. “I didn’t really think you meant it about training all winter. I thought you were just rejecting me and no woman likes that.” She put her hands on her hips and wiggled them a little with a grin. “ Then I remembered Rafe and how last year he trained at least two newbies and I wasn’t so sure anymore.”.

“Zee,” I really am training newbies this winter. If I weren’t, you would be a good partner. We’ve always gotten along pretty good. Have you found anyone to partner up with yet?”

She sighed, “You are serious aren’t you. I have a few people in mind but I haven’t really made a decision yet. I want to take this month off and work on my winter base camp first.”

He noticed she hadn’t specifically mentioned Kevin and decided to ask him, but first he wanted to congratulate Nikki on training her first newbie and wandered off to find her after wishing Zee well on her base camp project.

Nikki was getting her robe from Angel as he got his. They went to the teepee where they had left their packs and were changing into the robes..

“How did you like training you first newbie?” He asked casually.

“It was great! I’m training another this month.” she looked at him. “I really want to train another one before winter sets in. Do you think I can?”

“I don’t know,” he told her. “I’ve already decided I need to go back and help Melanie and Sarah get better prepared for winter. Their newbies could use a little extra training too.”

She thought about that a bit. “Zee did a really good job of getting me prepared for winter weather and my newbie is well prepared too. I don’t think we will have any trouble. I know it’s a sore spot, but perhaps two months of training is needed. Have you ever thought about it?”

He bit back an angry retort and instead simply said. “I do think training newbies during the winter should take two months. There is too much to learn about winter gear like snowshoes and working with furs for winter clothing. Anyone that I train this winter will get two months of training.”

Nikki beamed, “I’m so glad to hear that Tobal. We all worry about the newbies and how hard it must be for them in the winter. I haven’t spent a winter here yet but I’m pretty confident things will go well. That’s why I want one more newbie. I will probably end up spending the winter with them unless they decide to solo and go out on their own.”

Nikki’s plan sounded uncomfortably like his own. He still planned to train through the winter but didn’t really have any idea if it would work out or not. What if his newbie didn’t want to solo or move out and build a base camp on their own in the middle of the winter?

He was still thinking about these things as he wandered over to see how Kevin was doing. Kevin was helping set up some of the teepee shelters for the night. Tobal joined in until all the teepees were set up and fires laid in them.

Kevin didn’t know what he was going to do.

“I’m still hoping Zee will partner up with me for the winter,” he told Tobal with a blush. “She hasn’t said yes and she hasn’t said no. It’s driving me crazy because I really need some sort of plan. I don’t want to work on my own base camp if I’m not going to be living there.”

“Say, that’s an idea,” Tobal reflected. “Zee says she wants to spend this month getting her camp ready for winter. Perhaps you can offer to help and it will allow each of you to see how you get along together. That way she won’t need to commit to anything until she gets to know you better.”

Kevin brightened, “I’m going to try,” he said. “I’ll talk to her about it later tonight.”

“Good Luck!”

During circle he noticed Ellen was training Misty to be High Priestess. He had forgotten that Misty was a Master now. He was going to miss Ellen and wondered what she would be doing next. It was strange to see people he knew advance on to different positions.

He noticed earlier that Rafe had been put on wood crew along with Dirk. That meant they were responsible for there being enough fire wood at the gathering spot for circle. Everyone was encouraged to help, but only a few Journeymen were actually tasked to ensure there was enough wood. Angel would be given new duties next month as well. He noticed this morning that she now had four chevrons and seemed to be moving up the ranks more quickly than Rafe was.

Since Journeymen didn’t spend all of their time training newbies, they were each assigned duties that normally lasted two or at the most three months before being assigned to the next duty. The wood supply for the Circle was usually gathered well in advance and there was little work to be done during circle itself except tending fires as needed. That’s what Rafe was doing when Tobal spied him between initiations.

“Hey stranger,” he teased. “Who did you kill to get that?”

Rafe grinned as he turned in surprise. He postured and showed off his first chevron.

“One of the girls challenged me. She thought she could beat me. Bad mistake! She almost did too.” He admitted ruefully but then brightened. His mischievous smile was still the same. “Now I’ve got all the girls fighting over me. I must be the most popular Journeyman ever.”

Tobal looked at his friend. Rafe was filling out, getting taller and stronger.

“I think you will be winning quite a few fights soon,” he said. “You’re not so little any more. Pretty soon you might have to start picking on the girls instead of having them pick on you.”

“You really think so?” Rafe laughed. “Guess I can give up on the idea of fighting babies then. So what have you been up too? Is Sarah ready to solo yet? I’ve been hearing some good things about how you taught Nick and Melanie.”

“Well, I’ve run into a bit of a snag,” he confessed. Sarah isn’t ready to solo yet and I’m thinking about having Melanie, Nick, Becca, Mike, Butch and Sarah all over to my place this month. We can all make our winter gear together. None of us is really that good at it and maybe helping each other out will work.”

“That’s a terrific idea,” Rafe said. “I wish I had thought of it when I was training newbies. I guess we really didn’t do that much training for winter did we? There was only about one week of snow in your training before it melted away. Is there anything I can help with that you don’t remember?”

“I remember how to do most of it,” he replied. “But I will need to go back to your base camp and get some of my things if that is all right?”

“Sure, take anything you need. I probably won’t be around there very much this winter. I’ll be hanging around the Journeyman area most of the time. Either that or be out here getting wood or doing some other duty. Being a Journeyman is nothing at all like being an Apprentice.”