Making 'Good Guys' [Jan, open}

[Luna Broadblade]

"So what kind of wood are we lookin' for Jan? I heard different types of wood is good for different types of things. Music teacher says that only certain kinds of trees can make instruments. An' the grounds keeper once said that hard wood like oak is good for doors. An' Papa used to say that greenwood is bad for fires, 'cause its wet inside and smokes a lot an' that we needed to look for dry wood. Did you know greenwood isn't a type of wood, but evergreens are a type of tree...?"

Kay kept chatting incessantly as the pair walked into the orchard. It was nice to be able to talk and know the other person wasn't getting annoyed by it. Kay was pretty sure Jan was okay with her chatter. He hadn't complained yet, and she was pretty sure she saw him smile fondly at her once during breakfast. So that meant talking was okay.

There were only a couple people around, most busy with their own things. Kay bet none of them were looking for wood to carve good guys.

"... an' there were so many bugs under it, that I screamed and threw it at Brutus, an' that's why he doesn't like mushrooms an' I don't like touching sticks near lakes. So what kind of wood are we lookin' for?"

Kay looked around the orchard more closely, looking for fallen branches. It really was a nice day, with the sun out and only a few clouds in the sky. Nice and warm, but not too warm:A perfect day to be outside.

[Django]

Jan listened as Kay rambled on and on. Gosh, kids could really keep it going. He didn't think he'd said this many words collectively in his life. He smiled and nodded at Kay, not trying to patronize her or anything, just being nice. As they walked into the orchard proper, Jan kept his eyes on the ground, searching for good sticks.

"So what kind of wood are we lookin' for?"

Oh. She'd repeated that question. It must be the one she really meant to ask. Jan scratched his head, thinking of how to best explain his haphazard process of finding whittling wood.

"Well, y'see," he said, "I'm not lookin' for special kinds. Just y'know thick sticks so's I can carve somethin' out of 'em. I dunno wood that well. I like oak wood the best 'cause it's strongest, but it's hard to carve. Birch is soft 'n easy to carve but doesn't last long."

Jan was feeling good. He wondered if Kay's cheeriness was rubbing off on him and making him talk more than usual. He knelt down beneath an apple tree, picking up a long, thin twig. He showed it to Kay. "See, couldn't make nothin' out a' that. Too thin." He tossed it aside and looked up at the tree. Some low-hanging branches looked sizable enough to carve. He stood.

"Say, you still got yore knife?" he asked. "It could bring down a branch." Then he remembered how carefully she'd held it and concealed it. "I mean, 'nless you don't want t' use it. I could try t' break it."

[Luna Broadblade]

"I'm not lookin' for special kinds. Just y'know thick sticks so's I can carve somethin' out of 'em. I dunno wood that well. I like oak wood the best 'cause it's strongest, but it's hard to carve. Birch is soft 'n easy to carve but doesn't last long."

Kay nodded. That made sense. Oak was a strong wood, just like she’d been told, which meant it would take a while to carve. It might take days for Jan to carve one good guy. But then again, that would mean Jan would have to stick around for days…

She gave a mental shake of the head. Vig must have been whispering tricky ideas in her ear again. Silly little rat.

Kay watched as Jan showed her the different sized branches, eyes wide and taking everything in. She liked learning new things: She just didn’t like sitting down and doing it in a large group.

"Say, you still got yore knife?.. It could bring down a branch…. I mean, 'nless you don't want t' use it. I could try t' break it."

“No, it’s alright,” Kay replied as she pulled out the blade. “Long as you don’ take it away ya can use it.”

Should she tell him how all the Sisters and Brothers seemed to want to take it away? Probably not: He might feel he had to take it away too then.

“I haven’t sharpened it in a while, ‘cause I don’ know how,” Kay confessed without any prompting. “Papa used to sharpen all the knives an’ weapons we had with Brutus on full moon nights. Not ‘cause of a ritual or nothin’, but ‘cause he said the moon was his reminder.”

She held out the knife carefully. Gripping it by the blade was dangerous, especially as it had a double edge, so she held it as lightly as she could. Jan wouldn’t slice her, of this she was certain.

“Does apple wood smell like apples?”

[Django]

“No, it’s alright... Long as you don’ take it away ya can use it. I haven’t sharpened it in a while, ‘cause I don’ know how. Papa used to sharpen all the knives an’ weapons we had with Brutus on full moon nights. Not ‘cause of a ritual or nothin’, but ‘cause he said the moon was his reminder.”

"Thanks," Jan said, taking the blade carefully so as not to harm her paw.

He tucked it under his belt and jumped up to a low-hanging limb. Hoisting himself over it with many a grunt, he was able to straddle it and reach for thick limbs above his head. As he began to saw off a goodly-sized one, he heard Kay pipe up again.

"Does applewood smell like apples?"

"Uh," he said, thinking a moment. Applewood. When was the last time he'd been near it? Oh, right. "No, not 'nless you use it in a fire and cook somethin' with it. Sometimes the friar smokes fish with it 'n you c'n smell the smoke, then the fish tastes sweet."

But what did he know? He didn't remember ever cutting applewood himself. Or, maybe he had and had forgotten. Maybe freshly cut applewood smelled like apples. Finished sawing, he hit the branch, and the remaining bulk of it attached to the tree cracked as it broke off. He almost dropped it below him before remembering Kay. Didn't want to drop it on her, even if it was light. He set it in his lap and looked about him.

"You said an owl earlier, right?" he asked, eyeing a broad, flat limb just out of reach. Perfect for outstretched owl wings. Now, how to get to it? He stood, steadying the cut limb on the supporting branch so it wouldn't fall. He put the knife in his belt again and climbed up, his head now level with the broad branch, and he began the arduous task of sawing it off at the base. "This one's good for the owl. What else?"

[Luna Broadblade]

Kay was careful to stay out of the way of the falling branch. One had to watch out for such things when gathering wood with over eager brothers. She watched as Jan climbed up further, looking for another branch. Seeing the broken off part of the tree, her nose twitched. Did it smell like apples? Jan hadn’t been sure in his answer, she could tell.

Curiosity was a powerful motivator. Gently placing Ver at the base of the tree, Kay eyed the tree. It didn’t look all that hard to climb. Quickly she scampered up, moving as quietly as she could so as not to disturb Jan. He had her knife after all, and that could be dangerous. It was only a few feet to where he had been, and where the branch had been cut off. The wood was pale where it had been severed. Tentatively she leaned over toward it.

"You said an owl earlier, right?...This one's good for the owl. What else?"

Kay startled, but only slightly. Her grip was still good. But smelling the tree would have to wait until after she answered Jan’s question.

“Martin’s sword, an’ maybe Martin hisself,” Kay replied. Hopefully she didn’t scare Jan with how close she was. “Badgers, an’ wolves can be scary too…”

There were tons of things that could be scary. ‘Course, they had to think in the mind of a vermin to know what scared them. Wistfully she looked down to where Ver was still sitting, prim and proper for a little rat. She’d know…

[Django]

“Martin’s sword--"

Jan startled so bad from the proximity of Kay's voice that his footpaws actually left the branch he was standing on, and he clung to the branch he'd sawed almost halfway through. He craned his neck around to see Kay standing on a branch looking up at him.

"Oh, cripes," he breathed. 

He extended his feet and found another branch to stand on. He took a couple deep breaths to steady his nerves again, then gave a short laugh.

"Sorry, didn't know you're up here," he said, resuming his task. "Be careful, yeah?"

A more responsible adult would have told Kay to climb down immediately, or sit on the branch to be safer, or at least have warned them before she climbed up, but Jan wasn't a responsible adult, and he mostly thought of everybeast as having the same autonomy he did, so he said nothing about what Kay did or didn't do. 

[Luna Broadblade]

Seeing Jan jump out of his skin was the highlight of the climb. Kay didn’t think she’d ever seen anyone in the Abbey look so surprised. She might have to try to sneak up on more people if this was how they reacted.

Kay’s ears twitched at Jan’s quiet words, and she chuckled internally. It was funny when adults said things like that under their breath. Her father had let out a string of much worse words though, when he’d dropped a hammer on his foot. It was only after mother had swatted his head that he’d actually remembered his children were present.

"Sorry, didn't know you're up here…Be careful, yeah?"

“Yes Jan,” Kay replied obediently. Heights weren’t scary to her though. Often they provided the best hiding places, which meant they were good foundations for plans. Also pranks, now that Kay thought about it. She settled on a nearby branch, and for a moment contemplated what one could do with a stockpile of pies, or maybe a slingshot and some blueberries…

[Django]

"Yes, Jan."

That made him sound like he was one of her caretakers. And he should be... taking care... of her. Technically. Right now. But, we've already established that he was no good with kids, so there wasn't anything to be done now.

___________________________________

Jan and Kay sat beneath the tree now, a pile of thick branches piled next to them. Jan was just finishing carving the bark off the last limb and cutting it down to a block he could work with. As he held it up, he chewed his lower lip, suddenly unsure if he could fit an owl with outstretched wings into this piece.

"Think I'll start with the sword," he murmured, grabbing a skinnier limb.

He balanced the wood between his knees and, holding his whittling knife with both paws, began carving great chunks off the sides, roughing it into a cross shape for the sword hilt. He sometimes longed for a better knife to carve the rougher parts with. A whittling knife's days were shortened dramatically when it was being abused so. It was meant for smaller projects, but there was nought to be done about it now. He'd returned Kay's knife to her, and he knew it was too precious to ask to borrow it a second time.

At least this carve would be simple. He knew what the great sword of Redwall looked like. Who didn't at this abbey? The trick was making it big enough to be proportional to Kay. He was making it longer than her knife, but certainly not as long as the actual sword itself. As he began mentally mapping the fine details of the hilt, a thought occurred to him.

"D'ya like t' paint, Kay?" he asked. "I think this'll look scarier if it's painted with proper colors." He pointed his knife tip at the roughly round shape at the very top of the sword grip. "The bad guys'll know it by that red gem, eh?"

[Luna Broadblade]

Kay watched Jan with wide attentive eyes. Watching him work… There were some of the dubbins who said Jan was a wizard. That he could disappear and reappear like a ghost. But more importantly, he worked magic with his hands and turned wooden blocks into the most wondrous things. Now that Kay could watch up close, she found herself agreeing with her fellow youngsters. What Jan did was magical.

"D'ya like t' paint, Kay?

“I like to paint. I didn’t get to do it much before.”

Back when she traveled with her family, the only paints were the ones used for shows. Her mother’s make-up, or what they were selling. None were for playing though. There wasn’t much time to sit and paint either. But Kay was allowed to use charcoal to make pictures. Even then though, paper was too valuable to waste on her scribbles. So she often drew on the floor of the caravan, wiping old pictures away for new. Or leaving them behind all together if she drew it on a stone or upon the ground. All things were temporary in her previous life.

“Sisters don’t like it when you paint on the walls an’ floor though.”

This Kay had learned well during her first scoldings. When the Sisters felt she was strong enough to be scolded.

….I think this'll look scarier if it's painted with proper colors. The bad guys'll know it by that red gem, eh?"

“It would,” Kay agreed brightly. She knew where the sisters kept the dyes and paints. It would be nothing to sneak and gather what they needed. “Do you want me to get the paints?”

[Django]

“Do you want me to get the paints?”

"Wouldja please?" Jan asked as he hefted the wooden sword in both paws. It was short for him, but probably perfect for her. "Er, hang on. Hold this a moment."

He passed the sword to Kay, measuring its length and width with his eyes as she held it. It looked about right. He had only made a couple wooden swords for dibbuns before, one or two birthday gifts if he recalled. Each child was of different size and strength, so he couldn't just make a template for a sword and have it fit every little one. It had to be just right for that child.

"Feel good?" he asked. "I'll keep workin' on it while you go get those paints, then, eh?"

[Luna Broadblade]

Kay took the sword carefully, minding the blade. Momma always told her to mind the edge of a blade, and Kay did so, careful only to touch the hilt. It was heavier than Kay expected, and longer too, which was strange, because Kay had watched Jan carve it and it hadn’t seemed that long. But now that she held it in her paws, it felt like so much… more…
Careful not to hit Jan, she swung it a couple times like she’d seen her brother do with Papa. They’d been practicing with staffs though, her family not the sword wielding type. Not like the warriors of the abbey, both legendary and current.

Martin’s sword…

Carefully Kay swung again, stepping in what she envisioned was a warrior’s dance.

My sword…

Her grip tightened as she finished the motion, feeling the grain of the wood against the pad of her paw. Bashfully, she looked up at Jan. Hopefully he wasn’t a mind reader.

"Feel good?... I'll keep workin' on it while you go get those paints, then, eh?"

Kay nodded eagerly, and quickly dashed off through the orchid. If she was quick, she’d be able to sneak into the craft room before anyone got there.

A knowledgeable young mouse, she gathered up her skirts and sped along the path. Only her goal was not the door to the great hall. Instead she ran along the outside of the building before she came to the right spot. She looked up then, at the window leading into the craft room, ears twitching for any sounds. There didn’t seem to be anyone in there yet. Confident in her sneaking prowess, Kay began to scale the wall with practiced ease. Months of dodging the Sisters had made her familiar with all the little handholds. She’d only fallen a couple of times.

It didn’t take long to reach the window. Kay pushed on it, relieved to find it was unlocked. Quiet as a thief, she crawled in through the window, pausing when she heard voices in the hall. Those voices passed though without anyone coming in, and Kay pulled herself into the room fully. After that she was able to quickly gather two brushes and a couple pots of paints. She tied the lids on with a bit of string before putting them in a roughly fashioned sing made from her scarf. Ears twitching from listening, Kay went to the window, and careful began climbing back out. She had to be twice as careful now that she had such precious cargo. Plus, it was kind of high now that she was going backwards…