Dagrún trotted toward the barn with a mess of leather pieces and strands in her mouth and her kestrel nestled between her shoulders. It was a beautiful evening, the autumn sun shown lovely and golden. The air was cool but the sun made everything more bearable. Dag was excited for her next lesson. Sperla was going to teach her how to make a sling. She wasn't entirely sure what that was but she was pretty sure she'd have a good idea by the end of the project. From what she understood it was something you could use to throw rocks and stuff at other things. Anyway it sounded fun. She wondered if she could use it to toss a mud ball at her grandpa. He seemed really serious and scary but if she could hit him from a distance and run away that would be fun!

Ysmir decided that he loved antlers. While he had little to no hope of taking a deer down on his own right now the bucks were in full display. He’d learned quickly what the rut was, and to his fortune he’d found a shed. Or maybe it had been broken off, it was still a little early for them to be dropping but the boy didn’t care, he just liked his prize. The puppy carried the antler in his jaws and made his way to the barn to chew. He was losing his puppy teeth and he liked the relief from the pain when he gnawed on bones. And antlers.

He looked quite proud of himself as he rounded the corner to one of his favorite places in Fireside. He wasn’t in the least bit surprised to find his sister Dagrún inside. Ever the quiet pup Ysmir padded over close beside her and settled himself down, ready to chew on his prize. He was curious about Dag’s own items in front of her and she didn’t look like she was going to be gnawing on her pieces. With a tilt of his head Ysmir questioned her silently.

Dagrún found a nice place to settle down and once she did the kestrel hopped off her and gently landed on the ground, flapping her wings a bit as she stretched. "Ok, first part of the lesson. You'll need to make a pouch to hold the sling ammo in. Bigger is not better, you want the ammo to fit well and not be loose nor too constricted."

Dag nodded. She was just about to start chewing when her brother, Ysmir, arrived with some neat looking antlers. "Hey, Mir! Those are neat. Want to make stuff with me? Sperla is going to teach me how to make a sling to throw stuff. What are you making?"

Dag bent her head started chewing on one of the scraps of leather. She was really getting into this crafting stuff! She could chew all sorts of things and no one got mad at her. She chewed through the scrap leather until she had a size for the pouch a bit bigger than one of her paws.

He hadn’t realized he was going to be interrupting a lesson, despite that Ysmir still settled comfortably beside his sister. Dual toned eyes looked up to the kestrel curiously as he lay with the antlers between his paws. Dag was quick to greet him though, commenting on his own items as she explained to him what was going on and offered him a direct question. With answers like this Ysmir had trouble answering. He barely used his voice and when he did the words came out in the quietest of whispers.

Even if he could speak that didn’t mean he had an answer. He had an antler and he wanted to chew on it, but could he make something out of it? The boy tilted his head and beheld the antler in front of him as Dag got started on her sling. What could he make out of his chew toy? The boy had to summon all of his creativity as he rolled the antler awkwardly beneath his paws.

”Knife.” He whispered softly with determination as he decided. How was he going to make that goal a reality? His antler was huge. How was he going to get it down to size? He uttered another sound of confusion as he started chewing again. It was going to take a long time to gnaw through this.

Dagrún's ears flicked forward as she listened for her brother's soft voice. He stated that he was going to try and make a knife. "Cool!" She didn't know why her brother spoke so quietly when he did. He'd always been that way so she just rolled with it.

She glanced to her kestrel. "How's this?" Sperla hopped forward, cocking her head as she examined the pups work. The kestrel nodded. "Good, good. now use your teeth to make a hole in each corner. I'll tie a knot on one end, have you run it through one hole and then the other to make a loop and then I'll tie the second knot." The bird knew the pup struggled with such delicate motions.

Dagrún was swift to do as instructed though it took her some time to actually push one end of the leather strand through the holes after she made them. It was almost more patience than the pup could muster but in time she managed to do one side and then the other to make a complete sling.

Ysmir barely squeaked the word out his his throat but at least Dag could hear it enough to give a satisfactory response. The boy still didn’t know exactly how he was going to make what he wanted. He kind of wished that he had a companion like his sister who could help him and teach him what he needed to know. The boy continued to struggle, but he didn’t give up, he just kept gnawing. The boy liked to chew on the antlers though so even if the project was tedious he was enjoying himself there beside his sister.

Eventually the boy was able to gnaw a whole tine off the antler piece. It was incredibly rough and could hardly be called a knife, but he was sure that if he poked someone or something’s flesh he’d make a hole. That was the point of a knife right? He placed the point at his paws, impressed with the sad results of his project. No matter how unrefined it was he could be proud of his accomplishment.