Aryn's entire life seemed to be skirting the border of the Redbud Nook as of late, even her den had been set up so near to it that she could watch every patrol as they crossed by. It only made sense that her attempt at animal husbandry would be centred here too, where she intended to place both the bee enclosure when it was delivered, as well as build a place for her young chicks to wander and thrive.

The bees she had left back beside the den, hoping they'd be okay for the period of time until a suitable home could be received for them. It would be just her luck (and very fitting of her ineptitude) for them to die in the box before she could even begin.

The chicks she had orphaned / rescued / kidnapped were getting bolder, more prone to wander. It would only be so long before she could no longer contain them, which made building a place for them of utmost importance.

She had pre-gathered the materials, many sizes of sticks and slices of long and wide bark, a cart full of mud, some vines, some stones, and everything else she could find that could even potentially be used to create a welcoming home. Now all that was left to do was figure out how to put it together.

She'd returned quickly enough that Tam had only just finished getting the bee box items ready to go, so instead of sending it off with a passing trader anyway, she ended up packing it up onto a travois and heading back out again. She hadn't gotten to where she'd told Aryn the box would be waiting for her when she saw the very person the box was for. Corbie's ears pricked and she smiled at the sight of her, quickening her steps despite the pull of the travois on her.

She had to admit she was intrigued by the variety of items Aryn had with her, and she cocked her head to the side, curious. "Hello again, Aryn!" she called out. "What are you up to today?"

Aryn was overjoyed to see the kindly woman from the falls once more, their short time together had been the highlight of her year and here she was, returning as promised with the enclosure for her precious bee friends. "Corbie!" She called out in reply, placing the wood she'd been examining down and trotting happily over to assist in detaching the woman from her travois. "That was fast work! Thank you again." She glanced around the woman to the structure she toted, grateful for having met her at all.

To her question Aryn's eyes widened in remembrance, her head turning sharply back to where the chicks had been pecking at their meal and finding they'd already begun to wander away. She half-hurried, half-crept over to the escapees, gently encouraging the more adventurous individuals back to their siblings. "I am trying to figure out a way to contain these little guys! Have any more wisdom for me?" The Valentine woman chuckled softly, guiding one chick with her paw back to the pile of earthworms she'd dug out for them. "They're prairie chickens. I rescued them from quite the storm just south of here. I suppose I've been bit by the animal husbandry bug."  

"Not a problem at all. I'm glad I was able to get away again so I could see how you guys were faring." She was happy enough for Aryn's help to slip out of the encumbering harness, letting the travois set down carefully to not jostle its load. She watched in amusement as Aryn hurried over to mother-hen over a bunch of chicks, and chuckled. "It is addicting," she agreed, wandering over to investigate the materials now that she was freed. "If you're able to watch over them, letting them free range during the day is ideal, and then just lock them up at night to protect them. Otherwise you'll have to feed them instead of letting them feed themselves." She sat back and tapped a paw to her muzzle thoughtfully. "You'll want it to be pretty sturdy all the way out here by yourself. If it was in a pack surrounded by wolves it would be safe enough for a less permanent structure, but you're going to want something predators can't break open before you can wake up to stop them." She looked though what Aryn had available, and an idea came to her. "Have you ever done wattle and daub walls?

Corbie began to lend her wisdom once more, and Aryn eagerly consumed each available morsel of information offered. "I don't mind feeding them." She admitted, feeling a blush touch upon her cheeks. It made sense that Corbie might not have time to individually feed and care for every animal she owned (which, Aryn reminded herself to ask more on her lifestyle later, perhaps while she worked) but the Valentine woman's life was rather dull, empty, and her lack of responsibilities as a slave easily allowed her to redirect her ambition into obsession where feed and care was concerned.

"Do free-range chickens get to wander anywhere, or just in a larger-penned area? Behind maybe with a fence? My pack's borders are just behind us, they're patrolled often enough but out here, I worry for predators as well. I want them to have as much freedom as I can gift to them, but security as well." Aryn knew she was risking outing herself as a novice even moreso then she had already in their last meeting, but looking like she knew what she was doing was less important when that huberis could bring harm to her chicks. Corbie gave a suggestion on a type of wall and Aryn blinked. Not only had she never 'done' that style of wall, but she had never heard of it. "This is uh, my first time really making much, so no." Aryn admitted, her blush returning. "I'm eager to learn, I've just never really had much of a teacher."

Corbie nodded acceptingly. If the chickens weren't going to be in pack boundaries where they were protected, free ranging wouldn't be a very good option. She wondered why Aryn had decided to keep them out here, rather than in pack lands, but she didn't ask. It would be rude to pry though it was a bit concerning. Was there something bad about the pack that they wouldn't be safe there? "You'll have to gather twice as much so you have winter feed for them as well, but it's doable. You can do a fence around the shelter to protect them while they're out, with a net over it so that hawks can't get them so they get some of the benefits of being out during the day."

Aryn's embarrassment was unfounded, as far as Corbie was concerned. "Everyone starts somewhere. Once you learn how to build one shelter, you'll be able to apply it to all sorts of things. Wattle-and-daube is for a pretty permanent shelter, which is what you're going to want way out here I expect. It's a base of poles set upright into the ground like a fence, and you can even build your fence into the side of the wall at the same time. You take thinner saplings and branches and weave them through the poles, alternating them, all down the wall and the fence if you want. Then you take a mix of clay and chopped dry grass and press it into the wall, squishing it in there until it's completely covered and kind of smooth it down. The fence doesn't need that though, better to leave it open so they get fresh air and bugs can get through for them to eat."

Looking over the materials Aryn had, Corbie reconsidered. "Actually, the fence can be woven more loosely if we use thorny branches, like brambles or hawthorn, instead of the saplings. Not many predators want to get hawthorn spikes to the mouth or paws so they aren't going to try to push through that."

Corbie began her lecture on the type of wall she had suggested, and Aryn began to sort through her variety of materials as she listened. The theory made sense and she believed she'd prepared everything necessary for the construction, having obsessively been gathering anything she thought might provide structural integrity on her downtime while the baby chicks had slept.

She grabbed a mouthful of the thickest of branches, dragging them toward the middle of the area she had supposed might work for the enclosure and leaving them there in a pile. With the longest one she did a loop of the dirt and grass, dragging a gentle rivet into the ground so show a rough shape for the fence, and then hastily lining a box a few feet in width at the end of it, along the fourth wall of the rectangle. "Would this be large enough for them?" She looked up from her work in question. The free-range fenced area was easier to adjust in size if necessary, but the nighttime enclosure would be a lot more difficult to adjust when the chicks did grow. She had to ensure she had the proportions right the first time.

To get a better look at the size, she returned to the center and retrieved four branches, moving to each corner of the rectangle and working them one by one into the ground, so she could step back and visualize it's completition.

Aryn was quick to get to work outlining the fence and shelter with a stick, and asked if it was big enough. Corbie eyed it, considering. She didn't know how many chicks Aryn had, or how many she wanted in the future, so she wasn't sure if that was the right size or not. "You need about this much space per bird to have enough room for them as adults," she said as she marked out about a two foot by two foot space on the ground, letting Aryn do her own math for that since she knew how many she needed to house. "They'll need a little less room than if they only had the space in the shelter and couldn't go out in the fenced area, but you want to give them enough room that they don't fight over space." Leaving Aryn to adjust her box as needed, she started digging a hole for the first posts. It would be hard work to get through them, but they shortly had the holes they needed, and the poles set upright in them with the dirt packed in tight, and she started to show Aryn how to weave the saplings through the poles and shove them down tight. "Make sure that when you finish a sapling with a skinny end, you start the next one a little bit overlapped using the thicker end, and when we get to the corner let them stick out a bit so each side overlaps the other one."

Corbie began to diagram the size that would be necessary per grown chicken, and Aryn could not keep the shock off her face. It was much larger then she expected them to need, she hoped she hadn't gotten herself in way over her head. Nodding her understanding, she moved to adjust the size of the box to something more reasonable. By the time she had finished the outline, Corbie had finished with the fence poles. She trotted up to watch the woman's technique in weaving the slender saplings through to make something more solid.

She took the side opposite of Corbie, and began to weave. With the two of them each splitting the workload they'd be able to move onto the next step much quicker. "Do you have a pack, Corbie?" She asked, breaking the silence born from her intense concentration. Aryn knew the women lived somewhere permanent-to-semi-permanent, and that there were others with her, and that she raised livestock, but where was this grouping of likeminded people? Oh no, what if it was Fireside?

As they finished up framing the shelter itself, Aryn asked her a question. Corbie paused and she moved back to the pile of supplies to start the clay mixture, oddly taken aback by the question. Not the question itself, but the way it made her start thinking. "No, I don't have a pack," she said slowly as she jammed pawfuls of the mixture into the saplings until it was completely packed and the outside covered. "It has just been myself and my mentor's dog friend since he died in the Long Night. I've been thinking more and more about... starting a pack of my own though. Do you... I don't know, do you think that's just a fool's venture?" She gave her friend a crooked grin and a self-deprecating shrug.

With two people, plastering the walls was going much faster than it would have otherwise. It wasn't just twice as much done because twice as many people working - the companionship made the work feel easier, so they could work harder than they would alone, so it ended up far more than twice as quickly. Before long the whole shelter was mudded except the open space for a door where the chickens - and Aryn - could get in and out. "Hmm... it needs a roof, but it's looking good so far," she told Aryn cheerfully. "What do you think about covering it with branches, then tying two bigger branches across the top and bottom to hold them down? Then you can put bundles of whatever you want up there to shed water."

It was surprising that a wolf this learned and knowledgable had not yet found herself a pack, but as she posed the question on whether or not it was a fools venture to consider creating one, things became more clear. Corbie was a leader, Aryn could imagine her kindly guiding a pack with an experienced paw more then she could imagine her mindlessly tending fields beneath a brute somewhere like Fireside. "I don't think it's foolish at all." She assured her softly. "If you do happen to manage it, and you find the time, maybe you could come back here and let me know." She gave no assurances on whether or not she'd be able to come along, but the yearning to be apart of something so peaceful that felt right was strong enough that she didn't want the opportunity to go unsaid. And it wasn't as if she could outwardly come out and say that she was practically enslaved here, it was not fair to put that burden on her new friend's shoulders.

The pair worked quickly to progress the structure, and before she knew it there was a nearly-finished enclosure standing proud outside Habari's border. Aryn's tail gave a slow wag of pleasure, and she eagerly accepted Corbie's opinion on the roof. "I think I've enough wood to spare for that." She affirmed, moving to the pile to try and pick some out from the bundle that would match the size of the roof properly. Even if they did not get to it today, at least the chicks would have somewhere safe to stay overnight where Aryn did not have to obsessively watch them to ensure they did not wander far.

Aryn's faith in her meant more than she could have expressed. They'd only known each other for a short time, but Corbie had never really had a friend before. Having a friend who believed in her goals, who thought she could achieve them, meant more than she'd ever realized. Corbie smiled gratefully at the older woman. "This would be my first stop," she assured Aryn gravely. She wanted more than anything to ask if the woman would join her, but she hesitated to put that pressure on her to feel she had to answer. She didn't seem to trust her current pack but... maybe she wouldn't want to leave it.

She instead turned to help Aryn with the branches for the roof, then stood back and eyed the structure. It was getting late, and the structure was finished enough for the night. The chicks could go in there now and be closed in with a makeshift door, and it would work just fine. But... "It's getting too late today but... do you mind if I come back tomorrow and help you finish this?" she asked suddenly, and smiled sheepishly. "I know you could finish it yourself from here, but I just like to see a project through to the end."