Come down, come down sweet reverence

Evening fell in a soft hush at the end of an unseasonably warm and beautiful autumn day. Jynn knew it wouldn't stay like this forever and if anything the uptick in temperature foretold a drop in the days to come. For now though, it still felt like summer if just cooler than usual. Jynn pushed her way through cattails and reeds to he edge of a beautiful lake. The calm surface reflected the setting sun with golds, reds and violets playing throughout the ripple of water. Around her were hundreds of glowing lights, the last dance of the fireflies before the colder weather snuffed them out for good. The silhouettes of plants shifted lightly as a gentle breeze moved through. Jynn unrolled her map and carefully marked the edge of the lake she'd arrived at, using walnut ink. She just used one of her claws to trace a light line for the edge of the lake.

Áskell returned with his father to the lake they'd stopped at some time before when he'd met Ruin. He'd slept on the way and even though it was evening when they arrived he was awake and ready to play even hough his father needed rest.

Áskell grabbed a hide bag that contained some clay, small bones, and leather strips and they wandered toward the lake to do some crafting. He wanted to braid another leather strand for his dad as well as making some beads that he could use later. He padded over to a flat rock along a rocky beach near the lake shore. He unrolled his hide of goodies, setting out the clay and then taking three leather strands and carefully tying a knot in the top of them. As he worked he spied a strange looking woman. "Hi, who are you?"

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn continued her exploration of the lake, carefully pushing through reeds until she arrived at a rocky beach. She moved forward and bent her head to take a quick drink of the cool water. Frogs were beginning to serenade the coming night as the sun sank lower. She heard someone approaching and looked up. A boy saw her and called out. She glanced about for a moment to see if he had any family nearby.

"I'm Jynn Tirana. What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be with a parent?" She didn't want to have to deal with an angry parent thinking she meant harm to their child, though the boy seemed pretty comfortable so perhaps there was at least someone within earshot. Jynn opted to mark the beach on her map. She drew a line for the edge of the lake then carefully added in a few dots to signify a rocky beach.

The stranger introduced herself. "I'm making things and I'm with my dad. He's taking a nap over there somewhere." Áskell gestured randomly back toward a cluster of birch trees where Harbringr was sleeping peacefully. "What are you doing out here? Is this where you live?"

While he talked he continued to work. He started breaking of small pieces of clay with his claws and then carefully used the pads of his paws to roll them into, mostly round, beads. He carefully set them aside to put holes into later while his magpie companion looked for a good-sized bone for the task. While the bird looked he worked on the braided leather strand.

He separated out the three strands. Then, using his teeth he folded the right strand over the middle so that it became the new middle strand. Next he took the left most strand and crossed it over the middle strand so that it was now the new strand. Taking the right he crossed it over the middle again and kept repeating the process. He carefully used his claws and toes to help pull the braid tight.

Come down, come down sweet reverence

Jynn peeked into a dense patch of cattails, pulling her head from the brush she looked over at the boy and shook her head. "No, I'm not from around here, I'm just out exploring. What about you?" She assumed he must have a pack nearby somewhere. She continued her trek along the shoreline, eventually coming to another shore line but what was interesting about this one was it was a soft and sandy beach rather than the rocky one covered in pebbles. As she scouted around the wind started to pick up a bit more. Jynn marked down the sandy beach on her map as well, sketching in the lake boundary and then doing a rough outline of the beach as she wasn't quite sure the best way to mark it as just sandy.

Áskell shook his head at the woman's question. "Naw, I'm from by the volcano. We're just going on a little trip." He still thought it made him sound cool to say he lived on a volcano even if technically his den was in the Redbud Nook. Áskell continued to create the braided strand, folding the outside strands over the middle and pulling tight when possible. Finally he got to the end of the braid. Using one paw to help keep things tight he carefully tied a knot in the other end of the strand.

That was one thing done. At that moment his companion hopped over to him with a chicken bone in its mouth. With the companions help they threaded the bone through the beads one at a time. Once that was done the beads were set aside to dry and his father came to see what he was working on.