it is the way

He smiled slightly at her words, then, at her question, he grinned. “True, if you temper it wrong, it won’t be as strong. But metal hardens once it cools.”

His head cocked slightly as she spoke next, a crooked grin on his features. When he spotted a point to interject, he nodded slightly, “Depending on how ornate you’re wanting to go, they can be the simplest project.”

Enito, having finished with the kill, stumped in, dragging the kill, portioned out into cuts and bundled in the hide through the main chamber and into the fire chamber down the cave hall. Cairo picked up the various bags and nodded to the hide for her to carry, leading the way after the mandrill monkey.

Recently, the primates of the pack had carved out wells in the dark stone walls of the cave, filling them with oil under the two Mandrill monkeys’ direction. They’d woven wicks from cotton, soaking them in beeswax, and coiled them in the wells, and in those wells, they poured oil rendered from the fat taken from kills.

The halls were much less dark and dim now, with the rough sconces lit and lighting the way. More light, dancing and flickering, poured out of the opening into the fire chamber, along with a contented crackle and pop of flame dining on logs.

Cai set the supplies a good distance from the fire pit and patted a spot on the stone floor with a grin. “If you drop that bison hide here we can spread it out.”

Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think