"Can you hold this still for me while I roll it out?" she asked her son as she laid the roll of heavy, woven canvas on the floor of her workshop, finding the edge of the roll and giving it to him to hold. She had noticed while out on patrol around the Firefly Lake recently that the pillows that lined the open pavilion she had built on the lake's edge had gotten worn and tattered from being out in the elements. It obviously meant she should probably find a better way of storing them when they weren't in use, but first they were in dire need of replacement. She had managed to find this thick, heavy duty fabric from a wandering trader a while back and had kept it stored away while she looked for the best use for it so this seemed like as good a use as any.

With Daemon's assistance with keeping the fabric flat as she rolled it out, she eye balled how much they might need to make a good amount of pillows. She started with enough to make four pillows and then doubled it to have two sides, using a sharp dagger to cut off what she needed. With that done she moved the roll off to the side and went to work cutting out each matching square, handing the pieces to Daemon to stack them up as she went. "Can you guess why I might want to use this fabric rather than something like hide or fur for these pillows?" she questioned, giving him a brief glance as she spoke to quiz him a bit. He was a very fast learner when it came to the crafting knowledge she was passing on to him, but she liked to see what his train of thought on these things would lead him to.

"Avacyn Mendacium"

Daemon stood attentively off to the side while Avacyn rolled out the canvas across her workshop floor, watching the way her paws would methodically smooth out the vellum surface as she went. His mother asked for his paws to help hold down the unruly canvas and Dae was quick to spring to action, pouncing on the opposite end to keep it smoothed out for her. "Got it, Mom!" he cheered with a wide puppy grin and wiggly tail. Daemon made himself into the best little weight to hold down the canvas that he could, keeping fascinated cerulean eyes on his mother while she measured out the fabric that she needed for the pillow repairs. As Avacyn cut out each of the pillow templates, Daemon would take them as they were handed off to him to stack into a neat little pile off to the side.

Soon the mother-son duo had cut out a good stack of pillow-shaped swatches of the canvas fabric. Avacyn asked him if he could guess why she would want to use the canvas fabric as opposed to furs or hides. Daemon had a little think about it, rubbing his paws over the slightly coarse fabric as if testing it. "Is iiiiiit... because it's more weather resistant? Furs get all damp and musty when they get wet." Daemon looked up at Ava with a curious tilt to his head, awaiting to see if his answer was correct.

"Daemon Mendacium"

While Daemon contemplated an answer to her question, she started getting a needle and thread ready to start stitching these pillows together. Luckily the canvas was pretty forgiving so they didn't have to use a very small needle and the thread was a thicker thread both for durability and so it was easier to handle. Eventually he answered and hit the nail on the head with his explanation that the canvas was more weather resistant, pointing out how musty furs get when they get wet. "Exactly!" she agreed with a grin. "Plus, this will dry faster than furs will if they ever do get rained since they'll be outside." The sitting area by the lake was covered, but that didn't mean that rain didn't blow into it if the wind blew hard enough.

She picked up two of the pieces of canvas that had been cut out and laid them so that the nicer side of the fabric was facing each other. "We're going to sew them this way most of the way and then turn them inside out so that the raw edges are tucked inside the pillow," she explained, showing Daemon the difference from one side of the fabric to another. "Why don't you hold these still for me and I'll get the stitches started," she offered, lining up the pieces of fabric and then holding them out for Daemon to take. With his help she started feeding the bone needle through the canvas and looping it back around to feed it through again. Once she had one side done she traded jobs with Daemon, saying, "Why don't you give it try? Be careful, it's sharp!"

"Avacyn Mendacium"

His answer had been correct! Daemon’s tiny tail began to wag ever faster as a proud smile split across his muzzle. His mother’s praise was the highest form of reward the egotistical prince could receive. It made sense, making the cushions out of a more durable and weather-resistant material that would dry faster than damp furs would. While his mother showed him how to properly hold the two pieces of canvas fabric together, Daemon would mimic her examples, doing as he was instructed to hold the two pieces together while Avacyn went around the seams with a needle and thread to sew them together. "Got it, Mom!"

Bit by bit they went around stitching the cushion together until Ava stopped after one side was done and instead offered him to do the next side. "Yeah, sure!" the boy exclaimed, happily swapping jobs and taking the sharp bone needle as carefully as he could from her. Handling it was pretty awkward, especially since he still hadn't developed those super fine motor skills that would come with adolescence and adulthood yet. Puppies were floppy most of the time, and after nearly fumbling the needle once, Daemon began a slow and methodical stitching up along the next side of the cushion. He was much slower than Avacyn's practiced paws were, but the boy was determined to make his mother proud. When he reached the next corner after successfully not stabbing himself, Dae inspected his work and looked up to his mother for her assessment. "Well? How'd I do?"

"Daemon Mendacium"

Avacyn couldn't keep the smile off of her lips as Daemon carefully took the needle from her and began to slowly–if a bit awkwardly–mimic her work. These pillows were hardly anything of major importance and were just for the pack's enjoyment so she didn't mind at all if one side was a bit crooked or not sewed as tightly as the rest. Still, despite the fact that she simply wanted him to have the experience no mater what the result was, he took his time and actually did quite well for his first attempt! She held the fabric steady all the while, keeping a close eye to make sure he didn't poke himself or thread the needle through the wrong way. She didn't end up having to correct him much through and after a while he finished his side of the pillow. The stitches were a little less even than her own, but he still earned a very proud smile from her all the same.

"That's amazing, darling!" she replied when he questioned how he had done, beaming at him as she reached over to playfully ruffle the fur on top of his head. "You did such a good job, you're a natural." She turned the half-sown pillow casing so that the next open seam was facing her and took the needle back from him, switching jobs with him again so that she could quickly stitch up a third side and get them to the stage of filling the pillows. Turning the pillow inside out so that the seams they had made were now smooth on the outside of the pillow, she held open the empty casing they had made and then pointed out a basket of wool that was sitting off to the side. "Go ahead and start piling that in here! We want to pack it pretty full since it'll compress down some as it's used. Then we can stitch together the last side."

"Avacyn Mendacium"

All children desired the love and praise of their parents, so when Avacyn beamed and complimented his work, it felt to Daemon a lot like winning the lottery. His proud smile grew on his face, his little tail waggling happily behind him. His mother's praise meant the world to the boy. "Thanks, Mom! You're a really good teacher," he replied, then playfully wiggled away from her as her paw went to ruffle the fluffy fur on his forehead, swinging his own little leonine paws at her much larger tiger paw. "Aww, Mooooom! Quit it!" Still giggling, Daemon was quick to hop back in to help his mother finish up the pillow, holding the fabric shut while she sowed the third side shut.

At his mother's direction, Daemon moved the basket of wool closer to where they were working so he could reach it more easily. While Avacyn held open the pillow, Daemon scooped up large amounts of wool in his arms, then dumped them straight into the open pillowcase. Over and over he continued to stuff the pillow full of fresh wool until it was practically overflowing with the cottony white wool and the basket was almost totally empty. "I don't think we can get much more in there," he said after trying to stuff another pawful of wool in, only for it to spill right out of the open pillowcase.

"Daemon Mendacium"