Modesty had bought her son out to the plains so they would be in a well ventilated space for today's experiment. She had lined the bottom of a pot with gravel and half filled the thing with ash from the fireplace before topping it up with water the night before, and now a pigeon egg floated on top, slowly cooking she was sure. She had fats and oils her muscles still ached from processing, goats milk, scents to add to give the whole thing a pleasant aroma. She just hoped it would all come together the same way it had with the small batch she had prepared earlier.

She had some boxes set up (they would have once been loaf pans, but Modesty wouldn't know that), and she had lined the trays with banana leaves. With the tortoise shell in front of her and big spoon for mixing she did one last check of the ingredients, knowing Moo would find her son any moment and bring him to her.

“Speech.”

-lesson unrelated to other skill taught by professor 1/3-

Ken had been exploring, and while he had been exploring, he had made a new friend and run into a familiar face. The big orange guy had helped him fight off a lion was called Steig, and the younger green and dark patchy kid was apparently called Muskie. The three had been up to no good when mums bird came to collect him for a lesson. Assuming it would be fighting again, he invited his friends along, the more the merrier right?

What met his eyes when he finally got to the plains looked more like a witches brew. Whatever was in the ashpot gave off a burning smell and he seated himself down with a tip of his head. What on earth had she cooked up for him today? When he saw her questioning look, he introduced his friends. "Oh this is Steig and Muskie." He introduced the kids that followed him in like it was no big deal. He turned to his new friends, "This is mum, she'll answer quicker if yer just call 'er that too."

"speech"

Steig was glad to run into the lion kid again, the boy was growing now and it seemed he might never stop. While his new friend seemed to be filling out, it looked like the little viking would tower over him in the end. When he smiled, the markings that ran up over his eyes seemed to expend it and make the whole look rather more menacing.

A bird dropped out of the sky to summon his friend, and when he invited them along, Steig saw no reason to say no. No matter what was being taught, he was sure he could put it to use one day. Coming upon the galactic coated woman in the plains was like something out of one of his dads stories. The woman had a mystical quality to the boy and he looked upon her starstruck. What sort of potion was she brewing out here under the sun? Surely this would be better suited to a full moon night?

When Kenway introduced them and told them to call her mum, the boy couldn't help himself with a cheeky wave of his tail. “Hej Mum,”

“Speech”

Muskie didn't usually wander far from home, but she was beginning to wonder why, she'd met two boys that were a bit older than her but cool none the less (at least she didn't have to worry about accidentally crushing them to death), and when his mums bird came for one, he invited them to join him, apparently his mum wanted to teach him something. The girl trundled along after the boys, marvelling at their heights, one was even taller than her dad! Until they came across a lady with some bowls gathered on the Plains. Her head canted, ruby eyes observing the offerings, some sort of milk? She licked her lips. Were they cooking?

When Ken told them to call her mum, Muskie's tail waved and she joined in “HI MUM! Watcher cookin?”

“Speech”

Trust Kenway to arrive with an entourage in tow. Modesty rolled her eyes when he said that calling her mum would get her attention quicker, but then again, she supposed that was probably correct. The boy came from the mountain, but the girl was a puzzle, and Modesty realised she might have need to do a bit more travelling to pin down the other local packs and at least say hello. Then it struck her, Insomnia. They had raided there what felt like an age ago. “Welcome to both of you, if your parent's ask, my name is Modesty from Raider's Hollow. I am Kenway's mum, but as he said, I'll respond quicker if you call me the same.” She gave the kids a wink. It warmed her heart to see the kids getting along and not coming back mauled with all the drama that had been stirred up of late.

“Today, we will be trying to make soap. I've only done it myself once before.” She handed a smaller tortoise shell to each of the children and set them up with a spoon. To start, we combine our oils and goat milk, then I will add some of the liquid in this pot. I will pour it, because it will burn you... then once it starts to get a bit thicker we can add things like oils or petals or powders to change the colour and smell of it. Once it starts to get thick, we'll pour it over these banana leaves and leave it to get hard for about 2 days. After that, we can cut it into bars. I'll make sure we get it delivered to you both once it is done."

After all, there was no point trying to lug the containers up the mountain or across the desert. It would set better if it remained where it was. "Okay, first the step is to add equal measures of milk, and oils... once I add the ash water it will start to get hot so have your spoons ready to mix."

“Speech.”

-lesson unrelated to other skill taught by professor 2/3-

Ken listened as him mum explained the process. He measured out the milk and the oil, leaving enough for his friends and began to mix them together. When Modesty came along with the ash water, she trickled it in on the opposite side of the bowl and was careful to not splash it around and Ken expanded his mixing out to incorporate the liquid once she had moved onto the next kid. It was thickening pretty quickly. Looking at the items on offer for scent, he added some vanilla bean and lime rind to his mix, noticing the new additions made it even thicker. At the last minute, he threw in some crushed seaweed that added a green tint to the mix. Ken wondered how thick it should get before he poured it out, but it was smelling really nice already.

"speech"

Steig watched Ken's mum with rapt attention as she went about explaining what they would be doing today. His thoughts turned to his own mother and what sort of scents she might like. He sniffed each of those on offer and settled for a woody smell that had an underlying sweetness to it, and another that had the same earthiness to it but had an underlying spiciness. He gently stirred his milk and oils and noted the way it got harder to stir as the mixture thickened once the mum that wasn't his own added the ash water to the blend. He noted the floating egg and wondered if it added to the mixture or if it was some sort of indicator. “What's the egg for?” He finally asked, breathing in the scent of the mixture as it continued to cure.

“Speech”

Muskie was a little messier than the boys when it came to mixing her milk and oils, but she also had a bit more room in her bowl, so most of it ended up where it was supposed to be. Her mum was a wild thing and she generally smelled like grass and salt to the girl so she looked over the offerings laid out before them. Lemongrass seemed the closest, and she added some shredded orange rind and grassy looking stuff that the teacher told her was loofa. Because she didn't much care for the colour matching the concoction, she sprinkled some yellow powdered ochre to the mix and giggled with delight when the mix took on a bright yellow colour. Hers seemed even thicker than the boys with the added loofa but she didn't mind at all. Now what were they supposed to do with it?

“Speech”

Modesty watched closely as each of the kids stirred their soaps and she was pleased it all seemed to be coming together. She indicated that they should pour the soaps into their moulds and then tap them down a couple of times to knock out any airbubbles. Now came the fun part. “If you want to use the back of your spoon, you can make the tops wavy.” She pulled out a bar she had made in the first batch that had peaky tops like cresting waves. “And if you'd like to sprinkle anything on top,” her own had dried rose petals and lavender seeds, “They'll stick at this point, then we just have to be patient while they dry.” She offered the kids an encouraging smile, gesturing that they should put the finishing touches on their bars when they were ready.

“Speech.”

-lesson unrelated to other skill taught by professor 3/3-

Under his mother's direction, he poured out his mixture into the mould and tapped it down. A large air bubble escaped with a farting noise and the boy dissolved into a fit of giggles. "Mmm, never sniffed a fart that smelt so good," he choked out between his giggling fit. Once the mixture was settled he took the back of his spoon and used it to whip the top of his bar into frosty peaks before adding some coconut flakes and more crushed seaweed. It looked pretty good if he did say so himself. Now that hard part (the waiting) would begin. He looked to his companions to see how their soap was coming along too. He was quietly impressed.

"speech"

The boy was careful to pour out his mixture into the banana leaf lined container and he really hoped the texture of the leaves would come though in the bar itself. Instead of whipping his to peaks, he tapped his down flat and laughed at Kenway's farting soap. He could barely muster enough breath to keep himself upright so he didn't respond beyond more peals of his own laughter to the chorus.

Once the soap was level, he took another banana leaf and gently impressed the thick veins of the leaf onto the soap and lightly decorated it with a sprinkle of yellow ochre that looked like it glittered gold in the sun. His bar was mostly the white of the goats milk so the flash of goldish yellow added a subtle touch he thought.

“Speech”

Muskie, being much younger, wasn't quite as coordinated as the older boys and the pretty space lady had to step in and give her a hand, tipping the shell up and allowing the girl to use her spoon to scrape out the mixture that clung to the sides. Her soap farted too, though she was less noisy in her giggles than the boys were. She looked at Kens whipped top soap and Steig's carefully pressed imprint top and she became a little self-conscious, worried the older boys might laugh if she messed it up. With some gentle encouragement, she picked up a small twig and started to scrawl patterns in the top of her soap, sprinkling some crushed dried seaweed and a darker bronze ochre on top. She sat back, pleased with the results. She couldn't wait until it was set and she could give it to her mum!

“Speech”