The next morning, Suki met up with Nixie and ran her through the whole process of setting up the light rig.
“I should be able to handle that, I think.” Nixie said.
“Don’t worry about it,” Suki replied. “Shaun and I have a few things we want to try with lighting the cave, so we’ll be going with you today. Okay?”
“Thanks, I appreciate that,” Nixie said, a bit relieved. “I’m so excited to be in the cave with the drawings, I want to enjoy myself for a little bit. Then I’ll settle down and be a good helper, I promise.”
“You’re not just a helper, Nixie,” Suki told her. “You’re an equal part of the team.”
Seeing that she hadn’t dampened any of Nixie’s excitement, Suki said, “Let’s go find Shaun and collect all the stuff we’re going to need today at the cave, then we can go meet Star and Nicole.”
Kikki and Tam were talking with the group that was going to the Valley of the Teachers.
“You’ve got the lists of what you’re after,” Kikki said. “With any luck, you’ll find some things we didn’t even think of.”
“Be sure and pack all these shiners and minerals,” Tam added, pointing to the bundled items. “You’ll need them to use for trade.”
“It would be nice if we could set up some sort of a trade network,” Jax said. “Once we have good relations with these tribes, we could just send a single runner to tell them what we need, and they could do the hauling for us.”
“I like that idea,” Piper said. “Of course, it would cost us more, but with as few people as we have, it’d be worth it.”
“That’s great for the future,” Cisco said, lifting his pack to check the weight. “But right now, we barely know what we’re going to be doing from one day to the next.”
“Well at least this day by day stuff makes things a lot more interesting,” Jax replied with a grin.
“I won’t lie,” Isis said with a laugh, “I love the interesting stuff.”
“I think we all do,” Tam said. “And we’re sure in the right place for it.”
“Well, if that’s all, you guys have a safe trip,” Kikki said with a wave. “We’ll keep things going while you’re gone.”
~ At the cliff ~
At the cliff face, time was spent hauling everything they brought up to the cave.
With everything staged at the cave entrance, it was time for Nixie to see the drawings for the first time.
“Go ahead, Nixie, you lead the way,” Star said, then laughed as Nixie started into the dark passageway. “You’d better shake up your shiner, or you’re going to have a pretty rough trip.”
“Uh, yeah, I was just about to do that,” Nixie mumbled as she fumbled with her shiner. “With any luck, that’s my one dumb thing for the day.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry, Nixie,” Star chuckled. “You’ve still got a full day to do dumb things.”
“Okay, here I go,” Nixie said, starting forward again.
Winding through the passageway and finally entering the main chamber, Nixie froze in place, which caused the other cats to pile up behind her.
“Come on, make room, Nixie Girl,” Star said from right behind her.
Getting no response, Star gently moved her off to the side.
It wasn’t until all the other cats were in the chamber that Nixie again became aware of anything but the drawings.
“Wow, this is beyond anything I could have imagined,” Nixie said, her eyes shining with excitement.
“Okay,” she said, giving herself a shake. “Let’s get busy.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Suki said with a grin. “First, we need light. The ‘Rocking Shiner’ is all set up to go, but let’s get everything we brought situated before we set that going.”
Shaun moved forward with a tall rod mounted on a wide base. He set it midway down the length of the chamber. Then he gave the ‘Resin Shiner’ a good shake and hung it from the hook at the top of the rod. Bright blue light flooded the chamber.
“Well, that’s certainly bright enough to get things set up,” Nicole said, shielding her eyes, “but look how it’s washing out the colors of the drawings. There’s no way we could work with that bright of a light.”
“I’m not surprised,” Shaun said. “We’ll leave it here to use when you’re setting things up.”
“But you know, somewhere, someplace, this ‘Resin Shiner’ will be the perfect answer to a problem.”
Once they had all the supplies set out of the way, Suki showed Nixie how the ‘Rocking Shiner’ worked. Then Shaun explained how to use the leveling bowl and the wedges to level the whole thing.
“You’ve got the extra water bags and the replacement shiners for this thing,” Suki said, “so at the end of the day you can change things out to be ready to go first thing the next morning.”
“Of course, you’re now the equipment boss here, so you can handle the job however you think best.”
“I know you’re anxious to get started, so we’ll get out of your way,” Suki said, motioning for Shaun to join her. “Go ahead and start the ‘Rocking Shiner’. It’ll take a few more minutes for the ‘Resin Shiner’ to die out. Then Star and Nicole can finally get to work.” She said with a grin.
As she and Shaun turned to leave, she called back, “Have fun and keep your personal shiners handy, just in case.”
~ Mystic village ~
Kikki and Tam were sitting at the counter in Isis’s cabin. They were going over the lists of supplies on hand and what would be needed soon.
“With all the shiners that Suki and Shaun are producing,” Tam said, shaking his head, “along with the minerals we sent with the group going to the Teachers, and don’t forget the minerals being used in the cave, we’re going to need to make a resupply run to Fiery Mountain very soon.”
“We might have a solution for that,” Suki said. “Before they left, Jax told me that he was planning a side trip to Fiery Mountain on the way back from dealing with the Teachers.”
“Thank goodness for that,” Tam replied. “I was starting to get worried.”
“What else do we have going?”
“Well, I was thinking…” Kikki said.
“Oh no, this can’t be good,” Tam said, bracing himself and holding on to the counter.
“Come on, hear me out,” Kikki said, laughing at Tam’s antics. “This is called delegation. We’re going to get someone else to do the work for us.”
“Okay,” Tim said, letting go of the counter and folding his arms. “Tell me your master plan.”
“It’s simple, really,” Suki began. “We need to keep all as many cats as possible working on the cabins.”
“And we seem to be getting more and more people showing up here all the time, which is why we need the cabins, but also we need to get up to speed with feeding everyone.”
“I think we need to have the cookhouse up and running as soon as possible.”
“Agreed,” Tam said. “So what do you have in mind?”
“We know that the Hungry tribe has one or more families who can make clay ovens as well as lined fire pits.”
“Taniki already told us where she would like to have a fire pit and later an oven.”
“I propose that we ask someone from the Hungry tribe to come up here and build these for us.”
“Of course we’ll have to trade them something for the work they do.”
“We’ll want to run this by Luna first.”
“That’s a sound plan,” Tam commented. “I have a suggestion though.”
“We’ve been dealing with Pinky for a while now, and to be truthful, I think he’s kind of at loose ends, trying to keep busy. He might be interested in a small project like this.”
“Well, Pinky is a good guy and fun to have around.” Kikki said.
“Okay then, while things are fairly quiet here, let’s make a quick trip down the valley.”
“Hey, Breezy and Juni,” Kikki called, walking up to the cookhouse living quarters. “We’re making a run down the valley. I thought we’d see how you guys are doing.”
Juni came outside. “I think we should be done sometime tomorrow, though it might be late.”
“Wow, you guys work fast,” Kikki said, a little surprised.
“I’ll tell Taniki that she’s clear to head up here any time after tomorrow.”
“We’re going to line up some help to put in the fire pit and an oven,” Tam added, “unless you two are itching to do that.”
Breezy joined them. “We could dig the pit, but giving it a proper lining, let alone building an oven, is above our skill level. I think this is one of those things where if you do it right the first time, you won’t have to do it again.”
“Okay, we’ll get going then,” Tam said. “We’ll let you know if we get something set up.”
Taking a break for lunch, all the cats were gathered around the central fire pit. Vitto and Del were again on kitchen duty. The meal was a simple fish stew with boiled root vegetables from Suki’s gardens.
Baxter and Cassy were sitting comfortably close. “Have you found something to keep you busy?” Baxter asked.
“Isis showed me her notes on the valley and the flowers, so I’ve been studying those.” Cassy replied as she enjoyed her stew. “Then I’ll do a study and tests of my own. It’s always good to look at a problem from more than one angle.”
“So, do you plan on staying around for a while?” Baxter asked, looking at his empty bowl, thinking about going for a second helping.
“Quite simply, this is where the action is,” Cassy replied. “And to be honest, I like being around you.”
“The thing is, it’s not just about us. There are important things going on here, and we’re all going to be busy, not just here but possibly all over the territory. I plan to keep my place at Sunny Meadows, if nothing else, for a way station that we can use as we travel around.”
“What are you picturing with all this travel?” Baxter asked, a bit confused.
“Well, talking with Isis, it seems that the violet flowers are the key to this whole thing. If that’s true, not only do we have to protect the flowers here, but we need to get them growing all over the territory. That way, if we lose the flowers in one location, we’ll have others, also, we may need a lot of the flowers to get the job done.”
“There’s another thing that’s not generally known, but the healers of all the tribes have maintained a network of trust and shared knowledge. This has always been the way of it.”
“We plan to use the healers to grow the flowers and supply other healers with seeds to grow their own.”
Baxter mused, “It’s almost spooky how well everything comes together.”
“Given a chance, I’m going to go ahead and build a cabin on the site that I showed you,” Baxter said, his voice getting a little husky. “We can call that home. When we have to go in different directions, we’ll always have a place to come back to and find each other.”
“Damn, you’re going to make me cry, you big lug,” Cassy said in a soft voice, giving him a hug and a nuzzle.
“Now that that’s all settled,” Cassy laughed, “you’d better go get some more stew before it’s all gone.”
~ Hungry village ~
“You two just keep showing up,” Luna laughed. “What are you after now?”
Kikki explained her idea for getting the fire pit and the oven built. Luna thought about it for a few minutes, then said, “There is a family who has been busy as can be, making everything you can think of out of clay. That’s what you would need to line your fire pit and to build the oven. But I don’t think they have the time to stop what they’re doing to go upstream for your project.”
As Kikki was starting to show her disappointment, Luna continued, “There is another family that has the expertise to build what you want, but they’re pretty busy cooking and baking for many of the families. They might be able to send one of their older kids with you to help you build what you want.”
“That might work out,” Tam said, then continued,
“On a lot of our visits for supplies, Pinky always seems to be around doing different things all the time. He’s always been helpful getting us what we need.”
“We were thinking of getting him to do this job for us. With him finding the materials and hauling them up to our village, along with the help of that family’s kid to help him build the pit and the oven, I think we can get it done.”
“Let’s go visit some people,” Luna said, motioning for Kikki and Tam to follow.
Their first visit was to the family that had already provided them with clay pots for Isis. They were able to make a deal for enough clay brick and raw clay for both the pit and the oven. They traded all that for two of the cutter cords that they’d shown worked great for cutting the dried brick. Kikki made a note to talk to Suki about an even finer cutter for more intricate cuts.
The next visit was to the family of bakers. Their son was more than happy to have a change of scenery and get to meet new people. Though the family didn’t want anything in exchange for the use of their son, Tam gave them a small shiner, explaining its limited use until they could lay in more minerals.
Kikki explained that they were going to try and get Pinky to do most of the work, so he would come around when it was time for him and their son to head up the valley.
Luna left them to get back to what she had been working on before they showed up.
Last of all, they found Pinky back at the flint knapping site, screening for points.
“Hey Pinky,” Kikki called, “have you got a minute?”
“I don’t know,” Pinky said with a big grin. “I’m awful busy here. Are you after more flint chips already?”
“We’ve got a proposition for you,” Tam said.
Pinky jumped down to join them. “Okay, I’m listening.”
“First the problem,” Tam said, “We’ve built a new cookhouse and we need a lined fire pit and an oven.”
“I heard that Taniki and her kids are moving up to your village,” Pinky said, scratching behind one of his ears. “Good for her, but we’re sure going to miss her cooking.”
“We’ve already arranged for the clay bricks to line the pit and build the oven,” Tam continued. “And we’ve found a young cat who knows how to build what we want.”
“We’d like you to run the project. You’ll need to get the clay bricks and the raw clay up to the village, and then you’ll be the main source of labor.”
“We don’t expect you to do this just out of the goodness of your heart,” Kikki added. “We have an idea about that.”
“You know the cutter ropes we’ve been making with the chip we’ve been getting from you? We were thinking that, in payment for this work, we would supply you with enough cutters for you to put together your own crew to start felling trees to supply the tribe with building materials.”
“You would do that for me?” Pinky asked, his eyes shiny with emotion. “I could finally do some meaningful work.”
“When do you want me to start?”
“We’re ready for you now,” Kikki said. “We’ll swing by the family with bricks, if you want to come with us. Then we’ll check in with the family whose son is going to help you. After that, it’s up to you.”
Once everything was set up, Kikki and Tam went to visit Taniki.
They were surprised to find Willow and her two helpers, Lisha and Remmy, were there talking to Taniki.
“Is something wrong?” Kikki called out as they got close.
“Oh no, everything is just fine,” Willow replied.
“They’re here to visit their new clinic,” Taniki said with a grin.
“I couldn’t see leaving an empty house behind when we move up to our new home,” she said, “so I asked Willow if she’d like to have it for a clinic. Right now she’s working out of the shelter the tribe built for her.”
“We’re thrilled to be working out of a real house,” Willow said. “It will make everything easier.”
“It’ll give Lisha and Remmy a permanent place for a clinic when it’s time for me to leave,” Taniki added.
“We hope that’s not for a while yet,” Lisha said with a glance at Remmy.
“Don’t worry, kids,” Willow said with a reassuring smile, “I’ll be here until you’re ready to take over.”
“We came down to set up a project with Pinky,” Kikki said with a secret wink at Tam, who replied with a smile and a small nod. “We wanted to let you know that your living quarters will be ready the day after tomorrow.”
“Decide when you want to make the move, and we’ll send some cats down to help you haul your stuff.”
“We’ll absolutely be ready by day after tomorrow,” Taniki stated, trying to hide an excited grin.
~ Mystic village ~
Another evening meal saw all the cats relaxing around the central fir pit.
The meal was finished, and everything was cleaned up and put away. Lazy conversation floated around the fire.
From where she was sitting close to Nixie and Star, Suki asked, “How did your first day in the cave go?”
Nixie looked to Star to answer. “Everything we planned worked fine… However, it turns out there were some things we didn’t plan for.”
“Okay, you’ve got my attention,” Suki said. “What did we miss?”
“It’s mainly about the position of the drawings on the walls,” Star said.
“That’s right,” Nicole said, joining in. “We initially pictured sitting on the floor sketching away.”
“In reality, it’s easiest to start sketching a section of the wall, starting at the top and working down to the bottom.”
“So at first, we needed to be standing, then, for the middle-level drawings, we should be sitting on stools, and finally, sitting on mats on the floor to sketch the lowest drawings.”
“In other words,” Nixie stated, “we need some furniture.”
“We need comfortable stools and tables with slanting tops.”
“And when we move on to the painting stage,” Star added, “we’ll need some sort of easels.”
“It’s all more complicated than we thought.”
Nixie spoke up again. “We need to concentrate on one process at a time. We’ll set up for getting the sketches done first. Then we’ll reset the cave for the painting sessions.”
“I already asked Stony if he could help us with the furniture,” Star said.
“Did I hear my name?” Stony asked from where he was sitting next to Star.
“Yes, dear, we were saying sweet things about you,” Star grinned.
“No, you weren’t. You were talking about furniture,” Stony grumbled. “You thought I wasn’t listening.”
“Okay, you’re right, but I was ‘thinking’ sweet things about you,” Star said, patting his arm.
“Well, that’s alright then,” Stony said. “I think I’ve found enough stools and tables in the shelters to work for now. I modified two of the table tops to tilt. I’ll help you haul them up to the cave in the morning.”
“Thanks for taking care of that, Hon,” Star said, leaning over to give him a nuzzle.
Kikki stood up to get the group’s attention. “I just wanted everyone to be aware that, starting tomorrow, there will be a couple of new faces working at the cookhouse.”
“Tam and I arranged for Pinky from the Hungry tribe to build the fir pit and the oven next to the cookhouse.”
He’ll be bringing a helper who knows how to build those things. Pinky will be hauling the materials up from his village, and he’ll be doing the actual work.
“Fine by me,” Baxter said. “That’s one less thing we have to worry about.”
“Kikki, you mentioned before that Taniki and her kids were making their move up to the village here the day after tomorrow.” Del said. “I wanted to volunteer my family to help her with the move.”
“That would help a lot,” Kikki replied. “But be aware that it might take more than one trip.”
“No problem, we can use the exercise,” Del said. “I’ll be glad when things settle down enough that Vitto and I can get back to our regular workout routine.”
“When Taniki moves here and gets up to speed, that should free you up from cooking duties,” Shaun said. “Maybe then you’ll be able to start giving training sessions in the martial arts. There are some of us here who haven’t had any training at all.”
“I like the sound of that,” Del said, rubbing her hands together. “I haven’t trained any newbies in a long time. This is going to be fun.”
“We’ll have to talk about your idea of fun,” Shaun said with a worried look.