The group of cats traveling from the Valley of the Teachers approached the western edge of the village of Sunny Meadow.
“Thank goodness we’re finally here. I could use a break,” Benji said, shifting his pack to ease the strain on his shoulders.
“Well, of course, you could, since you’re carrying your load and half of mine,” Chantel said, standing at his side. “I told you I was fine with leaving that stuff until the next trip.”
“My enthusiasm outweighed my good sense,” Benji said with a grin.
“Maybe just a little,” Chantel replied, patting his arm. “I have to say though, that your effort was impressive.”
“Well then, my work here is done,” Benji laughed.
Gabriella couldn’t help but smile at the banter between her mother and Benji.
“Come on, Benji,” Jax said, “we all know impressing the ladies can be hard work. Let’s go find Cassy’s house. We could all use a break.”
Nearing Cassy’s house, they saw activity inside.
“I wonder who that could be?” Piper said as they got closer. “Cassy didn’t say anyone would be using her house.”
“We’ll know soon enough,” Cisco said from the back of the group. “I hope this isn’t going to be a problem.”
At the house, Isis stepped forward and called, “Hello in the house. We’re friends of Cassandra’s.”
“Hello, friends of Cassandra’s,” replied a familiar voice. “We’ve been expecting you.”
Suki and Shaun walked out to greet them. “Actually, we just got here this morning.”
“It’s good to see you two,” Isis said, giving Suki a hug. “We do have a couple of questions, though.”
“I’ll bet you do, but come on inside,” Shaun said. “Get those packs off. It looks like you’re hauling quite a load.”
Following everyone inside, Benji dropped his pack with a sigh, then helped Chantel and Gabriella with theirs.
“Thanks, Benji,” Gabriella said, rubbing her sore shoulders. “I’m thinking I shouldn’t have brought so much stuff.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Benji told her. “We’ve already decided to store part of the supplies here and go on with lighter loads.”
“Does that mean you’re done trying to impress my mom?” Gabriella grinned.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Benji replied innocently. “Besides, what could I do? She gave me cookies.”
“And you were sweet enough to share them with everybody,” Chantel said, coming up behind him. “And I hardly noticed the tiny tear on your cheek as you did.”
“You guys relax,” Suki said from the kitchen, “while Shaun and I get you some snacks and something to drink.”
Once everyone was comfortable and enjoying the snacks, Shaun stood and cleared his throat.
“I suppose this is as good a time as any to explain how I screwed up the shiner shipment.”
“It was just the last two batches of shiners that tested bad. I knew we had plenty of the good ones to send with you, so I just set the bad ones aside to look at later. At least, I thought I set them aside.”
“We still don’t understand how you ended up with the defective shiners, but we did figure out why they were defective. I just hope it didn’t ruin your trade mission.”
“How did it go with the teachers?” Suki asked, “I’m guessing it went well enough for two of them to be traveling with you.”
“Now I know we must be tired,” Isis said. “Let me introduce our new friends.”
“This is Chantel and her daughter Gabriella,” Isis introduced the two cats from the Teacher’s village, then continued, “That young lady is my daughter Suki, and next to her is Shaun.”
“You two seem awfully young to have traveled here on your own,” Chantel said.
“I don’t think we really thought about it,” Shaun replied. “We all just do what needs to be done.”
“Besides,” Suki added, “there’s plenty of other cats at home to tell us if we’re doing something we shouldn’t.”
“It’s a bit unusual,” Jax explained, “even though we’re now a tribe, we’re really more like one big family. We all watch out for each other.”
Gabriella looked at her mom with a grin. “I think we’re going to like it there.”
“That is if they don’t work us to death getting there,” Chantel laughed.
“Oh, you’re going to fit right in,” Piper told her.
“Anyway,” Cisco said, “as to what happened with the teachers when we presented them with the defective shiners, and you just know we had to grab those first, they didn’t know there was anything wrong.”
“And to be honest, it worked out great. The defective shiners were just the right brightness to light up the drawings they had in their library. The bright shiners tended to wash out the colors when they used them up close. While they would have liked to have more of the dim shiners, they did find good uses for the bright ones.”
“Which brings us to a very important question,” Cisco asked, leaning forward with a serious look, “Can you make more of the dim shiners?”
Suki and Shaun looked at one another, looking serious, then turned to Cisco and burst out laughing.
“Absolutely, we can make as many of the dim ones as you want.”
“You had me going there for a minute.” Cisco laughed.
“We’re just happy we didn’t ruin everything,” Shaun said, looking relieved.
“So tell me,” Suki said looking at Chantel and Gabriella, “why are you running with this bunch?”
The next while was spent in relaxed conversation until they noticed that it was getting close to dinner time.
“One last thing before we start dinner,” Shaun said, “Suki and I have a surprise for you.”
“We wanted to bring out replacement shiners and extra minerals,” Suki said.
“And we wanted to try out our newest invention.” she said, “or maybe we should call it a renovation.”
“Come out back and we’ll show you.”
They all walked through the kitchen to get to the backyard.
When they were all gathered, Suki and Shaun stepped aside revealing a pair of two wheeled carts.
“Okay, you have two village carts.” Cisco said with a puzzled look. “What’s so special about them.”
“These aren’t just village carts.” Suki stated with a grin, “these are Mystic carts.”
“You mean you and Shaun dragged those all the way from Mystic village?” Cisco asked incredulous.
“You must have carried spare wheels with you.”
“Look closer and you’ll see why they’re Mystic carts.” Suki said with pride.
“It actually started with Kyron challenging us to design a cart that could hold together on the trail.”
“Of course the weakness was the wooden wheels. Village carts generally have twelve inch wheels, which are fine for running on the smooth pathways in a village, but can’t stand up to rough trails.”
“The first thing we did was find a craftsman at the Hungry village to make us a pair of sixteen inch wheels and a pair of eighteen inch ones.”
“I see where you’re going with this,” Cisco said, examining the wheels. “But please go on.”
“We used the eighteen inch wheels to give us a guide for a clay wall we stuck to a big piece of slate.”
“Once we removed the eighteen inch wheels, we put the sixteen inch wheels in the center with little standoffs to keep them up off the slate.”
“And yes,” Suki said, “we did remember to oil up the slate and the clay perimeter. Finally, we covered the wheel with Moonglow resin.”
“We slide the whole thing into Taniki’s oven, that she was gracious enough to let us use. The oven let everything heat up evenly, and at the right point, we pulled the slate out of the oven. As it cooled, the Moonglow resin surrounding the wheel reached the stage we wanted. It was what you might call ‘stiff but pliable.’ Tough but not rock hard.”
“We repeated the process for the other wheel.”
“We ended up with wheels that had a wooden core and a rim covered with a layer of Moonglow resin,” she concluded.
Shaun took up the story, “We stuck the wheels on a cart and tried it out, and it worked great, even on rough trails.”
“It worked so well,” he said, “that we made a deal with our friend at the Hungry village that for every six sets of the wooden wheels he made for us, we would give him back one set with the Moonglow rims.”
“And you say these worked well on the trail here?” Benji asked.
“Even loaded with shiners and our packs,” Shaun answered.
“You can see that we kept the twin poles that you pull the cart with, but we’ll need to refine the design of how we attach the poles to our waist belts,” he added. “We’ll figure that out on the way back.”
“These are really beautiful,” Chantel said, admiring the colorful designs on the carts. “Did you paint those as well?”
“Oh no,” Suki said, “our friends Star and Nicole insisted that they were the ones to do the designs.”
“And you two did this on your own?” Gabriella asked.
“Not really,” she replied, “Kyron sparked the idea, and we used methods that Cisco taught us, and of course, villages have already been using carts, so we can’t take credit for those.”
“Even so,” Cisco smiled, “You’ve done very well. I’m really proud of you.”
“Even though you did send us off with defective shiners,” he added with a grin.
After a good dinner, the cats spent the evening relaxing and making plans for the next day.
“First thing in the morning,” Jax was saying, “Cisco and I are making a side trip to visit Olaf in Fiery Village. We want to pick up some more Blue light minerals and collect more of those copper nuggets.”
Cisco was pulling shiners out of the bundle that Suki and Shane had brought. “Let’s take some of these shiners to show Olaf and see if there’s a business opportunity there. He has the minerals to make them work and a pretty wide customer base.”
“That’s an interesting idea,” Jax said. “We’ll see what he thinks.”
“Another thing I’ve been thinking about is using our Rangers Lodge at Golden Oaks as a trading post. It’s more centrally located, and we won’t have to deal with so many strangers at Mystic Village.”
“Maybe Olaf can give us some advice on that too,” Cisco said. “He has been running his own business for a long time.”
“What about the rest of you?” Jax asked, looking at the others.
“It doesn’t make much sense for us to sit around waiting for you to get back,” Isis said.
“We can leave the extra shiners and minerals here,” Benji said. “With what those two carts can carry, I think we can get everything back to Mystic Village. If not, we can leave some stuff here to pick up later.”
“Jax, I’d like to go with you and Cisco to Fiery Mountain.” Piper said. “I’m curious about that shortcut Cisco found. Also, the more of us that know where he found the copper nuggets the better.”
“Besides, you two could use some adult supervision,” she added with a grin. “Who knows what you’d come back with this time? A copper shovel, maybe?”
“Well, that would be handy for digging up more of those nuggets,” Cisco laughed.
“So, that’s it then. Let’s get some sleep.”
The next morning, Piper, Jax, and Cisco headed for Fiery Mountain. They were traveling light, figuring they would probably be hauling back more minerals and possibly some nuggets.
They followed the main trail up the hill to the east of the village.
“So, that’s the volcano you were talking about,” Piper said, spotting the smoking cone in the distance.
“Yep, that’s it,” Cisco replied. “The village of Fiery Mountain is near there.”
“Now we look for the first side trail heading off to the left.”
Finding the trail, they followed it into the forest.
Back at Cassy’s house, the rest of the cats were loading the carts and getting their packs together.
“You know,” Benji said, helping Chantel and Gabriella with their packs, “if you want to take an extra day before we head out, that would be fine. It isn’t like we’re on a tight schedule.”
“What do you think, Gabby?” Chantel asked. “Do you want to rest up another day?”
“I’m fine, Mom. Benji already took most of what I was carrying and packed it on one of the carts.”
“There’s your answer, Benji,” Chantel said. “As soon as everything’s loaded, we’re ready to go.”
Shaun and Suki moved to stand between twin poles that extended to the front of each of the carts.
They each wore a wide belt that had straps on each side that they attached to the poles. They’d hold onto the poles for balance, but most of the strength to pull the cart would come from their waist and legs.
“This setup works pretty well,” Shaun said once he had all his straps adjusted. “But with the carts carrying a heavy load, if we come to a downhill slope that’s too steep, we’ll want to tie a rope to the back so someone can hold us back. We don’t want to go on any wild rides”
“We need to figure out a quick release so we can get away from the cart if it takes off on us,” Suki said.
“Well, if everybody’s ready, let’s get going,” Isis said. “I’ll keep an eye on you two with carts. Give a yell if you need any help.”
“We’ll want to stop once in a while to make sure the wheels are holding up,” Suki said. “We’ve got spares if we need to change any of them.”
It took a little effort to get the carts moving but then they rolled pretty easily. Of course, they were still in the village where the ground was level and smooth. Once they were on the rougher trail it took a bit more effort but if they kept a steady pace, it wasn’t that bad. There were a couple of uphill sections where one of the other cats had to push from behind.
“You know,” Shaun said when they stopped to check the wheels, “I think we’ve just about found the limit of the how much we want to haul on one of these carts. At least the limit of what Suki and I can handle. I’m sure bigger cats could do better.”
“Of course I’m not sure how much more weight the carts can take.”
“Anytime you or Suki need a break, just let us know.” Isis said.
“I’d like to see if Shaun and I can pull the carts for the whole trip,” Suki said, “then we’ll know that pretty much any of us can handle it.”
“Well, at least the wheels are holding up.” Suki said, “I don’t see any cracks in the wood and the Moonglow isn’t showing any wear at all.”
“I want to adjust the load on my cart a little.” Shaun said, “The weight’s a little far back. There were a couple of places where it lifted me off my feet. I definitely want more weight on the front.”
“It was kind of fun walking on air though.” he said with a grin.
“If you aren’t careful you’ll end up stuck straight up dangling from your straps.” Suki said.
“You’re right.” Shaun said. “Make sure you have your knife handy to cut yourself loose.”
“In that case, make sure you carry extra leather for straps.” Suki said. “This is good, it’s all stuff we wanted to find out.”
“Another drink of water and I’m ready to go.” Shaun said, “How’s everyone else doing?”
“I’m fine.” Chantel answered. “How about you Gabby?”
“I’m fine Mom. I’m not carrying all that much.”
“My load is lighter too.” Benji said. “Ya gotta love those carts.”
“I’ve got no complaints either.” Isis said. “Let’s keep going.”
~ On the trail to Fiery Mountain ~
“Piper, I’ll let you and Jax lead the way.” Cisco said, as they walked farther into the forest. “You’ll remember it better than if you just follow me.”
“Go ahead, Piper. I’ll be right behind you,” Jax said. “Just don’t walk us off a cliff.”
“I’ll watch for cliffs,” Piper replied. “You keep an eye out for landmarks.”
“When Baxter and I first tried this shortcut, we made a few wrong turns and had to backtrack,” Cisco said from his place bringing up the rear. “I’ll let you know if you make a wrong turn, so we don’t waste any time.”
“Okay, Piper said, “let’s see if we can make some time.”
For the next few hours, they traveled through the forest with only a couple of warnings from Cisco. Then they came to the first obstacle, the ravine.
“I think I found the cliff you didn’t want to walk off of,” Piper joked.
“No kidding,” Jax said. “I’m just glad we weren’t traveling after dark. That could have been bad.”
“You two know I’m watching out for you, don’t you,” Cisco laughed.
“When we get to Fiery Mountain,” Jax said, “we need to sketch a map of the trail with all the obstacles. It’ll help any of our other cats who come this way.”
“It might be a good idea, whenever any of us return from a trip, to make a report of who we met and anything unusual about the trip, perhaps including maps.”
“I agree, and that’s all well and good,” Piper said, “but right now we have a ravine blocking our way.”
“Right you are,” Cisco said, “just follow the edge of the ravine until you find a big boulder with a mark on it.”
After quite a few hours of navigating obstacles, the three cats approached the area where the hillside had sloughed onto the trail.
“This is where we found the copper nuggets,” Cisco said, “so look around and fix the details in your mind, so you can find it again.”
“What made you look for copper nuggets here?” Piper asked. “It just looks like dirt to me.”
“There were actually nuggets lying on the surface, shining in the sunlight,” Cisco explained.
“We were careful to hide any evidence of anything interesting, in case someone else comes along. The nuggets are good for trading, and we don’t know how big the deposit is.”
“Today, we want to collect a few pouch-fulls to trade for minerals at Olaf’s.”
“Maybe we should go ahead and get a full load of minerals from Olaf, and take that back to Cassy’s house, then come right back here to load up on all we can carry of the nuggets. We can store the nuggets at Cassy’s. At least we won’t have to worry about someone else cleaning out the whole deposit before we can get back to it.”
“Okay, Piper said, “show us where to dig for the nuggets. Then we can pick out some good landmarks, so we can find the place again.”
“Hang on a minute,” Cisco said as he waded into the bushes. “Alright, here we go.”
He came back with the two digging tools that he and Baxter had used before. He lined himself up with a particular tree and oriented it with a distant landmark. He showed Jax and Piper the two reference points he was looking at, then he turned around and pointed to a spot on the uphill side of the trail. “That’s where we want to dig.”
Jax and Piper each lined themselves up with the reference points to fix the memory.
Jax took one of the tools and started digging. “Let’s see what we can find.”
About 5 inches down, they started finding the shiny nuggets they were looking for. Because they only had two digging tools, they took turns digging. When it was Piper’s turn for a break, she said, “I’m going to wander around a bit and see if there’s anything interesting in the area.”
She headed off towards the stream that was downhill from the trail.
After a while, she came back to where Cisco and Jax were digging.
Jax grinned and said, “Okay, what did you find?”
“Why do you think I found something?”
“Because you’ve got that ‘I’ve got a secret’ look on your face.”
“Well, it’s not as exciting as your hillside of copper nuggets, but I thought it was pretty neat.”
“There was a place where the stream made a sharp bend. The inside of the bend was in shadows, and it looked like there was a smooth accumulation of sand. When I got closer, I realized that instead of sand, it was a deposit of fine gold. I couldn’t resist scooping up a pouch full.”
“You do know,” Jax said, “that gold is nearly as common as dirt.”
“Yes, I’m aware of that,” Piper answered, acting a little perturbed.
“But there was something about the purity of the deposit that made me think we might have a use for it.”
“I don’t know, it was just a feeling,” she shrugged.
“I was just giving you a hard time,” Jax said with a smile. “Lately, there have been too many important things we’re found by accident, not to pay attention to our feelings.”
“Do you mind showing us where you found your gold,” Cisco asked.
“No, come on, it’s just a little ways upstream from here,” Piper said, leading them down to the stream.
She led them to the bend in the stream and pointed out where the gold had settled.
“Well, like Jax said, gold is easy enough to find, but you always have to get rid of the other stuff that’s mixed in with it,” Cisco observed. “But this looks to be a deposit of nothing but fine gold, and that is unusual.”
“If it turns out to be something special, we’ll know where to find more of it,” Jax said. “Maybe this whole area deserves a closer look.”
“Let’s go finish up with our nugget digging,” Cisco said, “then we can move on down the trail and find a place to spend the night.”
With a last look at the reef of shiny gold, Piper followed them back up to the trail.