62 What must be done before winter part 2 (2/2)

Donna looks conflicted, and quizzically asks, ”A little?”

”No,” Laurel rejects as they enter the village.

During lunch, Franklin sucks up his pride and asks for help. Gregory, Wilbur, and Arron agree to take a look after lunch. They didn't have a lot to do since harvesting had already ended. In the end, most of the villagers decided to check out the construction. Only Mellisa Vickie and Marsha are missing.

Mellisa disapproved of the training in general. She especially disliked her daughter's fascination with Ellanor and Anna, so she refused to go. Vickie and Marsha had to clean up lunch and prepare for dinner so they said they'd look at it later.

”Hmm,” Wilbur murmurs as he hears the description of the contraption. ”I don't have much experience with wood. What do you think, Gregory?”

”I've built traps with axles and pulley systems before… So it's not impossible. But the problem is the lack of fine tools. To widdle down the wood with a knife will be time-consuming,” Gregory says while rubbing his grey-bearded chin.

Arron pipes in, ”It'll be winter soon, so time isn't that big a problem. But the cold and wet weather will cause problems.”

Gregory nods, ”That's true if it splinters and jams right away. It's like throwing all the work away.”

Wilbur looks at Franklin and questions, ”Did you ask John for advice?”

”Not since the dream,” John confessed.

”I'm not a carpenter so I can't help with such things,” John sends.

”Then how did you train?” Louis asks as he picks at the scraps of wood.

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”I had newbies in the sect be my dummies. If I needed to build it, I would have made the lay disciples do it,” John explains.

”We don't want anyone to get hurt so we'll have to stick with the dummy,” Gregory says.

”This is just the early training. Eventually, you'll have to practice with others,” John reminds them.

After this, Gregory, Wilbur, and Arron start planning how to build the first dummy.

”We'll need solid wood that will last. This means we'll need to go into the forest,” Gregory explains. He then looks at Anna and Franklin and says, ”We'll be counting on you.”

Laurel nods back with a smile. ”We'll do our best. It's to help my son anyways,” she responds.

”Besides that we'll need lubricant if it's supposed to spin. Any suggestions?” Gregory asks.

”I'd normally get grease from an alchemist so I can't help,” Wilbur shrugs.

Arron suggests, ”We should be able to get away with vegetable oil. Though it's a bit of a waste.”

”No choice then. We'll have to endure Vickie's anger. Hey, Louis, you should butter up your mom. You'll be using this too,” Gregory yells out.

Though Louis was ordinarily full of himself he no longer looked very confident. Everyone laughed from seeing the boys bitter face.

With the plan set they spent the next two weeks working on the project. The men taught the boys how to widdle and how to tell the difference between types of trees. For some reason Louis seemed to always be favoring his bottom as he worked. Still the whole village had a goal, and they rose to the occasion.