[b]Saurians, Population: 67[/b]

As the sun rose over the horizon one early morning, the village was awoken early. The wives and children ran out of their huts to greet the barely arriving party of fishers. Sithalin and his group had returned from their trip at last. Everyone was happy to see that the whole party had returned unharmed after all. Sithalin himself was surprised when the villagers informed him on how late they were this trip.

"The fish have retreated even further," Sithalin explained to the village. "I plan to figure out why this is happening eventually."

The population arranged an early feast around the village fire, as Sithalin and the rest presented the enormous amount of fish they had brought back. Everyone ate cheerfully while the fishers told their stories of the fishing trip. It wasn't long before Sithalin looked around confused and asked why his son had not joined the feast.

One of the villagers shuffled closer and whispered in Sithalin's ear, "Working. He's been with two others, trying to make stronger huts for the village."

Sithalin looked at the villager curiously. "Stronger huts? Interesting. Why now?"

The villager's gaze lowered. His face a bit grim, he replied, "Did you ever know Syeth? Hunter. He died a few days. Hut collapsed on his head."

Sithalin's expression grew dark. "So," He said quietly, "Who are these people my son is working with?"

The villager's expression brightened. "One of them is Serthal, one of the village's better crafters. Not sure how they pestered him to work with them. And," The villager continued, a small grin forming on his face, "the other is a young huntress. Syera is her name."

Sithalin nodded, pleased. "Thank you. Where are they?"

-

"Senith, look out!"

Senith leaped aside as one of the logs rolled unsteadily off of the small pile and crashed down right where he was standing. "T-Thanks," Senith gasped.

Syera paced back and forth, her teeth bared in frustration. "How, how..." She shook her fist angrily and gazed back at the pile of logs. She had not understood exactly how complicated it would be constructing the building. They had intelligently realized that they had to chop down trees in the forest for the thinner and straighter logs, but they still had no idea on how to work with such bulky and heavy resources.

"I thought you had this figured out, Syera," Serthal commented as he idly sharpened his spear nearby.

Syera hissed angrily at the crafter. Serthal laughed.

"So what's going on here?" Called a familiar voice. Senith whipped around to see his father stepping forward, a smile on his face.

"Father, you're back!" Senith exclaimed.

"Please, you did not notice the excitement this morning?"

"I didn't notice either," Serthal murmured.

Sithalin glanced at the tool Senith was holding. "What's this?"

Senith raised the tool up so Sithalin could have a better look at it. It was compareable to a spear, but it was very different. The shaft was much shorter, only a bit longer than their forearms. The head was larger, however, and it was tied to the side of the handle rather than the tip.

Senith grinned. "It was her idea," he said pointing towards Syera, "Her name is Syera. We invented it a couple of days ago. Its called an axe. We can use it to chop down trees."

Sithalin glanced at the pile of tree logs. "I see," He said, returning the grin.

Syera hurried over and respectfully planted her hands over her heart. "Chief, I think these fallen trees, logs, would make much stronger buildings. We'd be at much less risk of a hut collapsing."
Syera scratched at one of her scales uncomfortably, "Despite this progress, we're a bit stuck. We can't figure out how to use the logs like this."

"Well maybe I can help..." Sithalin mumbled as he stepped forward and examined the pile of logs. His mind momentarily blanked until he glanced at a nearby tree. "Maybe you should follow this tree's example," he suggested, "Trees are stuck in the ground. Don't lay the logs horizontally, partially bury them vertically."

Syera gasped. "It was so simple!" Syera placed her hands over her heart again to demonstrate her thanks. "Come on, Senith, Serthal, we've got to try this."