"The last village, Emberhille, was nice," Gerrik mused, "The fire was warm, comforting, and the cooked food delicious."

It was morning out in the wilderness, the pair having just emerged from their hammocks. Teknall nodded in agreement. Emberhille had been keeping their fire going for four generations now, carefully maintaining the embers which had been originally created by a lightning strike or some similar natural phenomenon, although by now it had grown to a legend of a great and benevolent spirit who they now worshipped. Teknall had been careful to ensure Gerrik showed discretion along with his logic. Many Hain were glad to learn of practical new skills, but few are as flexible when it comes to changing their worldviews. However, this had been over a week ago. Gerrik would not be bringing this up as an idle comment.

[color=Peru]"Indeed it was,"[/color] Teknall replied.

"Yet they held no power to make the fire themselves. They had to rely on luck and nature to get it. Its versatility in such a form is finite," Gerrik stated.

Teknall liked where this was going. [color=Peru]"I take it you have thought of a solution?"[/color]

"Yes! I've been pondering it over the past few days and nights," Gerrik exclaimed, "If you rub your hands together, they get warm. So I thought, if we can rub something much harder, we could get it hot enough to catch on fire!"

Teknall's face smiled as much as a Hain could, and he clapped Gerrik on the shoulders. [color=Peru]"Brilliant! What are we waiting for? Try it out!"[/color]

Thus followed hours of experimentation. It had started by simply rubbing two sticks together, but that plan was quickly abandoned as being far too inefficient. From Emberhille, they knew that fires were easiest to light if there was something light and stringy to ignite, so Teknall had gone out to get kindling while Gerrik kept trying. Gerrik decided that the rubbing-hands-together motion was quite effective, so he had taken a stick and begun rubbing it between his hands, pressing it into a soft chunk of wood. He cut the end of the stick so it ended in a rounded point. His device now drilled holes into the wood, creating sawdust along with it. Yet still it was not enough.

[color=Peru]"You're close, I'm sure of it,"[/color] Teknall reassured Gerrik, who was resting for a few moments from his hand-drill. [color=Peru]"Perhaps you need some sort of mechanical advantage."[/color]

Gerrik thought and looked around some more. Levers would not help, as he needed speed, not force. Already he had tried sticks both thick and thin. He was at a loss until his eyes fell upon his bow. His trusty bow. He had made this one himself, crafted with as much meticulous care as Teknall himself would use, and it had served him well on many occasions. While it was a device designed for throwing arrows great distances, he pondered what else it might be useful for. Thoughts of twisting bits of string about his finger and twigs came to mind, as did memories of his early training when he fumbled arrows onto the bowstring.

In a moment of pure inspiration and ingenuity, he snatched up his bow, took a stick thick enough to be handled by it, and twisted it into the bowstring. He then planted the stick into an earlier hole he had made in the wood and, with one hand on top of the stick to hold it down and the other on his bow, he moved his bow like a saw. The stick slipped and the whole apparatus fell apart, but Gerrik did not let that disappoint him. He picked up the stick, slipped it back into the bowstring, readjusted his grip and tried again. This time he made one full stroke, the stick twisting around as it had between his hands, before it slipped again.

Several more attempts were made, with Gerrik subtly adjusting his hands, stance and technique each time, until finally he seemed to have a position he was satisfied with. With one foot he braced the wood. His other leg was well out of the way of the path of his bow. The arm holding the stick in place was braced against his shin. He started moving the bow back and forth, using the whole length of the bow, and the stick twisted and drilled into the wood. Yet there was a problem, and after just three strokes Gerrik dropped the stick. "Get me a rock. Something to hold the stick in place," he ordered.

Teknall had been watching enthralled at the process taking place in front of him. A glorious discovery was Fated to take place that day, he could tell, and he was witness to it. When Gerrik told him to get a rock, Teknall did not chide him for subservience as some might have. Instead, he clambered to fulfill the request, with only their immediate goal in mind. On reflection later that day, he would realise that in that moment Gerrik was truly ready to go out into the world on his own, to discover, to be the master rather than the apprentice.

Back in the present, Teknall was quick to find a rock which would fit in his palm (he knew the exact location of every rock, along with every other object, within 200 km, after all) and he wasted no time in chiselling out a rounded groove in the top. There was no cause for their urgency, yet their excitement drove them on, and with victory just within their grasps they could not wait.

Teknall handed the rock to Gerrik, and he was quick to put it into use. Clamping the rock to the top of the stick, Gerrik began sawing with the bow. This time, unhampered by the limitations of the flesh of his palm, Gerrik could keep going, drilling slowly at first but quickly building speed, the drill digging deeper into the wood. In seconds, smoke began to rise, and then-

"I see one! An ember!" Gerrik exclaimed. He put aside the bow drill and went to pick up the wood containing it.

[color=Peru]"Stay calm. Remember how the Emberhilles did it,"[/color] Teknall cautioned, although it took him just as much self control to contain his own excitement.

Gerrik steadied himself as he picked up the wood with its charred, ember-containing hole, and gently tipped it onto the kindling Teknall had prepared earlier. Leaning down, so his face was just above the ground, he gently blew into the kindling, providing a flow of fresh air to the fledgling ember, until it finally took hold and burst into flame. Trembling with excitement, Gerrik took the burning handful of tinder and placed it within the pile of branches and firewood Teknall had also set aside. They watched with bated breath until the fire spread and they had a modest campfire in amongst their camp.

"I've done it!" Gerrik finally cried with joy, jumping to his feet.

[color=Peru]"Yes! You've done it!"[/color] Teknall also cried, jumping to his feet and briefly embracing Gerrik. [color=Peru]"You've created fire! And by no magic of the elementals or luck of the weather, but by skill and technology and genius! I'm proud of you Gerrik, and this is a proud day which shall mark the beginning of a new era."[/color]

They stared proudly at the fire a little longer. Gerrik was the first to move, picking up his bow and quiver. [color=Peru]"Where are you going?"[/color] Teknall asked.

"Hunting. I'm famished, and I want to cook something on my new fire. Are you coming?" Gerrik replied, patting his belly.

Teknall looked up to the sun in surprise, and only just noticed that it was already high noon, yet it had only just been morning when they had started. He did not truly feel hunger, so if he wasn't paying attention he could easily miss meals without ever noticing. [color=Peru]"Oh, yes, of course. I had lost track of time."[/color]

Teknall went to pick up his own bow and spear. Before he followed Gerrik out of the camp, though, he tended to the campfire, moving the grass away from it and adding a few thicker logs onto the fire to help it burn for longer. Then off they went, hunting for meat to cook on their new fire.

[hider=This time, in the adventures of Teknall and Gerrik...]
Gerrik invents fire! Using a bow drill. Expect this knowledge to spread relatively quickly through the Hain.

1 FP spent, for teaching fire to the Hain.
19.5 MP and 0 FP remaining.
[/hider]