[center][h1][color=crimson]Eliza Marie Lee[/color][/h1]

[h3][i]Year - 0

Day - 275

Location - ??? Village (Approximately near modern Okayama)[/i][/h3][/center]

One hundred and twenty days. It had been one hundred and twenty days of working hard to carve the wood, gather more trees for building, and working hard to get the building she was envisoining built to fruition at the very least. She wasn't an architect, however, and neither was she a construction worker. Her expertise lied in other areas, areas that for who knew how long would never be formulated as as knew them and understood them to be like. She'd been learning how to carve wood, to make and repair stone tools, how to cook, hoow to clean and prepare food, how to make pottery, and in the process of it all had been forced to learn just how much time and investment it all took. How much it took to learn, to grow, to adapt to a day and age in which the hard work needed to live was much higher than many would think to give credit for. Not all doing so out of maliciousness or willful 'first world ignorance', rather, but simply not sharing enough of that lifestyle to be able to grasp it perhaps. Well, at least that was the case in her mind. 

Yet even then, to share meals upon a hide blanket on the soft grass. To enjoy a hot meal over a cooking fire within the home alongside family. To talk with others who lived in the village. It was a sense of community, it wasn't 'all work and no play' all of the time, it was a living, breathing place where the more she learned of it the more the people here felt just like those back 'home' to enough of an extent. In a sense....it was like an intangible connection to a place, and myriad people, who were infinitely far away from her now...perhaps forever so, really, at that. Yet the same threads of life, of laughter, of kindness, of distrust, of curiosity, and so many oother things good and bad and ugly that seemed to remain ever so consitent with the 'human condition' that it seemed to speak to something in her soul in ways left unspoken by any language or dancing of the tongue. 

What had begun with Narasu listening to her stories as they labored on carving the logs had started as the curiosity of a youth had led to skepticism at times, though the more she'd talked of things regarding the craft she sought to attain the more he had seemingly become absorbed in those explanations and stories of just what it could achieve. Like he had a glint of something in his eyes that sought to look beyond what his parents and the others knew. Like a pair of stars in the open night sky, really, if she had to think of how he had come too look these days. 

Yet this was not all. 

Days spent eating with Iramande and Kunne and their family had become days feeling more like a member of a family despite the distance she could still feel between her and the other locals of the village. Kunne had given her somewhat more of a side-eye on matters, even lectured her off to the side for 'putting stories in the boy's head', though Iramande had spoken to her about how Narasu was also coming to work more alongside him. Woodcarving seemed to be the skill he was interested in, and his working with Eliza had been seemingly a driving factor to bring him closer to his father in this sense. It was in that vein that, well, she hadn't been as surprised when Iramande and his brother eventually began to pitch in with helping her and Narasu in their building efforts. 

A woman, a youth, and two men working on this spot soon turned into one or two more helpful hands pitching in, whether it was in the tutoring, the teaching of how to find good wood, or even trying to ponder how to achieve the ideas Eliza had put forth to make her building as part off the group. What had resulted was the blending of ideas, ones familiar and yet foreign, into something of a side work project for some. Not everyone helped of course, two of them only really came because other men of the village they did know were involved, and others still kept an arm's length from her as did some of the women. Even so...it was progress, and it seemed to prove an utterly ancient adage from her time more than a bit true: It did indeed 'take a village', even if that adage referred to another matter entirely. Haha. 

Yet now, now something great stood there. Four mighty corner pillars, and one taller central one, had come to form the main part of Eliza's self-planned home. It stood wider than the local buildings by a fair enough margin. It even stood taller than the local buildings of the average sort to enough of an extent as well. A similar thatch-y roof sat atop it, and a similar style of allowing air flow into it and out, yet an open doorway stood in two places as she had envisioned it to be. Walls of thatch did not form the sides, however, as she'd begun the work of finding stones to fit together that were both heavy and tightly-put together to form her new home's walls. It was an idea that had ooccured when watching some children use stones to make little towers and such in the grass one day, while helping one of the younger women watch the children as the older women took up with other tasks one fine day, and Narasu had been the fiirst and only one to help her at first before another younger man had taken up interest in their activity in kind and then one or two of the man (Iramande among them) had pitched in as well. 

Now she was working on a raised platform for a bed, one to cover in thatch and a proper pelt fur if she could just learn to hunt, to make with stone. And perhaps finding a way to make proper 'doors' would be good as well. Yet all the same, the idea of doors would have to wait. She'd managed to get help due to some local kindness, and curiosity about her 'foreign ways of building a home', though she'd also begun looking for larger stones to prepare a space out of the back door of her home. Indeed....her goal remained the same in the end, and having a place to cook and eat and sleep was only the first part. It was one that she and the others had celebrated with a small party as soon as her new home was tentatively 'complete', one that had been not the whole village but more of it than she'd thought would come, but the matter of her goal to regain her ability to smith metal hadn't been forgotten along the way. 

"Huff...huff..."

Today was yet another day of hauling stones in place to set up a potential forge area, something immune to fire and far enough from the house to be safe yet close enough to be acessible to her. But before she could even so much as smelt, or begin testing setups or more beyond that, she had to find the material she needed. Ore. Metal. It could be iron, it could be copper, it had to be something at the very least, and tales of 'strange rocks in the mountains' from the village hunters had gotten to her by virtue of hunter-aspirant Narasu and things Iramande and Kunne had heard by proxy. 

*CLUNK CLACK*

Another stone in place in the fitted area where she wished to put a forge. A nice spot ringed in stones, to contain any potential fires and clear the space between the grass and future work area, just as her internal fire pit had been dug slightly into the ground and surrounded by enough fitted stones to help contain the fire it might hold inside. Though she'd been working on a spit for cooking as well for that matter, even if she still ate with Iramande and his family for the time being. Yet alone? Alone she could only do so much so far to get by even now. It was also another reason she....she wanted to at least try to help Iramande and his family yet still, and one reason why her goal of metalsmithing remained in her mind's eye even now. 

One could not simply walk in and claim superior ways, they had to prove it as well. Places that didn't need a new type of government didn't adopt it if they didn't want to. Places that didn't want different tools didn't adopt them if they didn't want to. Same with various ways off doing things and the like. But people did take in what gave them advantages, and what they percieved as such. Things changed slowly, and yet to get such a change rolling it would take more than just one person and more than one lifetime to work hard at it as well. Perhaps more than the lifetime alotted to herself and the others in general, really, but maybe she could make life better in some capacityy for these people at least. Maybe. 

"Where is he....andis he ok?" the redhaired woman muttered softly to herself, hands on her hips as she stood back up and stretched her somewhat sore back and her brows sliughtly furrowed in thought. 

Narasu, speaking of the boy, had been absent for the last good few days. As if his attention to what she was doing here had been somewhat lost on him as of the last month. He had been semeingtly taking a fancy to one of the village girls, much like herself from the looks of things, but with the shifting seasons the need to hunt farther out as compared to fishing just off the shore had been made more visibly apparent for the local hunters. Hmm. Trips out there had also been taking a little longer as well, but she'd not persisted after the growing young man in any case over the matter. 

He had seemed less focused and more focused at the same time, however, and evven his father had noted 'ah he's getting that age' when it came to his attitude as well during their last time spent training in woodworking. More conflicting. More rebellious. Yet at the same time, he'd been focused enough on helping her so far as well. Some days he'd disappear despite being visible around the village as well. Even his mother seemed to be more fed up with him, albleit also patient at the same time, when it came to his shifting behavior somewhat. Said he'd taken some more trips to the mountain with her brother, even, at that. It was...peculiar, but none of this was totally unexpexted either she supposed. Her older brothers were something she could reflect back on, really, when it came to such matters in hindsight as well. Er, at least to some extent, yes. 

The sun sat just beyond the noontime point, to her eyes, but the days had become increasingly shorter and breifer. Not very good for hunting supplies and getting work in, but it had meant more time to rest. Time to do smaller tasks. But it did slow down her progress somewhat, as she'd been going at her goal and other daily tasks all as best as she could if nothing else. Meant maybe waiting for spring, then, before she could get in longer working days. 

The redhead, however, would simpyl sit upon a larger stone she'd brought over. A spot to put an anvil, perhaps, once she-....if she....even got to making one for that matter. If. When? Her goal remained in sight, in her mind's eye, and yet even then it wasn't all simply as feasible as going out to purcahse supplies or find some junk metal to tinker with or something. Far, far, far from it. And, for that matter, thirst had begun the crawl up into her throat, the dry itch pairing well with the natural mental signal from her body to bring the matter to her attention. 

Letting out a sigh, Eliza would force her legs to stand up once more before taking the steps into her house and through the back doorway, looking to a jar sitting near her firepit as she sat on a somewhat thatched floor beside it. Styled by corded rope, this jar was a clay pot in the local style that she'd actually made under Kunne's watchful eye. It had been hardened by fire, which she'd been learning how to do as well, and by now sat filled with water she had gone to the river to get at sunrise and then boiled in the morning for a few hours. It looked ever so clear, so refreshing, and indeed as she used her hands to cup up some of it and drink the woman felt the cooling slaking her thirst as it ran down like a smooth bit of Mei's stash had after a nice hot and spicy dinner at her place the night before she'd woken up here....ah. 

Familiarity with the locals that was somwwhat growing between them thus far, though, she still had times that she wished she could-   

"Oooooiiiieeeeeehhhh!"

A piercing cry, slightly voice-cracking with the bustling hormones of early onsetting pubescence, cried alound with a somewhat deepening but also familiar tone of voice. Wiping sweat from her face with her right sleeve, then, the readhead's eyes darted to her front doorway as a likewise familiar face brazenly wallked somewhat unexpectedly. A growing face. A younger face. Narasu, of all people, whose dark hair was cut shorter than some by a stone blade and who had a jar carried by cords on his back from the looks of it. A large enough jar for someone his age, actually, that he seemed to be carrying with a fair bit of effort as well as....a smile on his face? 

"Narasu?"

"Yeah! And I've got something good for ya'!"

Eliza's left eyebrow raised up almost of its own accord, though she, motioned for the boy to come over. At that gesture, Narasu would walk in, the caked dust on his face from travel and the simple woven sandals on his feet seemingly more torn than they normally would be to her eyes. Even so, his smile didn't seem to diminish as he brought over the jar, sitting down with his back facing her and letting the jar loose on the floor with care before he turned about to sit facing her. The sweat running down his brows was enough, however, that she would move to hand the jar of water to him.

"Get some water to drink, please, you seem as if you've walked long enough to get here as it is!"

The latter would roll his eyes for a moment.

"Just like my mom, sheesh, but only after you see this! This comes first!"

The boy reached into the jar, not letting her protest even another word on the matter, before pulling out several...rocks? As he excitedly pulled out more, however, she noticed how different some looked from each other. One even bore a look of greenish-sorts, which looked a lot like...emerald? No, it wasn't a gemstone, more like...jade? 

"So before, when we've been talking, you told me what idea you had about this 'ore' stuff, right? Stuff you need to make that 'metal' stuff, yeah?"

"I...yes, I did."

Wait. Wait wait wait. A thought clicked into her head Had the boy been-

"I've been hunting out that way with my mother's brother, and I've been looking for things that might match what you were saying. Maybe. Been looking for a while, even checked out some other places since we've had to hunt in other places farther out now before the winter. Asked some of the other hunters about strange rocks, but usually they don't look for that sort of thing, so eh. 

You didn't have the best idea either, but I had something to work with still, but-"

He had been going out looking for metal too?! One part of her wanted to grumble that it was stupid dangerous, another wanted to complain he didn't take her along, and yet in the end she would take each rock in hand and place it down before her as he spoke of where each came from and what had drawn him to it. But raw iron ore? Even she had to think back on what that looked like, and only then she'd seen some pictures of what it could look like when researching blacksmithing in her own down time or out of a late night curiosity or so forth. But were any of these ore? Were any of these things potential ore for her to even attempt to smelt? Beyond that there were other concerns like fuel, like she'd have to make charcoal just to help begin fueling the idea of a smeltery and such, and if he did find anything she'd have to double up finding ways to get this all to work and-

...and...

...


...

And after a few moments of listening and focusing on thumbing through the rocks and stones before her, it clicked. Narasu had gone and done this fool thing for [b]her[/b], of all people. A growing, increaisngly hormonal, and story-fascinated kid who had piutched in to help her with this. With something that was so far out of his wheelhouse, so far out of the minds of his peoples' understanding, and yet he had [b]believed[/b] her enough to do something this [b]this[/b]. 

It was also then, as her eyes widened somewhat, that a particular rock caught her eye. It didn't seem even, as if it had been paintaklingly taken out of the dirt. It had a grey-ish hue, yet much of it sat in a singular lump. It seemed...similar to metal? Seemed familiar to old images of ore at least, as her memories continued to be sifted through like a fine sand for ideas, that she'd seen before in the past online or something of the sort. Iron was held in other minerals, yes? 

"Where did you say this one came from again?"

"Eh, Eriza, that one was sitting at the top of some dirt and rocks, had too work on that one to get it out of a hill over thataway-"

Narasu pointed in a roughly eastern direction, as far as she had managed to get the idea of thus far in this place if naught else thus far, which she responded to with a nod. 

"Not many rocks like that one that I found. But I kept this one and some of the others till' I got back from the mountains with the rest, then I threw it all in this jar to carry over!"

The kid looked like an excited puppy as she went back to thumb through the rest of the rocks again, with her setting two more aside for the moment being alongside the one that had caught her eye first. It was as if he was lookiing for something, for praise, or-....heh. That thought had hit home a bit closer than she expected. Even so, and looking into the jar for further examples, Eliza would likewise find an amount of peculiarly-dark sand at the bottom of it as well. Raising another eyebrow at the matter, she reached in and ran her hand through it. It felt...fine, but peculiar, all the same. Not normal sand, that was for sure. 

Sitting back once more, a small smile began to creep into the woman's face. Small, but one that was certainly present as she looked back at the growing younger man all the same. 

"We...I...there's a chance some of this might be usable, actually."

The boy's grin seemed to lessen a little as she noted only a few of his rocks, at least initially, seemed to be potential candidates for 'metal ore' of some kind. But even so, his smile didn't disappear either, seeming to grow as she follow up with-

"You did a good job. I mean that...and thank you."

"So ca you make stuff with this? The tools and things you talked about? Stuff that's better than stone?"

Ah. He did seem a bit eager and excited about the matter, and yet she would lightly shake her head side to side. 

"I can't be sure yet. I'll need to find a way to test out these rocks here for sure, and look at the others more later to try to get an idea. But to do that I'll need something that burns a lot hotter than a normal fire, and I [u]do[/u] know how to do something like that at least."

Excxitement soon turned to a rapid bit of frustration on the boy's face, a sigh of definite exasperation coming from his mouth. And yet-

"Once we know what the right rocks look like, that'll make it easier to get more. It takes steps, like it took to make this home, or like it takes to make a tool or carve a piece of wood."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

The teenage moan of complaint rang out regardless, but despite sitting cross-legged in front of her the boy wouldn't storm off or anything. At the same time, however, he would finally move to get some water after this-...and dip his dirty hand in there to do so. Well, there went the whole morning's effort. Yet at the same time, once he had a good amount to drink and sat for a little longer in quiet thought, he would look back at her with a glint in his eyes. Softer than his prior excitement for sure, but a glint there nonetheless. 

"So we just need to find the right type, yeah? Like gettin' the right kind of berries, or findin' the right spots the deer like too travel through?"

"Yes. Some might be easy to find on the surface, if we're lucky, but most rocks like it are found under the ground. Sometimes really deep, though where I came from they usually got the stuff closer to the surface and used it a long time ago. Here might be different, though, potentially."

The boy seemed to go into a state of deeper thought, almost like the day he had first approached her to offer help on her home if she explaiined her ideas to him, before looking back up and giving her a curt and short nod. Not that all the wiggles in his system seemed to leave either, if his hands on his knees were of any indication. 

"Alright! Then we just need to get this figured out is all. Sooner than later I'd say."

That...was fast? And yet at the same time it left the smile on Eliza's face unfading all the same. In fact, a small laugh would emerge from the back of her own throat now, a chuckle she attempted to stifle as the boy in front of her raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Tch? What's so funny about what I said?"

Her laugh only grew in response, the sound of Kunne in his voice for a moment only making her laughter even greater, and everything just tickling her pink for reasons she hadn't a single clue about. And, perhaps, she didn't want to fully grasp it right now. A peal of laughter. Narasu's confused look and questioning. The smell of cooling, fresh air as they sat on the floor. And now...possibly, maybe, impossibly, some metal in her hands in what felt like thin air.

Perhaps she was coming to understand her mother more by the day, and to understand Narasu's a bit to boot!

[hr]

[b][Summary - Eliza and Narasu began working on making her new home, though as she is giving part of her time to help with the villagers some of them eventually came back to also help her in turn. Finding wood, moving it, carving, and between her and the others they've worked out how to get the place built and how to make it work. She has even used fitted stones for the walls and such, an idea of hers inspired by village children playing with some rocks to build little things on the ground with, and has been using stones to also prepare an area near (but not too close to) her new home for some sort of far-flung future blacksmithing endeavors. 

Her preparations, her aims for her goal, all of thiis goes on bit by bit....and yet after a time of the now-teenage Narasu not hanging around her as much for one reason or another she'd been surprised by him visting her home out of the blue. Turns out, at least part of the time if nothing else, he's been looking for what she described as 'metal ore' of some kind or another, and he might have lucked out on a few pieces being among the samples he's gotten from the local area and the nearby mountains. Maybe.][/b]