Chapter 265: Lashing Lessons

Tera returned to the wolf territory that same night.

The wolves had not touched a single thing, exactly as Calis had promised. Eight charred, bundled posts stood in their rectangle, untouched, and the wolves had apparently not lazed around, as the site was no longer untidy.

Calis had been happy to see Tera, but having heard about what happened to someone Ermin cared about, he had also felt sorry for him and had asked after the pink panther.

Including if he was sleeping or getting proper rest. Calis could relate to the grief due to the loss of his father, though he’d had no choice but to move on since he had a whole pack depending on him.

The wolves asked too. Not all of them, and not always directly, but enough of them that Tera understood Calis had told his pack and the pack had decided it mattered to them.

She found it a little adorable.

Calis then mentioned that when Tera would be returning to her clan, he would like to come along to give Ermin his greetings.

But what stunned her remaining clan members most was the arrival of the Jackdaw tribe, and when the wolves asked, Tera nervously laughed it off and promised that would be a story for a later time.

They had a project to finish.

And Tera needed them to know what to do next while she briefly went back to her territory to deal with the Jackdaw tribe.

Though she needed a proper solution, as she couldn’t keep burning through her passes like this. It was a waste.

"Tera."

She jerked out of her thoughts to see Xavi holding her shoulder, his soft eyes watching her.

"Are you well rested?"

He looked worried.

She smiled. "Yes, I’m fine. Thank you, Xavi."

He smiled when she took the meat he was offering to her and started eating. Calis, not wanting the spotlight to be taken from him, took his roasted meat her clan members had prepared and made his way to her, intent on feeding her his meat too.

- ※ - ※ - ※ –

The posts were now standing on level ground once the rectangular pit had been filled in. So the wolves assumed the floor went on next.

Tera had to explain that the floor was still two steps away. The eight posts standing in soft ground were just eight posts. Nothing held them to one another, which meant every one of them could lean on its own, and a floor laid across the top of that would walk sideways in the first strong wind.

So first the whole thing needed to be tied together.

Thick horizontal beams would run between the posts, both at the top and again lower down at mid-height, boxing the whole rectangle in. Then diagonal braces would go between the posts, corner to corner, so the frame could not twist out of the squares.

Once that was done, the eight posts would stop being eight posts and become one structure.

Marking the beam heights was simple enough, because every post was already standing plumb-straight from the week before. She measured the same height up each one and marked it, and as long as the marks matched, the beams between them would sit level.

Then came the lashing, and that was where the day went sideways.

Lashing was simply the proper term for tying poles together tightly with cordage—the stripped and twisted bamboo strands to make sturdy ropes. And the ropes needed to be wrapped in specific patterns, and they needed to be firm so the joint held under load instead of sliding apart.

Square lashing for the beams meeting the posts at right angles. Diagonal lashing for the braces. Tera demonstrated both on a waist-high mock-up she had the males build in ten minutes out of offcut bamboos.

Tera had metal bamboo connectors in her system shop, but there were two major reasons she wouldn’t use them despite them making the job easier.

The first and most important reason was that she was teaching these beasts with readily available and accessible materials. The tools or equipment were one thing. They could recreate them, especially if she left behind a few for them to emulate.

The issues were the other tools that needed to be used in excess. Like nails, chords and the like.

When Tera was gone, they would not have a readily available system to get bamboo connectors or other easy joint mechanisms. So, she needed them to be self-sufficient, and if there were repairs, they wouldn’t have to worry about looking for power tools to remove the drill nails from said connectors.

The second reason was that they were not building a high-rise structure, so those connectors were not necessary. Lashing was still a strong method, and it would keep the current structures sturdy for a very long time.

Regardless, she would teach them other lashing techniques later. She didn’t know everything after all, but the system would help her with that.

Now, for this part, the tool instinct sadly didn’t help. Not even in the slightest.

There was no tool involved. It was hands and rope, and so the boost sat there doing absolutely nothing while thirty beasts with claws attempted basketry for the first time in their lives.

The first attempt looked like a nest, and it sent Tera to the system.

’The boost is not freaking helping!’

[There is no tool involved, Host]

[? ? ? ?]

’There are ropes. Ropes are tools?!’

[Rope is a material]

’Damn it!’

’Rope is also a tool!’

[(·•???•? )]

[Host is attempting to renegotiate a boost she has already paid for]

Tera groaned and decided to focus on guiding the beasts. So thirty beast-folk with claws learned to tie knots the hard way, and the hard way took most of a day.

The second attempt was tighter but had been wrapped in the wrong direction, so when one of the males put his weight on his makeshift beam to test it, the whole lashing unwound and smacked him in the face.

It took until the fifth try for that single joint to be perfect.

By midday they had a system. Two beasts per joint, three holding the beam in position and a stronger one doing the wrapping, and the wrapping had to be done by whoever had the most patience in the pair rather than whoever had the biggest hands. Tera learned very quickly which wolves to put on cordage duty and which to keep well away from it.

Calis was perfect eye candy while he did this, but Xavi was the most mesmerising. The way his muscles moved kept distracting Tera from the main task at hand, and Calis’ back was a lovely view she wanted to lick off.

But in order not to even distract herself, she had to put herself in horny jail by remembering she had a poor grieving mate back in her territory.

She hoped he was faring better now, though it was easier said than done.

But at least the cubs were with him.

However, the ropes were quickly finishing at a frightening rate.

If there was an aspect of this project Tera disliked, it was the process of breaking down and splitting several bamboo poles into strands that had to be twisted into ropes.

Even if she wasn’t doing it herself, she knew how stressful it could be.

So rather than doing it in a batch like before, she decided to have the beasts spend the rest of today and the following day focusing on breaking down bamboo poles to wind into ropes.

Once that had been done, Tera left the beasts to rest and lash the other joints while she returned to her territory.

This time, Calis came along while Xavi stayed behind to make sure everything went smoothly.