And because I’m me, I pretend to watch Glory chew on a bit of root even as I surreptitiously look around the camp for O’jek’s strong back and long braid.
Angie gives me a grateful look. She shifts Violet in her arms as the little girl reaches for her mother’s food. Of all the kits here, both Nadine’s Deeni and Angie’s Violet look the most human. Violet looks just like her mother except for the pointed ears and high cheekbones, whereas Glory has red clone skin like Vordis and Thrand. Angie hands Violet a tiny chunk of meat and shakes her head. “Vordis and most of the men are out hunting since the weather’s so nice. It’s a good day to get things done. What’s on your agenda?”
She knows I’ve been working on learning as much as I can. “I don’t know. I thought I’d see who was giving lessons.”
Elly bites her lip and leans forward. “I’m going to work on skins if you want to help me.”
I beam at her. Elly’s such a fragile thing and is hesitant to reach out her hand in friendship, which makes me all the more determined to win her over. “I would love to help. I need to practice anyhow. The last one Flor had me working was already scraped. Do you have some rougher ones?”
She chuckles, her expression shy. “Fresh off the kill, yes.”
“Oooh, I do, too,” Angie says. “We can work together, if you like?” She looks over at Elly. “One of us can watch the babies and the other can help Daisy. We can take turns.”
Normally I’d be the one volunteering to watch the babies, but this time, I’m going to suck it up and work on skins. I appreciate both of them volunteering to help me learn, and they’re both sweet and soft-spoken, so even if I do a terrible job, no one’s going to make me feel foolish.
I help Angie gather supplies and we settle a large blanket on the sand as Elly sits with the children and their toys. I sit with Angie, unrolling a frozen dvisti hide onto the ground. Wrinkling my nose, I look at the gross bits on the other side of the hide and try not to gag at the sight. At least it doesn’t smell too awful, given that it’s frozen. She hands me a bone tool made out of a massive vertebra. It’s been flattened and carved on one side so it forms a half-circle that fits in my hand. The other end is thin and almost like a blade.
“So once the hide is off the animal, we have to freeze it until it’s ready to be scraped,” Angie tells me. “Otherwise it’ll rot and smell really gnarly. Now that we’re ready to work on this one, we roll it out and basically have to get all the gunk off the inside so we can finish working it. I’m sorry, but today’s going to be a gross job. It’s a necessary job, though.”
Ugh. I nod, bracing myself to touch the reddish-black goo all over the back of the hide. “It’s okay. Has to be done, right? Show me how to scrape?”
Angie settles in next to me, and after a few quick passes, she hands the scraper back to me. I start working, and before long, my arms are hurting with the effort needed, my hands are gross and unmentionable things are getting in my nail beds. I gag once, which just makes Elly giggle. “You get used to it,” she tells me sympathetically, picking up one of the carved rings and holding it out to Emma, who plops it atop a matching bone pole. “I save up all the skins so I can do all the scraping in one day instead of spreading it out to several.”
That’s not a terrible idea. My nails—and my tunic—are disgusting right now and I’m going to want a bath when this is done. A hot one, which means heating water and melting lots of snow…unless I want to wait and go hiking out to a hot spring with someone. Ugh. Either way, it’s a lot of work, just like everything else.
I scrape and scrape, pausing every now and then to rest my aching forearms. As I work, I chat with Elly and Angie. Elly keeps the kits occupied while Angie unrolls another hide next to me and scrapes away on her own. We talk about the weather, and crafting, and whose baby is doing what, and it’s nice to just chitchat as we work. Actually if this wasn’t so messy, I’d say I was having fun. I’ve never particularly thought of the chores of daily life here as pleasant, but I like working together with Angie and Elly and talking as we scrape. It makes the time go by so much faster.