Chapter 10

Ian walked around the tribe until he found Michael and Barbara who just so happened to be near the witch's cave.

"Ian!" Barbara called," Are you here to get your tasks?"

Ian nodded, following her into the witch's cave.

The priest smiled at the both of them," Are you here for your tasks?"

"I'll give you the same ones as Ian's since it's Ian's first time today," the priest said kindly, seeing them nod.

" What are the things... we can do?" Ian asked questioningly.

" There are mainly 3 things you can do," priest Dunya explained," You can pick some pears and berries in the forest, make weapons or stone pans, pots and bowls."

"Then let's pick fruits and berries," Ian said after some consideration.

"Okay," the witch replied bringing them sacks made of animal leather," Just fill these up and come back."

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Ian, Barbara, and Michael headed towards the forest.

"The pear trees should be this way," Ian said walking towards some trees dotted with green and yellow pears.

As they filled up most of the sack, Barbara pointed to some bushes with berries for them to pick.

When the sacks were filled, they headed back to the tribe. ian frowned as the sacks were difficult to carry.

"Can we keep some for ourselves?" Ian asked as they trudged through the forest.

"We need to give all of these to the tribe," Michael responded," the priest might give us some but we can go back and pick more if we want."

Ian nodded," What... do we do next?"

"That's it," Barbara said," We can take a nap until the hunters come back."

Ian nodded not that surprised, his tribe did the same before.

When they dropped off fruits, the witch gave them their share and they parted ways.

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Ian walked through the bamboo forest cutting some long grass and weaving them together to make a backpack. When he finished, he strapped it over his shoulders and started cutting down some dried bamboo tossing them into the bag.

Ian decided to make a bed and utensils today. He wound some vines into rope and made a bamboo needle and twine to thread a mattress.

Ian wiped his sweat looking at the things he collected and started hauling them back to the tribe. As Ian walked through the dense forest, Ian's eyes fell on some sap.

This could help him weld some bamboo together. Ian carefully collected some sap in a bamboo tube and put it in his backpack. There was a small patch of mint plant next to the tree. Ian put a mint leaf in his mouth as he prepared another bamboo tube to take it home.

As Ian neared the tribe, he started feeling weary and decided to take a bath in the small stream. Ian went to a secluded place and stripped.

As he washed himself, Ian thought about which color pelt he should use to make the mattress. The white one would get dirty too quickly, so a black one would be a good idea. Ian wondered what Caesar would think when he sees the new furniture.

Ian suddenly turned red thinking about it. Would they do it on the new bed????

Ian's thoughts wandered to him making a pillow when his eyes landed on the tree sap...

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Ian set everything in the cave and started to male the posts for the new bed. He cut and wound the dry bamboo and started building the bed frame. After an hour or so the bed was done. Ian jumped onto the bed for good measure making sure that it wouldn't buckle under the weight. Ian was suddenly glad to get the memories of his previous life as an agent. He had worked odd jobs undercover and had done carpentry to get close to a target who like making bed torture devices. The target would trap their victim in the bed and do all sorts of horrible things.

Ian then went to the stack of hides and chose a couple of black ones and started stitching them together with the bamboo needle and twine he made. Ian wasn't really sure how to make a mattress so he just stitched together two rectangular pelts and a large strip of pelts in between to make a flat box sort of shape. Once he finished he started stuffing the mattress with dry moss until it was full.

Ian frowned, the mattress was quite floppy, aren't they supposed to be hard?

Ian filled the mattress with more moss and then decided to stitch around the edges a little tighter. Ian patted himself on the back seeing the nice sturdy mattress. He heaved it onto the bed and sat down.

Wow! It was really soft! Ian rubbed the dark fur and rolled around on the mattress appreciating his work.

Getting up, he some small pillows with varying pelts There was a tiger pelt, a white pelt, and grey ones.

When he was done, Ian nodded in satisfaction.

Next, Ian made a curtain and hung it across the entrance before getting onto making some chairs then placing them next to the stone table which he brought away from the wall so that it looked like a dining table. With the remaining bamboo, Ian made a partition from the stone wall so the bedroom was separated and made a small stand where he placed the remaining tree sap.

Ian plopped down on one of the chairs after placing the mint onto the dining table and started making some utensils out of bamboo. First, he carved out some bowls and then made some plates. While he was working on the cups, Ian heard the curtains at the entrance rustle to reveal an astonished Caesar walk through.

"Caesar," Ian said smiling walking over to him," I made the new bed... and some other furniture."

Caesar nodded, not saying anything. Suddenly Ian got nervous, maybe Caesar didn't like it. Everything looked very modern, kind of minimalistic and was an aesthetic that Ian liked, but that didn't mean that Caesar would like it...

"....Don't you like it?"Ian asked pitifully.

That seemed to bring Caesar out of his daze," No, no!" Caesar exclaimed," I like it a lot!"

Caesar walked around the cave peaking at everything," I like it a lot!" he exclaimed, looking around in wonder.

Ian immediately smiled," I'm glad!"

"How did you make these?" Caesar asked walking into the bedroom patting the mattress and fluffing the pillows," Why are they so soft?"

"I stuffed them with dry moss," Ian explained.

Ian was really happy that Caesar seemed to really like everything.

Caesar inspected the chairs and looked at the mint on the table," What's this?"

"That's mint," Ian said plucking a leaf," It's... refreshing," he explained putting it near Ceasar's mouth.

Caesar stared at him before slowly opening his mouth. He squinted as the minty taste rushed through his mouth, but kept chewing.

Ian suddenly felt mischievous," Do you like everything? Did... I do a good job?"

Caesar nodded," Yes, everything looks amazing, I never thought of doing it before."

Ian smiled slyly," Then I want a reward."

Caesar looked down at him," What do you want?"

This was the first time his mate asked for something, Jacob and his seniors had told him that females would ask for many things and would get upset if they didn't give them what they wanted. Caesar had always found it a hassle, but looking down at his little mate that had been busy all day making their home so beautiful, Caesar didn't know how to repay him. Not many females would do what he did, and Caesar suddenly had a crisis of whether Ian would go to someone else.

Ian laughed at Caesar's serious expression," Why are you so... serious?"

Caesar looked at him questioningly.

Ian chuckled opening his arms.