Chop Chop Chop

Kenra and Vallum both woke around the same time. They left the cave together and hopped on Raef to go to the city and buy materials. The money they were using actually came from Vynn. Neither of them had nearly enough money to buy all the things that they would need, and Vynn had a small treasury hidden away. Vallum wasn't happy about having to use her money, but there wasn't any other choice. Raef pulled a cart behind him so that there was plenty of room for all of the supplies they would need to buy.

They returned from town around midday. They had to make a few trips up and down the mountain, loading the supplies on Raef's back, but they got it all up eventually. The men took axes and machetes and immediately started clearing ground starting from right in front of the cave. Everyone else busied themselves bringing supplies into the cave and organizing them.

Vallum worked with Raef to pull out the stumps of the trees that were felled, and Kenra joined the men. She cut down the trees at an alarming rate. With the way the two worked, there was a sizable clearing in a week. When the clearing got to a size that was appropriate for them to start building, they did just that.

With all of the numbers combined with the strength of Kenra and Vallum, the houses rose in no time. They had decided to make four communal style halls with individual living spaces. The first priority was the kitchen and the rest followed.

"Wha?" Vallum got pulled away from what he was doing, watching as a wall was being put up. He was being led away by the hand, he looked over and saw that it was Kenra pulling him into the woods.

"Shhh." She said, with a playful smile on her face as she looked back at him. He quietly let her pull him away. After a good piece of traveling, they made it to a tiny clearing in a thick part of the forest. The clearing had room enough for them to lay down, but just barely. Kenra sat down and pulled him down beside her and then laid on her back. Vallum also laid back and looked up at the canopy of leaves that was overhead.

The leaves all melted together, forming a huge sea of green. The wind was blowing, so the view was ever changing. The branches swayed and sometimes he could even see the bright blue sky peek through the parted leaves.

"Can I talk now?" He asked.

Kenra turned on her side and faced him. She put a finger over his lips and gently shook her head. Her finger lingered on his lips for a moment and then she took it off and laid back down, sidling herself up beside him.

For whatever reason she didn't want him to talk, Vallum decided to stay silent. He felt he warm body pressing up against his side. Her muscles were firm and her touch was soft. He felt something start to stir inside of him when he saw something. To be more precise, he heard it first.

"Tweetle-hoo Tweetle-hoo" A sweet sound rang out. The notes had a playful sound to them.

Vallum searched the trees, trying to find the source of the noise and then it appeared. A big bird with an exotic color scheme. The bird had a plume on its head that resembled a fire, with orange and yellow feathers covering it. One wing was ocean blue, while the other was a whitish yellow sand color. The main body of the peculiar creature was green like the leaves it was surrounded by.

"Tweetle-hoo Tweetle-hoo" This time, Vallum saw it make the sound. He was sure that this was it. Then he noticed that Kenra was closely watching his face with a big smile on hers. He broke into a smile, too. They sat quietly and watched the bird hop around from branch to branch, singing. It wasn't until the bird flew away that either of them spoke.

"I found it when I was searching the forest, Val. Isn't it great? I figured out that he likes to come around this area, but he won't come out unless you are really quiet. Val... what?" She was talking excitedly about the bird and Vallum watched her with a wry smile.

"You are so beautiful, Kay. Especially when you get super excited about something." Vallum reached over and pulled a twig out of her hair.

Kenra blushed and said shyly, "It was a really cool bird, Val."

"I know, Kay. You are really cool, too."

The moment went on for a while longer, but eventually they had to get back to work. They were making good progress and were pushing to get it done.

Within a month of hard work, for Vallum it was from before sunup to after sundown, the hamlet was born. Every one of the once-slaves had a room to live in. Most of them lived paired up, though some did specifically request single rooms.

When it was all done, Vallum stood back from it all and admired their work. The four halls had been built so that they are in a large and loose square, creating a large courtyard in between all of the buildings. There was plenty of room all around the buildings, yet they were close enough so that one could easily wave a greeting to someone across the courtyard. A couple of the elder men had overseen the construction, as some of them had ample experience with construction. Vallum saw people entering and exiting the buildings, conversing with each other and carrying out daily tasks. He had gotten to know some of the people relatively well over the time they spent building, so this place really did feel like a home to him.

Vynn and Sari hadn't hardly spoken to him the whole time, once in a while they would exchange greetings, but aside from that, they mingled with everyone else and became part of the community.

Kenra came to stand beside Vallum, "It's amazing, isn't it?"

"It really is. A couple months after leaving the village and I have my own mini-village." Vallum said thoughtfully.