Reborn

Chapter Thirty-Two

Jayce led the two kids to an empty spot first. Several logs stood in a formation, a part of their length buried beneath the ground, the skeleton of a tepee. He had them wait there while he went back to his own tepee to gather his own leftover hides.

Alec stared at the wooden pieces while Renee looked around the empty area. There was an obvious sign of a fire pit in front of the tepee, a few small indentions around that fire pit as if something had been there before, and a small black mark to indicate a fireplace inside of the tepee poles, but that was all. Everything that could be of use had been stripped from the area.

Renee wasn't really surprised. They were in a time when everything had to be used and nothing wasted. Honestly, she was surprised the wooden beams still stood. Perhaps they simply hadn't gotten to them yet?

Slowly, Renee removed the pack from her back and set it down. The sun had already set, and twilight was falling across the land. She could barely see now in the dark and wondered whether it was better to wait until morning to try and assemble the tepee. It wasn't like they hadn't slept under the stars for the past few days anyways.

There were small rustling sounds and murmurs from tepee's that were close, but no one else was around. That made sense. Once the sun set it was hard to do anything and would require the light from a fire or torch. Both of those used resources so it was probably better to wait until the next day.

Footsteps were heard behind her, and Renee turned to see a tall figure in the darkness. It wasn't until he was closer that Renee could see it was Kane. A small bit of relief filled her, wiping away the tension that had risen due to being in an unfamiliar environment.

Kane set the different pelts he had grabbed down. "Wait here for a moment, I'll get us a few torches."

"Wouldn't it be better to wait until morning?" Renee asked worriedly. She didn't want to waste resources if she could avoid it.

Kane paused for only a moment before shaking his head. "It won't take us long."

He left once again but came back quickly with both a few ready-made torches and his father following behind him. Within moments the torches were lit and set up to provide some light for them. Renee could see heads suddenly popping out of a few tepees in curiosity before returning to their places.

Jayce also returned with another tall man following him, both carrying a bunch of fur. They also set aside their load and began to sort them out, preparing to get started.

"Alright, let's finish this quickly." Lewis said loudly.

Renee watched, somewhat flabbergasted, as several others came out of the near tepees and began to pick up the fur pieces on the ground. They began helping to organize the pieces together, while others started to plan how to lay them around the frame. A few pulled out large bone needles or hooks and strings cut from fur to hold the pieces together.

"Chief, are you rebuilding old man Harkin's tepee?" One of the men asked casually.

Even through the low murmuring of work, everyone's ears were very obviously pointed in this direction at the question. Everyone was curious about the gossip.

"Hmm." The chief nodded in response. "These two kids are going to be your new neighbors."

One of the men, an older man with greying hair and quick hands raised a brow. "Ah? Don't most live in the cavern? How generous of the chief to provide his own furs to them to use."

Kane suddenly frowned and looked at the man. He didn't like the implications behind the man's words. "Are you here to gossip or work?"

The man suddenly smiled and laughed easily. "Work of course. Let us finish quickly."