Youth World

Chapter 11 – The Third Day

Today, Lucas Murray wasn't there to wake me up. Right, he was with the equestrians. I do remember him telling me that it took around four weeks to tame a wild horse, so I wouldn't be seeing him for a while.

Oh yeah, today would see the launch of two new expeditions, both in different directions. A hundred and fifty people would be sent west in search of salt, and at least hundred equestrians would be sent northeast to tame horses. Those were certainly on the forefront of everybody's minds.

What should I do today? Well, I didn't really have a specific task to do. Everybody else already knew what they needed to do to ensure the survival and development of Cascadia. I mean, I had to do something, or not I'd be dead weight.

I couldn't go on an expedition, because that meant the camp would be leaderless and somebody else would ȧssume control due to the power vacuum. I also didn't have either Aidan or Lucas here to lead on my behalf, so I'd be forced to stay.

You know what? I'd make paper. Nobody has done that yet, and I was probably the only one who possessed the knowledge to make it from scratch.

First things first, I'd need some bark. There was bark all over the place from the cedar bark clothes making process, since that only necessitated the inner part of the bark and not the exterior. However, the inner part of the bark would also be rather important, so I'd have to hack into a few trees and peel them.

I went to the tool shed and grabbed a stone axe. Then, I went to the center of the camp and grabbed a few ceramic bowls full of kitchen ashes. There, I saw the two expeditions grabbing some breakfast before they were going to depart. I shook their hands and wished them the best of look. Afterwards, I walked about a mile south of camp where there were a bunch of trees and began to get to work.

After peeling a bunch of trees, I took the soft bark and put them in the ceramic bowls. Then, I walked over to the lake and filled the bowls full of tree bark with water. I let them sit on the ground to ferment while I repeated the process over and over again. Now, I had two dozen bowls full of this concoction.

It would take a few days for the fermentation to be complete. Until then, I'd do other things. In all honesty, it would be pretty useful to have some dedicated papermakers. We had tons of laborers that weren't really needed, so might as well put some of them to work.

I returned to camp with all the bowls of leaves, kitchen ashes and water hauled on a makeshift sled. By this point, everybody was already waiting in line for lunch. Due to the college freshmen joining us, there were way more chefs, but there were also more mouths to feed.

"Hey, kids! Do you guys want to do a fun job? It's much easier than carrying stuff around, and it's super important?"

"Sure, Alexander! I mean, all we do is carry stuff around camp. What do you need us to do?"

"I need you guys to make paper. You see those jars over there?"

I pointed to the sled.

"Yep, we do. So, you need us to do something with that?"

"Exactly. Say, which one of you is the smartest?"

"It's probably Katie. She was in the gifted program, and she was in the 5th grade. She's the smartest of us all."

"Good. Now, everybody, listen to what I'm about to say. It's a bit complicated, but I believe that you guys will be able to remember it all before we get to the front of the lunch line."

I then proceeded to explain the entire paper making process, which I had learned from a few guys off of a primitive technology channel on the internet. Many of the kids questioned every single step, but I answered them to the best of my ability. After half an hour, the kids finally understanded every step of the process, and I was quite proud of my explanation skills.

"You guys are absolute geniuses. I hereby proclaim that you guys will be part of the new papermaking profession, under the craftsmen group!"

"Yayyyy."

The children weren't that enthusiastic about their new title. I mean, it doesn't really matter anyways since all the professions are viewed as equally important, so I guess they did have a point.

"Thanks for the lunch!"

As I was eating my lunch, a good-sized portion of boiled venison soup, I approached a group of kids who were sitting on a rock.

"Do you guys want to be sugar makers?"

I went around to many of the people who were laborers, which took up way too much of the workforce and there was no need for that many of them. I spent the rest of the day teaching them how to make coal, how to make bricks, how to make cement, how to lay traps for animals, how to make furnaces, how to make lime, how to make stone bricks, how to weave and a bunch of other skills. Thus. a bunch of new craftsmen professions were born. I even taught some the professions of some of the existing groups and ȧssigned these newbies to join them. Man, my eidetic memory really is quite useful. How else would I remember how to do all these things?

The rest of the day wasn't very memorable. After we had dinner, I made another speech to the group.

"Good evening, my fellow Cascadians! We are here to commemorate yet another momentous day in our glorious nation's history. Two expeditions have been successfully sent out today, and we have progressed so much I can't even describe everything that has occurred. But, I'll try my best. Our camp has tripled in size over the past day, we have begun small scale farming to prepare food for our coming migration next month. Our army size has tripled, we have begun construction on steel halberds and pikes, the carpenters are making good progress on their wagons, there's just too much to mention. Notably, the knitting club has begun using hemp, wool and flax to make us a national flag. I mean, there is a reason why we don't hunt sheep, and keep them in the camp instead. Knitting club, could you show us the flag?

"No problem! We're really proud of our creation! We used indigo and some blossoms, leaves and barks to make a green paint, most of the flag is that color. However, we didn't paint the middle and left a shape that resembled an evergreen tree. Do you like it?"

I clapped as they placed down the flag, and the audience joined me.

"This is truly a beautiful flag! Thank you, knitting club, for this important contribution!"

"It's our pŀėȧsurė."

"Well, I don't have much more to say. Good night, everybody, and I wish you all the best of luck tomorrow. Thank you for gathering here tonight! Long live Cascadia!"

"LONG LIVE CASCADIAA!"

After everybody had dispersed, I began to draw an exact recreation of the region's geography, from Alaska to California, from the Pacific to the Rockies. It took an hour, but every single geographical feature was exactly correct, with bȧrėly any deviation. It looked like I had copied it straight off the internet. On the map, I placed rocks to indicate mountains, and I dug inch deep trenches along the outlines of the rivers, oceans, and bays. I used little pebbles to indicate the intended course of the migration over land and the migration over the sea.

Wait, but weren't we going to use a wagon train? Why were some of us crossing over water?

Well, many things are rather heavy and would be a hassle to drag over land. One key example would be cannons, Congreve rockets or blacksmith's equipment. We couldn't drag these through the mountain or leave them behind to be used by the other neighboring tribes, so constructing giant canoes with sails to go around the Olympic Peninsula and up the Columbia River would be the best course of action. However, I would only send at most a thousand people that way, with the rest of us still going through the mountains. That's why I asked for shipwrights earlier, so they could head down to the Duwamish River and begin construction on the ships, which I needed done in a month.

As I sat there on the stump, closely examining the map I had just drawn, one of the intended shipwrights, a Haida First Nations member, approached me, along with a bunch of other intended shipwrights which included quite a few Polynesians.

"Alexander, did you want to see us?"

"I did. If I've heard correctly, aren't your nations extremely skilled at crafting canoes?"

"They are. Our canoes could carry two hundred men, and many were propelled by sail. Why did you ask? I ȧssume you need us to build a few?"

"I do. I need you guys to gather as many people as possible, including knitters to make sails, and head down to the Duwamish River along with a hundred soldiers for protection. Also bring some hunters and a few cooks with you, so they can cook food for you guys. These ships need to be completed in a month, the same day that the migration eastwards will begin. Don't worry about the weaponry, since the metallurgists and chemists will get that done. Sounds good?"

"You're not giving us a lot of time there. The quality might not be the best. Knowing that, do you still want to continue?"

"We don't really have much of a choice here. Boats are the best way to transport heavy equipment across long distances, and there just happens to be a wide river leading all the way to the intended settlement. Also, on the day of departure, bring the entire sailing team along with you so they can help out. That should make things a lot easier."

"Got it. We'll head down to the river tomorrow afternoon along with all those people. Good night, Alexander. We'll talk things over with those guys right now."

"I'll leave you guys to deal with those things. I'll ask some kids to spread messages of an expedition. Good night!"

"Good night."

I headed back to my shelter, hoping to meet a kid on the way there. However, a few were eavesdropping on our conversation, and soon enough word had spread through the whole camp. Man, word of mouth is such an effective way of communication.