Not long after Uri left, Kaelen's house had guests again.
Jax and Cael both sat in front of the rabbit cage, staring at its injured leg, causing it to shrink into a ball in fear. Jax wasn't entirely sure and asked,
"Can it really be cured?"
Kaelen nodded affirmatively. Elian, drinking berry water, said,
"I told you. Haven't you also seen my Daddy's arm?"
Cael and his father rubbed their eyes, which were swollen from crying, and started to sniffle again. Kaelen felt a headache coming on and decisively found something for them to do. He took out a pair of grass shoes from under the animal skin mattress, washed and dried his feet, and then put the grass shoes on.
The three Sub-Beasts looked at the strange things on Kaelen's feet with endless curiosity. Kaelen took the shoes off again and placed them on the table, then brought out treated and untreated grass to teach them how to make them. The three Sub-Beasts instantly forgot all their sorrows and attentively learned how to weave grass shoes.
First was the treatment step. Kaelen picked up a handful of dried grass, sprinkled a little water to moisten it, and placed it on a smooth stone slab. He took a round wooden stick and lightly pounded the grass stems. Directly dried grass would be very brittle and would break if woven forcefully. It had to be moistened and crushed like this to soften the fibers, making it tough when braided so it wouldn't cut into the skin.
Cael quickly grabbed a handful of grass and imitated Kaelen, starting to pound and beat it. Jax and Elian slowly followed suit. For a moment, only the pleasant thumping sounds remained in the cave.
Once the grass was soft and pliable, Kaelen moved on to the step of weaving the shoe soles.
[Everyone has a different foot size, so you all need to measure your feet before you start weaving.]
After Kaelen finished speaking, he told Cael to step barefoot onto a flat piece of ground. He picked up a straight, dry branch, placed it right against the edge of Cael's heel, used his fingernail to hold the part of the branch at the exact position of the tip of the big toe, and then snapped it off.
Next, he plucked a blade of grass and measured across the widest part of the sole, gesturing with his hands as he worked to explain to everyone.
After Jax and Elian had taken their own measurements, Kaelen started teaching them how to weave. He gathered the four longest and toughest grass strands together to serve as the core strings (vertical strings) and looped them around his big toe to keep the strings taut.
Then, he took smaller bundles of grass and swiftly wove them back and forth in a figure-eight pattern. Looping over this core string, diving under that core string. Every time he finished weaving a row, Kaelen used his fingers to pull it tightly and pushed the woven grass closely together.
[The sole must be woven very tightly and thickly, otherwise, it will tear after a few days of stepping on gravel. As you weave, place the wooden stick against it to check the fit. When the finished sole is exactly as long as the wooden stick, stop to make the straps.]
Kaelen patiently explained while working. He carefully guided them on how to braid in new grass when the old bundle ran out of length, hiding the ends inside so the bottom of the sole wouldn't be lumpy.
The three new students were extremely focused. Their hands were already accustomed to manual labor, so they were also very dexterous. Before long, under Kaelen's guidance, the shapes of rough but sturdy oval shoe soles gradually formed.
Next was making the straps. When the length of the sole fit the foot perfectly, Kaelen bent the excess core strings at the toe upwards. He continued to twist and braid them into small ropes, threading them through the eyelets on both edges of the sole that he had intentionally left earlier. With a few skillful pulling and tightening motions, Kaelen formed a cross strap over the instep and a heel strap wrapping around the back.
The final knotting motion was completed with a decisive pull. Kaelen cut off the excess grass, shook the shoe to drop all the dust and fibers, and handed it to Cael.
Cael cautiously slipped his small foot inside. Although the coarse surface couldn't be as smooth as high-quality animal skin, the thick layer of grass fully hugging the sole of the foot brought a strangely sturdy and soft feeling. He tried stomping his foot on the cold cave floor, and his eyes immediately lit up.
"It's not cold at all! And there's no feeling of rocks piercing my foot either!" Cael cheered joyfully, walking back and forth on his tiptoes a few times.
The other two looked at the result on Cael's foot, and their hands wove even faster. Jax finished first, slipped his foot in to try it on, and nodded:
"Yeah, it's quite comfortable, and it feels airy, not stuffy like when wrapping animal skins."
In the past, during winter, the people in the tribe often used soft animal skins to wrap the feet of Sub-Beasts and cubs, but doing so made the feet very stuffy, smelly, and even caused ulcers if used for a long time. These grass shoes were truly their savior.
It was getting late, so everyone agreed to go gather grass together tomorrow to weave shoes, and then they all went home.
Kaelen cooked some meat with white starchy tubers to eat alongside wild vegetables, then took the opportunity to write out a plan for renovating the cave on paper.
Gathering his modern architectural knowledge, he drew up a new type of cave that was even more convenient than a brick house. Mentioning bricks reminded Kaelen of the stone mill he had been studying for the past few days. Even though he had remade and tested it many times, he still hadn't succeeded.
Without tools to grind quartz stone finely, he had to temporarily set aside the matters of firing bricks and making pottery, and first think of a way to renovate the cave.
After all, the people in the tribe were used to living in caves; even if he made bricks now, he might not be able to convince them to build houses to live in.
Early the next morning, Kaelen woke up earlier than usual. He took out all the food reserves in the house, marinated and roasted them all, then put the roasted meat into a vine basket and went to the homes of everyone he knew to invite them to help renovate his cave.
Beastmen had broad shoulders and immense strength; for tasks like carving stones and chiseling caves, they only needed to swing their arms a few times to get it done.
Cassian carefully cradled the piece of bark paper in his hands. The whole group of beastmen gathered around, looking at the drawings on it while listening to Kaelen explain each one, clicking their tongues in constant admiration.
"How did you even think of this stove? There's also a water tank, getting water directly through this opening without needing to go outside."
"I think this technique for building beds and tables is the truly wonderful part. Separate wooden blocks can actually be tightly joined together..."
"I find dividing the house into rooms like this to be very convenient. Take my kid, his Papa thinks he's still small and doesn't want him to live separately; every time I want to be intimate with my mate, I have to wait until he is fast asleep. If the rooms are divided like this, everyone has their own private space, which is much more convenient!"
"And this bathroom and toilet too; if my house was built like this, my mate and my little Sub-Beast would definitely love it!"
Everyone discussed enthusiastically. After agreeing on the work, they immediately started working.
Cassian's arm had just fully healed, so it wasn't convenient for him to do heavy work. He took on the job of building the bed, table, and chairs, while the other four chiseled the cave and built the stone walls. Kaelen was in charge of mixing clay mortar for them, conveniently supervising the construction.
The rumbling noise lasted for a whole day. Fortunately, Kaelen's house was quite far from the center of the tribe, so it didn't affect others.
By the end of that day, Kaelen's one-bedroom house was finally completed.