A Sanctuary in the Trees
Having climbed back up to the shelter, Chester spread the moss he had gathered around the campfire.
"...?" Not knowing what it was for, Monia frowned as she watched the moss drying in the heat of the fire.
"You'll see if you wait. Let's get to work on the roof."
"Ah, right."
Sitting close enough that their shoulders brushed, Chester and Monia began weaving the frame of the roof. They had been working for some time when Monia gasped in dismay.
"Ah, I made a mistake."
"Hmm? That much is fine."
The mistake Monia referred to was a slight bend at the very end of one of the horizontal branches forming the roof frame, causing it to be tied slightly downward instead of in a straight line. Chester assured her that everything else was perfect and that a minor warp at the end wouldn't hurt, continuing his work.
But it's bothering me!
They hoisted the completed roof frame onto the upper branches above the platform, tying it securely in place. Because the floor was so spacious, the roof frame was incredibly massive as well.
I wonder if just four pillars would be enough?
Chester measured the distance between the roof and the floor using a piece of bamboo, then cut the stalks to size to serve as pillars. He set up twelve pillars in total, four along each of the three sides.
Next, they draped the broad leaves they had gathered over the frame, meticulously tying each one down to ensure the roof was completely weatherproof. With the roof finally finished, the first half of their home construction was complete, having consumed the entire day.
"Now, we need to work on the interior."
"The interior?"
"Yeah. We need to build walls and take care of a few other things." As he spoke, Chester began heating some iron nails in the fire.
"...What are you doing with those?"
"Making a trap." Monia, who had been resting flat on her back on the wooden floor, perked up at the mention of a trap. She shuffled over to his side to watch him work.
After heating the nails until they glowed, Chester fished them out with a stick, placed them on the stone border of the campfire, and began hammering them with a rock. Under his blows, the metal softened and began to bend.
"Did you work as a blacksmith before?"
"Of course not. I just know the basics. Iron softens when you heat it. Honestly, I wasn't even sure if this would work."
"Really?"
"Yeah. But look at that, it's actually working." Perhaps the nails were made of low-quality iron, as they bent surprisingly easily after being heated in a simple campfire.
Now I see why that boat split in half. If they used such cheap nails to patch up the damaged areas, the repair planks couldn't have been of any decent quality either.
You shouldn't skimp on things that keep you alive. The boat had likely been maintained by a stingy fisherman who pinched pennies where he shouldn't have, so it was no surprise the vessel had shattered under the force of the storm.
Chester, on the other hand, was the type who never hesitated to spend money on safety and basic living essentials. And then there was his knife. To Chester, a knife was an indispensable tool of survival—a lifeline that gave him the confidence to overcome any situation. That was why he had hoped to find one when they first discovered the shipwreck. Fishermen usually carried extremely sharp knives to quickly cut nets or fishing lines in emergencies.
"There." Having bent the nail into a crude fishhook, Chester hammered the head of the nail until it snapped off. He then took a long piece of cord and began tying it to his makeshift hook.
Holding the cord with a short end and a long end, he looped it tightly over the hook with the short end facing upward. Giving the cord a twist so the long end was on top, he began wrapping the long end tightly around the shank of the hook, starting from the twist. Wrapping it this way naturally created a loop at the top where he had first placed the cord. He threaded the short end through this loop. Finally, he gave both the short and long ends a sharp tug to lock the knot in place, trimming the excess off the short end to complete a securely bound fishhook.
Chester impaled a small scrap of meat onto the hook, tied the cord to an overhanging branch outside, and let it dangle all the way down to the forest floor.
"What is that supposed to be?"
"Just an idea that crossed my mind. I wanted to see if it works. I'm hoping some beast might try to eat it during the night and get snagged on the hook. I suppose you could call it land-fishing." With that, Chester crafted a few more of these land-fishing traps and hung them from various branches around the tree.
"Let's eat and get some sleep."
"Alright." And so, another day came to a close.
The next morning, the land-fishing traps yielded no results, much to their disappointment. Still, Chester and Monia began their daily routine as usual. They headed down to the river to check the fish traps, filled their containers with drinking water for the day, inspected their other traps, and gathered more building materials. Once again, their material of choice was bamboo.
Having hauled a massive load of bamboo back to their treehouse, which still consisted of only a basic frame, they began constructing the walls. Leaving a gap where the ladder met the platform to serve as the entrance, they stacked the bamboo stalks horizontally and lashed them together meticulously.
"Should we make a window too?"
"That would be nice, wouldn't it?"
As they built up one of the walls, they left an opening in the middle to serve as a window.
"Isn't the window a bit too big?"
"I have a plan for it."
Chester fashioned a small bamboo shutter that matched the size of the opening. He bored four holes above the window frame and threaded ropes through them. He then drilled four corresponding holes into the shutter, threading the ropes through those as well and tying them off. Once the ropes were secured, Chester pushed the shutter outward, swinging the window open.
"What do you think?"
Next, he carved matching notches into the bottom of the window frame and the bottom of the shutter, propping it open with a sturdy wooden stick. Just like that, they had a window they could open and close at will.
"That's amazing! But... won't it be dangerous if we get hit by a heavy storm like last time?"
"Hmm. Good point."
Chester drilled two holes at the bottom of the shutter and threaded a rope through them. After tying it securely, he passed the loose ends of the rope through a gap in the house's wall.
"If we pull this tight from the inside and tie it down, it'll hold the shutter closed so the wind won't rattle it. Let's see... we can tie it off right here."
In this manner, Chester built up the walls, installing a window on each side of the house. As the walls rose and slowly blocked out the beautiful surrounding scenery, Monia felt a twinge of regret—but it was instantly swallowed by an overwhelming sense of relief.
Ever since they had arrived on this deserted island, they had lived completely exposed to the elements. A vulnerable, defenseless existence. While one might romanticize it as a brief, poetic escape, Monia had lived in constant, low-lying dread. In this place where nothing stood between her and the wild, she had constantly feared that some beast would leap from the shadows of the forest and tear her apart.
She had worried that some unseen danger would snip her thread of life when she least expected it, just like the day the snake had lunged at her from the vines. It was impossible not to feel terrified; it was impossible not to live in perpetual anxiety.
But now, perched high up in this towering, lush tree, watching their home take shape piece by piece, she felt those anxieties and worries slowly begin to dissolve.
Once all the walls were erected, Chester reinforced them by securing vertical support beams along the exterior. And with that, their house was finally complete.
"Alright, it's finished!"
"Wow!" Monia's eyes sparkled as she looked around the finished structure. It was large, spacious, cozy, and above all, safe. After weeks of being exposed to the harsh wilderness of this deserted island, they finally had a true sanctuary where they could rest in peace!
"And we have this, too." Chuckling at the sight of Monia rolling happily across the wooden floor, Chester picked up the moss he had left drying by the fire.
"Oh, right, that! What is it for?"
"Here, like this." Chester began spreading the moss over the area he had chosen for his bed. Seeing this, Monia immediately began mimicking him, spreading her own pile of moss without fully understanding why.
"Ah." As she picked up a handful, Monia gasped. The wet, slimy, and thoroughly unpleasant texture from before was entirely gone. In its place was a sensation that was incredibly soft, dry, and fluffy.
"Whoa..." Monia was utterly amazed. "What is this?" While she stared in wonder, Chester finished laying out his moss and lay down on top of it.
"Ahhh... this is the life." Seeing Chester resting comfortably with his arms pillowed behind his head, Monia hurriedly finished arranging her own moss bed.
Once it was fully laid out, she threw herself onto the moss bed. Today marked their twentieth day on this deserted island. For Monia, who had spent every single night enduring the agony of sleeping on hard, unforgiving ground, the plush warmth of this moss bed was nothing short of heavenly.
For a fleeting, dizzying second, she could have sworn she was back in the luxurious bed of her ducal estate. Even when she had been briefly imprisoned, she had managed to have a top-of-the-line mattress brought into her cell. The brutal, rock-hard sleeping arrangements of this island had been an absolute nightmare for her. She had felt like she was dying of exhaustion every single day.
Having endured all that hardship, this soft, cushioned bed felt like the greatest treasure in the world.
"Ahhhhh..."
"Aren't you glad we brought the moss?"
"Yes~!" Monia purred, her voice melting with pure bliss as she rolled around on the moss, savoring the cushiony texture.
"Haaah... this is so good..." She nuzzled her face into the moss, rubbing her entire body against it like a pampered cat.
That night, for the first time in what felt like an eternity, the two of them enjoyed a deeply peaceful and comfortable night's sleep.