Mark woke up and went to the inn for breakfast. Today he had to meet Sarah and her group outside the inn after breakfast. She would be teaching, and Mark and Garrick would be her assistants. His breakfast was good, and while he ate it, he savored the good meal. He thought about that once the portal activated and he stepped through, he would lose his favorite cook and have to fend for himself again, so he really took the time to enjoy it today.
When Mark went outside, he was surprised to recognize one of the students. Ben, Clara’s younger brother, was there along with the two girls who lived up in Forest’s Rest with them and the mother of one of the girls. He recognized them but did not know their names. There was another man that he had seen around town; he was pretty sure he was a farmer, and then two of Dale’s workers were there too for a total of seven students.
They had to wait around for a few minutes because Garrick arrived a couple minutes late. Sarah started by looking around the group and making sure each of the students had their Fire Starting lesson activated and quickly reviewed each as they were all slightly different, and she wanted to make sure she covered all the important things.
Sarah said, “Thank you all for coming to our lesson today on Fire Starting. I have two assistant teachers helping with our larger class, so please follow their instructions just as if I were giving them myself. This class is going to be almost completely hands-on, and our plan is to walk west to a stand of trees by the river for our classroom today.”
Sarah then headed west out of town, following the road until almost where the bridge hit the river west of the village; she then headed south down the river towards a stand of trees at one of the bends in the river. As they walked, she pointed out items that they could see. She talked about kindling and how you needed four types of materials to start a fire. The first type was tinder, a fine, dry, easy-to-ignite material. She gave examples, pointed out various items they could see, and gathered a few for herself.
Mark noticed that most of the students started to do the same thing. Most of them were still picking the wrong items at this point. She then talked about kindling, which is a material used after the tinder started. Tinder burned fast and hot but went out quickly. The kindling would be started by the tinder to get the fire going. It burned slower than tinder but still faster than the next type of material, which she referred to as finger-thick fuel.
As she was walking along, she would pick up small sticks, bend and toss some of them, and add others that would snap into her inventory. She talked about how you need enough of the finger-thick fuel to keep your fire going until the next stage of wood comes into play. She referred to this wood as wrist-thick fuel. She gave some examples, picking them up and looking them over. Some she tossed back down and others she put into inventory.
She then went a little east of the stand of trees and found a clearing that had been cleared from the surrounding wheat and brush. There the group found an area large enough for multiple fires to be built. There were four shovels and four buckets of water there and a pile of stones.
She then went over to a spot and pulled out her four types of materials that she had gathered and then sorted through the piles. A few items she moved to a different pile, and other times she tossed them away completely. She then went over and grabbed some of the rocks and made a ring with them. She then explained each step as she built a fire, putting the tinder on the bottom. Not too much, but not too little either.
She then explained that there were different styles of fires: a log cabin, a teepee, and a lean-to fire and built an example of each before tearing them down and sorting her materials. She then built a teepee fire and stopped there. Turning to the class, she asked the question.
“What is the hardest part of making a fire?" Sarah said.
A boy said, “Starting it, of course.”
Sarah said, “Some would think so, but that is really the easy part. The hard part is getting the right materials together. No matter the method you use to start it, if you have the wrong materials, the starting method does not matter.”
A young girl said, “That does not make sense.”
Sarah replied, “Say I have the wrong material, some tinder that is wet or just won't start. Maybe kindling that is too wet or too big to catch from my tinder. What if the finger-thick fuel was so big it couldn't really catch before the kindling burned out? Or worst of all, you get all that going and the wrist-thick fuel never even starts?”
She demonstrated the tools and explained how each method worked. She did not actually start a fire with them, but instead showed examples. She talked about making bow drills and a slightly easier method called a fire plow, pulling examples of each out of her inventory, passing them around, and explaining in detail how they worked. Finally, she said for their purposes they were not going to do either of them but another, more simple method.
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She asked, “Who all have a flint and steel?"
About half the group raised their hands. None of the kids, though. She pulled out enough spares to give everyone one that did not have one. She then explained in detail what flint was and places it could be found. She also explained why flint when struck by the steel made sparks and then demonstrated it. At last, she turned around and with a few strokes had her fire going.
She only let it burn for a few minutes, explaining the fire-burning process from the tinder starting to the kindling catching fire, leading to her finger-thick fuel, and finally, the burning of the wrist-thick fuel. She then went over and quickly got the water and doused her fire. She then explained how you should stir the coals to ensure they were out, adding a little more water until they were cool. Then with one of the shovels she dug a small hole and buried the remains of the burnt wood and covered it up, going slowly over each step, explaining why.
Sarah said, “How many of you now think that with that flint and steel that you have that you can start a fire?"
About half the hands rose up. Sarah pointed to one girl that did not raise her hand and asked. “Why do you feel that you could not start a fire now?"
The girl said, “It just looks impossible.”
Sarah smiled and said, "Impossible is when you don't try. What we're going to do is divide up into three groups and then go back, and each of you will gather the four types of materials and then come back here and, with assistance, start your first fire. Remember that there are three of us assisting with the teaching. Ask questions. Pick items and have one of us help you identify why items are good or not good. Before you ever strike the flint, we will make sure that you know how to gather the correct materials.
The group divided up, and Mark was given Dale’s two workers, and he went with them into the woods, and they started gathering materials. Every few minutes, Mark would ask which of the four types a piece they had just added belonged to, and they would answer. Another time he asked them why the item they picked up was added and had him pull it out. Mark showed how the stick he added bent but would not break. Then asked if that is a good item and, if not, why and waited for the response.
The trip took about four times as long as it took Sarah the first time to gather hers, but after a dozen questions and answers later, Mark’s pair were back and then went over and found two open spots, and like Sarah, they pulled their four types out and laid them out. After the two piles were laid out, Mark had them swap piles, go through each one, and explain which items were good and bad. By the time they were done, each of them had whittled down the others' piles by half.
Then they reviewed all the fire-starting steps and talked about the amount they needed. They found one was too low on tinder and the other too low on kindling, so the two shared with each other until they had the amounts they needed. Mark went one more time through the process, and then, one at a time, they started their fire. The first one took about fifteen strikes to get going. Mark helped adjust how far away he held the flint and steel, making sure the sparks were hitting the tinder. Once the tinder caught a spark, they could blow gently on it to help it along. Too hard and they would scatter the ember.
Mark then helped them clean up and put away the excess materials and put out the fires they had started. Each of them was delighted and excited, as each had completed and gotten their skill, which they said would thrill their boss Dale.
The third group that was with Sarah was running slightly behind Mark and Garrick, whose groups had both already finished. Mark and Garrick watched Sarah’s group, which consisted of the three youngest kids, build, start, and then clean up their fire.
Sarah said, “The first fire is always the hardest. You earned your Fire Starting today. Tomorrow you’ll notice dry wood a little faster. You’ll judge tinder a little better. The System didn’t build your fire. You did.”
Sarah said, "Okay, at this point our lesson is done, but I have a surprise for you. Dale packed us a picnic basket full of lunch so that we could all eat before returning to the other task we have today.”
Sarah handed out the food and went over to Mark and Garrick and thanked them for their help today teaching and asked the status of their skills, and both let her know that as soon as she handed out the lunches, the system had completed their skills.
Garrick received:
[Skill Acquired]Teaching Level 1
Better explain concepts to beginning studentsImprove recognition when a student understands or requires additional guidanceIncrease effectiveness when organizing and presenting structured lessons
◈ ◈ ◈
Mark received the same message:
[Skill Acquired]Teaching Level 1
Better explain concepts to beginning studentsImprove recognition when a student understands or requires additional guidanceIncrease effectiveness when organizing and presenting structured lessons
◈ ◈ ◈
Sarah was excited for them. They gathered up the buckets and shovels and all walked back to the inn. They discussed what their priorities would be when creating schools at the outposts they established. Sarah gave advice on skill categories to pick but reminded them that the available offerings would depend on the area where each outpost was established. She assured them that as they leveled, more skills would unlock, and with the influx of new people they expected, they would have plenty of students.
Mark and Garrick thanked her, and both headed back to their cabins to start filtering through the items; they had to figure out what would stay and what they would take, and they planned to do that the rest of the day.