Busy with making pottery, it was only on the third day after the day he met that group of sub-beasts that Walter finally got to see Kaelen.
"Kaelen, look at this quickly!"
Walter carefully opened his basket and held up a piece of fabric woven from grass fibers in front of Kaelen. Kaelen took the fabric, unrolled it to look, and couldn't stop uttering "holy crap" consecutively in his heart. How long had it been? A little over a week! Yet this Avian tribe group had already successfully woven fabric?
Kaelen's gaze shifted towards Walter, filled with admiration. Walter scratched his cheek shyly:
"I didn't make it, the uncles in the tribe did. They followed your drawing to make the wooden loom, then found a type of plant with a drawing similar to yours, and twisted it into thread to weave this fabric."
Then Walter opened the basket again, took out another item, and handed it to Kaelen: "This is a gift the elders in my tribe gave to you, woven by Uncle Sheka of the Sunbird tribe. The elders said only you are worthy of wearing the first fabric belt of the tribe!"
Hearing this, Kaelen was a bit startled and accepted the item Walter handed over. Upon unrolling it to look, he was shocked speechless. This was the exact belt from the Dong Son outfit he had drawn for Walter; he hadn't expected the Avian tribe to sew it in just a few days.
He didn't know how they managed to dye the fabric, weaving it in the Dong Son drum pattern style he had casually drawn. Even the two pointed ends of the belt were embroidered with the image of the Lac bird holding a lotus flower, which he had casually drawn as a signature on the loom design.
The drawing had no color, yet they were able to accurately embroider the petal pink color for the lotus, and the shading was exactly like a real lotus flower.
Kaelen stared at Walter in astonishment, his face displaying all sorts of subtitles: How did you guys do it? How did you manage this?
Walter started telling Kaelen the process of making the belt. The Avian tribe was inherently skilled at sewing; within the tribe, there were also bird species that were master artisans, such as the Weaverbird, Tailorbird, Sunbird... Furthermore, Kaelen's drawing was so detailed, making it even easier for them to execute.
"Kaelen, Elder Randy wanted me to pass a message to you. He proposed using the outfit in your drawing to make ceremonial clothes for the high council. What do you think?"
Initially, Kaelen drew this outfit for Walter with the intention of making him stand out at the next tribe gathering. Now hearing Walter say this, upon reflection, this outfit was indeed very suitable for the elders in the tribe to wear.
[There's no need to wait for ceremonies to wear it; everyday wear is fine too.]
Thinking for a moment, Kaelen quickly took out bark paper and a charcoal pencil, drawing a clothing style he considered versatile. To be both comfortable and good-looking, as well as convenient for manual labor, Kaelen chose the common clothing style of medieval peasants. The outfit included: a long tunic, loose trousers with a drawstring, leg wraps, and a multi-purpose belt.
[This outfit can be worn for work. After making clothes for the high council, you can sew them for the sub-beasts in the tribe, so they can avoid insect bites or having their skin scratched by plants while working.]
As for why not sew them for the beastmen, they had thick skin and flesh, not fearing insects or plants. Moreover, the animal-skin skirts they wore were transformed from their own fur and skin; clothes sewn over them would rip to shreds when they transformed or hunted. If they sewed for them, no amount of fabric would be enough.
Furthermore, Kaelen was certain that hardly anyone would dare wear precious fabric clothes to dig wild vegetables or hoe the earth. Just like in his previous life, the kids in their orphanage had to wait until Tet to take out new clothes to wear.
Walter carefully accepted the drawings and put them in his basket. Looking at the bag of items inside, he felt incredibly distressed, very unwilling to give these things to Kaelen. But remembering Pax's warning, Walter had to sigh and pull it out.
Inside the animal-skin bundle were some sparkling colored stones, some roasted seeds, and an animal-skin pouch containing mosquito-repellent grass that sub-beasts often carried with them.
"Kaelen, these items... are gifts from the sub-beasts in the tribe to you."
Seeing Kaelen bewildered, Walter had to recount the whole story from beginning to end. Of course, the part about having his wing feathers plucked and being thrown into a dark cave by that group was kept hidden by Walter, not wanting to make Kaelen worry.
"I only came to meet you because they pushed me to, but I genuinely consider you a friend; you won't mind, right?" Walter asked anxiously. Kaelen smiled and shook his head; of course, he wasn't angry. He was more than happy that Walter was willing to come and be his friend.
Walter breathed a sigh of relief, then pointed at the pile of items on the table and said:
"This... they were never this friendly before, maybe it's better if you don't accept these items?"
[I'll accept them, I can accept them.] Kaelen happily pulled the animal-skin bag towards himself, picked up the pouch of mosquito-repellent grass to inspect it, and then tied it directly to his belt. He even took out his personal storage box and carefully placed the colored stones inside.
Seeing Kaelen so happy, Walter couldn't bear to advise against it anymore. To him, Rylan's group were demons, but perhaps to Kaelen, they were tribesmen willing to accept his presence. As someone who had also been bullied many times, Walter clearly understood how much Kaelen yearned for the recognition of the tribesmen.
Never mind, they were just common items anyway; accepting them probably wouldn't cause any problems.
[Right, have you all reported to the Tribe Leader yet?]
"We have." Walter smiled and said: "From the moment we made the loom and wove the first piece of fabric, Elder Randy went to report to the Tribe Leader immediately. The Tribe Leader was very happy and said he would announce the Avian tribe's contribution to the whole tribe soon."
Speaking of this, Walter wrinkled his nose, showing dissatisfaction:
"The elder initially refused, because this is entirely your contribution, we just followed along. But the Tribe Leader said circumstances were special, and couldn't reveal that this matter was connected to you. It's so annoying!"
Walter had never felt the people in the tribe were as annoying as they were now. Kaelen is so good, he doesn't deserve to be treated like this by everyone!
Kaelen had long gotten used to it, and furthermore, these things were his idea. To avoid Walter thinking about unpleasant things, Kaelen quickly suggested:
[Hey, I'm planning to make some interesting things. Since you're here, let's do it together?]
The Avian tribe had made fabric, so asking for a few scraps of fabric to filter kitchen ash and plant residue shouldn't be too much to ask, right?
"Sure!" Walter agreed readily.
Kaelen intended to make soap, so he dragged Walter to get wood ash, cleaned it, and soaked it in water. The ash water needed to soak for about eight to twelve hours before the alkaline lye water could be filtered out. Kaelen then invited Walter to go pick fragrant flowers and herbs.
"Kaelen, let's go over to that mountain over there; there are some very fragrant flowers there."
The two had gathered quite a few flowers and herbs around the tribe. Walter then pointed towards the distant mountain range. That place was outside the tribe's protection zone, and Kaelen was a bit hesitant.
Walter then said:
"Don't worry, it's very safe there. I always go over there to gather snacks for Papa."
Kaelen looked at Walter with a disapproving expression. Who said he was the most timid sub-beast in the tribe? He was the bravest sub-beast in the tribe; at the very least, other sub-beasts wouldn't leave the protection zone without a beastman accompanying them.
He looked again towards the mountain range Walter pointed at. Although outside the protection zone, it wasn't very far; if there was a problem, they only needed to run a short distance to get back. So, he also grew bolder and agreed to go with Walter.
"Look, my Papa really likes the seeds of this plant. Occasionally, I come here to get a few and roast them for him as a snack."
Walter pointed at a very tall grass plant with flat, long leaves and clusters of reddish-brown tufts on top. Kaelen squinted, and the more he looked, the more familiar it seemed. He couldn't resist stepping closer, reaching up to bend a tuft down, plucking a handful of grass seeds, and observing them carefully.
Sor... sorghum?
Although he had never seen a sorghum tuft in person, he had watched quite a few videos of it. Kaelen quickly peeled the outer husk off; the grass seed inside was the exact type of sorghum sold everywhere on e-commerce platforms in the mortal world of his previous life. It's just that these seeds were much larger, about the size of mung beans.
Sorghum seeds could be eaten as a substitute for wet rice and could also be brewed into liquor. If it were sweet sorghum, it could even be used to make sugar instead of sugarcane. Kaelen couldn't resist snapping a stem in half and putting it in his mouth to take a bite.
Not as sweet as sugarcane, but it was still sweet!