The Elemental Luna

Sheath

* Referred to this to make Silencer's Hunting Dagger's Sheath

Satisfied with the dagger, she had to move on to its sheath. Willow planned to make it out of the scraps of boar-hide leather, black-rock pigmented ink and leaves. Shifting into her beast form, she carefully bit off an elephant-eared leaf and shifted back into her human form. Satisfied, Willow outlined the dagger in one part of the leaf, folded it in half and carefully sliced through the outline. Taking the pigeon feather quill in her hands, she traced the outline of the leaf onto the leather and cut it with her dagger. Since it was slightly frayed at the edges, she decided to smooth it out by grounding it with a smooth rock and cutting it again with her knife. Willow then marked off the edges with some white crystal powder, leaving it for the flax flower thread and make-shift needle sewing later. Grinning, she started to make the welt, tracing out its outline on the boar-hide leather and cutting through it with her hunting dagger. Who knew it was so efficient? Using natural pine-sap glue that the shifters harvested every day, she glued the welt onto the belt and dyed it with some blood-red pigment paint made by mixing water and red rocks from the river. Glueing on the belt loop, and letting it dry, she paused her work to see Artemis and Huntress sparring in their shifter forms.

They did it with grace, efficiency and ruthlessness. The owlets cheered them on, shrieking loudly while Earth curled up blearily into a tight ball, a dazed look on her face. Suddenly, Huntress leapt at Artemis' shoulder blades. Head lowered, she speared her large grey head and rammed it against Huntress' soft belly fur. The tiger shifter growled as she went sprawling onto the dusty sand clearing. Artemis howled with joy, pummeling and snapping at her opponent's silky pelt. Huntress retaliated. She bowled the wolf shifter over, nipping at her heels and ears. This was the daily training routine set by the Alpha, even the owlets had to participate, but the pack was seemingly gentler with them the adult shifters. 

"Owlets, do you want to go against your mom?" Artemis asked through the link, lying on the ground after the sparring session.

"YES! Let's beat Mama up!" Owen cheered. Willow sighed.

"The weapon sheath will need time to dry up, so I guess I can spar with them, but only in owl form" Willow warned.

The owlets cheered, already in owl form, patiently waiting for their mom to shift too. Willow shifted, bones cracking and feathers emerging from the skin. Willow was no more, Silencer in her place. 

"Ready, set, SPAR!" Artemis growled through the link. It was two against one. 

With claws tucked in, Silencer gently cuffed the tendons of both owlets, Olivia, being more wary, took off the instant Silencer made a move, while Owen quickly nipped his mom's legs. Pain shooting up her legs, she flew high above the Rocky Mountains forest canopy and dove downwards, bowling her son over and putting her talons against his chest. Silencer had won against the first, but what about the second? Olivia screeched a ball of fury against her bigger adversary. Flapping her wings, she softly pulled at some feathers. Silencer hooted, flying in an upside-down arc to dislodge to cheeky owlet. Olivia fell, stopped at the last second and righted herself up. 

Silencer had won.

Returning to work while the other shifters dozed inside the caves or up in the ash tree, except for Earth, who always slept outside of it. Willow had shifted from her owl form, stitching the sheath with boar hair and a metal needle forged from the forge. She had carefully marked out where she had to stitch with black ink and pigeon quill and started to stitch until the end. She took a lit stick and burned the edge of the thread. She then sanded the leather sheath with a smooth rock, glued the other side of the edges with pine sap glue and waited. 

Deciding to go out for a snack, she used her keen eyesight to track down light snacks of voles and mice. Eating a vole up while hunting, she caught a shrew and some mice and returned to the pack to give the snacks to them. After her meal, she stitched the ends with board hair thread and a needle, scorched the edges and trimmed off the access using her knife. Happy, she sanded off the edges to create a smooth, rustic look with walnut shells and rough rocks. Willow then soaked it in the brook for 'wet forming' by moulding the leather with the newly made sheath outside of it. Furthermore, she buffed the edges with her trusty rock and waxed it up with some boar fat wax, made by the boar that was killed a week ago by Huntress. She melted the wax solids by putting them into a rock with a large central hole, lighting up the forge and melting it. Willow then smeared the tallow all over the leather, making it waterproof and shiny.

The Sheath of the Hunting dagger of Silencer the Owl Shifter was finally complete.

再见 （Bye in Chinese/Mandarin)