Claudius considered Nian’s question and felt the weight of responsibility on his shoulders. He knew if he provided wrong, false, or ignorant information, it would be his fault if the structure did not last until spring. At the same time, the winter was not the best time to build anything that went into the ground because it was so cold and hard to drive a stake deep enough. AniWaya itself was in an area characterized by typical Nova Scotia soil: it was very sandy and had many podzols underlying most well-drained areas. Claudius had also read about something called ‘acid rain’, but had not understood the concept. All he knew was that Serena Reserve had once been severely affected by it, whatever it was.
He nodded sombrely when Nian admitted defeat and blushed slightly – though it was not visible through his thick winter coat – when Nian offered him something of a compliment. He frowned when Nian claimed he was a poor builder; he certainly had to be better than Claudius, who had no skills in this area! Claudius frowned and considered Nian’s question. He half-uncrossed his arms so he could support his right elbow with his left hand and tap his chin thoughtfully with his right index finger.
“Well,” he began, losing his stutter as he concentrated. “You won’t get far. The soil is probably frozen. And it’s really sandy, too. And coarse.” He considered his next words, thinking about the depth that would be required for his stakes. “We should probably try not to drive them into the ground and save that for the summer. But in the summer, we could dig up some of the human fence and see how deep that was. We could use the human depth for your stakes, since they’re kinda like a fence.” The more he thought about it, the more it made sense: they would need to lash the branches together near the ground, but not in it. They could stuff it with the smaller branches Claudius had carried and also with dirt and whatever else they could find. Moss would be best, he thought, but it was the wrong time of year for that.