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for Anatoliy
Winter had only begun to release the land from its icy grip. And already spring had brought on its showers. The cool, wet weather had kept Anann indoors near constantly since she had joined the kingdom of mongrels. So she had set herself to work in the stables the past several days. Going through the tack and saddles, replacing dried, cracked leather with new buckskin. Most of the gear in the stables had been in pretty good condition and so she was glad that the sun had at last decided to come out and show its self for the day.
Rem too, was happy to get out of the stables. Though the ground was still too wet and slick for her to train with the stallion, but there would be no harm in a simple ride. The fresh spring air would do them both good. It was not an aimless ride either. The pair headed north of the stables, towards the streams that divided up the land between the stable yard and the hotel. Anann hoped to find at least a decent location to build a home if she could not find one already standing. She needed something close to both timber and water for making her leather. She also didn't wish to be too far from the stables. The streams and their surrounding timber would make an ideal location so long as there was level ground to found.
She scouted the area looking for fairly level ground and preferably something on high ground so that rain runoff would not flood her future home. There were several potential locations. Most of which could be eliminated from the running for one reason or another. Having circled back around to one particular spot of interest. It was the closest to the stables and met the rest of her criteria, as did a few other such locations. Just to the south the land dropped away slowly and there was a pool of water, a spring she assumed, that fed the streaming running off toward the shore. The trees were a little thinner here, but lumber would be easy to drag in.
She nudged Rem towards one of the larger trees in the area. Standing up slowly so not to lose her balance she grabbed hold of a large limb and pulled herself up. Removing the rucksack off her back, she pulled out folds of leather and a small pouch of needles and thin cord. She sat with her back against the large trunk of the tree, one leg hanging down over the limb with her other crossed over it. The leathers had already been cut to shape and stitched together. Taking an inch or two wide scrap of leather a few feet in length she began reinforcing the insides of the seam. Occasionally she would peer up from her work looking over the plot of land. Still undecided if she would make her home in this spot. Rem grazed beneath her, slowly wondering away from the tree she perched in. She would get a feel for the location before making her decision as there was no reason to be hasty in the matter.