On Berries, Buckets and Being Thirsty

Dear Diary,

We get hungry now! And thirsty! And tired! I know it sounds bad, but it's actually lovely, because it means there are berries, and berries are my whole job.

The Overseers mark the bushes, I pick them, and everyone eats. Mogdofast eats his berries one at a time and says each one is “fine.” That's the nicest thing he's ever said about anything.

We each got a waterskin too. You sip when you're far from the well and refill when you're near it. Korberdle has learned to sip lying down, and is very pleased with himself.

The well. We built a well. When I clicked on it to admire it, it asked me what I'd like it to make. It's a well. It makes wet. I told it so.

The stone that got away. Mogdofast was halfway through cutting a block when he got thirsty and went for a drink. When he came back, the stone he'd been cutting was gone. Not on the bench, not on the floor. He went very quiet and then made a sound I've only ever heard from a kettle.

The long walk. Pipblewort was digging deep down with a full waterskin and still walked all the way up to the surface well for a drink. Up, up, up, sip, down, down, down. She said the well “felt close.” It was close if you were a bird.

Missing bushes. I had my eye on a lovely bush right where Pipblewort was digging a cellar underneath. When she finished, the bush was just gone. It was still standing on solid floor! The floor was just a bit thinner! Also, when I drag across the hillside to mark bushes, it only catches the ones on my own level. Hills have lots of levels. I've missed most of the hill.

Little things. When Fenrikin refills his waterskin, his card says “Drinking 0%” the whole time. He is convinced he's dying of thirst while holding a full bucket. And when the only berries were on a ledge nobody could get to, nobody warned us we had no food. The berries existed, so everything was fine, apparently. Korberdle says he once walked for ages while completely out of energy and never fell asleep, which he considers a personal triumph.

Thirty days of this is the plan. We are going to be so good at berries.

Tilnazel