The Art of Giving

Brock was a blokey bloke, he liked hanging out with the guys, he was solid of build and solid of nature. He was a brawler, but that was more to do with the fact that he was a male Icefry, a race that controlled both fire and ice with their bare hands. He was used to being thought of as tough and uncaring.

It annoyed him when he had a caring moment, and this was one of those times. It was coming up to Melody's birthing day and he had decided that rather than buying her something he would make her a homemade present.

He had gotten a hunk of wood and was doing his best to carve something that represented a dolphin. It was easier said than done. This was his fifth go, and his hands were cut up and had been bleeding at odd times, having said that one of the discarded attempts was due to the fact that in his frustration he had accidently set fire to it.

He didn't even know why he was going to such effort; it wasn't like Melody was going to notice him as anything other than an annoyance that she had to put up with. They had really gotten off to a bad start when she had first come to their people to receive guidance.

He was committed to his project, carving a dolphin out of wood, without freezing it or setting fire to it, and most importantly without causing bodily harm to himself. That to was easier said than done.

"Who's stupid idea was this to carve a stupid sea creature out of a stupid piece of wood, ouch, I have to stop doing that it hurts every time I miss the wood and get my hands," Brock muttered to himself as he concentrated on his task.

"Talking to yourself isn't going to help you either," Cari said as she came up to Brock. "What you doing there?"

"Nothing!" Brock said quickly shoving the recent carving behind his back, forgetting about the once that had been discarded at his feet.

"Hey these are cool, this one with the singed markings has an awesome effect, I take it you don't want these?" Cari asked not really wanting to know the answer as she was already gathering up the discarded attempts.

"What you going to do?"

"A couple of the young ones need some toys these will be perfect for them to play with and they aren't easily breakable," Cari replied.

"You think? Okay can you just let me finish this, then I will clean them up a bit so that there aren't any sharp bits," Brock said with a long suffering sigh.

Cari just smiled and left him to him after telling him to drop them off to her when he was done.