Under the house eaves were stacks of cut birch. They needed to be peeled to let them dry out, so they didn't rot. That worked for me, since I wanted the bark. I pulled a shard of bark from log that was already shedding. I put a slight bend in the shard with a pressure from my thumb to stiffen it and used it to strip the logs.
After being soaked in water, the paper birch bark could be peeled into thin strips similar to their namesake. I planned to sun bleach a portion to increase the contrast.
To write on the makeshift paper, a pen and ink would also be necessary. I could find a wild feather or, at worse, gather chicken feather from the coop and cut it into a quill. I needed a knife first to cut it.
Quartus had only received a used knife from Tertius this past Yuletide, and I would not get a knife before Quintus. I bundled the bulk of bark with another thin strip and tied it to a peg on a column in my shared room. By the time I stowed the bark, it was nearly dinnertime, so I stayed indoors for the rest of the evening.
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