we'll see the sun come up again, we'll climb higher than we've been

Astiar's command had been to take wooden spikes and add them to the border. The bug had taken a while for such an order to sink into his mind. It was complex, far more than the commands and instructions that his instincts provided. Those commands were to eat, sleep, drink, and wander. Breaking trees, narrowing their points, finding weak places, and setting up the spikes to protect the clan? Those were not things that he could understand with ease. Astiar was compelled to complete the task either way. Why was not a question he could ask nor answer. It mattered not. Astiar could not say what he deemed important and what was not. It was debatable if the dragon could even comprehend such an abstract concept. He had something to do, he had a command to fulfill. An animal did not fight their instincts, and his mind took the command to be an extension of his barest and minuscule mental processes. His mind had grasped the two worded commands. 'Break trees', and 'make spikes'. That was something Astiar could grasp. It clicked in his mind on the most basic level.

It was a slow and tedious process. Knocking down the trees - fulfilling the 'break trees' part of his task. It required Astiar to ram into the trees with his shoulder, gnawing and clawing at the very bottom to weaken their structure. He easily felled the trees as he was growing used to the method required to do such a thing. His tail swung behind him slowly as he dug out the trees or broke them with sheer strength. Astiar knew not how many trees would be required. All that he knew was that he was to break trees down and then sharpen them. Finally he stopped when he felt himself grow hunger. Instinct still held the largest voucher in his mental processes. Not to mention that knocking down the trees and gathering them up in a loose bundle was absolutely exhausting. Dragging the felled foliage to a messy pile. Even his wings lacked the strength to give their ever present buzz. Astiar finished bringing over the last tree, and let his head rest against the jungle's floor. In exhaustion, his red eyes slipped shut for a few minutes. Energy was required, and he couldn't sleep. The dragon remained resting until his muscles ceased in their burning. He raised, and set to work on the second part of his task.

The cicada swiftly figured out that in order to sharpen the large trees that he had felled, he could simply eat the excess wood. That provided even greater incentive to continue with the task. He still required energy to fix what was lost during his breaking and gathering of trees. Sharp claws tore into the harder bark, and his mandibles and jaws sunk into the softer bark underneath. Turning something dull into something sharp was a difficult task, especially when the concept was just as foreign to Astiar as borders were. Not that his instructions had been to help solidify the border's defense. It was to only break trees and sharpen them into points. He slicked down the bark - being greedy in all honesty to how much he could get away with eating. The end result was still jagged, but most certainly a felled tree that was now sharp and sturdy. The dragon didn't have the mindset to separate the finished trees from those he had yet to complete. There was a mess of trees around the dragon as he worked, and the loud crunch of wood beneath his powerful jaws. Astiar was not about to push the task further than he had been commanded. It had been to break trees and sharpen them. When he was done the insect sprawled amidst his mess, rumbling. Pleased with his work, and absolutely exhausted as well.

//assuming bai-shi is going to be the one to set up the spiked border, as that's what I inferred from the directions.

we've got a fire that burns within, we are the dragon hearted