| Present Day, Ortal's home, The Spires The writer plucked off one of the leaves on the plant and walked past the fire throught he corridor. He used the walls to support him, constantly keeping his hand placed against the left wall as he walked. His breathing was already heavy as he walked into the next room. The shelves of books and scrolls stretched out on the left and right, a decent personal library. The writer made it to the chair and sat himself down in it. He started to casually chew on the leaf, feeling the minty flavor spread out over his tongue and teeth. With a soft smile he grabbed the quill and bent over the parchment on his desk, starting to scribble. The familiar sound of short scratches mixed with the chewing sound as the mint leaf got eaten. |
| Winter, 32nd, Year 457 Crone's Tent, Undrykas Pavilion (Unknown), Endrykas He sat and focused. It came easier and easier to him as he focused on his hand, peeling away the physical shell around his spirit. The tingling spread out from his fingertips and worked its way over his hand and palm to his wrist where it seemed to end. With a satisfied sigh he lifted his spirit hand up and turned it around. It hung sharp in front of him, floating in mid air. She had told him to study, he had added an extra level to it. The Undrykas smiled to himself, alone in the tent. He reached with his physical right hand for the scroll and with his spirit left hand for the first of the plants and herbs in the pouch. The mixture of smells overwhelmed his senses and he leaned back, pushing the pouch a little away from him. He observed the plant seemingly floating in front of him as he lifted his right hand up to it. His finger trailed over the edge of the plant. It wasn't really a leaf, nor was it a stem. Perhaps a flower. Or very tiny leaves. It bothered the young boy that he had no concrete answer to his own question. He turned the white flower around. It smelled nice. He smiled a little. "Ja-smine. Jasmine. Jasmine." He let the name roll off his tongue a few times as one finger of his spirit hand moved across the edge of the plant. His right hand moved down to the scroll in his lap and moved below the words. She wouldn't be back for a while, the Crone had said. Some meeting or something. So the young boy had been given scrolls and herbs to study. A test when I come back, she had promised. He had nodded. But he was studying now. He had rolled open the scroll and had started studying, reading all there was to know about the plants in front of him. Even though there wasn't anyone around, the young boy kept to himself. He read out loud but it was barely more than a whisper, a little mumbling when observed from outside the tent. "Jasmine is a white flower. It has a wooden structure, unlike other flower. The heighest observed flower was 12 meters high. The flowers are borne in clusters in summer and are followed by black berries." The Undrykas wondered how a white flower turned into a black berry. It didn't mention anything about being edible or not, either. He skipped a little over the descriptions of the plant, useless since he had it right in front of him, and moved straight to the usage of it. "Jasmine is used in medicine against infections with high fever and sunstroke. The oil, created from pressing the leaves, can be used on the skin to treat dry and cracked skin and to increase ela... elast...elastcity. E.l.a.s.t.i.c.i.t.y Elasticity." He lifted the flower up to the incoming light of the sun and turned it around in the rays, observing the plant. The flower smelled really nice, even though it was already dying. The white color of the petals was almost virgin white and he admired the flower for a moment. Giving it another turn, the boy sat back and let the small flower float away next to him where his spirit tenderly put the flower down on the ground, making sure not to harm any of the petals. His attention diverted to the next one. Another flower, this one long and stretched. The color was entirely different from the previous flower. The purple stood contrast to alsmot everything else in the tent. A small sniff and the Undrykas could smell the strong scent of the flower. "Lavender." He connected the name to the plant and the smell and read further off the scroll, once again ignoring the description. "Lavender is a shrub. So not a plant or a herb. The purple flowers are the source of the Lavender's scent and healing effects. It can be used for an aromatic herb tonic which helps with di-ges-ion. Digesion. Diges-t-ion. and relaxes spasms. It also lowers fever, like Jasmine." He took another whiff from the plant, floating it in front of his nose. He enjoyed the scent of it, it had a cooling effects on him for some reason. "Lavender scent and tonic can both be used to calm headaches, irritation and exhaustion." He floated the Lavender around and held it up above his head, looking through it towards the sunlight. The purple was very light and the thickness of the leaves allowed him to see the light through them. He took one last whiff from the plant and placed it aside, next to the white Jasmine flower. He wondered where the Crone got some of these reagents from. The little glass vial floated in front of his eyes. The yellow contents seemed sticky, almost like a clear honey. He moved his spirit hand, tilting the vial to the side. The contents of the vial only flowed slowly, like the honey he had compared it to. He looked over the scroll and found the correct passage, reading it. "Myrrh is a resin drawn from the Myrrh tree. If used as a tincture, mixing the resin with alcohol, it can be used to help stomach and chest problems. It can also be used to treat infected or infectious wounds. Ingested, it can help with easing the burning sensation felt in the mouth, throat or teeth of a patient. The resin is gathered by cutting through the bark of the Myrrh tree and into the underwood, causing it to 'bleed' the resin. It should be gathered quickly as the 'blood' quickly hardens. Once harvested it turns hard and glossy." With his physical right hand he unscrewed the cap of the little vial. Smelling the contents he immediately noticed the lack of a scent. He turned the vial on its side and watched as the contents slowly made their way out of the vial. A single drop was all he needed and he tipped his finger to the substance and brought it to his lips. With his tongue he touched gently upon the single drop and imediately drew it back. The taste of the resin was bitter and spicy, a strange and undesired combination. The Undrykas screwed the top back on the vial and placed the vial with the Jasmine and Lavender on the ground. The Undrykas relaxed himself and brought his spirit hand back to him, pushing it in his physical hand. The nipping, tingly feeling spread out over his hand, starting from the wrist and spreading out over his entire hand. It always felt nice to feel again. When his hand had no spirit, the Undrykas often forgot he didn't feel anything in it but as he replaced it, it felt alright to be able to feel properly again. The tingly feeling stopped and the Undrykas opened his eyes, looking down at his hand as he lifted his hand up, looking at his palm, and wiggled his fingers. They all seemed to be working properly. The last flower was picked up with two physical hands as the Undrykas observed it. Big pink petals surrounded the red-brown center of the flower. It looked nice. All of the plants he had seen so far had looked nice. He wondered if that was required. He smelled the flower but didn't find any distinctive smell for it, the lavender and jasmine having overpowered this flowers scent. He glanced at the scroll to find the right entry for it. "E-chin... What?" He put the flower aside and lifted the scroll up to his nose, trying to read the name. "Echina... caeaea? Echina.C.E.A Echinacea. Echinecea." He repeated the word a few times. It was a difficult name to remember. He continued reading. "Ech-inac-ea... is a plant with immunity boosting properties. The juice pressed from the flower leaves helps and boosts a persons immune system. However, it can be quite dangerous for babes and is not advised to be used on children of a young age... not below 10 years of age... mhmm... bla bla bla... pink flowers... Echin-acea can be used to treat the flu and the cold and helps with preventing them as well. A few drops mixed in a drink, three times a day, helps to keep the patient from attracting the flu or similar diseases." The Undrykas put the scroll down and looked at the flower. "So you're some kind of super plant, hmm?" He mumbled to himself and the plant as he held it in front of him. Although the plant had strong healing potential, it looked more like it would fit in someone garden, the pink petals improving the garden with color. Leaving the items where they were, the Undrykas pushed himself up on his feet and walked through the tent, gathering what he needed. He carefully selected a few of the better looking dried tea leaves and a mortar and pestle. Sitting himself back down with the scroll, he put the leaves in the bowl and started smashing them underneath the club, making sure to turn the leaves into powder. As he worked casually on his tea, the Undrykas leaned over the scroll to his side and read over the passages again, trying to remember what all the plants were used for. "Jasmine is for... infections with fever, sunstrokes aaaand... skin... stuff. Fever, sunstroke, skin. Lavender is for relaxing scent, relaxing spasms, tension and headaches and digestion." His hand holding onto the club rhytmically banged down into the bowl, crushing the leaves below it. He started sliding the club around inside the bowl. "Myrrh... that's the 'blood' of the Myrrh tree, is a... juice? Or sap or something? used as a tincture for stomach problems. And chest problems. It's also for infected wounds and for a burning sensation in the mouth or teeth. Well, to heal a burning sensation." He half read off the scroll and half tried to get it from his mind. Whenever he didn't know something or wanted to be sure, he checked the scroll. All the while, the tea leaves were crushed between the mortar and pestle, creating smaller and smaller pieces until nothing but powder would be left. "And lastly, the... Echin...a...cea. Echinacea. Echinacea. The Echinacea is infections and for the immune system. It can heal the flu and the cold, or at least, help with healing them. And it's dangerous for children. Right." He poured the now powder tea leaves into the cup, making sure none of the stems of the leaves would end up in his tea. He watched and waited patiently for the water to heat on the fire, reading over the scroll again and again, until he would be able to read it word for word without having to use the scroll. He watched the bubbles form in the water as it boiled. Careful not to spill any hot water on himself, the Undrykas poured the water in the cup with the crushed tea and watched as the two contents mixed with each other. The water turned a dark grey as it mixed with the tea but the more he poured the more dilutted the color became until only a darkish water was left. He placed the rest of the water aside and lifted his cup of tea to his lips, blowing on the steaming surface of the liquid. Carefully nipping at the tea, the Undrykas focused back on his scroll, holding the tea with one hand and the scroll with the other, studying it. |
| Present Day, Ortal's home, The Spires The writer wrote down the last bit of the memory. He stared out over the parchment, trying to see how someone interested in healing and projection could turn into the Undrykas, the true Undrykas, in those short years. For a moment he wondered if things would have been different. Placing the quill aside, the writer leaned back against his desk chair, leaving the ink to dry, too lost in thought to put the sand and sawdust on it. He cassually chewed on the now tasteless mint leaf he had started off with. After a while, the chair scraped over the floor as the writer stood up and rolled up the scroll, slowly walking towards the shelf of scrolls, where he placed it in the right section, the farthest away from the wall. |
