54th of Winter, 517 AV
With most of the area's residents living on their chosen acres, Syka often felt more like a loose collection of tents and paths through the jungle than a town, but it did have a central area, the stretch that encompassed the Mercantile and the bathhouse and the Commons, where people tended to gather when they needed to run errands or when they were just looking for company. Satevis found himself walking along that stretch of cobbled pathway, squinting down at the piece of paper in his hand.
The list had been handed to him in a hurry by Jansen Alavarth, who had been surprised and a little horrified to find Satevis sitting in the dark where he had left him the night before, in the Panacea's one room lab with a pair of burned out candles around him. He had surrounded himself with several sheets of notes and the books and journals the Akalak had set aside for him to look through. Despite Satevis's insistence that he really didn't need sleep at night and that the notes were quite interesting to him, and that he truly wasn't tired, Jansen had grabbed a sheet of paper and scribbled down the shopping list, telling him in no uncertain terms that he was going to go out and get some sunlight and not hurry back. He supposed that was Jansen's manner of dismissing him for the day, but he felt fine, truly. A little tired, perhaps, a little ragged, but the daylight was always more exhausting to Satevis than the night.
He had stopped by his tent on the walk up to change, slipping into clothes that fit his mortal seeming. After the episode of snow a few days ago, the weather in Syka had returned to its usual mildness and warmth, and the snow seemed to have melted away entirely. Satevis wore his usual shirt and trousers, though, still feeling too self-conscious to dress down the way the people of Syka did. He nodded at a group of people walking the other way--they were beginning to recognize him here--and turned his thoughts back to the list.
Although he was sure that that was not the exercise Jansen had intended, he found his mind wandering, trying to imagine what purpose the Akalak could have for the various items on it. Ginger was easy enough to guess. The spice settled stomachs, and after the incident with the red tide, the Panacea's stores had run out. The others were a little more obscure. He thought he remembered something about cinchona, and how an extract created from its bark could help with fevers and other illnesses. Snakeroot could be made into a sedative and relaxant--he remembered reading that last night--but the others...he cast about in his mind and drew a blank. There was so much to learn, and not enough time.
He was so absorbed in looking at the list that he barely noticed anything else, not even the road in front of him. If there was anyone standing in his way, Satevis would be just as inclined to crash into them as anything else, or force them to have to move around him.
With most of the area's residents living on their chosen acres, Syka often felt more like a loose collection of tents and paths through the jungle than a town, but it did have a central area, the stretch that encompassed the Mercantile and the bathhouse and the Commons, where people tended to gather when they needed to run errands or when they were just looking for company. Satevis found himself walking along that stretch of cobbled pathway, squinting down at the piece of paper in his hand.
MercantileUta
- Cloth for bandages
- Ginger
- Cinchona bark
- Barbasco
- Snakeroot
- Starberry
The list had been handed to him in a hurry by Jansen Alavarth, who had been surprised and a little horrified to find Satevis sitting in the dark where he had left him the night before, in the Panacea's one room lab with a pair of burned out candles around him. He had surrounded himself with several sheets of notes and the books and journals the Akalak had set aside for him to look through. Despite Satevis's insistence that he really didn't need sleep at night and that the notes were quite interesting to him, and that he truly wasn't tired, Jansen had grabbed a sheet of paper and scribbled down the shopping list, telling him in no uncertain terms that he was going to go out and get some sunlight and not hurry back. He supposed that was Jansen's manner of dismissing him for the day, but he felt fine, truly. A little tired, perhaps, a little ragged, but the daylight was always more exhausting to Satevis than the night.
He had stopped by his tent on the walk up to change, slipping into clothes that fit his mortal seeming. After the episode of snow a few days ago, the weather in Syka had returned to its usual mildness and warmth, and the snow seemed to have melted away entirely. Satevis wore his usual shirt and trousers, though, still feeling too self-conscious to dress down the way the people of Syka did. He nodded at a group of people walking the other way--they were beginning to recognize him here--and turned his thoughts back to the list.
Although he was sure that that was not the exercise Jansen had intended, he found his mind wandering, trying to imagine what purpose the Akalak could have for the various items on it. Ginger was easy enough to guess. The spice settled stomachs, and after the incident with the red tide, the Panacea's stores had run out. The others were a little more obscure. He thought he remembered something about cinchona, and how an extract created from its bark could help with fevers and other illnesses. Snakeroot could be made into a sedative and relaxant--he remembered reading that last night--but the others...he cast about in his mind and drew a blank. There was so much to learn, and not enough time.
He was so absorbed in looking at the list that he barely noticed anything else, not even the road in front of him. If there was anyone standing in his way, Satevis would be just as inclined to crash into them as anything else, or force them to have to move around him.