Solo Putting Down Roots Pt. III

[Naadiya]

Putting Down Roots Pt. III 70th of Spring, 522 AV When progress started being made in earnest, the building filled out much faster than Naadiya could have guessed. The last time she had been to see the site, her home had already been constructed, only the makeshift plumbing needed to still be worked out, the fire place had not been put in and of course all the windows still lacked any protection from the environment. The second building, she had going not too far from the first. It had its framework up and all the spaces already planned out but in comparison to the home, it looked very ‘bare-bones’. Not that long ago, the house looked just like that and soon we’ll already have it thatched and piped and when the water tank goes up, running water, praised Syna! The designs Naadiya had come up with had been drastically improved by the Verusk, Talivindra, who added not only an artistic flair with both textures and colors always balanced, but also convenience. Both the second story bathroom and the kitchen would have water piped in from a water tank built above the house in the style of the Ranchos. But Talivindra had made it so that even the drainage pipes appeared to be carved or studded and flourished in one way or another. You’d never know by looking at the wooden carving of a leopard that spat out water that the cascade you were looking at came from Naadiya’s bathtub being drained. One of the points of contention between the two women had been the location of the bathroom. Talivindra thought it was insane to have the first thing you walk into when arriving on the second floor be the bathroom, without anyway of circumventing it but her alternative had not been to Naadiya’s liking. She loved the idea of a large luxurious bathroom opening out to a gorgeous view, but she would also much prefer to keep said view for her bedroom. They butted heads and scribbled around Sorian’s drawing until the builder had slammed his palm on the table begging them to stop trying to make changes this late in the building process. But Naadiya had been thinking over quite a few things in relation to the second building and what it would truly be used for. Initially she wanted a space to weave and store her supplies but the more she would tour the site, the more Naadiya felt she already had that in the residential cabin. Weaving would always be a part of her life and it was still how she primary made a living but recently Naadiya had noticed a niche that was not currently being filled in Syka. She was only in the very early stage of even planning but Naadiya could feel the seeds of excitement growing in her stomach. Naadiya had arranged to meet Talivindra today to talk about her plans for the future. The two were both very opinionated and at first it seemed they would not get along, both unwilling to give any ground over to the other. But in short time, they began to warm up to each other. 520

[Naadiya]

It was not that they had stopped with the bickering or even gave it very long pauses… No, not that at all. But the two had gotten used to the back and forth, used to pushing each other to the limit, and yet, both had seemed surprised initially when they saw the other had not lost their own will or patience. It was an odd friendship, if that was what it was. Talivindra had never mentioned payment and Naadiya had always assumed her fee had been arranged with Sorian before he had introduced the pair. “Hold your head still!” The scales on Talivindra’s hand were surprisingly soft to the touch as she gripped Naadiya chin in her hand, gently but firmly. The other hand drew a long black trail above her eyes in an artistically long point. Tiny dabs orange at the inner corner of her eyes had been blended out into a shimmery golden to the end of her eyebrows, eyebrows that had been filled in with a dark powder to match her roots. The Verusk did not take her eyes off of Naadiya’s face as she reached over for a specific shade of red for her lips. “Oh no, no red lips," Naadiya said, looking over in the corner of her eyes. An arched eyebrow was Talivindra’s reply. Not annoyed yet, waiting for the reason to reveal itself. “Artik doesn’t like red painted lips…” Naadiya’s eyes flew to the left avoiding the gaze despite having her chin still held. “Oh gods, are you telling you me you let him choose how you look?! That’s rich… I know it can’t be because he keeps you as a trophy, he certainly can’t. That man spends every other miza that he earns on booze, I wouldn’t be surprised if your coin purse outweighs his at this point.” “No… it’s not that…” Tal let her eyebrow drop and reached for a gold hue instead, dipping the thin paintbrush into the cosmetic. Talivindra’s lips were still pursed slightly but she dabbed the new color on Naadiya’s mouth when the Benshira puckered up. The face Naadiya saw in the polished mirror was one she hadn’t seen in a very long time. For a while, trekking through dunes, bobbing on waves and crawling through the jungle, Naadiya had gone barefaced. Well, as ‘barefaced’ as Naadiya went… so plenty of moisturizer, rejuvenating serums and creams to protect from the sun’s rays and smokes in the air. But no color. No accents. No art. Talivindra tapped her sharply pointed and lacquered nail on the wooden floor they were lounging on. “It’s really not such a story. You are making much more out of it than there is. Really, there is nothing to even talk about about. Stop looking at me like that. You know, your left eyeliner doesn’t match the right side!” “Yes, it does,” Tal replied without checking the mirror, “and stop avoiding the question.” “Let me fix your make-up and I’ll tell you.” The word ‘fix’ did not please Talivindra but curiosity won out and she closed both of her eyelids after shifting her position on the throw pillows they sat on above raw wooden floors inside Naadiya’s soon-to-be home. The light streamed into the window in an angle that made it better to see as it prevented their hands from creating a shadows on the face. 565

[Naadiya]

Naadiya’s hand was steady, though nowhere near as skilled as Talivindra’s and she was not going to try anything the Verusk would scoff at. The liner around her eyes was already perfectly symmetrical and there was indeed nothing to fix. Naadiya did, however, think the color was at least three tints too light and a little flat. She rubbed a virgin rabbit-hair brush into a beige powder and dabbed it lightly on the canary colored lids. It went on like a semi sheer layer, making the yellow darker and slightly muted in comparison to the bits in the inner part of Tal’s eye’s that Naadiya left fairly bright and untouched. Then, with a black powder, Naadiya blended the ends of the Verusk’s lids for a smokey effect that was loose enough to fake perfect symmetry if it didn’t quite achieve it. She’d been going for a lip color, but when Tal jerked her head away, Naadiya rolled her eyes and didn’t pursue. “Ok, there you go, it looks beautiful, thank you,” Talivindra said, again without consulting the mirror, “so why no red lips?” Naadiya started putting away the tools and cosmetics, focusing her gaze on what she held in her hands and taking a long time with it. “Because… the red can smudge off on him… It… scares him… when he sees red… there. It makes him think that he’s bleeding or has a rash.. of the venereal variety.” For a few seconds it felt as though the whole jungle had gone quiet. Talivindra’s laughter broke through the silence as she rocked so far back on her pillow that she rolled back on the floor but kept laughing. Naadiya tried to ignore the woman and continued to pack away the make up. She finished, stood up and Talivindra was still struggling to beat back her laughter. Hearing the sound of steps coming up the wooden stairs that lead to the stilted home, Naadiya stiffened. She had not been expecting anyone other than Talivindra and without any doors or shutters, there was little to block the sounds they had made. The figure that came through the empty door frame was Artik’s. Of course Immediately Talivindra’s laughter amplified. Artik looked at the Verusk with a confused look. “Is she ok?” He asked. “No, she’s not. She’s very late and she needs to leave.” Naadiya replied, improvising and deciding she’d talk to the woman about her future plans at another time. Gesturing for Artik to go back out into the front deck of, Naadiya followed him there for at least the illusion of privacy as Talivindra got control of herself and gathered her things before going. As she crossed the threshold to leave, the Verusk didn’t turn but pointed inside to the large, framed mirror leaning against the wall that they’d been sitting by. “You are welcome! Do you know how difficult it is to get one that size over here!” “Thank you?! But I don’t even know what I’m going to do with that thing! It’s too big!” Naadiya leaned over the railing to yell down at Talivindra as the woman went back through the path that would eventually lead her to the Community Pools. Talivindra looked up once she had reached the bottom and fished in her pocket for a small hemp drawstring bag. "Catch!" She called out, tossing the bag up to Naadiya who missed entirely but caught the bag once it fell after hitting her in the face. A small hard object was inside the bag. "What, is it?" Naadiya said, opening the bag and peering inside, but Talivindra had already disappeared in the forest. She pocketed the hemp bag and the little metal key charm, deciding to ask the Verusk about it the next time she saw her. 534

[Naadiya]

Turning back to Artik, Naadiya answered his look with a tiny frown, “The mirror. She got me a mirror. Talivindra says it too nice of a piece to pass up on, that mirrors make small spaces look larger.” They had wandered back into the house to look at the mirror, the sole piece of furniture other than the throw pillows and blanket tossed about the floor. The mirror itself almost reached the ceiling, with a thick frame of ornately carved wood. It must have been painted and repainted many times for bits of colors could occasionally be caught, but in general it looked worn down or sanded, whether by hand or nature, she could not tell. The actual glass too, was spotted, more heavily on the edges but it was rare to find an unmarred spot on one's reflection. “It really is very nice,” Artik said, looking at the mirror. As he looked at the mirror, Naadiya looked at him. He used to enjoy his longer hair, at times almost obviously playing with it for the sake of charm. Now, it was tied back in an horridly matted tail like a blonde fox that had been through a rough night. His arms were covered with long white sleeves, but she could see tiny rust colored dots from where he’d cut himself shaving, they were all over his shirt almost making the world’s most macabre ditsy-printed fabric. His face too, bore the tiny knicks Naadiya guessed marked most of areas where his body grew hair, and now at such an incredible pace. “Yeah, I like it, I just don’t know where it will actually go without dwarfing everything around it by comparison. Maybe it’s because I don’t have any real furniture in here yet, but it almost feels like a doorway, it’s so tall in this little space.” Realizing he was looking at her through the reflection in the mirror, Naadiya giggled a little at haven been caught staring and being startled then asked why he’d come. It wasn’t like her to forget having set a date down with him. She’d been taking notes in her notebook almost religiously and the habit had been one she found easy to indulge. There had simply been too much to write about to just risk it all and depend on the strength of one’s own memories. “No, no,” he said, shaking his head and bringing up a hand that, Naadiya now saw, carried a slender box. “I wanted to give you something.” Judging by the box’s shape and size, this was no ring, thank the gods. Maybe a bracelet or necklace. Naadiya took the box, thanking him and smiling in genuine surprise when she opened it to reveal a quill of some sort. It was unlike any she had every seen before and had the name “Anita Inka” scrolled in a fanciful print along a golden frame that held onto an exotic looking feather. When Naadiya read the name, she frowned and slapped his chest. “Who is Anita? Did she not like the gift?” “I— what? No— There is no Anita. Well there is— That is Anita— Anita is the quill. Anita Inka, but she does actually need any ink-a. It is enchanted or something. You just call it, and ask it to and it will start writing down whatever you say. They can be very handy. I’ve had it for years but I don’t do much writing and I just thought you might like it. Do you?” “I do. I like it. Thank you.” The two had been having fairly awkward communications all season, but it had peaked mid-spring when a drunken Artik forgot himself and tried to pour a bottle of cool wine over Naadiya’s naked body as they were bumping uglies and that had very quickly turned the night sour when her new penis made a cameo appearance. Since then, he had been trying to get back in her good graces, and she had been letting him try. Gifts were nice but they were also the easy fix to not so easy problems so they tended to not impress Naadiya too much. But she did like the quill. It was a very nice quill. And magical. Maybe this had been better than his previous attempts to solve the solution with cut flowers, bottles of rum or conch shells. The flowers, she had tossed. Naadiya hated receiving cut flowers, it was like being given something that is already dying. She would’ve much rather received something potted or at least that still had roots attached, at least then there was still the possibly of life, not the expedited wilting that came with blooms already severed from the rest of their bodies. Artik would not be getting her any gifts of pruned flowers any time soon, that was for sure. 809

[Naadiya]

Early that evening, Naadiya had bundled together several things in her backpack and went to the Community Kitchens. Her own kitchen had not been finished and Naadiya felt bad occupying space in the Protea’s kitchen as it was the main place of work for the curly haired girl. Tazrae, Naadiya made a mental note, I just read it on the sign near the kitchen’s entrance. Taking a few things out of her bag, she set them out on the kitchen counter and pulled out a small pot she filled with clean drinking water. Anyone looking on would have thought she was treating the water like lava, so paranoid was she of letting the cool wetness touch her skin. The pot was placed over a fire once she had gotten it lit. And while she waited for the water to come to a boil, Naadiya picked some herbs from the littler garden. She cut a couple of handfuls of mint leaves and threw them in the mortar to be crushed, but before she did that, Naadiya rummaged through her bag to pull out a few pieces of paper folded up together. Her mother used to keep notes of her concoctions, recipes passed down from mother to daughter for who knows how long. Naadiya held a couple of candles to the burning fire and once they were lit she placed them where they would best illuminate the kitchen in the sinking afternoon light. The water was beginning to simmer, so Naadiya quickly took the pestle and muddled up the leaves until they made a minty paste she dropped in the hot water. Almost immediately the air filled with the crisp green scent of mint and Naadiya let the tea brew while she pulled out the magical quill. Examining it near candlelight, she saw the pale gold framework was fine and the feather was a deep black like a raven’s, but as the light played over over it, it shone with many hues like a mother of pearl. She had her notebook opened to a blank page and set the quill flat above the book. “Uhh.. Anita Inka?” The quill stirred but then stopped. “Anita Inka listen to me!” Promptly the quill fluttered up in the air, poised to write as if an invisible hand held it above the blank page, its tip touching the paper but not yet marking it. Naadiya pushed out her lower lip with raised eyebrows and nodded. Pretty handy indeed. Picking up her mother’s notes in their cramped handwriting, Naadiya read out loud. “Chop or crush mint and add it boiling water. A handful of mint for every cup of water.” As she spoke, the quill jotted down every word in a beautiful script that would have taken Naadiya much too long to master. She had her own personal scribe, a calligraphy master in her pocket! Excitedly, she went on, reading out loud the properties of mint and how it could be used to help soothe sunburns and halitosis, a rinse for the hair, a stress reducing bath and several other applications. Taking a whiff of the boiling tea, Naadiya noted how she’d been self medicating with a strong brew on a daily basis between cups of coffee. The two beverages seemed to have effects that opposed each other and Naadiya voiced that note to the quill as well, glancing over to see it dancing words onto page. Once the mixture had turned the water green, Naadiya took the pot off the stove and waited a little for it to cool down before she poured the contents over a sieve to separate liquid from solid. The bits of wet mushy mint, she tossed into the compost, but the green liquid, she kept in a jar left out as it waited to fully cool being being lidded. She left that jar alone and repeated the same process as earlier but with a pot full of rosemary, then lavender and finally one filled with the orange lilies she had found growing all around the her new property. Heading back to the Protea for the night, Naadiya lugged a much heavier backpack slowly and carefully, not wanting any the tightly lidded and wrapped glass jars to crack. Occasionally she would hear little sloshing sounds or a gentle clinking, but she made it back to the inn without incident. 727

[Cleon]

Grade Award!

Naadiya:

Skills:


Cooking: 1
Cosmetology: 1
Herbalism: 1
Philtering: 1
Observation: 2
Socialization: 3







Lores:

Cosmetology: Applying cosmetics with a paint brush
Cosmetology: Blending pigments on the skin
Cosmetology: Layering cosmetics
Anita Inka: Appearance and usage
Cooking: Muddling mint leaves
Cooking: Boiling mint tea.
Anita Inka: Command phrase
Anitia Inka: Ink properties
Herbalism: Mint can be used as a remedy for sunburns
Herbalism: Mint can be used to treat halitosis
Philtering: Infusing water with herbs


Notes: - Gifted Anita Inka by Artic
- Acquired key charm
- Boiled and put into containers the following: Mint infused water, Rosmary infused water, Lavendar infused water, and Orange lily infused water.

Feel free to pm me with questions or concerns about your grade, and don’t forget to edit your grade request!