Kail opened her eyes and looked around her little cottage. It had become a habit lately to see if Taithrosa had stayed after she went to sleep. Today he hadn’t. She brushed off the slight disappointment and decided that today would be a focus on work day, from beginning to end. Next to spending time with Taith, spending time at work was the thing she loved best. She hurried to wash up and comb through her long fair hair before putting on her standard work clothes and grabbing a handful of fresh raspberries she’d picked yesterday from her garden. Then she was out the door, excited to get to the library of the opal order and, she hoped, actually finish the project she’d been working on for months. If it was approved, she would get a new assignment, or rather decided on her next project from the long list of books and documents waiting to be copied. It was Kail’s favorite part of the job: finishing one book and moving on to another.
Kail was completely focused on getting to her project as she entered the library and went straight to the scribes work room. Her comfortable, well-lit work area was waiting for her, her nearly completed work on the top of the desk. She was the first one to arrive this morning and that’s the way she liked it. The other women she worked with had become her friends and she did like to talk to them and catch up. Especially since Kail enjoyed being able to talk about her man with other women and “the girls” always wanted to know how things were in her life. The ones with daughters were full of advice, but all of it given and taken in the best spirit of sisterly affection. Kail actually felt she had real friends. It was odd, but kind of nice.
Today she was not thinking about that though. She had all but finished last night when the light completely failed and she decided that she didn’t want her last paragraph to be her worst, so she reluctantly set it aside until morning. The book had been truly fascinating: a work on the healing herbs. This type of work was always in high demand in the Opal Order’s library and having accurate extra copies was essential. Sometimes the originals were damaged, or simply in use too often for everyone to get a turn. She’d been specially asked to take on the task when she had finished up her previous task just when they decided to pull the book for copying and was so glad she had. It was filled not only with detailed descriptions of the medicinal properties of plants from all over the world, but full-color pictures as well. She had been privileged to copy the pictures, each leaf vain and flower petal meticulously copied and, after hours of laboring over them, engraved in Kail’s mind as well as on the page.
Sitting down at her desk and catching the full morning light, Kail carefully copied the last entry under the image she had left to dry last night:
Walnut, Black - tall hardwood tree with spearhead shaped leaves. Grows in temperate climates. Nut producing. Self seeds easily. Black Walnut trees may produce a chemical that prevents some types of other plants from growing around it, but this chemical has not been isolated or studied at this time.
The leaves produce a skin and eye wash calms irritation in the affected areas and relaxes patients. A powder can be derived from green nut hulls is anti-parasitic. The bark is astringent and can be chewed for toothaches. Use poultice of green hulls for ringworm or other heat related skin irritation. Inner bark can be used as a laxative. Not recommended for expecting mothers.
Nuts are not only eatable, but nutritious, providing essential fats. They can be stored long-term, but the sooner they are used the higher the fat retention. Sources of this medicine may need to be protected as the wood is widely used in high-quality furniture.
It was the last of many such entries and Kail now knew about everything from Agrimony to help clear up a cold or other minor illness to Prunella vulgaris that would cure just about anything. She was certain she could recognize any of the plants, though, like the walnut she had just finished writing about, she would probably never see some of them growing on her tropical island. Different plants for different lands. Not that there weren’t plenty of the herbs here and she was always excited to write about a plant she had seen or even used herself at the recommendation of the healers.
Kail had not done all the pages in order, choosing instead to start with the most challenging pictures and work into the easier ones. She liked to get the hardest part out of the way first no matter what she was working on. It made it nice now since the picture that went with Yarrow, which she would certainly try to find next time she had a fever, had been one of the hardest. The delicate white flowers, so closely bunched together had been hard enough to copy, but the fern-like leaves were just too small and diverse to be done any way but with the smallest tip, one little leaf at a time. She used only the smallest amount of green ink each time she filled her well, knowing it would dry before she could finish more than one of the stalks with leaves pictured. Still, it had been rewarding and as Kail now assembled all of her book to send to the binders, she was proud of what she had done. Now students would look at her work and learn and grow from it. Of course she still needed to get the book reviewed and have her performance rated by the librarians, but she felt that she had done good work, some of her best, and whatever they said, she would be proud of that.
Kail smiled at each of her co-workers as they entered and chatted about the work they were doing and the work she’d just finished before they settled in to do their own work building the library of the Opal Order in the best way they knew how. Putting the pages in order required little though or concentration, but even so, she went over it all three times, making sure there would be no mistakes. She also looked at each page she was about to submit double-checking for errors.
Now she just had to wait for the binder’s runner to come and fetch it and it would be officially submitted to the library. Kail went to look at the list of upcoming projects to try to distract herself from the sudden rush of nerves. While the book hadn’t really been done, she’d been fine, but now that there was nothing left to do, she started to worry that her best wouldn’t be good enough. “Don’t think about it,” she whispered to the list in front of her. “You did your best and it will be fine.” She knew she would hear if it wasn’t. In the mean-time, Kail decided that one of the high-priority tasks would just suit her. It was a request for a copy of a scroll on weapons. Apparently the original was getting worn and they wanted to put it away, but needed a copy first. Kail wanted to take on the job because the short description said the work included black and white drawings of both common and famous weapons, including the etchings on the blades. That would certainly give Kail some ideas and inspiration for her own works. She would review the scroll today, gather materials and start tomorrow. A shorter work would certainly be a nice change and since it wasn’t listed as an old work, the writing was almost sure to be easy to read and copy. “Funny” she thought, “how a scroll on weapons could be so popular in the Opal Order. What a diverse and exciting job! I can’t wait to get started.” |
