Going Under [Solo]

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

Placeholder for the 55th of Fall 511AV

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

55th Fall 511AV

It was a rare day for him in honesty. Lym had done so much for him and all he wanted to do was give something back. Maybe a small token to show that he appreciated everything she did for him. But as to waht he would do...he had no real clue. He wasn't sure what was appropriate for her. She had everything she needed as far as philtering and herbalism equipment; she even had extras of everything. He knew because he usually was the one re-arranging everything after a day of making medicines. He had memorized everything she had and indeed she had more than enough equipment for herself and an assistant. He could even work apart from her and dirty up all kinds of glassware and he would still not use up the plethora of equipment that she had. So he knew that getting her glassware was out of the question entirely.

He would like to get something that she would remember him by. But in this moment he hadn’t really prepared for the eventuality that he wanted to get his mentor something. She had done much for him equality in giving versus taking was something he tried to keep in balance. He always worked tirelessly for Lym. And he knew she appreciated his presence as well as working spirit. But he wanted to get her something…interesting. Maybe present her with something that showed how much he appreciated her. But alas the more he searched the less he came up with. What did one get a mentor? Especially a Konti mentor…especially when this mentor was of the opposite gender? He knew that he would have to be careful not to send her the wrong signals. If he got her something to elaborate she may think he was interested in her, but if it wasn’t extravagant enough she would think that he didn’t care about her or value her…which was not the case at all. Balance was such a fickle thing at times….

As he walked the path toward the Opal Temple an interesting flower caught his eye…it was bulbous but at the same time very colorful. This was the first time he had taken this route to the Temple so it was only fitting that he would encounter new things along the way. He smiled and then observed the flower. It had a thick stem without thorns; it didn’t smell like anything but at the same time it had a very large head to it almost like the petals were folded inward to protect the center of the flower. He would have to take this to Lym and have her tell him all about it. So he gently cut it from the ground using his sharp dagger and then carried it delicately to the temple. There weren’t many around at this time here in the temple. He came in earlier than most and usually it was just Lym and him here…and a few choice other healers. He walked down to Lym’s lab and as usual she was sitting at her desk.

“I brought you something.” He said gently setting the flower on the table beside her. As usual Lym was tied up in something and wasn’t going to break her train of concentration for him just yet. But she would eventually get around to him.

So he went about setting up and cleaning glassware as he waited for her to say something. She was very consumed in her studies. This was likely why she needed an assistant. Everything she did was to the letter, mixtures, concoctions everything was precise. Even the way she stored her books was delicately organized the way she liked…a way he had learned so he could better assist her. She had trained him, crafted him and now she was going to have to let him go.

“Serrif you shouldn’t have.” Lym said with a giggle as she backed away from the table and smiled. “This flower is called the…well spiderplant. It is colorful which is likely why you brought it here…however at this time of year to prepare for winter spiders nest inside and pull up the petals of this flower to form a barrier. They then seal it shut and lay dormant inside it. The smell of the flower draws the spiders to it…”

Serrif stopped and looked puzzled…so he brought his mentor a flower full of spiders? Such strange things seemed to happen here on Mura. “I am surprised you didn’t startle them enough to cause them to come out and bite you…there could be up to ten of them inside there…I suggest you delicately dispose of it outside in the garden Serrif.” Although Serrif knew it wasn’t a suggestion…it was an order, one which he would follow to the T.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

It figured he would bring her a gift with some fine writing. Whatever the case he carried it out to the garden and laid it down gently among some plants that resembled this one. He shook his head a little in disbelief. Of course he would find the one plant that contained spiders and bring it to Lym as a sort of gift. Although he had noticed there was something different about it. But he brushed those thoughts aside and instead focused on the fast that it would be another wonderful day with Lym in the lab. She doubtlessly had something to teach him today. And he was here to learn.

When he came back to the lab he saw she had opened two of her books and set them on one side of the table. So was today going to be a bookwork day? He didn’t know but Lym almost always had something important to teach him. There was always something more to learn. Something to build on and a new remedy to concoct.

“Passionflower, it is a good plant to use for calming down the mind as well as body. But as with everything there is a caveat. It has a poisonous cousin that looks similar to it. And as such careful study is needed.” Se motioned to the books that were open and spoke again.

“So read what you can and find me some of the non toxic passionflower. Then we will see about brewing some tea from it.” She set about doing other things while Serrif took a seat at the table and looked at the notes that were presented to him.

Passionflower is a good sedative especially when brewed correctly into a tea or made into a concentrate. Although a tea is suggested so dosage is easier to control. The passionflower of interest is purple with the petals radiating outward. The flowers petals will sometimes be flattened and pointing down from the flower but that is not an issue. Sometimes the petals will be green and the fine strands radiating outward from the center will be blue tipped and light blue at the base. Either one of these passionflower varieties are safe for use and consumption in teas or herbal remedies.

The preparation of the plant is relatively simple. All that is needed to brew this tea is the leaves of the flower, or possibly the roots of the plant if the shrub containing the plant is small and likely to die. Otherwise it is best to instead just pull the leaves from the flowers and use them. The small colored filaments spiraling outward from the center can also be used. Preparing the petals and filaments is easy; they only need to be dried out. However if the roots will be used they need to be sliced up into very thin pieces and left to dry. Once dried the plant pieces can be added to almost any tea to add a soothing effect. The plant is a natural muscle relaxant.

Ok so that answered his question as to what two varieties he could use. Now what about the dangerous cousin of this plant. He did notice a pattern, for every plant he could safely use there was another one similar to it that he would not be able to use. And distinguishing between them was almost always a matter of small things. Like color, size or even what it looked like after it was prepared. But it was again just a fortification of the fact that the small things made all the difference. Every detail mattered and would trickle down the chain to the patient.

Maybe the second book had some useful information. The passage was titled Varieties of Passionflower. That did sound like what he was interested in right now.

Passionflower has several varieties, some purple, yellow, blue and even red. Most of these varieties have been tested successfully on mice. However it needs to be noticed that the most potent muscle relaxant of the variety is the purple flower passionflower. Then the yellow and the blue. However the red passionflower has some very interesting effects on mice. It does seem to have a slightly toxic effect and as such has not been tested any further on any other sentient races. It looks almost identical to it’s cousins only it has crimson leaves and the filaments that usually pinwheel around the center are pointed in line with the stoma vertical to the leaves. It is an odd variety and is not suggested for the making of any herbal remedies at all. It has been proven to be toxic in some cases.

After this several drawings of the different kinds of plants were made indicating the difference between all the other passionflower varieties and the supposedly poisonous one. He memorized them and would then try to find those flowers out in the garden. Armed with that information he took a small wicker basket and a knife, he had some finding to do in the garden. He was looking for purple, yellow or blue flowers. But they were specific and would be flat with radial filaments.

They grew in busk like configurations as well as vines so they could be anywhere in the garden really. He would have to be observant to find exactly what he was looking for here. Walking the grounds he looked all over behind plants inside of bushes…although the flowers would likely be visible from a good distance. Possibly; he didn’t know the specifics of this flowering plant though, he was no expert in passionflower.

He eventually spotted what he believed could be the plant. It was climbing in a train up a brick block wall. It had several purple flowers on it all that matched the description of the purple passionflower. Carefully he pulled the entire flower from the vine making sure not to harm the plant. He did want it to continue to produce flowers later after the few he took were gone. After removing two flowers he walked back into the lab and Lym was waiting for him.

“Good now what did you find?” She said as Serrif handed her the basket. She nodded. “Yes these will do nicely. Now set the flower up to be dried out in the sun and we will do other things while we wait.”

The leaves were prepared just as he had read. The leaves picked from the flower as well as the filaments. They were laid out on a piece of parchment paper with a layer of cheesecloth atop them. This was to prevent the light leaves and filaments from being blown away if a wind kicked in. They were set outside on a porch where the sun would dry them out and small rocks were set along all the edges to weigh the paper and cheesecloth down. One never knew when a strong wind would rip through this seaside temple. And it was important not to lose ingredients to the wind.

When he came back in Lym was already setting up things for him to do. “Sand Serrif is very useful for many things. It is natures filter and can be used to scrub liquids of impurity if set up correctly. It is common for a water barrel to have one stage of the filtration process be a giant water barrel full of sand to scrub it before use. Fine dry sand is very useful for many things. But for medical uses the sand has to be sterile.” She produced a large glass beaker of standard sand she had collected from the beach and set it on the table.

Serrif could tell by looking at it that it wasn’t sterile yet. There were pieces of debris in it. And that meant that it was likely not sterile yet. There could be all kinds of things in the sand that they would want to divide out but how did she plan to do it. He could think of several ways to sterilize it. But none of them were easy nor thorough enough for his liking. Lym likely had another method.

She queried Serrif with a curious expression “What do you know you can do with that gnosis mark Serrif?” The question was rather open ended but he responded.

“Not as much as I would like, but I can heal headaches minor wounds, small stuff really. Nothing extraordinary yet.”

“Ah but that is where you are wrong Serrif, your gnosis is much more potent than you would imagine. Especially now that you are more aware in the art of philtering.” She took a vial and filled it with water.

“This is water…just water nothing special about it right now.” She handed the liquid to him and Serrif agreed, there was nothing special about it at all. It was clear water, he handed it back to her.

“I agree, it is water.” He didn’t see where she was going with this at all.

“But it doesn’t have to be water, it can be far more.” And with that she held the vial in her hands and closed her eyes. Her Rak’keli marks shimmered and the liquid inside seemed to glow opalescent for a few seconds. What was she doing?

A few moments passed and she smiled and made a strange request of him. “Make a small cut, a very small one on the top of your hand Serrif.” She wasn’t asking him she was telling him. He questioned her a little and she merely pushed a small knife over to him…urging him on.

Puzzled at her request he did as she asked and gripped the knife in his right hand and brought the blade against the back of his left hand. It cut the flesh easily and spilled crimson blood from it. Not at first but the blood did come eventually. He again looked to Lym who with a smile poured the liquid over his wound. And it seemingly washed the injury away like it had never happened at all. It looked perfect like he had never parted the flesh in the first place. Almost like she had laid hands on him and healed him…how?

“That is…I never thought that would be possible.” He said as he looked to Lym.

“All you do is use your Gnosis like an ingredient mixing it into the liquid infusing it with the power of Rak’keli. It takes practice but with time you will be able to do just like I have.” She handed him another vial full of water.

“I would expect you could only mix in one effect right now. As you grow more skilled in the art of philtering you may be able to mix in two or three…maybe even more. You are however limited by your mark. You can’t infuse mixtures above the powers you have been graced with.” She sat down and awaited the question that was to come.

“How do I do it?” A broad statement that encompassed all his uncertainties into one.

“The same way you heal Serrif only you focus on one thing, like healing a wound, or sterilizing it pick one thing and then focus on it. Then mix that in as an opalescent liquid into the water. Stirring it in gently little by little; you’ll feel when the liquid has been empowered. And when it has you are done.” It sounded easy but…he knew it would be far from it.

He didn’t know what to pick at first but he wanted to choose something easy that he could test quickly. Healing an injury, that would be quick and easy to test just like Lym had. So he focused on that with the vial in his hands.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

He wanted it to heal minor wounds just like his gnosis could. Light wounds like cuts and such. And with the memory and visual reference of the cut Lym had just healed in his mind the process of knowing what he wanted it to do was quite easy. He had seen it, felt it…it was real to him and he poured these feelings into the vial and called forward Rak’keli’s gift. He brought his focus onto how it felt to be healed…what Rak’keli’s grace felt like to him when she lifted his fractures from his bones. His goddesses unending grace and compassion had stunned him that night.

Everything sharpened around that single feeling, as well as the desired effect, and he visualized missing this into the water. Picturing opalescent liquid shimmering and mixing into the liquid itself. Little by little changing what was once just water into something far greater. For moments he didn’t hear or feel anything else but Rak’keli’s grace, but it took some time for him to get to this point. And when he had finished he opened his eyes and Lym nodded her head.

“It will take practice to get right Serrif but in time, you will learn to make these things much more easily.” She took the vial from him and set it aside for him.

“A good start though. But you won’t get the desired effect; or not completely.” She then moved to a rather large bucket and smiled bringing her hands to the sides of the bucket she focused and the entirety of the bucket glimmered for a few seconds. It seemed she had empowered the entire contents of the bucket with Rak’keli’s power in one way or another.

“Now this bucket will sterilize anything poured into it. Like lets say sand for instance. But we will use this method now however you will need to have another method since you can’t empower this much liquid yet.” She set the bucket aside and then pulled out a large iron cooking pot.

“This method is a little more direct and hands on, we will first sift the sand to remove any large particulates, then in a pot boil the sand with water to kill anything in it that could harm a person. When this is done store the sand in sealed vials and it will remain sterile.” That information sounded pretty useful so Serrif jotted it down quickly in one of his books for later use. Since he would likely be using sand again to do something of purpose.

Serrif got some water from a large pail and poured it into the pot so it could start boiling that way they lost no time in sanitizing the sand they were to use. The pot was placed in a fireplace to warm over a fire that Lym had already started. When he came back to the table she had laid out large sifting circles. On the table were also two pails. One was empty and the other was full of sand. He knew what to do even without being told. He put the sifter overtop the empty pail and then gently began pouring sand through the fine sift. He had to pour a little bit at a time then use his hands to help sift through the sand. There were some things that didn’t get through and he brushed these items off to one side.

There were all kinds of things, like pieces of seaglass, driftwood, and small pieces of seashells that wouldn’t make it through the sifters filter. It was interesting to see all the things that didn’t make it through knowing that only fine sand did make it into the bucket below. It didn’t take much time for the sand to be completely sifted through but it was indeed pretty soothing for Serrif to be working with sand. Something about the texture alone calmed him down and anchored him in the here and now.

His hands ran over the sand spreading it across the sifter almost like he was looking for treasure of some kind. I was entertaining to see what would turn up because he really never knew what he would find. Broken red seashell pieces, small pieces of green or blue seaglass or even interesting pieces of dark driftwood. It didn’t take all that long for the contents of one pail to be sifted through into the other. And once he was done he placed the items that were sifted out back into the original pail. There wasn’t that much that was sifted out but it was enough to make a difference.

The pot had begun to boil so the contents of the pail were emptied into the churning waters. This act immediately settled the contents of the pot which would need to be brought up to a boil again. But the water level was only a little above the centerline so he left it to boil while he tended to other things with Lym.

“Good, now back to what we were working on then. Go check the flower parts and see if they are dried out."