Closed To heal the plague.

[Eridanus]

Day 1, Fall of 512 AV
Late Afternoon
En-route to Sunberth from Zeltiva

The camp had decided to break early for the the day, and activity was at its peak as everyone went about their assigned roles while there was still daylight and vision was still unimpeded. The entire detachment had been traveling together for a rather long time already, and now such duties were discharged efficiently, everyone going about their routine and rhythm as the campsite was built steadily and quickly.

Eridanus was assigned shield duty for the day, and it so happened that he was paired once again with the Syliran Mageknight Jordan Drikhan again. He had grinned with delight at the assignment, for the two of them had a similar mindset in the method of shielding. This allowed them to have an unspoken chemistry of sorts to allowed for highly efficient shielding. This time, they were assigned to Last Duty, which meant that they were supposed to go throughout the entire campsite and tie all the individual shields that were set up by various pairs that were on shielding duty as well, and consolidate it all into one huge all-encompassing defence that protected the entire campsite.

The two knew that their djed signatures were similar enough such that they could integrate their shields well, and had separated to cover the campsites to quicken the process. Through regular shielding duties every other night, Eridanus had designed a Glyph of Consolidation which were meant to tie up djed signatures. He left the actual implementation vague in order for the glyph to be flexible, and in this case it served as the perfect rune to tie up the individual shields around.

Teaching Ser Jordan the glyph had been an excellent idea, and that meant the two of them had been rapidly covering the entire campsite, tying up the shields together with haste as they finally met at the center. Welding the two large halves into one single whole, the two only spent the next few moments weaving the final spell in deep concentration, completing their job and being allowed to have the rest of the day off.

There was still some light left in the sky, and the vantha headed off to where his tent was situated - next to that of Nira'lia. Clearing his throat just outside of her tent, he poked his head into the flap, saying, "I happen to have some time left, and the sky isn't dark yet. You mentioned herbs that day that could stem the disease... want to look for them and try to make something?"

The thought of being infected since that ominous day had been on the scholar's mind for quite a while, and honestly he did not feel comfortable just letting it be. If it were possible he would have dived straight into attempting to figure out a cure, but the needs of the quest still reigned supreme. Now that he had the time, he was not about to squander it away on leisurely activities.

[Nira'lia]

Thoughts about the so-called plague weighed heavily in Nira’lia’s mind. The events from the previous night were still fresh. It had been unexpected and more political than she wanted, but all she was really interested in was the medicinal aspect of the disease. Nira’lia was not interested in the factions that had been formed; she simply wanted to understand the sickness. And the challenge was frustrating her. While she appreciated the trust that Ser Imass had put in her, she believed that she was not adept enough to deal with what was at hand. She stayed in her tent, going through the book that her sister had given her. It was largely unfilled. The book laid splayed before her as she sat in silence. There were all sorts of notes in it, but they were mostly information about the most basic medicinal plants. There were plants that could be used to help control colds and wounds from festering—but her own gnosis mark could do this. What she needed was something that would aid in the more advanced symptoms. What could be used when the wound had already festered? If the infection was already in the blood stream? The book described how most plants from the mint-family could help colds and nausea, but she still searched for something more definite. Aside from that, she didn’t really see much mint in the place they were at the moment. Nira’lia continued to flip through the book. It was not completely dark yet, but the lighting inside the tent was unhealthy for her eyes. The Konti didn’t feel like putting the book down just yet as she was too focused at the task at hand. Annoyed, Nira’lia could only identify a few plants that could be found in the vicinity, with wormwood seeming to be the most helpful. She felt intensely frustrated. How she wished her sister was around. Cecilia knew so much more about plants, and she would probably know what to look for. Someone cleared their throat right outside the tent. Blinking, she looked up to see Eridanus, and she shut the book and listened to him. “Alright,” she replied simply. Nira’lia couldn’t really find anything more to say, as she was still frustrated at her confusion. The Konti got up and exited the tent, and she decided to bring the book as well, cradling it in her arm. “I… I don’t really have much knowledge in herbs, but I do know that the usual medicinal herbs can help keep individual symptoms at bay.” As they walked, she started to enlist the few plants that they could likely find in the vicinity. “There’s wormwood ,and rosemary… and yarrow, I suppose. How are you feeling?”

[Eridanus]

Eridanus grinned uncertainly, shrugging, "I feel slightly strange, but I think it might be psychological. I felt perfectly fine until the day that you identified my infection, so there is no real reason to suddenly feel any effects. So.. I'm probably functional. For now."

As they exited the tent, he quickly reached into his own tent to grab the Herbalist's Toolkit that he appropriated from a certain aggressive zith back in Sunberth, hanging the leather satchel from his belt while attaching the rest to the side of his thigh to avoid a swinging deadweight.

"I have no idea what those herbs mean or look like, but if you show them to me I can learn fast," The scholar responded, eager to do his part. He was no doctor, and would have to fully rely on the konti's judgement and knowledge. However, he hoped that what he lacked in knowledge he could make up for with enthusiasm and adaptability.

"Wait-" He muttered when they reached the boundary of the campsite. Reaching forward with a finger, he touched the shield as it shimmered, causing a translucent blue sheet to appear momentarily. Using his other hand to grasp Nira's hand, he raised it so that her finger would be touching the shield too, though to her she would feel like she is merely prodding the air.

Focusing on the shield, he mentally delved into the astral fabric that formed the protective barrier, seeking the part of the construct that functioned as an exceptions list. Identifying the area, he began weaving additional glyphs within that template, using his and Nira's physical contact with the shield as the basis of a biological indicator. Just for precaution, he specified clearly that the two of them would be the sole additions to the biologicals exception list with the ever flexible Glyph of Definition, and included the clarification that it also included whatever that they had on them. He was unsure what exactly the huge shield over the campsite was tasked against in totality, so it was better to make sure than to accidentally trigger whatever the mageknights had built into the warning systems of the barrier.

"Let's go," The moonchild gestured, holding the healer by the brook of her elbow as he brought her across the invisible ward. Resuming their stroll, he took in the sights of the various flora around him. They all looked different and potentially useful, yet he had no prior knowledge to which he could apply. As far as he knew, they could all be colorful teapots and be about as useful, except with the inability to store tea.

"What should we look out for?"

[Nira'lia]

“What was that?” she inquired with a confused tone. The Konti glanced back at the camp as she asked this. While she knew that he helped with the shielding, she had no idea about what had just happened. In her perspective, they had just raised their hands to air. It had been silly at the time, but she chose to refrain from asking questions to keep from disturbing him. As they walked, the Konti looked around their surroundings, scanning and making observations. The wildlands flourished with different kinds of plants, but the most common ones were practically useless. Because of this, she flipped through her book once again, thinking it would be easier to just show him rather than describing it with words. The pages had various plants sketched out in charcoal, mostly done by her sister. The drawings were not the best but they were recognizable. Finally arriving at the right page, she showed him a sketch of wormwood. It was a plant with straight stems and leaves which were spirally arranged. According to the notes, the top leaves were mostly green, while the bottom leaves were lighter. “It also says here that wormwood has pale yellow flowers,” she said enthusiastically. Nira’lia could have sworn she had seen the plant earlier that day, and now that she read its more defining features, the Konti hoped it would make the search easier. The next line was even more helpful when she saw it. “Oh, and it grows on rocky slopes and at the edge of footpaths!” She flipped through the pages again, her previous frustrations semi-forgotten. Talking about her interests often cheered her up, even if they were speaking about it because of dire situations. Next, she showed him sketches of rosemary and yarrow. Rosemary was an evergreen shrub with leaves that resembled needles, while yarrow was often identified by its white disk flowers.

[Eridanus]

"Wormwood, rosemary and yarrow," Eridanus chanted dutifully as he took in their images as meticulously as he could, imprinting their respective shapes on his mind. "What do they do anyway?" He inquired curiously as they walked further away from the camp.

Different varieties of flora revealed themselves, and the sheer variety of it all confused him. He had never really paid attention to the details of such growth in nature, and now that he was attempting to find specific herbs the intricate difference between each species amazed him.

"What are all of these for?" The moonchild mused aloud as he gestured vaguely to a whole collection of shrubbery and flowers in varying sizes, shapes and colors.

As he rolled Nira's words over in his mind, he managed to recall more clearly than the konti what she had been trying to remember.

"Footpaths! We came across it just before reaching this campsite," He prompted, lightly prodding her shoulder and heading off in a jog. "It's quite a distance from here, since we've been walking in the opposite direction. But it isn't far, and if we make a little pace we might still be able to get hold of it before night fall."

He led the way around the boundary of the campsite, since it was easier than trying to navigate through the clutter of people, wagons, horses and supply crates within the site. It was just a little more distance to cover, but it was a clear path.

"How's our chances of getting rid of this... disease?" He made conversation casually, hiding the increasing worry with a good-natured tone as they jogged.

[Nira'lia]

She peered into her notes once more. They were not as specific as she wanted, but they served its purpose. “Well, all of them help in the healing of wounds or infections, and I think wormwood is particularly useful when it comes to that… and it also says that yarrow intensifies the effects of the other herbs.” Nira’lia was sure they had other effects as well; she just couldn’t pinpoint them at the moment. The Konti shut the book and put it to her side as she attempted to keep up with him. After a while and from a distance, she could see the footpath he was referring to. “I’d say pretty good… plagues are generally curable as long as it’s spotted early on,” she replied. The Konti chuckled. “You’re not worried, are you? You’re centuries old, a silly illness won’t bring you down.” She attempted to mimic his good-natured tone. That didn’t hide the fact that she was worried, though. No matter how much she attempted to be optimistic the Konti didn’t take disease lightly. The prayers that she repeatedly sent Rak’keli were proof of that. She prayed that the Goddess of Healing would appear to the camp soon. “You just need to make sure that the bad blood doesn’t spread,” said Nira’lia cheerfully. Up until this point, Nira’lia still wasn’t aware that there was more to it, that a divine power was causing the disease to fester more than it was supposed to. They soon arrived at the footpath that he had been referring to. There were all sorts of wild plants growing by its sides, and Nira’lia looked around, taking it all in. “Do you see it? Do you see the wormwood?” she asked hopefully.

[Eridanus]

"Hmm... so yarrow is sort of the glyphing of herbalism, eh?" Eridanus wandered aloud, though he was not sure if Nira'lia would understand that quip. It did not really matter though, he just needed to talk more and think less so that he would not dwell on an uneasy silence.

Now that Nira'lia mentioned it, he realized that he had not been sick or infected with mortal diseases despite being on the world for over two centuries. This had to be his first time, and therefore this brush with mortality was probably what shook him the most. He had always viewed himself as a celestial being, far removed from the mundane issues of the world. Yet, this event forcibly jerked him downwards from his pedestal of immortality, and he supposed that it was this that truly scared him. The idea of being pulled down, again, to mortality even far more mortal than his semi-divine state.

"Nah I'm not worried," He brushed aside her words with a forced chuckle, though he did try to make it seem as natural as he could. "Just worried for the rest, you know?"

The rest of them mortals, was the unspoken word.

"Isn't those yellow flowers?" He prompted, pointing at a group of shrubbery near the footpath. It fit the requirements that the konti had pointed out, but it was best to get expert confirmation. "Would those be wormwood? There seems to be a whole bush of them here."

White disc flowers...

Closing his eyes for a moment to steady his mind, he began to scan the wild assortment of flowers carefully, skipping any color that was not white and zooming in on any that caught his attention.

"I think there might be some yarrow over there too," He called out, pointing to a short distance from the footpath where a bunch of flowers that fit the description of having white disc flowers.

If Nira managed to find rosemary as well their job of collecting herbs would be done, and it better be quickly done soon for nightfall was soon upon them, and he preferred to be safely within the shields of the campsite when that happened.

[Nira'lia]

The Konti compared the plants he had pointed out with what she had seen in the book. The details were glaringly similar. There was no mistake that this was what they were searching for. “I’ll go get the yarrow, you get the wormwood,” she told him. Grinning widely, she walked over to the yarrow and leaned down by the row of plants. The yarrow was scattered but there seemed to be a good handful of them. They found the yarrow and the wormwood. The third that they were searching for was rosemary. She scanned over the place as well, looking for a plant with needle-like leaves. Those types of plants weren’t very common, so she knew it would be easier to spot it if it were around. There was nothing but wild grass and common, mundane plants aside from the wormwood and yarrow. There were odd looking plants here and there, but she couldn’t recognize them. “I can’t see any rosemary,” she told him, disappointed. But that was alright with her, she had doubted that they’d be lucky enough to find all three plants in one location. That just seemed too easy. And it seemed dangerous to venture further at such a time. “I think these should be fine.” Nira’lia left Eridanus to pick the wormwood. It didn’t occur to him that he had brought a toolkit, so she picked at the plants with her bare hands, like she always did. She snapped the plants by the bottom of its stem and collected them in her arms. The flowers looked nice, but she knew they wouldn’t be needing the—which seemed like a waste. When the spot she was picking from no longer had any good stems to pick from, she got up and transferred to another yarrow patch. The yarrow and her book were tucked carefully in her arms as she went back to Eridanus. Nira’lia looked at him skeptically, wondering if his appearance would change any moment now. “Did you get it? We should probably go back before it gets completely dark.”

[Eridanus]

"Alright, let's make it fast," He agreed, pausing to fumble with the clasps of the herbalism toolkit. He was no herbalist, so he did not fully understood the proper uses of the tools within. Yet, common sense helped to explain some of them, and he quickly passed an oval-shaped container-like object from within the toolkit to Nira'lia so that she could store her collected herbs.

Heading towards the edge of the steps, he squatted down and paused as he realized that he did not really know what "harvest" meant. Turning back to see what the konti was doing, he sighed and figured he should probably just collect the entire plant or risk getting shouted at. Finding a larger oval-shaped container-thing from the leather bag, he placed it beside him as he also retrieved a small clipper-y tool that he often saw gardeners using, but a smaller version. Pruners perhaps? With that, he grabbed the flower and pulled upwards, uprooting the entire plant.

Placing it carefully in the oval container, he proceeded to carefully uproot the rest of the wormwood around. Carelessness and unfamiliarity with the situation let him to accidentally snip off the stem of a plant or two, but he quickly corrected that mistake with even more care and attention to prevent repeating it.

Finally, he was done collecting the herb in that area, and stood up, his back aching slightly due to his awkward squatting posture.

"I see that you're done too," He remarked upon seeing the healer hurry up to him with the collected herbs. "We should probably go before-"

All of a sudden, an ageless serenity filled his entire being, and he felt like his mind had been opened to the eternity of introspection and peace.

"Ah."

Although he had been experiencing the transformation everyday for centuries, he still could not fully get used to it. The jarring feeling between each form was too great, and each shell had their own benefits and advantages. As a mortal he was susceptible and therefore more... exposed, to mortal issues, which could be both enjoyable and terrifying. In his celestial form all of these were dulled, only to be replaced by the unexplainable feeling of... 'eternity'. There was no other word he could find to describe that feeling.

"Let's quickly head back," He repeated, taking out two small jars from within the leather bag and transferring the contents of each of their bowls to each jar, clasping the lit tight. Shaking off any remaining soil from the bowls to make them clean, he stored it all back into the toolkit and gestured for Nira to follow him.

As they walked, he wandered aloud, "What exactly are we going to do with those herbs though? Cook them? Boil? ...Wave our fingers around them and mutter magic words?" He grinned impishly at the last bit.

[Nira'lia]

She found the transformation interesting. For a moment, she just stared at him, grinning widely. Nira’lia had met a few of his kind in her lifetime, and the shifting between the days never ceased to amuse her. Afterwards, the Konti followed his tracks, and they headed back to camp. Nira’lia thought about his question for a while. She had never worked with these plants before, but her sister did tell her that making a topical paste was always the safest choice. It also made more sense if they were treating a wound, which meant it wasn’t for ingestion. “I don’t know how to work with magic, but you’re welcome to do any of your tricks,” she replied, raising an eyebrow at him. The Konti wondered if he was serious, and the joking intonation was completely lost on her ears. Up until now, magic was still a huge puzzle to her. Her forte was medicine, and she tried her best to explain what she could as simply as possible. “We need to make a paste out of them… crush them into tiny pieces and then put them in a pan of boiling water. Mix them around until they turn into a paste, and leave it to cool. It’s really simple, it just needs time. I’ve never done it with wormwood and yarrow before, but I’m assuming it should work. I don’t know much about philtering yet, but when I get better, I’m going to learn how to put Rak’keli’s powers in it, like my sisters used to do.” The Konti was rambling. These were topics that she was familiar with, and she couldn’t help but let the words spill out of her mouth. As they walked, she realized that she had seen what he had harvested. It occurred to her that most of the time, it was him teaching her something, and this caused her to ramble even more about the things she could teach him—no matter how mundane. “You really shouldn’t uproot them… you could have asked if you weren’t sure what to take,” she said. There was no hint of irritation in her voice, and she did find it slightly funny. “We don’t need the roots, just the leaves, so it’s really a waste to take the whole thing.” She grinned at him widely and then looked ahead of them, wondering if they were getting closer to their destination.