Completed Only the fish can see me

[Maurelle]

[22nd of winter 512.a.v.]
[3 bells past midnight]
[Middle Suvan]
[near Zurex Ruins]

The sun was down, for bells now Leth was the one bringing his mysterious light to the world. Maurelle was no more the tall fallen star. She was a small fragile looking girl. Her skin was pale enough to appear white that had scales covering her legs and fingers. She had discarded her dress at her so called living area of her small ship as she found no need for clothing when she was at nights. Nobody would see her and the fish didn’t care. Maurelle ran her scaled fingers through the white curls that layered over her head like she was a doll, before pulling her damp linen bag over her shoulder. It was rare for the bag to actually manage to dry completely, as almost every night Maurelle would jump in the water to look for new things she could use for mixtures and her bag was not only the best, but also the only thing she could use to store them in.

Every thought out of her head, and she jumped inside the water, holding her flame-tongue dagger in her right hand as she swam. The water was cool against her skin, but she seemed to adjust to it fast and soon enough it seemed to be warmer than the air that was above Laviku’s domain. Water was the one thing Maurelle had fallen in love with from the moment she fell in it 7 years ago, when she swam along the fish it seemed that the 5 years spent at Riverfall was like a prison. Maurelle didn’t remember anything when it came to what was before she had fallen. All she remembered were only blurry colors and feelings, the feelings were identical to the ones she felt in water. She felt free and light, the colors were different but all in all, it felt like home.

With a bright smile, she headed down towards the deeper parts of the sea, taking advantage of her gills that showed her fishy nature at nights. Flipping her legs she swam deeper and deeper until she had reached the spot where she had been harvesting seaweed from last night. The place wasn’t anything unusual, actually a common sight one could see at the deeper parts of the sea that Maurelle visited quite often. Still she knew not all held the ability to come down deep enough in the water to see this beauty and therefor she always thanked Laviku when she saw it. Fields of seaweed stretched across from where Maurelle floated to far, far beyond her eyes reach, graduating from green to red to brown, moving along the waves in a dance. A sight worth enjoying and usually Maurelle would pay a bit more attention to the wonders of this sight, but not now. This was a time to work and she had a feeling that she had been falling behind her schedule. Not to mention, she wasn’t sure how much time she had left before Syna raises, better safe than sorry.

[Maurelle]

Close to the Fields of Seaweed, Maurelle began looking closely at the plants. Knowing them well for the most part, Maurelle was sure she could find a use for most of them. She stood steadily down on the sludgy ground, well, as steady one could stand under water. With her pale fingers she toke a hold of what seemed to be 3 or maybe even 5 plants just a bit above their roots. Using her other hand which held the flame-tongue by its hilt, she brought it down and with a little bit of struggling cut them just a little bit above the root. The process of cutting was always a bit of a struggle, but satisfied with herself she put the cut plants inside her linen shoulder bag and moved towards some more seaweed. She’d be repeating this process over and over. It was all boring and eventually would be done without giving a second thought to it. None the less, Maurelle knew how rewarding it was when it all was done. So she toke a hold of 3 more aquatic plants and cut them by the roots.

It was probably a steady bell or maybe even a two that Maurelle had finally entered autopilot. Her mind was somewhere distant. Not looking at what the hands were doing. Her body was moving on its own. Her mind was somewhere high up in the sky with the stars, imagining the possibilities of all the things up high and noble, pure and…ouch! The girl instantly awoke from her dream as she pulled her finger up to her face, only to see her pinky having a mist of crimson surround it. ”There you go Maurelle! Serves you right for dreaming at work!” she scolded herself before finishing cutting the last bits of seaweed and sticking them inside her bag. She put her dagger inside the bag as well, using it as weight to prevent the aquatic plants from escaping.

With a small jump from the sludge her feet seemed to have sank in a bit, she began swimming up to the surface. The salty water causing a bit of stinging to her cut up finger. None the less, she wasn’t bothered about the stinging, she was worried some svefras could be near and those had shark pets. Maurelle might not know all that much about sea animals, but she knew blood was a good way to invite those creatures for an early breakfast. Naturally, her worries made the woman swim faster, kicking her legs in the water waster and faster, seemingly leaving a trail of bubbles behind them until she reached the surface. Looking around she saw that it wasn’t long until Leth would fall into the sea, but now that her head was above water it didn’t matter. She was more worried about where her ship was, turning her head around like a windmill the girl was looking for it, but only at her 3rd turn did she notice her ship, sometimes her lack of navigation underwater showed too well.

One way or the other, now being calmer she swam towards her catamaran, notably tiered and going slow. Feeling exhausted by the time she reached it, she got on-board. Maurelle dropped her bag next to the helm and lay down next to it herself, enjoying the moonlight while she was catching her breath.

[Maurelle]

Maybe a bell passed, maybe a little less, but finally Maurelle was done moon-bathing and lifted herself up from the deck she sat crossing her legs. She pulled the wet linen bag towards herself, first toke out the flame tongue and removed bits of cut seaweed that was stuck on it and placed the dagger down. Maurelle stood up and walked through the small unused salon area, down to the left where the part of the small or as she liked to refer ‘cozy’ section she had devoted for living was. Maurelle Knew Syna would be raising quite soon, a bell or two and it wasn’t a lot in an Ethaefal’s mind, so she decided to wrap herself in the scarf she used as clothing when in her konti form. Carefully moving her arms around to prevent herself from falling over something or hitting her head she approached the small table where stood most of the herbalist’s kit she had brought back at Riverfall. She toke 4 small jars, knowing well that after cleaning all of the good and bad kelp that was all she’d manage to fill up. The woman also toke a lamp in her hand and praying to the gods she wouldn’t trip, made her way back up to the deck.

Maurelle placed the small jars next to the flame-tongue and turned on the oil lamp. Sitting down on the damp deck she crossed her legs once more. She toke out some of the seaweed and began arranging them in groups. First she began dividing the seaweed in green and red. This was the easiest part when you look at the big picture. She just toke a handful of the plant and by the color arranged them into 2 tidy piles. She had some badly damaged seaweed left that she couldn’t use even for ointment because she just couldn’t divide it and those she threw behind her, to put to use latter. Soon to finish dividing the plants, she faced a difficulty that was unexpected. Maurelle found seaweed that was a tone of purple or maybe even pink? At first she assumed it was an undeveloped flaming plant, and decided to place it next to the red pile, to examine closer once Syna rises and she would know for sure what the color was.

With that part done, she stood up and stretched her legs a bit. Sitting at one position hurt her really fast and so she stretched her right leg a bit in front of her, shaking it a bit and pulling it backwards. Standing back again she repeated the movements with her other leg and then turned her head around a bit. Stretching her arms above her head, feeling the tension rise and relies in the muscles in her back. With a relieved smile she sat back down and crossed her legs up once more. Maurelle turned her attention to the brown seaweed. Taking one brown weed in her left hand she began pulling off the thin, long leafs that resembled elongated drops of water. She checked every ‘leaf’ two times to make sure they were more or less evenly shaped and were nicely colored, any blemishes signaled that it wasn’t good for medical use.

After some time she was done dealing with the brown seaweed and was done separating the good and the bad brown seaweed leaves. Everything that fell under the category ‘bad’ went behind her along with the previously unsuitable seaweeds. Maurelle knew it wasn’t dangerous and fish ate it, so she’d cut it up into small bits and spread across the water for the smaller fish to eat. Some smaller groups of fish seemed to have noticed Maurelle’s habit of doing this and occasionally traveled alongside her ship.

Now that she had a neat pile of worthy brown seaweed, she toke the leaves and began rolling each leave into a small tube. Maurelle began placing each roll vertically inside one of the small jars, side by side so she wouldn’t leave any of the space unused. It was a matter of minutes before one of the jars was filled. With a bright smile she closed the lid of the jar and placed it to the side. This was simple, but even one of those leaves could do a great deal of help on rashes and burns.

[Maurelle]

Maurelle toke the second jar, but before she had a chance to react her pale fingers began glowing a warm golden color. She knew what this meant, her time as a konti had ended and it’s time to return to her ethaefal form. She didn’t stand up, but just sitting there enjoyed the feeling of the sun taking over her body. Her form covered with a golden glow. The shining was soft and warm, it grew and soon enough had fitted the height of the ethaefal height of Maurelle, the golden mist soon thinning to reveal her daytime appearance; last parts of golden dusts arranging themselves into graceful horns that grow out of her warm marble skin.

Maurelle just smiled as she quickly filled up the second jar. Maurelle didn’t want to leave the job at half but knew she had to get properly dressed. She knew, if she didn’t do it now she’d delay it until nightfall. As soon as the second jar was filled and there was no more brown seaweed, Maurelle finally turned off the oil lamp, cursing at herself for not doing that sooner. She stood up with the lamp in one hand and the jars in the other. Walking though the small salon she turned to the right, where was her storage and left bout the jars and the lamp.

On her way back she went across to her cozy living area and her rarely used bed. There she untied the scarf that wasn’t of much use to her now that she was this tall; instead she pulled on her undergarment and covered it all with a flowing wraparound dress in a warm brown color. She toke two bowls from the table and walked back to the deck, enjoying every single ray of sunlight that hit her. She walked back to her working space with the red seaweed and her smile grew with relief as she knew it was the easiest part of her work.

Maurelle sat back down and once again began the job of dividing good and bad seaweed. This time it went faster as the light was brighter. The red kelp would be chopped up so she didn’t have to worry about shape that much and it also made things easier. Once the separating was done Maurelle toke a hold of her flame-tongue and began cutting up the kelp into what cooks call fine salad. With patience she cut them up into tiny bits and gathered them inside the bowls she brought along, filling them up. When she finished cutting the kelp she began placing it inside the two other jars that she had brought along earlier. Filling the jars up till the top and using the hilt of the dagger to push everything down even more and then close the jars with the lid. These were for use on the inside; just a spoon will help the worst stomach pains and food poisonings.

Maurelle got up from her spot on the deck and toke the two filled up jars. She brought them inside the storage next to the other treatments she had prepared. Seaweed was the best to do, it was easy and the fact it developed its own juice when in a jar was splendid. Now she was just facing a small difficulty, she still hadn’t figured out what was the strange kelp she had found earlier. For that she brought along a small cup and placed the pink kelp inside there. She knew it looked familiar, but couldn’t really place her horn on it, but was sure to remember soon enough and it was bound to be a challenge for some time. Therefor she won’t throw it away.

Now that all of her main challenges have been met, Maurelle stepped out on the deck and toke her linen bag. She made sure to clean out every bit of kelp in it and then placed it on a relatively dry place to dry a bit before she’d leave for a seaweed hunt this night. Now, all that was left was dealing with the leftover kelp. Maurelle toke her flame-tongue and began chopping it into small bits into the sea. In no time she saw that small shining fish had swam around the ship.

[Cascade]

Adventurer's Loot Maurelle's Loot : Skill XP Reward Swimming +2 Herbalism +2 Organization +1 Lore: Middle Suvan Sea, Near Zurex Ruins Gathering Aquatic Plants With A Dagger Seaweeds: Separating Good From Bad Storing Seeweed In Jars Lovely solo. It was a very pleasant read and I admire how well you describe your PC's actions. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to PM me!