[AO-Charbosi] Drying kelp underwater

[Lariza]

Seventh day of autumn 514 AV

A happy tune on her lips Lariza swam through the ocean, her pet octopus Akin sitting on her head. She was in a rather shallow region near the coast, the surface being only a few meters above her. Light was prominently illuminating the water, and as the rocky sea floor was rich on nutrients and minerals a large quantity of different plants was growing here. Below Lariza a field of kelp and seaweed was swaying in the gentle tides. Though their beauty couldn’t quite match with the aesthetic appearance of the rich coral reefs Lariza enjoyed the view on all these different plants. It wasn’t until a growling in her stomach occurred that the idea struck her to not just passively consume their beauty by looking at them, but she could also savor in another way on the rich buffet of plants below her.

Lowering her altitude Lariza approached the plants. It was a bit like an underwater savannah, a field of man-tall kelp with some smaller ones growing in between. Most were green or brown in colour, but there were also some red and yellow ones as well as a few more unusual hues scattered in between. And being the curious little water-maiden she was Lariza first swam to a single blue strand of kelp standing lonely in a field of green ones. It was long and rather thick, the edges of the leaf swaying in the current created by the tide. Swimming above it Lariza took out her plant list from her bag – she had learned to first look into it without Akin having to remind her, something she was very proud of. Having scanned through the list several times already she knew where the few blue plants were standing, and quickly found the one in front of her.

“Azure twinkle” she read out loud , “’A plant said to improve the smoothness of the skin when eaten.’ Hey, this plant stills my hunger and makes me prettier! Nice!” She put the list away again and brought out her knife. Holding the kelp at its tip she began to cut off a piece from it roughly as large as her hand. The thick plant refused to give in to her knife, taking the nimble girl some real effort to cut through. Only bit by bit the small edge slid into the plant while Lariza hectically moved the knife forth and back. Additionally she pulled at the top, trying to rip it off. When the knife was around two-third through the plant the rift suddenly extended almost to the end due to her pulling. With both hands she tugged further on it, eventually tearing the piece off the plant completely. When it came off Lariza jolted back in the water, making a half summersault. “There!” she exclaimed, proudly holding the result of her hard work up. A big grin on her face she shoved the piece of the kelp as a whole into her mouth, frantically chewing on it.

Her grin quickly turned into a grimace of disgust.

Chewing much less enthusiastically on it she gulped down the kelp, her mouth filling with a very bitter after-taste. “Urgh! Why didn't they write anything about taste on that list?”

[Lariza]

Unsatisfied with her discovery Lariza left the rest of the blue kelp untouched and moved on. Swimming above the kelp field she kept an eye out for something that looked not only edible, but also tasty. The growling in her stomach urged her to take one of the last two algae balls in her bag out, but the memory of their bitter taste was stronger than her hunger - yet.

Another sort of kelp got her attention. It was also growing in the middle of the brown kelp, the tip standing out above and its colour being a bit darker than the plants surrounding it. In contrary to the blue one this kelp consisted of several leaves – six to ten as Lariza could see – and each of them was rather thin. Swimming over to them she pulled out her list again. As brown was one of the most common colours for kelp there were a handful of entries. Trying to find out if the plant in front of her was one of them Lariza closely looked at the form of the leaves, stroke them to examine their structure and firmness. As she suspected the leaves were thin, and felt a little rubbery and flexible. Size was a criterion her mothers had used often to describe the plants, so she looked around the surrounding kelp. Most were shorter than this one, but she knew there some much larger kelp in the so called kelp forest, so she decided this one was not that large. Checking the entries on the list she actually found one about a dark brown kelp with rubbery thin leaves that grew in groups: “Octopus Grip”, a kelp that was mostly used to build ropes and lassos, but according to her list could also be eaten.

The formulation “could also be eaten” and “mostly used for ropes” could have hinted it was not the feast Lariza was hoping for.

Before such could think of something like this however Lariza had already taken out her knife.

Again she grabbed the tip of one of the leaves, and placed the knife a few centimeters below it. Pulling the leaf so it was stretched she moved her arm forth and back while pressing the edge into the plant. Although it was thinner the rubbery, rather firm structure of the kelp made it even harder to cut than the blue one. “Isn’t there some easier way to do this?” she groaned as the knife only moved very slowly through the kelp. Suddenly the Charoda paused. An idea struck her mind. She put the knife back into her bag, and grabbed the leaf with both hands while moving her face closer towards it. Holding the kelp in front of her she opened her mouth and bit right into it. Her sharp teeth pierced through the plant, but she still had some trouble to rip out a part of it. After pulling on it for a while it finally came off, Lariza’s head jolting back at the momentum. Immediately she started eating the piece of kelp in her mouth.

After chewing for a while on the firm plant mass she spitted it out. “Next times I go on a journey to find myself asked my mums to give me a list of plants that are edible and tasty” she murmured, the rubbery lump swimming in front of her face.