BodyGaurd to a Herbalist (Ashryn)

[Nivel]

Nivel happily continued down the stream, humming a quiet little tune as she continued to ride ahead on patcha. When she wasn't busy surveying the surroundings for danger she watched the tiny fish and other creatures swim through the stream. The creatures blended in with the river bed and could only be seen as they weaved through the water. With the help of Autistics, they became highlighted by their vibrant auras as they shone through the water. A few of the pants increased in visibility as well but their auras were not as strong as the other more sentient creatures. The river sparkled with life at all the glowing outlines that everything in the tiny stream now possessed. It made looking out for danger harder and harder. Although unbeknownst to Nivel, it wasn't likely that any creature would attack them in the light of day and monsters and bandits were fairly rare. This misconception was probably brought on by the simple fact that Nivel was mostly sent out side the city to track down some criminal or odd occurrence. She didn't have herbs to scour for or any other reason to be outside the castle walls. The pycon had a lot of training to do and it left her very little time to witness the beauty that nature provided, so she was happy that her current mission allowed for this. Ashryn assured Nivel that there wasn't going to be much for her to do, which was a little disappointing for the pycon to hear. She did like the idea of learning new things even if they were probably useless to her. "Oh, I'd love to learn all there is to know on the subject" Nivel replied with a slight twitch of the ears and an energetic spay of her tails. The little squire mage absolutely loved to learn new things, and could be heard quite plainly in her voice. It was hard finding a pycon who wasn't interested in finding out everything there is to know about the world. The little clay creature's whole hierarchy was based on how much you know, the more a pycon knew the more they could boss around other pycon around. Not that Nivel was looking to boss others around she just wanted knowledge for knowledge's sake. The squire and the mount beneath her watched in silence as the Herbalist went to work diving her hand into the cold water to retrieve a treasure. Ashryn retrieved two handfuls of an odd looking sponge plant and stuffed it in a jar, "Octiweed" was what she called it. "What does this Octiweed do?" The Pycon was in awe at the plant, and needed to know more about it. Nivel loved all things green, It's why she specifically wanted only crushed emeralds to be put in her clay. Octiweed had a translucency that reminded Nivel of when she had first laid her sight on the gems that would forever be a part of the tiny pycons appearance. In the Distance, Nivel could spot a particularly vibrant looking aura in the river that wasn't quite lively enough to be a fish or bug. "I see something up stream that may be of interest to you" Nivel wasn't sure what it could be but she directed the tall folk to it when she was done instructing Nivel on what Octiweed was. Nivel didn't know what it could be but something with a lively aura had to be useful.

[Ashryn]

A small smile appeared on Ashryn's face as the Pycon expressed her interest in the human's craft. She quickly began to explain, trying not to stumble over her own words in mild excitement. "So Octiweed is a really common aquatic plant, you can find it everywhere really. It only grows in freshwater though, so like rivers and lakes and places like that." She gestured widely around to the river she was still standing in. Realizing that she stepped out of the frigid water and gasped at the temperature contrast. She buried her feet into the somewhat warmer grass and dirt before she started to shove them back into her boots.

She continued to explain the herb to her companion. "I actually use Octiweed a lot in my daily life. If you grind it down to a paste and use it as a cream, well I guess it would work for a Pycon, but it clear skin, removes acne and blemishes. It is popular among women for beauty purposes." Ashryn wasn't much for makeup and skin care but occasionally Ashryn wanted to feel pretty for some reason or another and she would for a few days apply the paste instead of selling it. It was a popular item and sold easily, it was a fantastic money maker once it was made into a thick cream.

"It can also be used to induce sleep if someone eats it." Suddenly Ashryn had a thought and directed her focus away from tying her boots and towards the mounted clay figure. "Do Pycon's sleep? I wonder if this would work on you... Can you eat normal food?"

As stated before Ashryn is very curious about other races, especially ones as strange as a thing made from clay. Her mind began wondering through many thoughts, how old do they live? How are they born? Why is Nivel kind of green and sparkly?

She shook her head and listened as the Squire pointed out something upstream. Instantly Ashryn's brow furrowed in confusion. What did the thing see? Looking up to where the guard pointed she only saw running water. Taking a quick look back at Nivel she worked her way upstream until she saw what the thing was pointing at. Suprised she turned her shocked eyes toward the clay companion. Not only did Ashryn not see this herb, but its also an uncommon one and she was surprised to see it. It was a Lumishroom, a cluster of three actually. Ashryn had seen a few before and when she harvested them she always failed in keeping them alive. Instead she resorted into making it a study guide for it's mild poison. She loved it when she found one because then she had another chance to try and farm it. Or in the very least, another plant to study.

"How did you see this?" She asked. The Squire had no herbalism skill, no way to know this was something Ashryn was seeking. To anyone it just looked like a blue mushroom, nothing fancy or spectacular, at least when seen during the daylight. At night is was a glowing fungi, a marvel and when in large groups, an amazing, beautiful sight. Ashryn was also extremely surprised to even see this plant out here. It likes dark places, like caves, whereas this river was only shaded by the nearby forest. To Nivel, because of the glowing properties the Lumishroom probably gave a more vibrant aura than any other plant near it, it would have been easy to spot by an Aurist.

Digging into her backpack Ashryn retrieved her small spade. She wanted to extract the mushroom as carefully as possible in order to make sure it remained healthy and give Ashryn a little bit of a chance to keep it alive. She stabbed the soft soil underneath the river in a tiny circle around its base, then lifted the whole thing out and gave it its own little jar, which she quickly filled with water before she placed wet dirt in the bottom and planted the Lumishroom inside.

Lumishroom :

Name	Frequency	Locale	Description	Uses	Level	Misc.
Lumishroom	Uncommon	Salt / Fresh Water	Small mushroom grows in small groups of five or six / has a luminescent blue color	Used often in underwater homes as a living light source / If consumed this plant is poisonous - In mild cases may cause nausea and diarrhea and in severe cases can paralyze	herb / poison	N/A

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[Nivel]

the passion the human had for her craft was evident, Ashryn became filled with energy and enthusiasm as she talked about the plant. Nivel fed of this energy and became even more excited to learn. The pycons ears wouldn't stop twitching as she absorbed the energy like a sponge, every bit of it was fascinating. Although with every answer came more questions, Nivel didn't really know what acne or blemishes were but they sounded like things humans considered unattractive. Nivel couldn't recall things that pycons found typically found unattractive. Although the most attractive pycons to Nivel were always the oddest looking, so perhaps looking bland was unattractive to pycons but the squire couldn't really be sure. "I don't know what acne or blemishes are but I mix crushed emeralds into my clay to give my clay a nice sparkle" Nivel replied while striking a pose. "And of course pycons sleep silly" Nivel let out a little giggle "Although you're probably right I can only eat clay, I tried your strange human food once but my body wouldn't absorb it, so normal food is all I can eat." Nivel wondered if there was any clay that would have varied results on pycon's besides different tastes and feelings the pycon would get when she ate clay of different locations. It seemed like Nivel would have to find this out for herself because this human was unlikely to know. The squire urged Patcha to ride along behind the herbalist again to see what her auristics had discovered. It seemed to be three blue mushrooms, They really didn't seem all that special to Nivel but Ashryn seemed excited. Nivel was about to ask about the mushrooms but Ashryn asked her a question instead "Um,, I don't know uh...its a pycon thing" Nivel didn't really feel comfortable revealing her association with magic just yet. She wasn't sure how the girl would react given the reputation of magic users. "So tell me about this plant, What does it do?" Nivel asked trying to change the subject away from her magic.

[Ashryn]

So emeralds was the secret behind the sparkly Pycon. Ashryn wondered if that was expensive. She wasn't sure how much jewels costs as she never used them or had any jewelry with them embedded, but she figured it couldn't possibly be cheap. how often did the Pycon have to renew her emerald supply? Where did the emeralds go once they were gone? Or did they even go away? Was it a one time thing to crush the stone? The herbalist wanted to ask Nivel all these questions but she didn't want to pry or be rude so instead she just told the the thing was blemishes were. "Blemishes are simply a number of skin deformities. For example a blemish could be a scar, an old faded injury that hasn't quite gone away. Or it could be a place where someones skin is a different shade, like a birthmark, a skin discoloration someone was born with. Acne is another not very pretty skin thing that usually teenagers and dirty people get. Its just when someones skin gets a little red bump, it eventually goes away but many like to hide it when it appears." She hoped that made sense, it was funny, Ashryn felt like she was talking to a child. She never had to explain what a blemish was before. She almost giggled.

Ashryn actually giggled when the Pycon refereed to clay as 'normal' food. Yes, technically for a Pycon clay was normal, but it was still strange - the race gap was noticeable. Although it did intrigue her to know that the clay things slept. It made sense, in some weird way, if they ate like normal humans then they must sleep like normal humans. Another odd thought popped into their heads. She instantly shook it off, it was an unsightly thought, and would be very rude to ask of course, but did they...pee? Or anything like that? Curious...

The girl shrugged off Nivel's obvious attempt to avoid that subject of how it found that Lumishroom, she was too busy being excited with the find. On another occasion she probably would have pressed it more, seeing as how curious she was about the Pycon to begin with, she would lvoe to know exactly what this 'Pycon thing' was, but she dropped the subject and focused more on telling Nivel what this strange fungi was.

"Ok, so unlike the Octiweed, this mushroom does not have a lot of uses. Actually it only has two and one of them is not admirable." She held the water-filled jar in her hand up to eyesight level, peering into the glass and studying the details of the fungi as it swayed in the water. "The most important use is that in the dark, it glows. It's bright out now, obviously, but its a lovely glowing thing. I've heard that the Konti use it as a light source in the their underwater homes... I mean I don't know for sure, I've never seen it, but it seems practical." Ashryn said, beginning to ramble just a tad.

Then she had a thought, "Perhaps if you eat this, like your emerald, you would glow in the dark!" Ashryn exclaimed excitedly... Then it faded as she realize not one, but two flaws in that statement, she explained the to Squire, "Except its an aquatic plant and without water it would die... So then it would be just rotting in your clay... And also if consumed it is poisonous."

"Actually that its other use," Ashryn said, her excitement returning, "If someone eats it is causes nauseousness and diarrhea. In really bad cases, is someone eats too much of it, they could be paralyzed. Which, of course, is bad." Ashryn then stopped herself, she had to keep her poison crafting a secret, some people didnt look upon it in good favor. "But it's also kind of neat, you know?" She realized that anyone who bought the poison probably didn't have a goody-two-shoes use for it, but Ashryn chose to disregard that, she loved poisons, it was something she was extremely interested in studying.

Getting on with her work she quickly ran back over to wear they found the Octiweed, kneeled down and picked up the jar of the weed she had placed on the ground and then stood back up with both the Lumishroom and Octiweed jars in her hand. She went over to TwelveKnives, who was still lounging around, chomping on some grass, and opened his pack. She placed the two jars side by side, hoping that TwelveKnives would keep the jars safer than in her jostling backpack. They were thick jars so it was very unlikely they would break, Ashryn still worried just a bit though.

Then she turned back to the Pycon still settled on the small dog and said, "So ready to move on?"

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[Nivel]

Nivel continued to listen contently to the herbalist as she explained the strange things about her race. It was surreal to hear about all the different things that can change a Tall Folks appearance, they could be born with marks or earn a mark every time they were hurt. Nivel had suffered plenty of injuries with out any blemishes appearing on her flesh and she didn't know of any pycons who possessed any ether, Nivel wondered why that was. She also wondered why red lumps would be such a bad thing? Did they hurt or were the just considered unattractive. All this seemed a little silly but was none the less interesting, she wondered what caused these red lumps. Since they came from dirty people they were probably some form of plant since plants usually grow from dirt. Nivel had assumed tall folk were plants but maybe they were composed of dirt and rocks, they did look quite a bit like yukmen after all. The Pycon wondered if Yukman were just untamed Tall folk which also made her wonder if there was such a thing as wild untamed pycons. The questions filling Nivel's nexus seemed endless but she kept her mouth hole shut so as not to overwhelm her teacher. Ashyrn continued with her explanation of the Lumishroom, Nivel liked the idea of a glowing mushroom as a light but didn't to much like the idea of poison. Nivel didn't know to much about poisons only that they usually led to peoples death. Diarrhoea and nauseousness were especially foreign concepts to her but if they were some how linked to poison they couldn't be good. Nivel would have to make sure that she informed tall folks to be weary of these glowing mushrooms. Although if these mushrooms were as beautiful in the night as Ashryn said that it was unlikely that anyone would want to eat them. "It would be nice to glow but I don't really like rotten plants inside of me, I don't want to offend people with the smell." Nivel could recall a young pycon that carried some fruit inside of him for a while because he like the feeling. It wasn't long before he was the most foulest of smells was wafting off him, Not to mention the flies. Nivel continued to watch as women went about her business of collecting the mushroom into her jar. The herbalist asked her if she was ready to move on and Nivel shook her head enthusiastically. "Yes let's be on our way" she instructed Patcha to go into a steady trot and looked back at Ashryn for further instruction before her mount strayed too far in the wrong direction.

[Ashryn]

Ashryn giggled at the small creature, "Perhaps there is a stone that you can crush that glows. Then you won't have to worry about the rotting part." She smiled at the Squire. Yes, that would be quite a sight. She did wonder if there was such a thing. Ashryn had seen the Lumishroom at night and it was beautiful, as if you had a star up close in a jar. She couldn't imagine what a vein of that gem would look like. A galaxy, close enough to touch. Maybe she would look for such a gem when the pair returned to Syliras. However stones were not Ashryn's passion, therefore it was more likely she would be content with her star.

Once the Squire agreed with Ashryn to keep on going the girl made sure her pack was secure and slung it on her back. She wanted to continue up stream, she was bound to find more Octiweed. If she got enough she would be able to make a ton of cream. So she slipped off her shoes once more and shoved them into one of TwelveKnives saddlebags. She plopped her feet back into the frigid water and began to shuffle them across the rocks. It was slow work but every few chimes Ashryn would stoop down and grab another handful or a half of the slimy weed and cram it into the jar with it's brethren.

The plant, although aquatic, doesn't need much water to survive. Just enough to keep it moist to prevent it from drying out and of course the few millimeters the plants sucks up with its roots. It would survive in the jar with a dozen or so handfuls of itself just so long as Ashryn kept water in it. Eventually she would need to refill it, maybe once a day or every other day. As long as she did that she could take her time making the cream, they wouldn't die any time soon.

After maybe another bell or so of walking upstream, occasionally stepping out of the river to warm her feet, making sure they were not succumbing to frostbite and turning blue, the herbalist decided it was about time to start heading back to the city. She had gotten much more than she hoped for in terms of the Lumishroom making her entire day a success, but she also got quite a few handfuls of Octiweed. Enough to fill two of her glass jars. She was very delighted with the result, and was content enough to call it a day.

"I think I am ready to head back, and you?" She asked her companion. Assuming the Pycon obliged the two would start to make their way back to the gates. It was about a 30 or 40 chime walk, just like the way in, and Syna was only just dipping below the middle if the sky. There was plenty of daylight left and they would reach the city safely and quickly.

WordCount: 498

[Nivel]

"That would be wonderful if there was" Nivel got excited at the prospect of a glowing stone. Her ears vibrated happily as imagined all the things she could do with a stone that glowed like the rock in the sky that appeared at night. She could crush it down and mix it with her emerald dust to give herself an even more unique look. A staff adorned with a glowing rock at the end would be very useful for illuminated dark spaces if she was too tired to use Auristics or if she was travelling with others who weren't gifted with magic. Even just having glowing rocks scattered around her sock bed at night would be soothing. Nivel would definitely have to inquirer about glowing rocks and see if these were actual things. She was sure that there was some kind of magic in existence that could apply a glow to a rock considering all she knew magic was capable of. Nivel continued down the stream on Patcha still thinking about glowing rocks. She almost didn't notice that the herbalist had stopped to get more plants in the stream. The pycon had to struggle to get Patcha to stop continuing on towards a peculiar scent up ahead. She was able to corral her mount after a few persistent gestures of her tail in the direction she wanted the kelvic to go. When Nivel got back to Ashryn, the herbalist was already in the water fishing for more herbs. Nivel wasn't as content with just sitting around and watching so she dismounted and entered the water close to shore. The water was shockingly cold but that didn't really bother Nivel very much. The pycon had more trouble with preventing herself from sinking. Every time Nivel tired to go deeper into the cool stream she couldn't keep a float and was afraid she would drown if she tried to help Ashryn in the hunt for herbs. She struggled her way back to shore in defeat, and shook the water of herself. "I'm ready to go if you are" Nivel replied as she climbed back on her mount. The pycon had to take a moment to get Patcha's attention who was unwilling to move away from yet another smell she found on the ground. Ashryn had managed to get ahead of the squire and Nivel rushed to catch up, urging the kelvic underneath her to pick up the pace. The eventually made it back to the city without incident despite Nivel persistently jumping at every odd sound.

[Ashryn]

When Ashryn arrived at her house she instantly got to work. She wasn't sure when she would have enough time to study the Lumishroom or process the Octiweed, but with Winter coming up she would have much more time to create and learn when she was no longer able to go outside the walls. All she had to do was make sure her plants survived until then. It was rather easy, for the Octiweed at least, the Lumishroom was just a bit more complicated.

Taking the plants out of her backpack she placed them side by side on her desk. The jars were cool with the river water and she knew they would soon be room temperature. Thankfully these plants did not mind the warm water, they survived in it in the Summer, so she did not need to take any precautions against the temperature of their home. So she decided that for now, until she decided otherwise, they would stay neatly placed on her wooden table easy for her to see, observe and take care of.

She would need to periodically replace the water in each of the jars. The Octiweed jar(s) would simply use up the water, sucking it through their numerous roots and using it in their food-making process of photosynthesis. Water would also escape through evaporation. Although not much of that would occur since she would be keeping the jar of Octiweed shut. The Lumishrrom would need less water since there was much less of it. Evaporation would take some of its water as well, more of it actually as Ashryn will be leaving it's jar open. Fungi does not produce its own oxygen, but still needs it from the water. Having the jar unsealed will allow oxygen from the air to diffuse into the river water.

Another problem with the mushroom was sunlight. It was very rare and lucky to find the Lumishroom outside in broad daylight. Although shadowed slightly by the nearby forest, it was still bizarre. So to account for that Ashryn draped a piece of grey cloth over the whole jar. She may have been blocking the top of the jar but oxygen diffusion still would not be a problem as air travels through linen much better than it does glass.

As for replacing the water in the jars, Ashryn would simply need to gather water from anywhere, the wells or the river if she wished to go that far, and fill the jars back up when they became too low. The Lumishroom would need access to rotting material so every once in a while, depending on how long she wished to keep the mushroom, Ashryn would need to mix up dead plants, like leaves, into the dirt so the mushroom could get to it. That would only need to be done maybe once or twice a season. Fungi do not need that much material to live.

With that all settled the Octiweed and Lumishroom should be able to easily survive until the herbalist decided she had enough time to further her studies and work with them. One day the weed would become face cream and, hopefully, the Lumishroom could be studied and perhaps bred by the girl, as long as they didn't die first.

WordCount: 543

[Sayana]

Your Grades Have Arrived Nivel Skills: Skill EXP Observation +3 Socialization +5 Riding: Dog +5 Land Navigation +3 Auristics +1 Herbalism +2 Philosophy +1 Swimming +1 Lores: Ashryn: Herbalist Octiweed: Clears blemishes and induces sleep Lumishroom: Glows in dark, also a poison Auristics: Larger auras help find rare plants Are Yukmen untamed tall folk? Are there untamed pycon? Swimming: Clay doesn't float; it sinks Shield Points: Shield Points Earned Reason +5 Helping a citizen Total: +5 Shield Points Overgiving: Nivel is more tired than usual after the trip and is extra jumpy and jittery due to seeing shapes and auras that aren’t there. Comments : What a lovely exploratory thread. I really enjoyed reading about Nivel’s curious personality and her thoughts on the Talk Folk compared to the pycons. I also liked how she was able to use her auristics in a helpful way for Ashryn. I was a little more conservative on the observation skills because she’s already competent but I thought I’d throw in the swimming since she literally ‘tested the waters’. Keep up the great work. As an aside, I noticed a typo in your ledger. Patcha’s Summer living expenses were repeated twice (the second one should be Fall living expenses instead of Summer living expenses). It’s minor, but I thought I’d point it out since you’ll be editing the CS anyways. Ashryn Comments : Ashryn, if you come back as an unretired PC then please PM me so I can award your grades and/or loot. Don't forget to edit/delete your grade request in the grade request thread. If you have any questions or concerns about your grade please feel free to send me a message. Enjoy.