Cast: Sally (Nerf) and Nyra (Netha)
TLDR:
Support Points Earned: 2
Sally took a second look at the herbs displayed inside the tent, carefully making sure not to miss anything this time. The sign in front didn't lie: this was certainly the best apothecary shop in the entire Dragon's Domain, as the impressive array of herbs, ranging from rare medicines to the most basic cooking ingredients showed.
However, there was nothing poisonous, much to her own disappointment.
"Looking for anything in particular?"
The voice of the shopkeeper, an old dragon with a kind smile broke her out of her thoughts. How long had she been standing there? A minute? Five? Long enough to the point it would be rude not to buy anything, she thought.
"Oh. Yes, I'd like to have some sage. Which one do you recommend?" She improvised as she smiled in return.
Nyrandisa, while gathering ingredients to make herself, and those daring enough to try, some dessert, happened to pass on by an herb shop. It had been a while since she had practice alchemy on any sort, and perhaps looking at the herbs picked by a professional would kindle the light down in her to get back into that groove. She was also looking to see if there were any really sweet plants that could be used to bring out the pureness she sought in her cake.
Upon taking a step inside, she realized the place was busy with someone she had seen from The Pack, but never got a good chance to talk to. She went right into looking at some hebs while the dragon owner was helping Sally. There she found some mint plants, cacao, and stevia. deciding to round up a good amount of those specific plants for now, she decided to inquire on what Sally was asking.
"Sage huh? Got some stomach problems?"
The arrival of one of her comrades was for sure a surprise, especially once she saw which one of them was. What a coincidence. I wonder if Seed already talked to her.
"Hmm? Oh, no, I just wanted something to season foods with", she explained. "Although...I'm not sure if I'd tell you if I had stomach problems. Or any of the other problems I could be buying this plant for, now that I think about it," Sally laughed.
"But what about you? What brings you here?"
When Sally came back about privacy of the usage of the plants, the Jera responded
"Fair enough. It was rather rude of me to ask. It was also rude to assume what you do and don't know. As for myself? I'm looking for sweet things to use in a cake."
She had a small smile as she thought about how these plants were all going to taste when put together.
"Hey, hey, you don't need to apologize." She reassured her sincerely. "It is an interesting topic after all. You can know a lot about a person based on the medicines they buy. And I'm not gonna call anyone out for being curious"
Excusing herself for a second as she returned her attention the the vendor, the criminal quickly settled down on one of the cheaper herbs available, paying for it before resuming the conversation.
"Sweet things, uh? I guess what they say about Jera is true, after all." Sally quickly glanced at the place where some beetroots were, pointing at it with her finger.
"I think that's the section you are looking for."
When Sally pointed it out, Nyrandisa had already started to hold up what she had been looking for.
"Not to sound rude, but I already found them. And of course I do. Will be a nice reminder of home. After all, we Jera love sweet stuff as much as butterflies do."
She remarked with, going to pay for her own stuff.
"Though if you want, you can sample the cake when it's done. Though I won't take any responsibility for how sweet it is and how bad it can make stomachs hurt."
"I...no, I think I'll pass. I never really had much of a sweet tooth. But thanks for offering."
Waiting for the Jera to finish paying, Sally took the chance to go for a bit of small talk.
"I take it you are knowledgeable about herbs too? It's not often that you see someone that can tell what they're buying from such a large variety of plants."
"Hehe. Well, figured I would make the offer anyways." She responded to Sally's first remark with a small laugh.
She then got her herbs into a bag to carry over to where she would finish with the cake. However, when asked about herbs, she nodded her head.
"Yup. For medical, practical like twine, and even poisonous ones. Though the herb knowledge couples well with my alchemical skills."
"Poisonous ones?" Sally raised an eyebrow with interest, at the same time she lowered her voice. "You wouldn't happen to also know where to find some, would you?" She inquired cautiously. "I'm afraid my supply is starting to run low with all the fighting."
When Sally asked about it, Nyrandisa's response was
"How about we go outside first before discussing?"
Once she got them outside of the herb shop, she continued
"Well, I have a lot of them. I keep all of my herbs sorted in bags. Just don't go into the communal one: Zain had me un-sort those ones, oddly enough. Though mine are usually off-limits..."
"You don't have to worry, the shopkeeper does not listen very well", Sally retorted, despite following the Jera outside anyways. "Though that does sound like something Zain would do", she chuckled.
"As for the herbs, I'd be willing to pay what they're worth, depending on what you have", she clarified. "Needless to say, they would be used to help our cause, as you can imagine."
When Leafs were brought into the equation, she was still unsure.
"My thing is I don't want them getting into inexperience hands, those hands making something, and then half The Patk or more down for the count, temporary or permanently."
"What exactly do you think I'm going to do?" She replied, offended by her implication. "You don't poison someone by accident, much less an entire group. I'm not making a wolfsbane stew and inviting everyone to eat it, if that's what you're worried about."
"If you don't the herbs, you can. But good to know you won't do that." She responded, before taking a breath.
"My aplogies. Last few days have been tense, and the last thing I want to worry about is what you said. But fine. I'll let you see what I have, and you take what you want."
"Apology accepted", Sally responded gracefully, remembering Nyrandisa had probably been turned down not long ago. "Lead the way and I'll follow you."
Careful not to bring up anything else that could upset the Jera, she waited patiently to see if she wanted to say anything else before showing her.
Nyrandisa had led the way mostly with silence until they got close to the convoy. Once close, she asked
"So what do you intend to use them for? I can wager a guess, but i'd like to hear from the horse's mouth."
"That's a fair question", she conceded. "I'm sure you have already noticed, but I don't exactly have the complexion of a warrior. Nor do I have the proper training to use tome magic effectively, even if I understand the basics. So I suppose you could say this is my way of evening the odds."
Shrugging of as if it wasn't a big deal, she continued with her explanation.
"I'd have died a long time ago if I wasn't willing to cross a couple lines to make up for my shortcomings, and a poisoned weapon allows me to do exactly that. I don't need to be strong if a small cut is all it will take to win a fight."
She let out a small sigh, as if she was unsure her words were convincing the Shaman.
"It ain't pretty, but neither is cutting a man in half with a sword. And it's not like our enemies have been fighting fair either."
When the Rogue was done explaining what she was going to use poisons for, Nyra sighed a little.
"And here I was, perhaps a little naive. Truth be told, I don't like fighting. If I had a choice, I wouldn't be doing it for The Pack. Despite that, I have no choice but to. That also means I understand that our enemies aren't playing fair, and while I would never use poisons to get my way, doesn't mean others can't."
The Jera dug around for her little pouch of poisonous plants. She then held it out to Sally.
"You can look through it now, though be careful. Some of the stuff in there is able to irritate skin on contact."
Sally nodded at her advertence, even though it was an unnecessary one. Of course she knew better than to manipulate poisonous substances without gloves. With an expert eye, she quickly separated what she wanted from what she didn't, speaking to herself as she did so.
"Hmm...no abuta, but that's to be expected. Wolfsbane is nice, and there's even some strophantum...I suppose I could use some nightshade too..."
Once she seemed content with her selection, she turned around to face the Jera, pointing at the smaller of the two groups she had separated.
"I think that's all I'll need", she explained at the same time she carefully removed her gloves to open her purse. "Would this be enough?" She inquired as she offered a sum of leafs that was slightly above the market value of what she had chosen.
"Yea... abuta isn't easy to come by. Anyways, if that is all, this small, unusual business deal is complete." She simply took the leafs, but left a few in Sally's hand.
"Also, i'm not going to charge market rate for these either. At least, not to members of The Pack" She explained as she left Sally with enough leafs to sell them slightly below market value, getting the rest of the herbs into the pouch, using some small tongs stuffed into her robes to do so.
"Very well", she smiled as she accepted Nyrandisa's suggested price. "And yes, I believe that is all. Thank you for the help."
Determined to prove she was more than capable of handling a few dangerous plants, she immediately moved the herbs into her personal chest (making sure to put the gloves on first), where they'd be safe from any prying hands. As she unlocked the rune that kept the trunk shut, a large array of herbs of her own collection, as well as all sorts of magical items, came into display. With barely any moment of hesitation, the criminal placed each of her new acquisitions in the proper compartment, evidencing a thoroughly planned distribution.
Nyra just waited as Sally took care of her own stuff, watching her as she fiddled with what seemed like a rune on her chest.
"Interesting security. Seems like there's a lot of things you don't let on about yourself. Perhaps I should try to replicate something like that other than a simple cloth I have."
"Well, there is some dangerous stuff here. I wouldn't want someone to get hurt for being careless...and, I suppose I also value my own privacy", Sally admitted as her thoughts went to the false floor inside the chest, where she kept the perfumes used to conceal her Branded heritage.
"It's not a difficult spell to copy, in any case. As long as you are willing to prick your own finger for a drop of blood, that's all it takes to open it. It's a bit rudimentary, sure, but it works. And it will only open if the blood is fresh, so there's no risk of someone finding your discarded bandages and using them to get through it."
Now the spell that lets me know if someone has been tampering with it...that one's a lot harder to replicate.
Nyrandisa nodded in response.
"I see. I wonder if I could take that kind of security and work with it to have it so a drop of blood isn't needed; just a living signature of the permitted people... But I digress. Probably safer than everything i've ever done like that."
She mused aloud to Sally and herself. She went over to her section and pulled out a few things; a bowl, a spoon, some sugar, a little biy of honey, some really potent mint leaves, and some flour.
"Getting these ready for the cake I want to try my hand at soon."
That's a lot of sugar...
"You like baking, uh? I was wondering who it was that owned all those cooking implements." She mused out loudly. "Is that a Jera recipe you are following?" Sally pondered upon noticing the lack of eggs. "It's rarely that us Beorc get to see your kind's cooking, so I'm not very familiar with it."
Maybe for the best. I don't think I could enjoy it if it's as sweet as they say.
When asked about the recipe, Nyrandisa nodded.
"Yes. Well, as close as I can get to memory, anyways. Along with a few other ingredients to add flavor. Still missing some stuff, but they were more easily perishable, such as eggs. If you want to look at the cooking, or taste a sample when it's done, I won't mind. I agree it isn't everyday it's done around non-Jera, as most of us live solely in Neraida."
"Hmm...maybe I'll take you up on your offer, at least when it comes to watching it. After all, it's true you don't see a Jera far from Neraida very often. What made you leave there?"
The question was posed in such a casual, innocent tone, that it'd been hard to take it as an attempt to pry on private matters.
When asked that question, Nyra wanted to freeze up. She wasn't really willing to tell anyone else why she wasn't at home anymore. After a moment's though, she came back with
"Sorry for the long response. Trying to remember if I got everything. Anyways, I just felt like exploring the rest of the world. Have some ambitions to be a healer, alchemist, or cook somewhere. Once this investigation is done, that is."
Even though everything but the last two sentences were lies.
Both the long silence and the vague answer did not go unnoticed to Sally, who made sure to take note of it. It was clear that there were a lot of things missing in that story. Still, that was not the moment to press on it.
"I...see. Well, I'm sorry that you ended up caught in this mess, in that case. I'm not sure if we can even call it an investigation at this point. It's really more like killing all the way to the truth."
"I know. I wish I didn't have to fight." Nyra responded to Sally with.
"But what brought you into this investigation? Seems like you can d many things, and I wonder why you chose this."
"Conveniency." She explained plainly. "I was already investigating the events behind the attack on the tree before this group was formed, so I simply decided it would be easier if we joined our efforts. The Drakone and I might not share all the same goals, but we both have a common interest in discovering the truth. And they thought I could help them do that."
The answer came quickly and with no hesitation, at the same time Sally mentally prepared for any possible follow up questions. Truth to be told, there was not a single lie in her words, but there was certainly a lot she was intentionally leaving out.
The Jera nodded.
"I see. Well, thank you for your words, but I want to get started on this cake so I know I have enough time to finish it."
She had started to walk off, though added on
"Find me in like 20 minutes and the baking will begin."
"Hmm, I'll make sure to go take a peek at it." Sally replied as she watched her walk away.
So this is the famous Nyrandisa...I wonder what is she truly doing so far away from home.
Her own thoughts were soon silenced, for she had more pressing matters to take care of first. And 20 minutes wasn't a very long time...
Comments
Post a Comment