Ashan 93rd, 718
The half-breed carefully cut away, using a knife that was far from suited for the task. As she carved away at the mint plant in a poor attempt at pruning, Nightshade quickly came to realize that a hunting dagger wasn’t anything like a knife more suited to plants. It didn’t cut properly, and she could feel the springs of green being ripped and sawed. Her attempt to make the bush healthier as well as prettier were seemingly having the opposite effect. She could feel a growl grudgingly emerging from her throat as she continued to try and cut away at the plant. At the very least it was a mint plant. The things were almost unkillable. She could hack away for as many hours as she wanted and unless she tore it out by the roots it'd be overgrown once more in practically no time at all. The same could be said of blackberries but in an even more absurd survivability.
The reason the woman had chosen to favor the mint plan, for the time being, was simple enough. For one it was stubborn, as mentioned earlier. Well, she supposed it wasn't so much that they were unkillable that they grew extremely fast. Given the time and effort, Nightshade would surely kill it. She didn't have a green thumb and she had a bad time keeping plants alive. Come Cylus the thing would surely be dead with little doubt. If not by Cylus then during Cylus it would croak. But mint plants grew quickly and as far as the woman was aware had a large usability. Which brought her to her second point of wanting to keep a mint plant around instead of a blackberry bush. While blackberry bushes had a use, they only had one singular use. They made berries. The problem came when they started growing like weeds and it was hard to get rid of the old spiny branches. Not to mention new berries wouldn't grow on old branches. A mint plant could be used entirely.
Mint plants could, of course, be used to help season foods. Though mint wasn't often a flavor that played with others too nicely. When she was a child she'd been served quite a few delicious meats that had mint in their sauces. Ironically enough blackberry and mint had been one of the best things she'd ever tasted in conjunction with pork. The memory alone could still make her mouth water and her stomach growl. If she stayed in the Master's house she would have eaten like that every day. But she also would have been married to Ivan... Mint was also good all on its own. the sharp and clear flavor was interesting, to say the least. During Ashan as a child, she'd walk by a small river and chew on mint plants. Of course, she never went near the larger river after a group of boys dumped her in it when she was five. She'd been scared of the water ever since and only ever got close enough to grab some of the tastier plants that grew on the water's edge.
Of course, neither of those uses were necessarily important to the half-breed at present. She didn't cook much and chewing on mint leaves seemed to slowly become less and less enjoyable. Even as a half-breed who didn't really reflect the carnivorous tendency of the Avriel, chewing on plants straight up wasn't all too appetizing. Instead of chewing them, why not drink them? The reason the half-breed had picked the mint plant was for the fact she could boil the leaves and make them into something of a tea. Of course, it wouldn't be a true tea. True tea needed tea leaves and the tea plant was something the half-breed severely doubted she could grow well with her skill level, let alone in the Etzori climate. Not gonna happen. That didn't mean she couldn't still make a poor woman's tea with boiled herbs. It wouldn't be a true tea, but honestly, who still was uppity enough to pick it apart so thoroughly? Certainly not the woman.
Tea was something of great use to the woman when looked at it from different standpoints. Learning how to make various herbal teas could help not only her medical skills but help her better take care of herself and her workers. If she could figure out something that consistently worked against her stress it was likely to do miracles against her stomachaches. They were starting to become a problem. Furthermore, if she got more into teas then she was bound to get more into gardening. It was an idea that struck her as odd how she'd never done such before. As a child, she'd always clung to the words of the old gardener who lived outside the manor and kept the Master's personal garden pretty. He always seemed so sad, being stuck just handling plants for their beauty. He was always so knowledgeable about the different kinds of plants and how they interacted with one another. How one was good for snake bites and another helped to take the itching away form mosquito marks. Better yet, he knew of some plants when rubbed on the skin kept the little buzzing menaces far, far away even during Saun when they came out in waves.
The idea of finally taking what basic knowledge she knew and expanding on it was rather intriguing. It wasn't like she couldn't either. The woman lived in the middle of the wood. Was the city going to tell her that she couldn't grow these plants here? No, she didn't think so. She'd have to do a little studying before she actually started growing something poisonous, but that's why she was starting with a single mint plant that had already been growing outside of her cave. One that had grown far too large for her liking, hence was she was currently in the process of carving away at it and bundling up the leaves to dry and be used in her tea.
There was, however, always the option of growing something poisonous on purpose. The half-breed recently had been investigating the idea of using minor poisons to build up a tolerance for the big ones so that she wouldn't have to worry about the thread of poisoning coming seasons. She knew well enough that there were poisoners and assassins running around in the belly of Etzos. At one point she'd called one by the title of friend before the woman disappeared for the second time. She knew about the organization of poison users and assassins but she didn't acknowledge them much. She wasn't strong enough to start a fight with them yet, and part of that was because the fact she at present was rather susceptible to poisons! There was always what she'd been exposed to in her childhood out of the Master's spite. He liked to poison her often enough for disobedience or perceived stupidity on her testing. But she wasn't sure how much good that would actually do for her. She needed to start practicing with something a little more present.
That was where her garden became oh so valuable. If she could figure out how to grow rare and deadly toxins it would have an oh so beautifully useful edge. Not only would she be able to start growing accustomed to them, but she'd have the opportunity to start stashing them. Making them into powders and pastes that could be applied to weapons. She'd never use them on an innocent, goodness she could hardly stand the thought! But learned how much poison to be lethal and how much to be debilitating could be rather helpful in a fight with enemies she wasn't completely certain how to deal with. Perhaps the next time she got into a fight with a group of bandits it could make the whole process just a touch easier.
Of course, she could also learn how to grow plants that worked to nullify said poisons. There had to be something out there somewhere to balance out the deadlier poisons, something that could work to nullify them and surely save a life. Growing medicinal herbs would very well give the half-breed the chance to save lives, something she hadn't really thought about before. She'd always loved the idea of helping people out, and at one point or another, she'd humored the thought of healing. But the half-breed had a lot of goals she eventually wanted to undertake and eventually something had to be pushed to the backburned if she wanted to make any kind of progress. She couldn't tear herself in a million directions and then expect to be able to progress in them all. She'd need to walk each road a little at a time one at a time if she wanted to make some kind of progress. But she said she couldn't still walk the medicine-related road? It wasn't like she abandoned it, just put it on the back burner. Maybe it was time to give it another look and another shot.
She almost smirked as she continued to hack away at the little bush, trying oh so desperately to make it pretty. These were nice daydreams but they were still a lot of hard work away. Best to get started.
"Common"
"Ith'ession"
The reason the woman had chosen to favor the mint plan, for the time being, was simple enough. For one it was stubborn, as mentioned earlier. Well, she supposed it wasn't so much that they were unkillable that they grew extremely fast. Given the time and effort, Nightshade would surely kill it. She didn't have a green thumb and she had a bad time keeping plants alive. Come Cylus the thing would surely be dead with little doubt. If not by Cylus then during Cylus it would croak. But mint plants grew quickly and as far as the woman was aware had a large usability. Which brought her to her second point of wanting to keep a mint plant around instead of a blackberry bush. While blackberry bushes had a use, they only had one singular use. They made berries. The problem came when they started growing like weeds and it was hard to get rid of the old spiny branches. Not to mention new berries wouldn't grow on old branches. A mint plant could be used entirely.
Mint plants could, of course, be used to help season foods. Though mint wasn't often a flavor that played with others too nicely. When she was a child she'd been served quite a few delicious meats that had mint in their sauces. Ironically enough blackberry and mint had been one of the best things she'd ever tasted in conjunction with pork. The memory alone could still make her mouth water and her stomach growl. If she stayed in the Master's house she would have eaten like that every day. But she also would have been married to Ivan... Mint was also good all on its own. the sharp and clear flavor was interesting, to say the least. During Ashan as a child, she'd walk by a small river and chew on mint plants. Of course, she never went near the larger river after a group of boys dumped her in it when she was five. She'd been scared of the water ever since and only ever got close enough to grab some of the tastier plants that grew on the water's edge.
Of course, neither of those uses were necessarily important to the half-breed at present. She didn't cook much and chewing on mint leaves seemed to slowly become less and less enjoyable. Even as a half-breed who didn't really reflect the carnivorous tendency of the Avriel, chewing on plants straight up wasn't all too appetizing. Instead of chewing them, why not drink them? The reason the half-breed had picked the mint plant was for the fact she could boil the leaves and make them into something of a tea. Of course, it wouldn't be a true tea. True tea needed tea leaves and the tea plant was something the half-breed severely doubted she could grow well with her skill level, let alone in the Etzori climate. Not gonna happen. That didn't mean she couldn't still make a poor woman's tea with boiled herbs. It wouldn't be a true tea, but honestly, who still was uppity enough to pick it apart so thoroughly? Certainly not the woman.
Tea was something of great use to the woman when looked at it from different standpoints. Learning how to make various herbal teas could help not only her medical skills but help her better take care of herself and her workers. If she could figure out something that consistently worked against her stress it was likely to do miracles against her stomachaches. They were starting to become a problem. Furthermore, if she got more into teas then she was bound to get more into gardening. It was an idea that struck her as odd how she'd never done such before. As a child, she'd always clung to the words of the old gardener who lived outside the manor and kept the Master's personal garden pretty. He always seemed so sad, being stuck just handling plants for their beauty. He was always so knowledgeable about the different kinds of plants and how they interacted with one another. How one was good for snake bites and another helped to take the itching away form mosquito marks. Better yet, he knew of some plants when rubbed on the skin kept the little buzzing menaces far, far away even during Saun when they came out in waves.
The idea of finally taking what basic knowledge she knew and expanding on it was rather intriguing. It wasn't like she couldn't either. The woman lived in the middle of the wood. Was the city going to tell her that she couldn't grow these plants here? No, she didn't think so. She'd have to do a little studying before she actually started growing something poisonous, but that's why she was starting with a single mint plant that had already been growing outside of her cave. One that had grown far too large for her liking, hence was she was currently in the process of carving away at it and bundling up the leaves to dry and be used in her tea.
There was, however, always the option of growing something poisonous on purpose. The half-breed recently had been investigating the idea of using minor poisons to build up a tolerance for the big ones so that she wouldn't have to worry about the thread of poisoning coming seasons. She knew well enough that there were poisoners and assassins running around in the belly of Etzos. At one point she'd called one by the title of friend before the woman disappeared for the second time. She knew about the organization of poison users and assassins but she didn't acknowledge them much. She wasn't strong enough to start a fight with them yet, and part of that was because the fact she at present was rather susceptible to poisons! There was always what she'd been exposed to in her childhood out of the Master's spite. He liked to poison her often enough for disobedience or perceived stupidity on her testing. But she wasn't sure how much good that would actually do for her. She needed to start practicing with something a little more present.
That was where her garden became oh so valuable. If she could figure out how to grow rare and deadly toxins it would have an oh so beautifully useful edge. Not only would she be able to start growing accustomed to them, but she'd have the opportunity to start stashing them. Making them into powders and pastes that could be applied to weapons. She'd never use them on an innocent, goodness she could hardly stand the thought! But learned how much poison to be lethal and how much to be debilitating could be rather helpful in a fight with enemies she wasn't completely certain how to deal with. Perhaps the next time she got into a fight with a group of bandits it could make the whole process just a touch easier.
Of course, she could also learn how to grow plants that worked to nullify said poisons. There had to be something out there somewhere to balance out the deadlier poisons, something that could work to nullify them and surely save a life. Growing medicinal herbs would very well give the half-breed the chance to save lives, something she hadn't really thought about before. She'd always loved the idea of helping people out, and at one point or another, she'd humored the thought of healing. But the half-breed had a lot of goals she eventually wanted to undertake and eventually something had to be pushed to the backburned if she wanted to make any kind of progress. She couldn't tear herself in a million directions and then expect to be able to progress in them all. She'd need to walk each road a little at a time one at a time if she wanted to make some kind of progress. But she said she couldn't still walk the medicine-related road? It wasn't like she abandoned it, just put it on the back burner. Maybe it was time to give it another look and another shot.
She almost smirked as she continued to hack away at the little bush, trying oh so desperately to make it pretty. These were nice daydreams but they were still a lot of hard work away. Best to get started.
"Common"
"Ith'ession"
