How Many Words Are There (Taith, Serrif)

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

The Konti questioned him nicely. It was an odd feeling he was used to much more harsh measures being taken when questions were asked. But he smiled and listened. Then nodded as he prepared his answer. “I work with the order. As of now I am not a member; I work with Lym most days. I prepare medicine and such as well as tending to her personal garden.” He listened again to the woman’s concerns. She wanted to know that the knowledge she was passing down would help or harm. She was strangely concerned with this. He understood and this drew his intrigue even more. There had to be interesting information contained inside this book for her to actually be worried about it. That meant it was exactly what he was interested in. He thought for a second and then sighed as she brought up what the information would be used for. He could lie; he could tell her something other than what the truth really was here. He thought a few seconds then spoke. “The knowledge will be used to cure a most toxic poison that has been inflicted on someone. I recognize the plants here. And I know what they were used for. However I am unsure how to concoct the poison which they create. And so far this is the only book in the library that seems to have these plants mentioned in it. But I could be wrong.” That was enough of the truth that he could say it without looking totally ignorant. He wasn’t good at concocting lies on the spot. Half-truths were more convenient for him. There was no reason to tell her that the on inflicted with the poison was him, and that he needed this remedy because there didn’t seem to be any other source of hope for him here. No that truth was a little to distressing for those that heard it. He preferred to keep his cover if at all possible. He didn’t need everyone to know the sickness he had. The pain he carried nor where the scars came from. He tired of telling that story. And the scars spoke for themselves. They would never heal, and he wasn’t sure if he would ever heal either. But one step at a time. That was what he needed. One small step at a time and he would be where he needed to be eventually. But for now he was just trying to make one small change in his life. He was tired of being sick. He knew it was likely going to kill him; but it was doing so slowly. He needed a remedy horribly. “I don’t need all the writing. Just the important sections dealing with that specific poison and antidote.”

[Kail D'Rea]

Looking at Sherrif, and listening to his words, Kail knew he wasn’t telling all, but it seemed more from a sort of, unwillingness to talk than out of true deception. He said this would be used to help someone and Kail could tell that is exactly what he meant. She could feel his intention to heal. There was more there, but she wasn’t sure what. She could tell that finding this cure was important to him. Maybe for someone he knew and cared about. She didn’t want to pry and he clearly didn’t want to share, but she was going to think of him trying to save a friend or family member and that would make this task even more important to her.

While not a healer, Kail did know a reasonable bit of medicine. Apart from the books she had copied about it and the detailed knowledge they supplied, Kail had encountered medicine and healing throughout her life. She naturally cared about people and was not only willing to help, but was also instinctively good at it. It was often a Konti trait and if the power of the page hadn’t drawn her so inexorably, maybe healing would have been her calling. It was another level on which she did care about finding a cure and helping save a life.

After listening to Sherrif, she replied “I would be very glad to help you find a cure, and I hope that what you need is in this book. I hope you didn’t mind my asking, I just get very interested in information and, well, anyway, I would love to help. Taith says it’s possible, so, um…” Turning to Taith she addressed the rest of her words to him. “What do you say? If it’s just this one section, with us working on it after our work for the day, could we have it done in two days at this time? I know if the writing were clear it wouldn’t be a problem, but maybe we need more time. Or will the Order let you work on this tomorrow? I’m sure the library will let me write it out for my work, since it’s a cure of the order and my job to copy out, but if you can’t…” She looked between the two men, wondering why it was she was always prattling on when she was excited, or nervous, or met new people, or whatever. "Well, it does seem very important and if we start tonight and work tomorrow too, we could probably have it tomorrow about mid day?" It wasn't a question, but she said it that way anyway. She was, afterall, guessing at Taith's speed and time and maybe was over promising.

[Taithrosa Eldytia]

Taithrosa looked at it and at the young man. He was interested in the particular section of the book, and it did cause a raised eyebrow, but then again looking into posions wasn't all uncommon among the healers of to look into posions and there cures.

Shrugging Taithrosa looked at two of them. "We could work on it yes, it that is what you would like?" He paused. "Are you a memeber of the Opal Order?' He asked looking at the young man.

He was casually glancing at the pages preparing the translation. His eyes grew thoughtful as he tried to look over the page. He turned to look at the man as Kail asked about the urgancy of the translation. "I suspect my teachers wouldn't mind if I am working on something of this manture."

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

“Thank you. I am researching this for a project Lym and I are undertaking. She needs me to do research.” He said as he watched the two gently begin to take on the new adventure before them. He never really understood why these kinds of books weren’t transcribed in full. Especially if they contained such useful knowledge. Maybe the Konti wanted to preserve it completely in its entirety? That was possible because he knew that there were indeed times things got lost in translation. And he assumed especially in medicine that could be very deadly. Actually he knew it could be life threatening. So he knew it best to leave such things to those who knew how to handle them. That way you could avoid death as best as possible. Avoiding death was a game. One that he had gotten quite used to playing in his past; sometimes he didn’t know how he was still walking. He didn’t seem to comprehend that it was possible for him to have a greater role in things to come. That didn’t seem likely to him. He figured his being alive was more of luck then anything else. “I am in no real rush, Lym and I have plenty to keep us occupied in the Temple. I may not be a member yet, but I certainly feel like it sometimes.”

[Kail D'Rea]

Kail smiled and felt relief that this wasn’t an urgent matter. She liked to focus, but also to take her time and get things right. Since time allowed, this seemed possible. “If you are busy, certainly you can work on other things and we will give you our translation as soon as possible. However, I have found that with translations, you get more out of it if you are in on the process. Listening to your translator come up with just the right word can give you a list a words that are close, but not the best translation. With something this complex, that could help you. Also, if you know of an ingredient mentioned that we don’t know, you might be able to come up with something better if we can talk through it as a group. That’s up to you though.” Kail knew that all this was true and wanted to offer the best service to this customer. As the same time, she imagined herself and Taith sitting quietly at home this evening in front of the fire, comfortable holding hands and working together over the old book. She loved a challenge and so did Taith and she would enjoy this work either way, but there was an appeal in the vision of domesticity. Mixing work and pleasure. She smiled gently and looked at Sheriff, waiting for him to decide what would serve him best.

[Taithrosa Eldytia]

Taithrosa looked over the page again. "I think that would be best. You have an idea of what you are looking for and if this doesn't turn out to be it then we don't want to waist your time, also you seem familiar and as Kail said you might know what a plant is better then us. Also this would give you a chance to do a little research and possible expand some." He looked at the book again. "Okay we will need quill, parchment, a bigger table, and most importantly food." He looked at everyone. "Kail you can get us the writing supplies, Serrif how about you and I go and get some food, since studing is always best accomplished with something to eat. I am thinking some bread and cheese would be good." He looked at the two of them to see what they would say.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

Serrif first spoke to Kail. “I agree with Taith, it is likely best that I stay here with you. It would make researching easier.” He said as he then looked to Taith who was already setting his mind to do this task. “Food would be nice, I can do that though. You two setup things here to your liking and I can go get food and all. It shouldn’t take both of us to get food.” He said as he nodded and then left to go get the indicated items Taith had listed. He also thought that the two of them could use some time alone before he ruined their night by plunging them into research. He knew there were likely all kinds of things they would rather be doing. But he appreciated their willingness to help him in his quest for knowledge. Serrif went out into the market and got both bread and cheese for them all. It was a menial cost for the knowledge that it would provide for him. He wanted answers, and this book seemed to have them. However if it didn’t have answers it would in the very least have a hint as to what he should look for. He wasn’t sure how long he could keep this woman and her large warrior at bay though. He had a feeling she knew he wasn’t telling the complete truth. He wasn’t the best liar around, but he was decent at deceiving.

[Kail D'Rea]

Men were so different to work with. Kail would have been making a plan and a mental time line and they were already finding active tasks and getting right to work. Well, she'd better join in an move fast herself. She lead Taith back to her regular work room where she gathered the supplies she would need, selecting basic materials for writing only. If Serrif needed copies of the pictures, she would have to take the book and work for a while, but he didn't seem to. In fact he seemed to know what he needed from the book based solely on the pictures. Odd because Kail knew a lot of herbs after copying out a whole books of them, and she didn't recognize most of the plants. This strange man must be some sort of expert, even if he wasn't in the order. What was he doing with this obscure lore?

Still wondering about Serrif, Kail lead Taith to her favorite study room. They were alone there this late in the evening and after a while she would go out and wait for Serrif to come back with the food. She was sure she had a few minutes though, and she was anxious to catch up with Taith and hear how his day went. Once she was comfortably settled into his lap and had enjoyed and given her greeting kisses, she settled in to hear about her love. As always, Kail's mind was completely on Taith when he was speaking. She focused her violet eyes on his and let her little mouth smile as she waited to hear his voice. She knew to keep the conversation short as their time was limited and she did want to get the work done, but she wanted to tell him she had started a new project today and to hear what he had been doing.

[Taithrosa Eldytia]

The change in plans didn't really phase Taithrosa and he shrugged and went with Kail to retrive. He carried some parchment over to the table were they would be working. He took a seat and was pleasently surprised when she took a seat on his lap. His lips turned up in a smile as he felt her settling on his laps.

He wrapped his large arms around her body as she leaned against his body. He looked into her eyes and then ran his fingure along the side of her face following the path of scales. His silver eyes looking lovingly in to her eyes. He held her close and smiled.

He held her for a moment. "How have you been today?" He asked in a low voice in her ear. He let his breath brush her ear.

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

Serrif knew the two likely wanted to have some time alone. So he was going to take his time getting the items that they wanted. Bread and cheese. That couldn’t be that hard to find. And well he had an idea of where to get it. He continued to walk through the street thinking the entire time. It was good that he had these people to help him. And it was key that they understand what this book had to offer. He knew that he would have to carefully take the information into consideration. He knew that it could end up helping him or maybe even end up harming him further. That was a risk that he knew he didn’t really want to take. But it was one he had to risk. Maybe not now but eventually he would have to make this decision.

He would want to look over the information in full. He would want to really see what these two came up for him. He was relying on them in full. They could give him information that was misleading. And this could lead to him getting worse. But at the same time they could hold back information from him; this again making things worse for him. But he didn’t suspect that these two would do that to him. He knew that the Konti were not the kind of people to hold back information that could end life if interpreted wrongly. So he was confident that he would be able to get information he could and would be able to use from this session.