[Sanctuary] Glyphs for the Road (Kavala)

[Kavala]

NoteSince its been a month and with multiple departures and returns, I’m just going to finish this one off with a few solo posts.

When Leto said nothing, Kavala nodded to herself. She stood up and decided to get busy anyhow. While the glyphs were well underway, she gathered the ingredients to make some basic lip balms that would protect the travelers against snow and ice. Kavala felt that lip balm would probably be one of the most helpful things she could give the travelers. Because, not only could they use it on their lips, but they could also coat their cheeks and eyelids with it in case of severe snow. It wasn’t difficult to produce, nor was it expensive. And she could flavor the balm however she wanted too. As a Drykas, it was one of the easiest things she’d learned to make, being almost foolproof because if one got the calculations wrong, one could always remelt the stuff and reuse it with more wax if it was too soft or more carrier oil to soften it up as needed.

The basic ingredients for lip balm was simple. She needed some beeswax, which she had, that was coarsely chopped or better yet grated up. Kavala placed that in a small beaker laid inside another beaker filled with water on her oil burner and got it to melting on the double boiler set up. She was careful to not let the water boil over into the wax because if and when it did, it would thin the wax out too much and ruin the mixture. To the beeswax she added her various butters – in this case vegetable butter – and let that work itself in. Once the beeswax and butter had melted, she removed it from the burner and began adding her essential oils, regular oils, and honey. For this case, she used two teaspoons of olive oil, a half teaspoon of honey, and three drops of cinnamon essential oil. Had she been making the balm for women, she’d have added peppermint or perhaps rose. But men tended to like cinnamon the best, so that’s what she did.

Lip Balm

2t olive oil
1/2t honey
1/2t beeswax
1/2t vegetable butter
3 drops cinnamon oil

When the mixture was thoroughly melted and liquid, Kavala pulled out a dozen small little tins that were smaller than the size of her palm. Carefully, using a cloth, she removed the beaker from the double boiler and carefully filled the tins with the balm. She would put the lids on them after the cooled, which wouldn’t take long. They would be ready before the men left. Then, once the lip balm was done, she concentrated on making them some lotions that would sooth chapped skin.

Kavala checked Tasival, took the time to change him and a break to feed him while Leto finished up the last minute work on the glyphs, and then she was ready to make them some lotion for the trip as well. The men might scoff at the offering now, but when they were on the road, frozen, and needful, there would be a time they would thank her. She was quick to point out, as well, that the tins of lip balm and the jars of lotion she was sending were equally as useful on the horses as they were on the men. So if they got themselves into a bind where they needed to sooth chafed horse noses or anything of the kind, they could use her work effectively on the striders as well as the men.

[Kavala]

Basic lotion recipes were easy. All you needed was oil, water, and beeswax. If one wants to smooth out the lotion, make it last longer, and have it feel more rich and nourishing, one needed to add vegetable butter and have it smell good – a few drops of essential oils. Vegetable butter was easy to acquire. In Riverfall, due to the almond and nut crops, most of the butter came from nuts and smelled like almonds. Kavala didn’t mind that at all. Like her earlier escapades of grinding grape seed oils and rendering them in the still, she could likewise make the butter herself. But for now, Kavala preferred to buy it in the market and often did, keeping a stock of the almond butter on hand.

So for her lotion for the expedition, Kavala decided to use six tablespoons of almond oil, plus two tablespoons of olive oil, two tablespoons of cocoa butter, two tablespoons of beeswax and then a cup of water. The resulting mixture would be a light yellow almost buttery colored mixture that smelled pleasant.

Her first step involved melting her butters and oils in with the beeswax within the same double boiler container. Since everything was edible, she didn’t bother washing between the lip balm and the lotion since all the same ingredients, minus the cinnamon, was going in. She watched the double boiler carefully, stirring frequently, until the mixture went clear. The Konti continued to melt her ingredients until she could no longer see any solid particles in the glass beaker.

Next she pulled out a whisk and ran it into the beeswax-oil mixture and began to whisk it briskly. This was the hardest part of making lotion. She whisked it so hard that Kavala began to see ‘cheese curd’ like floaters in the liquid. She was getting close at this point, and kept pushing, even though her arm muscles ached. Switching arms to give her other limb a chance to take some of the brunt force of the whisking, Kavala laughed at what a good workout lotion making was. She whisked for almost twenty minutes, keeping up the pace and changing arms often until the mixture blended in an almost magical transformation into a smooth white lotion.

There was a bit of water left on the top after the end, and Kavala knew this was normal so she just poured it off the creamy mixture, and kept whisking. When it was too her satisfaction, Kavala added a few drops of lemon oil, which would refresh whomever was using it, and mixed again. Once she had the scent well incorporated, she paused, shook out her aching arms, and then gathered jars to fill with lotion. Once she spooned out the lotion into jars, she tightly wrapped them in bandages and stacked them alongside the lip balms to send with the men. Ten tiny tins of balm and five mason jars of lotion was a small price to pay for the safety of the party. They were, after all, going on Ragnor’s behalf.

[Kavala]

Finally done with the lotion, Kavala checked on Tasi again, and then stared at him as if she had a thought. She often made rash cream for his rear because like any child anywhere, his diapers irritated him and he often got diaper rash. Diaper rash was cured by a cream she made that soothed his skin. But that same cream could sooth other rashes that the men might come in contact with – some from food they ate – from not being clean if they were out in the cold sweating and dirty but not able to loose heat to bath. The diaper rash creams would even sooth foot rashes and sometimes prevent the fungus that often popped up between the toes of travelers. It was the last thing she could think of that she could create.

Kavala made it from an extraordinary white powder they called Riverfall SnowZinc Oxide that she found in the market. A mineral, zinc she thought it was called, was dug out of the gemstone mines outside of Riverfall, and was then exposed to water and air. Once that happened, a white powder formed and that white powder was called Riverfall Snow. It was blended with all sorts of herbals for medicine and even used by artists for white paint. The powder could be mixed thoroughly and created the most awesome rash cream ever.

Kavala glanced at her jars of lip balm and lotion. Rash cream? Then was she done? Kavala thought so. She looked around, smiled, and marveled at how most everything in terms of skin care and medicine, was intricately related. She was able to yet once more reuse the beakers without washing them, setting her double boiler to going once more. She wouldn’t tell the travelers that she was giving them diaper cream, but instead would sell it as a rash treatment and foot fungus cure. So that way they’d use it if they needed it and not shy away from its most common use.

Diaper Rash Cream or Manly Man Rash Cure

• 1/8 cup Beeswax ground or cubed or shredded
• 2/3 cup Almond Oil
• ¾ Tsp Riverfall Snow

Again, she added the oil and beeswax to her beaker and melted it using the double boiler. It was fast to put together because she already had the water boiling from the previous two endeavors. Once the oil and beeswax was melted, she added the Riverfall Snow and began the whole process of whisking again. It took her more than ten minutes this time, her arms flexing and keeping a beat as she tapped her foot and whisked, switching arms every count of ten, to keep them exercised appropriately.

For the cream, she added them to metal tins. The tins were the size of jars with their own tight lids. Tins would travel better than glass, but she hadn’t larger tins for the lotions so she’d opted for wrapped glass in that case. This case was different. And as she was moving around, fussing, Kavala spotted her Eucalyptus Essential Oil on the shelf where someone had left it out (that caused her a frown), and decided there was one more thing she could make that might help. Eucalyptus oil was great to put in warming chest rubs or salves that eased coughing.
Okay… so she wasn’t done. But she would be soon. Luckily Leto was still entertaining himself.

[Kavala]

This time, because she’d used the snow powder, Kavala carefully cleaned all her equipment. It wasn’t just another beeswax and essential oils and butter mix. Chest rub was instead something that cleared out the nasal passageway and opened the sinus’ and that, the Riverfall snow, was something she decided she didn’t want the men to be breathing. So after taking the time to clean all the equipment, Kavala focused on making the rub. They could slather it on their chests to help free up any congestion in their lungs, or they could alternatively smear it under their noses to breath it in directly. Kavala looked thoughtful, and decided she’d make the warming soothing type.

The recipe was easy.

Chest Rub Cough And Congestion Relief Cream

• 2 parts olive oil
• 1 part beeswax
• 10 drops eucalyptus essential oil ounce
• 5 drops white camphor essential oil per ounce

All Kavala needed to do was to melt the oil and beeswax in a pan and then add the essential oils. Pour into her metal tin, and that was it. Kavala did so carefully, setting up the double boiler again and then carefully blending the ingredients together. There was no need to whisk it into a lotion or do anything but stir it thoroughly. Once she poured it into her tins, the salve hardened within fifteen chimes. It turned out a soft buttery cream that would hold up under a sweaty situation, like under a fur for warmth or beneath a drippy nose aggravated from a chest cold.

Kavala carefully labeled the tin with ink, adding labels to the jars and balms and rash creams as well. She looked around, content with her work, and wondered if there was anything else beside the healing glyphs she could send. She wasn’t far enough along in her philtering to infuse potions with healing, but that wasn’t far off in her future. It wouldn’t help this time though.

Kavala checked on Tasival and Shayru, and carefully thought about the trip. The men would be crossing rivers, traversing valleys, in deep snow. Her glyphs might get wet. They might get swept away. If she gave the men multiple jars of all the healing things she could send, the odds increased that one yvas bag would make it.

So.. if they just had lip balm, rash cream, lotion, and chest cold relief… how would that help them? They also needed a healing salve. Kavala thought hard. Making a salve for healing was a lot harder than simply creating a lip balm or piecing together a chest cream. She’d need to make an infusion and a strong one at that.

The Konti looked thoughtful, chewed on her lower lip for a moment, and shook her head. She already had various infusions going. To make a good one, it took several ten days of soaking and infusing oil with herbs. She had several batches going, but she’d have to look through them and see what would work.

[Kavala]

So what did she have lying around infusing? The Konti frowned, excused herself from Leto, and went to look. She had dozens of large jars underway in her philtering lab lined up in the window. She carefully checked the label on each of them, looking for the right combination. She could use Chamomile, Usnea which was a cool healing moss, Echinacea, Lavender, Yarrow, Goldenseal, Myrrh, and Comfrey. She found quite a few of these ingredients in various jars infusing, but often they had something else in there that told her the infusion was designed for something else totally.

So her project was going to be a salve. And to pull that off, she’d need….

The last jar she checked was perfect. It had Usnea, Chamomile, Lavender, Echinacea, Yarrow and Comfrey all in it. She shook it up, checked the date… thirty days! Perfect. Kavala took the jar back to where they were working, and looked satisfied. An infusion with all of those would be strong, but Kavala knew that she was making adults the forumula not children. If she were making for children, then she’d decidedly stick to one ingredient and make it very very gentle. But for the men, it needed to be a strong infusion and rather complex to aid them in healing them as fast as possible.

Kavala remembered back.

The infusion had been made by grinding up the herbs that were by that time already dried in her stores in a simple mortar and pestle. She’d ground them finally and then filled a quart glass jar half full with the batch of ground plants. The oil infusion had been simple. She’d filled the rest of the jar up with olive oil, and then taken to shaking them each day briskly on her rounds either cleaning or using the philtering lab. After twenty days it was ready… and thirty it was prime. Olive oil never went rancid so it was generally what she used in all her infusions.

Coming back to the present, Kavala brought the oil burner up to a hotter temperature, then began heating the olive oil infusion gently, bringing it to a boil to remove the last of the healing properties from the plants and infusing them into the oil. The resulting philer was then dumped into a sieve which she laid cheese cloth over and strained into a clean jar. The dried mush of pulpy plant material was cast aside, to be composted with the waste below The Sanctuary, and in that way would definitely not go to waste.

She let the oil cool down from a boil, then went on to the next step.

The resulting oil was a bright green liquid, thick with healing properties that would make an incredibly nice salve. The next step was taking beeswax (By the Gods the girl was going to need to get bees going through wax this way) and mixing it with the oil. The recipe was generally one to two ounces of wax, shaved, per cup of infused oil. You used more if you were in a hot climate and wanted a more solid salve. If you were in a cold climate, you used less to soften up the salve because the cold would automatically harden in moreso than usual.

She slowly melted the wax into the oil by putting it back on the burner, and stirred. Kavala thought she had the right mixture, so she let her wooden stirring spoon drip onto the counter and watched the tiny drops of salve cool. Once cool, which took less than a chime, she peeled it up from the counter and rubbed it between her fingers, judging the thickness. She frowned, finding it too thin, and added more beeswax and melted that in as well. Repeating the process, she found the second drops much more solid and too her likings, so she pulled the whole mixture off the heat.

The salve needed to be hard to the initial touch, but then as your finger came into contact, it needed to melt into your skin. Once it got that way, it was ready to poor into Kavala’s tins and send on its way with the boys on the Avanthal trip.

When ready, Kavala added grapeseed extract oil to it, to help keep the salve from going rancid even though it was made from olive oil. In The Sanctuary it would stay good, but subjected to the rigors of the trip, Kavala wasn’t sure. So once that was added, Kavala poured her salve tins full and screwed on their lids, packing them with the other medical supplies.

All in all, between the glyphs, and the philtered herbal medicinal mixtures, the men would be well supplied on their way to Avanthal. And she was proud to have been able to help see Ragnor’s family to safety.

[Limey]

Leto Skill and Lore Rewards Skills Lore Glyphing 5 Sama'el: I Hope You Understand Conversation 4 Lore: Triggers In Pavi Observation 3 Summoning: A Certain Stigma Planning 1 Sama'el: More Than Just A Student Letting It Out Lore: Broken Bones Glyph Vocal Trigger: "Strains" Love: Difficult, But Worth It Teaching Gives You Purpose Plans For Weapons Other Than Magic Kavala Skill and Lore Rewards Skills Lore Planning 3 Leto: Silence Masking Pain Observation 5 Glyphs For The Road: A Myriad Of Problems Conversation 3 The Right Healing For The Problem Teaching 2 Lore: Frostbite Glyph Glyphing 5 Love: A Wondrous Agony Herbalism 5 Advice For A Turgid Soul Medicine 5 Transferring Power From Gnosis To Glyph Philtering 3 A Weapon Need Not Be Obvious... Summoning: Ultimate Displacement! Unrequited Love... Not An Option Nothing Left To Offer...? Lip Balm: An Unexpected Necessity Lotion: Essential For Equine Exertions Cream For Diapers Or Manly Men Lore: Rash Cream (Also Good For Foot Fungus) Tins Travel Better Than Jars Lore: Cough And Congestion Relief Cream Proper Labeling Timing Matters Lore: Soothing Salve Produce: One dozen tiny tins of lip balm Five mason jars of lotion Five metal tins of rash cream One large tin of congestion and cough cream Five small tins of soothing salve Shared Lore: Being Able To Speak Freely The Nuts And Bolts Of Glyphing Dangers On The Sea Of Grass Friendship: A Rare Gift Lore: Sevatal If It's Meant To Be, So Be It... But If Not... Lore: The Memosites A Glyphing Assembly Line Strengths And Weaknesses Additional Notes : Phew! Well, it was all going swimmingly until that massive medical/herbal/philtering/potioning mess, Kav! Kind of hard to follow in paces and a little more technical than I'm used to, but that in itself was an education. You covered all your bases and I'm impressed at Kav's industriousness... and at Leto's depth of feeling. A shame he didn't turn up to finish this off. Any questions or queries, please PM me.