The Sprinkling of Life. (Herbalism)

[Taithrosa Eldytia]

81 Day of Spring Year 510

The morning was beautiful and Taithrosa had arrived early to explore the temple grounds and to learn his way around the complex. He felt relaxed walking around the scared space taking in the simplistic beauty of the place. His blue skin setting him apart from many of the others who wandered the halls.

So it was that he arrived at his lessons a bit early and waited for his teacher to arrive. He was an odd sight that was sure. In the delicate temple so heavely influenced by the feminine her was someone who appeared to be a member of the all male Akalak race. His navy blue skin a contrast to the white surrounding him. His silver eyes though seemed strange in his handsome face giving him and almost other worldly look but not quiet. The class room wasn't like the ones that he remembered when he had started the healing school back in the day.

There were plants and equipment spread around the room neatly organized that was for sure. Tables were also spaced to allow adiquite work room. Taithrosa walked into the room and looked around, not touching but observing what was in the room. He stoped and looked back at the door as a figured walked into the room. He guessed this was Drae Sommers. A konti she was a very buisness like person. She walked with a firm stride and then glanced at him looking him up and down. Shen then walked to a table at the front of the room. She didn't carry anything with her but turned to look at Taithrosa. "So I have an Akalak on my hands." She said in a short type voice.

Taithrosa nodded his head desiding that this would be interesting. He remainded quiet as she clearly wasn't expecting him to speak. "I have been told that you no nothing about herblism. Well that is to be expected." She said shaking her head and walked over to a side of the room were there were a row of plants. "Well there is not reason to beat around the bush lets get started." She pulled out a pitcher and began watering some of the herbs in the pots. "We are starting at the basics of herbalism, which is how to work you herbs." She motioned to a couple of plants that looked very similiar. "Those plants are ready to be harvested. You need to harvest the leaves, but don't kill the plant. That is always critical, if you don't have to kill the plant to get what you need out of it then don't kill it. Now if you need the roots then go for it." She turned back to her work of watering. "Something important to remember don't collect after rain or dew. If you do your store with grow moldy."

[Taithrosa Eldytia]

Taithrosa blinked at the plants and wondered briefly about the womans buisness like attitude but he didn't say anything he just did as he was told. He looked around briefly wondering how he was supposed to remove the leaves. He suppsoed he could ripe them off but for some reasons that didn't seem right to him. So he looked around.

He saw a little pair of scissors on the table with other equipement. He stretched out his arm and wrapped his long tappered fingures around the scissors and then looked over them. He then looked around the table again and saw a shallow bowl. He grabbed that one as well in the other hand and walked over to the plants. He set the bowl down.

With one hand he held the leaf out and then cut at the base of the leaf. He could feel her watching as he cut the leaves. He could feel her eyes glaring into his back, but she didn't say anything. There were only a few plants and when he was done he returned the scissor to were they had been and turned to face Drae. "Excellent job for a Akalak." She said with a snubb. "Alright collecting leaves and roots as well as flowers is but the first step in herbalism. There are three key words that help with collecting the best herbs. Time, Time, Time. You have to cut at the right time of the plants growth. That is the first time. You need to also collect it at the right time of day. If you get the time wrong then you get weak or usuless herbs." She said the last part like it was a huge sin.

"The time for picking will vary based on each plant, but usually it is right before it flowers for leaf bearing or green plants." She said motioning to the various plants and specifically to the one Taith had been working on. "The other key factor is when. If you need a flower then cut it in the morning. If you need roots or leaves wait until after the dew has dried but before midday. At that point the leaves will start wilting and be less powerful."

Taithrosa nodded his head listening despite her superious sounding tone. He was phased by people who doughted him. He wasn't a youth or a child born into the world. He had been send with a knowledge of her own worth which was a great help in self confidences.

"Alright lets look at these leaves." She poked around in them for a moment before looking up at him. "What is the difference between these leaves." She said holding two up. Taithrosa looked them over and pointed to one. "That one is dying, it has holes and is wilting." She nodded her head and set the bad leaf aside and then handed him the bowl. "Wilting and diecesed leave don't help us." Taith took the bowl and began to sort out the leaves.

[Taithrosa Eldytia]

He sorted through the leaves and soon found all of the diesed leaves. He took them out and set them aside leaving the branches and leaves that were good were still in the bowl. He noticed them that there was a bug crawlling across one of the leaves, and looked over at his teacher. "What should I do about the bugs?"

She walked over and looked at the bug. "Shake the bowl gentle patting it on the table and that shood shake all of the bugs lose and then we can let begin drying the plants." She said walking over to the supply table.

Taithrosa gentle tapped the bowl against the table and then removed each of the branches noticing a small collection of bugs at the bottom of the bowl. He turned his attention to the Konti teacher who walked over to him. She set down some string and looked as collection. "Now you needs to make bundles of six or eight branches." She said showing him the string.

He took the string and gathered some branches and began to tie a simple knote around the base of the bundle. He was able to make about three bundles with the leaves and branches he had collected. He then followed her direction and walked over and to an area not directly in front of the window but a large amount of sun touching the area. He carefullly tied the bundles up on to the string and looked over them as they were hanging there. He turned to his teacher his eyebrow raised in question.

[Taithrosa Eldytia]

Taithrosa watched as she looked over his work and gave the barest of a nodd of approval towards his work. Her hard eyes lingered on the plants for a moment before she turned around and walked over to one of the many tables. Taithrosa avoided sighing wishing this woman could figure out the concept of communicating. Then again he might not like what she said, so he excepted that this wouldn't be a heavely talking class.

He joined her at the desk and noticed that there was a chair on the other side of the table from her. She motioned for him to take a seat. Taithrosa walked around and took a seat in the chair that looked as if it wouldn't support his large frame. Compared to the woman of this island Taithrosa really was a giant of a man. His silver eyes scanned the contents of the desk and he tilted his head. There appeared to be a verity of herbs on the table with various containers and bottles.

"Alright the other basic to herbalism has to do with administering it." She said in a business like tone. "You don't just hand them a pinch of something and have them eat it, well not always. Sometimes you have to use other mediums to help bring out the needed virtues of the herbs." She pointed to some of the bottles. "Such things as water, achool, and olive oils."

"To often a straight does can harm a person that is why we also uses these mediums." She picked up a kettle filled it with water and set it on a small fire in the wall before returning to the table. "The most basic, and commonly used method is tea or Tisanes method. This is when you mix herbs either directly into the water or you place it into a bag and then allow the water to pull the virtue from the herbs." She said indicating to a couple tea bags. "The bag is done when either digesting the leaves directly would do more harm then good."

She the pointed to a pitcher of water that wasn't being heated. "Cold water can also be used as well as hotwater." She said. "Also hot water is used for more then just teas. It is an important part of syrups and to prepare roots and such."

[Taithrosa Eldytia]

Taithrosa nodded his head. Remembering the various methods as she mentioned them. "So water is critical to the use of herbs. It seems that most forms of administration use water." Taithrosa said.

She nodded. "It isn't the only way though. alchool is also another ingerdiant often used." She then picked up a bowl with some powder in it and then picked up a candle with the other handle. "There are three ways to introduce herbs to the systems. First is Taste, or through the mouth. Another is direct application to the skin, and the last is smelling." She handed him the bowl and he smelled it snorted at the smell and set the bowl out of reach. She almost smiled. "Smelling isn't the best methods, the other two are more direct but it is an excellent supporting methods. Smells will help to increase the healing of the body over long term."

She then picked a sealed bowl and pulled back the cover and handed it to Taithrosa. "Paste is the most common use for skin contact." She said letting him take the bowl and look it over. He carefull set it down and looked at her wondering what she would cover next.

She stood up and motioned for him to join him at a table. She motioned for him to take a seat. "I want you to practicing making tea bags. There are papers right there with the needed instructions. These are used for a number of remadies. You will be expected to make these and most likely you aren't going to have a cheat sheet. So you will want to memories the more common ones." She said then turned and walked away.

Taith stood there his silver eyes looking over the table as his eyebrow slowlly raised. He sighed and sat down at the table and reached over and picked up the paper. It read Instruction for Willow Tea

He blinked and then shrugged and began to read the rest of the paper.

[Taithrosa Eldytia]

Taithrosa's silver eyes read over the instructions and nodded his head. Yep these instructions had been writen by his instructor. His lips turned up in a smile as he contiuned to read through the instructors. Short and to the point. Instructor for Making Willow Tea 1) Grind some willow bark to an extra fine poweder. 2) Fill a disentegrating bag a forth full. (Increase if preasure in head bad. Don't fill more then two thirds full.) 3) Sew the top close 4) Drop into boiling water. Bag and powder will disolve into the tea. Taithrosa nodded his hand and then looked around the table for the bark and quicly seeing it he grabbed a morter and pestal. He began to rip the bark apart and into strips. He placed them into the bowl and once they were small enought actually work, he began to grind them into a dust. As he worked he could feel his teacher walking by looking over his shoulder and occasionally commenting. "Thats only a powder." Or "Finer." By the time she had approved it Taithrosa's wrist was cramping and he was glade that he had the stamina he had. He then carefully began to pour the powder into a bag. Before he was finished with the powder he had reached the recomended leavel and was surprised at how little there really was. He set them aside and then did the most challanging thing of all. He began to sow. Luckly he had tapered figures which were designed for doing detailed work, but his hands were still large and so it took him a little longer then normal to thread and then sow the bag closed. He then turned and handed it to his instructor who seemed to always appear and disapper from behind him. She took it and looked it over and nodded. "Exceptable. Now these type of things are for quick use but when you really begin to get into the craft then you should be able to just mix the teas directly but these bags help give you a visual." Still checking out the bag she contiuned to speak. "Willow is used to help with aches in the head, and to deal with other pains through out the body. Regardless of there sources." She then handed him another sheet of directions. "This one is a big more complicated, there is more then one element used in this tea." She set the bag down and walked away.

[Taithrosa Eldytia]

He looked over the the instructions. It was a rasberry-john tea. He looked up at his instructor with a confussed look wondering what it was talking about. "The Johns Wart Plant is excellent against despression or the blues. The rasberry is for flavor and also because it help act as an immunity against dieseas something that depressed people are more likely to get anyways." She said crisple and then turned and walked away. Silver eyes followed her for a moment before the eyebrows raised in a surrendering type jesture and he returned his attention back to the task at hand. He pulled out some of the Johns Wart and after rinsing the morter out placed in the bowl. He then took the pestal and began to grind it. Unlike the willow tea this one wasn't supposed to be disolved in the water. Its properties would leach out and achieve the same effect with out having to grind it to a fine dust. So when the leaves were just smaller versions of them selves he carefully began to pour the required amont in a slightly stronger back. He then set it aside and after once again rincing out the bowl turned his attention to the rasberries. It wasn't actually the rasperries themselves but the leaves and the seeds. They were to be ground up and placed into the tea bag the same way as the John's Wart plant. So he carefully began to grind them down, glade that his poor wrist didn't have to work particular to hard now since they only needed to be broken down. He smiled as he finished empting the required amount into the bag. It was mostly full but the bag was a lot easier to sew up as it didn't require so fine of stiching. He smiled as he set the bag down and looked at it. "I see that you can follow instructions. You have earned this." Her voice seemed to say 'if only just'. He took a small notebook out of her hand. "Record all of the herbs you ever learn about in here, what they are useful for and if you big hands can write that small, how they should be used."

[Taithrosa Eldytia]

Taithrosa excepted the little book from the woman and looked it over. It was much, but he didn't care it was a start. He knew that it would be important to keep notes on what he learned because it was impossible to remember everything that he would ever be told, weather it was about herbs or anything else for that matter. He looked at his instructor as she just looked at him waiting. He carefull picked up a quill and ink that was on the supply table and sat back down. He held the quill in his hand expertly and began to write in common. He carefully wrote so that everything was legable. Taithrosa Eldytia's Herbal Journal Started Spring 510 AV He carefull turned to the next page and looked up at his instructor. "Alright lets get your journal started by listing some plants commonly used." She sounded like a proffessor begining her lecture. "Willow, you can use the leaves or the bark. It is used as a painreliver. Specifically for headaches, but also help to relieve generic pain in other parts of the body. There are more powerful stuff, but this is easily made, and is minimually dangerous to the paticent who you would be working with." Taithrosa contiuned to writing. Following allow carefully. He recorded the name, and its virtues in carefully clearly marked areas. He dedicated the page to willow as he would dedicated a page to each herb he discovered. So they contiuned for another half a chim before she excussed him. He smiled as he walked away already grateful for the increase in knowledge he had already gained.

[Alice]

Taithrosa Eldytia Experience: 5 pts Herbalism, 4 pts Listening, 2 pts Sewing, 1 pt Body Language Reading, 1 pt Writing Lores: How & When to Collect Flowers, Leaves & Roots, Difference between Good & Weak Leaves, Removing Bugs, Making Bundles, Herb Administering Methods, Using Water with Herbs, Making Tea Bags, Creation & Use of Willow Tea, Creation & Use of Raspberry-John Tea, Uses of Johns Wart Plant, Uses of Willow Items: Herbal Journal Comments Much the same than with the Let’s Take a Swing Thread: very detailed and informative. If I missed a lore, feel free to point it out to me. I especially liked the detail on each herb and the creation of teas, and found it funny how you pictured Drae Sommers. A single thing, though, struck me as odd: Is it Johns Wart or Wort Plant? Here it is referred to as St. John’s Wort. I feel this is important because wrong spelling of a plant could lead to misunderstandings.