[11th day of summer 513.a.v.]
[Lakeshore]
[North]
[Early evening]
When Amelia had taken on the job at the spot, she didn’t really have this in mind. Then again, what was she expecting? The tittle alone let her know that this will have her scouting along the more unusual locations of the shores surrounding the lake. Now, it had brought her up to the northern ends, looking for a plant that the medics themselves couldn’t get. It made her wonder, was the given pay enough for the trouble? But, 45 golds were a high price, considering she’d get this done in one day, it was a price well worth it, even if the plant alone might be worth more than they were willing to speak of. For Amelia, most plants didn’t mean much more than decorations.
One way or the other, she kept a tight hold of Fauna’s rail as they tried to keep as close to the shore as it was humanly possible for them. Amelia didn’t feel good when she was this far from the parts of the shore she was familiar with, so being close to the waterline seemed to put her into some more ease. ”let’s see how far my luck follows me” she asked aloud, for the simple need of hearing a voice of a human being, at least some voice. Fauna was her friend, but her neighs didn’t quite do it.
The two have spent no less than a few bells, scouting along the shore, trying to spot the plant Amelia needed. The Cross was displeased by so much time spent, but she didn’t have anyone to complain to. The old woman who worked at the healing hands, she said that it would be easy to spot, due to its unique appearance. A bush that had white leaves, with green outlines. It really did sound like it would be easy to spot. The problem here was, that she had also said that it is a bit deeper off the shore than Amelia wanted to get into. She wouldn’t lie, she was scared. But she wanted to get the job over with, and so she had no choice.
Amelia pulled on the left rein, and gently tapped Fauna’s right side with her foot, indicating to turn left, deeper into the untamed forest that surrounded the lake. In fear, that was produced by common sense, she swallowed what seemed to be a rock, building up in her through. She heard Fauna tap her hove against a rock, the horse did so when she felt that Amelia was feeling bothered ”Its fine, let’s find that plant”she laughed it off. And they kept going, in crossed patterns.
The time seemed to go pass slowly, since there was little to keep Amelia’s attention, and with that, she didn’t even notice how she had missed a few bushes of the plant she had to look for. But the sun was still up, and it meant she still had some time. She wouldn’t get back to the securer parts of the lakeshore today, but if she didn’t have to camp in the deeper parts of the wood, it all would be good.
Finally, the girl’s lazy gaze was caught by a white bush. She tapped on her horse’s side once more, gently tugged its rail, indicating where she had to go and in a matter of chimes, she was there. Amelia always had trouble getting off and on the saddle, and this was no exception. First she did her best lifting her left leg over Fauna’s back, to be in a proper side-sitting position. A small prayer to herself, she turned her body to step down. With little physical fitness, hardly any proper horse training and no mounting block, it was no surprise that she fell down. She could swear that she was mocked by the horse, but she just laughed it off herself while she straightened up and cleaned the dirt off her dress.
The girl toke off her backpack and from there removed her dagger and the paper envelope where she was to store the leaves in. Carefully she approached the bush. At first she had trouble concentrating on the task, because she just awed at the plant. She had never seen a plant like this. The leaves were of the size she could describe as ‘half the palm’, but a few bottom ones seemed to grown larger than bout of Amelia’s palms together. She pulled her fingers towards the leaves, they seemed to be really soft, like they had some sort of fine fur covering them. Maybe the leaves were green, but the white was fur? She didn’t know, and probably wouldn’t ask the woman back st the healing hands. The question just seemed silly.
She toke a hold of her dagger, firmly holding it in her right hand, but not like a weapon, like a kitchen knife. She was no fighter, but she found a certain sense of security by having a weapon with her at all times. Moving her hand closer to the leaves, she began cutting them by the stern. Holding the dagger at a slight angle and cutting against her finger. She was no cook, but she had found this way to be less painful and less damaging when you needed to harvest something ”looks like I did learn a thing or two through my travel!” she chuckled, cutting one more leave and placing it on the ground next to her. She was careful not to damage the leaves, taking great care of her job.
Over no time she had managed to gather a neat pile of leaves beside her, and a collection of small scratch like cuts over her thumb and index finger. Maybe cutting like this was not the best idea the girl has had? Either way, she put the dagger on the ground and toke the envelope. She folded it open and making sure to carefully brush off the dirt off the leaves, folded them in half and placed in the envelope. She tried to neatly fold it together, but it looked like Amelia had overdone it by the amount of leaves.
She awkwardly picked up the weapon, and straightened up. While Amelia was gathering the leaves, Fauna seemed to have been enjoying herself with the grass. ”lets get going, I don’t want to spend the night in this area” she told the horse as she placed bout the dagger and the envelope in her backpack.
