Closed Welcome to the Jungle (Nya)

[Abashai]

It took some getting used to. Abashai was a desertman, and yes, he had traveled much of eastern Mizahar, from Eyktol through Cyphrus and extensively in Sylira. But the Benshiran had never known a humid heat like the jungle held. Nearer to the beach, it was surprisingly comfortable, the ocean breeze blowing a fresh cool wind that kept the body comfortable, but once you entered the thick foliage of the rain forest, the hot moisture was trapped, a stifling contrast to the dry heat of his homeland.

Shai had taken to dressing much more lightly than usual. His leather pants had not seen the light of day since their arrival, nor had his wool shirt. Cotton was all he wore, and often went bare chested when work was to be done, no longer concealing the wing-like designs of Yahal's mark upon his back.

Nya had already scouted the land surrounding Syka quite thoroughly. The cat took much liberty to stretch her predator limbs after being cooped up on the ship. Those that arrived with them surveyed the land as well, eyeing sections of land for their own enterprises. It was time for Abashai to likewise get to know the terrain, Nya acting as a guide to share what she had discovered so far. They had ventured from the beach into the jungle a ways, Abashai carving a path with the heavy, curved blade of his khopesh.

Abashai had found himself very content since landing. It was like a fresh start, something both he and Nya needed, individually and together. Few people, beautiful surroundings, the thrill of exploration and the unknown. It was very appealing to the man. Nya would sense it, his demeanor more cheery than usual, his interaction with her more personal and relaxed. Even his complicated feelings for her seemed to begin to straighten out in the sea breezes.

"It would not be a bad idea to stake a claim to some land here." He ventured an idle thought as they explored. "We don't know how long it will take to find the Pearl, we can hardly reside here long without becoming part of the settlement. They need us." Shai continued. " We will at least have some land to build on, if we want." He waved his free hand frantically at a large buzzing insect. Certainly, someone around here had a concoction that would ward of the plethora of bugs that infested the jungle.

"We may not be tradesmen, but we can contribute. I don't know about other kelvics, (they heard there were others among them) but few could be as large as you, or hunt as effectively. I am handy with this," he indicated the heavy desert sword, "... for what that's worth. And we have a unique amount of knowledge and experience with things very old and mysterious." His hope, yet unspoken, was that the need to learn to survive in the wilderness settlement would sharpen them in many ways, teach and hone skills that would make them stronger, adaptable, even better survivors.

[Nya Winters]

1st of Fall, 510 AV

The Forest Cat had her arms full of supplies. The girl could have probably carried them more easily in her kelvic form, but she'd just come from town and Uta's Place. She'd taken a trip to the Mercantile and had picked up a few things with her limited amount of coin and had gathered the rest after a trip to Uta's Place to talk to the woman there. Uta had been a wealth of information and had even taken the Forest Cat into the jungle to show her what to look for in terms of ingredients. Now all Nya needed to do was get the fire to steady itself and use a few of their limited supply of pots to make a few ingredients. She had empty jars she'd gotten at the mercantile to house what she was going to make.

Nya sat down the small crate of supplies from the mercantile and lifted out the gathering bag that contained a few things from her hike in the jungle. She crouched down next to the crate, intent on cleaning it out, but gave up all thoughts of it as soon as she got a long whiff of what was in the gathering bag.

They were at their makeshift camp next to the beach. Their tent was up and the camp had been made comfortable with a few additions. Abashai had worked hard to make them both comfortable and Nya had helped with gathering supplies and scent marking around the camp to keep big predators away.

Shai was stripped to the waist and in light cotton pants. Nya would have admired the sight, but she was distracted terribly by something in her gathering bag.

It smelled.... delicious!

It smelled so good she couldn't stop thinking about it.

So as Shai talked, Nya nodded but didn't say anything further than that. She instead lifted the bag that had the smaller nuts, the big coconut, and the profusion of greenery in it and rubbed her jaw along it. Her eyes half lidded and she glanced at Shai as she rubbed the sack again.. with her face.

"Mathias already said...." She started out, then let the contents of the bag distract her again. The forest cat opened the top and inhaled the scent of the greens. She reached in and pulled a few out... smelling them deeply. She popped a few in her mouth and her eyes seemed to glaze instantly as she started chewing. "...that we can both claim five acres. I like the land around here." She said, licking her lips and digging in the bag for more of the greens.

Nya leaned back when she had them, taking a moment to bury her face in the sack again. She inhaled deeply and then sprawled out where she crouched, legs outstretched and one hand steadying her upright in the shade of their tent. She popped a few more greens in her mouth and moaned in pleasure.

Her project for the day was obviously forgotten.

She was trying to focus on what Abashai was saying, but the vast majority of the greens in the bag that Uta had helped her gather were distracting her. Nya had never felt so relaxed, so good, as if all her troubles had just fled with the winds. A light breeze tickled her nose trying to get her attention with frantic whispers, but she ignored it as unimportant.

The greens were everything.

In fact, they were so distracting that she stopped listening to Abashai. She smiled so sweetly and then gestured to the supplies she had sitting in the crate.

A moment of lucidity struck her and she started talking. "I wanted to make ... coconut oil. And shea butter... and then use that to make... to make..." She tried to convey what she was thinking, but Nya's mind had fled again. A fly buzzed by her nose and she licked at it laughing and then let her arm relax. The gesture caused her to sprawl in the sand next to the tent on the sand. She rubbed her back along the sand and laughed lightly which turned into a groan because the sand felt so good itching her back.

Nya only wore a light tunic that was so long it was almost a dress and her feet were bare. A belt held the light tunic down so it covered her decently, but she was getting sand all over her.

Nya tired to focus on Shai one more time before she gave up and rubbed her back on the sand again. Completely incoherent with her mind in a fuzzy place of pleasure, the woman could simply not convey to Shai that she'd been worried about him and all the bug bites he was getting and had gone to Uta's to find out how to make bug repellent.

"You are handy with a sword...."

"They do need you... and I like it here..."

There were long pauses between her words as she spoke dreamily, her wide green eyes staring up at the clouds above. Even though Shai's voice seemed far away, it sounded happy and determined. She liked that inflection in his voice.

[Abashai]

The Benshiran tended to his task, separating out the various sticks, limbs and logs they had gathered in a pile at their camp for firewood. He labored to hack off the smaller branches from the larger, having created stacks for tinder, kindling and larger fuel logs.

Abashai heard Nya behind him as he spoke, from the corner of his eye seeing her sit and rummaged through some gathered things. He heard the kelvic reply, nodding. Matthias had proven generous by offering them two plots. plenty of land to get started, if they wished.

Shai had found a small used ax at the Mercantile, and James let the desertman have it for a few coins and a quick lesson on the oud. The tool had some corrosion from a long, useful life at sea, but Abashai had honed the edge with his whetstone and ground out some of the nicks. It served their purpose for the moment, but if the two decided to build, they would have to borrow or find an axe or saw to buy.

Intent on his work, kneeling as he chopped the branches from the trunk of a dead bush they found, Abashai did not notice Nya’s antics. Then he noticed her words drag out, breathed out in a tone quite unlike he forest cat. Her companion paused, his head turning to her. His brows furrowed, then one quirked up at the sight. Nya lay on the sand, lazily wallowing, mossy greens staring upward. Her words sounded like a child, carefree, content, and barely lucid. Curious leaves dotted the sand around her. Something was amiss. This was not the Nya he knew. Laying down the ax, Abashai stood and walked over and paused to look down on her. She did sound happy, her face serene with contentment, which pleased the man greatly, but it was not a natural happy, and he sensed it through the bond. She felt good, mellow and weird.

“Nya?” Shai asked in a quizzical tone, both concerned and slightly amused. “What…” he knelt next to her to pick up one of the leaves, “What did you get into?” The leaf had a strong scent, but did not seem to affect him. A wave of worry hit him, that she was somehow sick or poisoned. But she was in no distress, by a longshot, and the bond shared only her blissful state.

Gathering up as many of the scattered leaves as he could, Abashai tucked them back into the sack and tied it shut. Of course, he knew no antidote for whatever affected Nya, but he imaged it would wear off in time. With a smile and a sigh, he flopped onto the sand next to the cat, joining her in staring at the bright sky. Then Shai turned his head to look at her. Sand had gotten into her brindled mane and stuck to her cheeks. But she was beautiful. Even in her weakest, darkest times, Abashai had seen her as such.

“I like it here too.” He echoed. They had lived the rugged life before, in the wilderness. But in Syka, it seemed much different, more…hopeful. The settlement smacked of new beginnings, fresh starts and true community, for, in spite of individual dreams, survival bound them all together in a common goal.

Secret :

Hatchet - 6sm

[Nya Winters]

Her bliss lasted on and on. The sand was warm and the company was good. She didn't even mind that Shai joined her. A few of the stray breezes whipped around her too, teasing up her hair and tangling it mischievously. Nya stared at the sky, inadvertently mimicking Shai's behavior. She smiled and lifted a hand to wave almost absently at a passing cloud or perhaps the heavy winds she knew dwelled that high aloft.

"My Lord, I love you. I love being here free under the clouds and in the sun with the breezes off the water so calm, so warm, so welcoming. " The big cat said, stars in her eyes though it was the middle of the day. She smiled aimlessly and randomly, reaching her hands up to the sky and laughing as the breezes toying with her hair swirled around them happily.

She played like that, almost childlike though her age was significantly older. Nya had first met Shai when she was two. Now she was ten. They'd been roaming the world together for almost eight years. Full lips pulled back revealing almost human teeth that flashed a smile as her words reflected her thoughts. "I felt old in Ravok, Abashai. I even felt old at Lormar because everything was so ruined. Nothing here is ruined. I feel young at ten. My father said I'd live forty years or more if I was lucky. Then you killed me and gave me a piece of yourself. Do I start over from there or don't count that death as a real one? And now how long will you live? Do you feel old here?" She asked, idly tracing her hand across her chest and scratching an itch under her opposite arm.

The Forest Cat in her human guise looked over at Shai and reached across to touch his face. His ink was gone but it also seemed to her that some of the lines around his eyes had filled in since they'd been here. He didn't look much different than when she'd met him. His hair changed, sometimes shorn off military style, sometimes long... his clothing had changed as well since he wore less here than he had in Syliras. But otherwise, the same blue green eyes watched her.

Abashai could feel the shift in her emotions. Euphoria turned to steel determination along that particular link.

Her teeth flashed again, another smile, as she traced his face. "Jefrek son of Jafuil....' She muttered and closed her eyes a moment. "Never did I think I would be born to such a form, such a monstrous form, and yet you still love me. Even in this guise and with all the Gods have put us through, you still stand by my side as far more than my Witness. Right or wrong I brought Lukas with us. I brought the Powercube. I want to continue my work here, retrieving my things and regathering the skills I need to thrive and do better in this life." Nya's eyes opened and looked at Shai, meeting his gaze with a piercing clarity. "We have thirty years if her mortal father was right about kelvics, longer if the Unity gave us time. When I am her though, completely her, it is hard to think. She wants to hunt. She wants to play. She wants to just love you. You have to keep us focused, Jefrek. It's what you have always been good at. You steered me so far clear of my obsessions with power once. Now you have to teach her to be more than a cat. She wants to feel so much more than she wants to think and for me that's like swimming in a thickened sea where all I can think about is catching my breath. All she did in Ravok was exist off her emotions until they broke her. Here she needs to be more. Here we all can be more." Nya looked around, not really Nya in that moment, but far more Aressa Tallshade.

"These people are ignorant of even where they are. This isn't Syka, not really, this was something far more. Syka is a new name for an old place. The past lies heavy here, weighing down the land. If you just look around, Jefrek, you'll understand. Your eyes can see more. You Witness. In our day this was a sprawling complex, famous for its research, ran by the twin sister of the man who created Nya's race. Remember?" Aressa said, groaning and suddenly running her hand across her forehead.

"Catnip. Don't let her into it much. She'll get addicted and I'll be useless to you. She can substitute any sort of mint for it in the recipe Uta gave her for the bug repellent. I suspect that botanist played a little joke on me... on us. Nya needs euphoria like she needs another hole in her thick head." Aressa pointed out and then gestured to the edge of the camp where a clump of green grew. "Pineapple Mint. That will do nicely instead. Burn the rest of the nip if you think Nya can get into it. Keep it if you want to have something to calm her with at a moment's notice. Just use it sparingly. And learn some smithing skills, Jafrek. We need a magecrafting lab sooner than later. Once she begins to learn... or even you... it will come back fast." The sharp eyed woman said, running another hand across her forehead and shaking it.

"How does she stand all these voices..." Aressa made a shooing gesture and Shai could feel the breezes scatter. She muttered in an annoyed manner for a moment, something that Jafrek would be really familiar with, and then turned to him once more. She seemed to be fading though, her eyes softening, though she got one last statement out through Nya's lips before she was completely gone.

"Stop babying her. This kelvic form needs you to be strong, to be the man you once were... she's not even remotely broken though she acts it. Take charge of things here, Jaf... Abashai. She's yours, just as I've always been Jafrek's. Firm up the loose ties. Stop wasting time. Healing only happens when things get back to normal and you cast the shadows in the room out. Touch her. Get her under you and bury yourself inside her again. Unbonded our thoughts are so muddy. Hunt. Eat. Sleep. Your mind in ours helped so much. We can't do this alone. The lives we've lived together and apart prove that." Nya's stronger voice was fading so too was the steel in her gaze. The glaze in her eyes was returning.

He could feel the bliss returning as the woman stretched out on her back beside him began to pur in human form.

[Abashai]

He could only explain her behavior as bliss. It wasn't the sloppy intoxication of alcohol, no, she was coherent and in control of herself. But her mind was...free, as if the burden of their quests, the necessities of survival on the wild coast of Syka, their struggle to reconnect to one another had been swept away by her playmate breezes that danced around her as she honored he Storm Lord. He may have felt a twinge of jealousy. Abashai's worry waned, allowing Nya to simply be whatever she was while the curious herb affected her.

Abashai did not address the Kelvic's question about her death and length of years. The day he plunged his dagger into his pregnant wife was one he prayed would flee, yet never did. It was, until Ravok, the darkest moment of his current life. Yet Nya referred to the the killing and the horrors of Ravok as if they were distant memories, to distant to carry their terrible sting. The Benshiran also did not want to tell her that, in giving up part of himself to give her life, he lost time. As Nya lived longer with his essence within her, Abashai aged faster. There was a good chance, if nothing else killed them, that she would outlive him. But he would do it over and over again to save her.

"I will live to be a hundred." He teased.

Then Nya looked to him, gently touched his face. He missed their closeness, their intimacy. They were so already in many ways through the bond. But there was much more meaning in a physical touch. He had learned to relish that, in human form and feline, from making love to leaning against her warm fur as they slept. Nya's moss-hued eyes were light and unfettered, and he could have fell into them.

He saw, felt the change.

She did not look away, the pad of her finger still caressing his face. But a will flowed from the Unity, and a greater intelligence glinted in her green gaze.

It was her.

Abashai sat up, listening to Areesa intently, yet kept a part of him open, feeling. He had experienced glimpses of the past from time to time, even back to Jefrek. But they had faded in the past couple years. Now, as he looked into Nya's eyes, he saw Tallshade. Through the bond, he felt her. The woman he had known, loved, an age past. Abashai heeded her wisdom, reminded of what he once was, not only in the time before the Valterrian, but when he first bonded with Nya. Areesa drew Abashai back to their purpose. His eyes slid from Nya's gaze to the jungle beyond the beach. He knew. He did not see it as a vision, but as a memory, the structures, what Syka once was. "Yes." he answered when asked if he remembered.

"I remember." More glimpses, scraps of what was. Their lab, the weight of her work on their shoulders. His concern for her as Jefrek watched Areesa spiral into her work, feeding on the brilliant, dangerous creations.

Catnip. The memories of Jefrek faded as Abashai found the moment. He nodded at Areesa's advice. Her call for he and Nya to make things right, to get back on the path.

She was fading, but Abashai heard every word. He found a lingering sadness, as if he was still Jefrek in some small way, watching the one he loved leave again. "Areesa." He spoke quietly as he saw Nya's soft gaze return, again enjoying her blissful abandon.

Abashai brushed a strand of brindled hair from her face, displaced by the zephyrs that returned. The visit for Areesa lingered heavily upon the Benshiran. Not as a burden, but as a reminder, a course correction, a wake up call.

He leaned over and pressed a kiss to Nya's cheek. "I will be right back," he spoke softly. Abashai stood to makes sure all the catnip leaves were gathered into the sack. Stepping to the fire, he dumped all but a hand full of the potent leaves into the flames. The small amount left was rolled up in the sack and stuffed away for safe keeping. Abashai was one to be prepared. When Nya came down from her high, he would point out the pineapple mint that Tallshade had indicated as a replacement ingredient. Shai also made a mental note to make a visit to Uta. If she intentionally gave Nya catnip, he would have a discussion with the botanist.

With the intoxicating plant secured, Abashai moved to a small bucket and a small wooden cup they had gotten from the Mercantile and filled with water from a nearby stream. Dipping the cup into the water, he carried it back to Nya and sat next to her on the sand.

"Come on Nya," he encouraged her, coaxing her to sit up next to her. "Drink up, its hot and you need to stay hydrated. " It would also help to flush her system. He had no idea how long her euphoria would last. But they needed to start building their home. They had much to discuss too. Bridges between them needed rebuilt. It was time to get back to the way he believed, and Areesa confirmed, things were meant to be. It was time for them to be one again, in mind, body and spirit.

[Nya Winters]

The catnip made the kelvic completely relaxed. She smiled at Shai's offer and drank deeply of the cup he held for her. Sitting up further, she stretched like a cat and smiled lazily. The drug still had a hold on her but its potency was fading as if Aressa herself had burned all but a small portion of it out of her system in taking advantage of the cat being distracted and opened to bits and pieces of the parts of her that were mostly hidden.

Nya stretched slowly, laughingly, and smiled at Abashai. "The herbalist gave me the recipe for Insect Repellent. I have an order in with Captain James for insect netting when he sails next, but honestly we need something now. They are chewing at us too fiercely. Uta said it was simple enough to make." The cat ran her hands through her hair, tangling her fingers there and tugging playfully before she smiled. "I should get started. As much as I want to stay here and ...." A yawn punctuated her sentence. "... and nap. There's too much to do. There's too much to.... explore." Nya added, folding her legs beneath her and preparing to rise.

She went back to her bag and looked at Shai curiously. He'd removed the cat nip. Nya could smell the lingering scent of it in the fire. She liked the stuff - a lot - more than she probably should, but Shai never did anything without a reason. So when Nya started to read off her recipe, he pointed out the mint she could use instead and Nya only nodded. She'd use it instead. Abashai had his reasons. Nya had lived and fought by his side for too many years and in multiple lifetimes. She didn't question him when he gently made changes to what was going on.

It wasn't something she minded.

"Uta gave me instructions on how to make coconut oil, Shai. She told me it had all sorts of uses. I wrote down some of them." Nya said, knowing Abashai might care if they had things to sooth sunburns and windburn and the rough time the sand and sea had on their skin. Living here was on the surface paradise, but it was also dangerous and the extreme heat and the constant rain took its toll.

Among Nya's 'stash' was a half dozen coconuts that she'd gathered from the beach. Along with that was a sea turtle shell that she'd cleaned carefully and had been using as a pot of sorts. The shell was tough and it let water boil easily enough without damage. She'd need to buy a pot soon, but holding off on that sort of thing was important until they had a way to make coin or gather goods to trade with the Founders.

Nya had dragged over a jagged rock from the beach and she had been getting fairly good at husking coconuts. Picking up the raw nut, she thrust it down on the sharp rock that was slightly bigger than her head and let the leathery husk pop. Then she used the rock to pry back the husk and reveal the nut inside. The nut was a hairy brown color and varied in size. Once she had it exposed she braced the nut on the ground and pulled out her Kukri and gave it a good whack. The Kukri split the nut neatly open.

Nya grabbed it, held it over her head and lapped at the coconut milk leaking from it. It was a messy process, but Nya loved the deliciously flavored milk inside the nut. Once she'd drank all the milk she pulled the nut more fully open revealing two halves of brown nut with a gleaming white interior. The next part wasn't fun but Uta had been clear it needed to be done. She needed to scoop out all the white meat in the nut and lay it out in the turtle shell.

Nya did so carefully, using her dagger, both the sharp and blunt end. She sliced the meat up inside using the blade then flipped it over and dug the meat out like her dagger was a spoon. She carefully transferred the white 'meat' of the interior of the coconut to the turtle shell until there was nothing left inside the husk. The husk itself she set aside knowing it made great tinder dried out.

Next Nya gathered two rocks. One was a huge flat rock she washed off in the ocean. The second was a palm shaped type rock she could easily use as a tool. She set the flat clean stone up next to her turtle shell and began taking chunks of coconut out of the shell to crush. She wasn't really trying to do anything but tear the flesh up a bit more. Grating it with a grater would have been nice, but she used what she worked with and instead almost ground up the pulpy meat.

She ground it up, returning it to the same shell, keeping the ground up bits separate from the chunks until the sea turtle shell had no more chunks of coconut meat in it. Then she added a bit of fresh water from her flask into the shell, swirled, and picked up the ground up meat in her hands - a handful at a time - and squeezed. More coconut milk came out. Nya didn't save this stuff. She had nothing to save the liquid into as of yet. So she simply squeezed the pulp in her hand, extracted the liquid out onto the sand, and added the pulp back into the sea turtle shell letting it stick somewhat to the side of the shell so she could keep the squeezed separate from the ground up mulched pulp.

Nya repeated this action and then gathered the mashed up primitively strained coconut mush in her hand while she tipped the shell and relieved it of the rest of the liquid. Then she returned the drier mash to the shell and set it aside.

Then, carefully laying out a fire, Nya lit it and arranged stones around the fire so that she could set the sea turtle shell out over the small flame and begin to heat the coconut meat inside the shell. She grabbed a stick to stir it with and sat kneeling by the fire and poking at the coconut meat until it started to dissolve into a gooey mess at the bottom of the shell.

Meanwhile Shai wandered off. He'd been looking to improve their campsite and Nya figured that's what he was headed out to do. Nya wasn't worried about being bored. And she certainly didn't' have a headache after the cat nip had worn off. The Talderian Forest Cat was plenty entertained now that the nip had worn off with making her coconut oil so she could in turn make Shai some insect repellent.

But before she could continue, the mixture had to boil.

[Nya Winters]

Nya kept the turtle shell over the fire. The pulp was far more interesting now that it was wrung out and set to boil. It was also strong enough to hold the mixture at a boil, which was pleasantly surprising. She watched as the brew got hotter and hotter, boiling up the coconut milk. Nya fetched a small slim wand of bamboo and used that much like one would a wooden spoon and began to stir the milk. She was afraid it would boil and ruin the whole process. Uta had been very careful to tell her not to let it burn.

It took a while, but eventually the water all boiled out of the mixture like she was told it would. It just took far longer than she thought, giving her time to think about things... about Syka and her new role here. She would need a skill to keep her in coin or at least in trade goods. And Nya had a good idea what she wanted to do. The kelvic still had the leather from the deer her and Shai had hunted back in Lormar. And she wanted to know how to make things from it. Learning to cure leather was a high priority with her. They wouldn't have access to ready made clothing here nor was it a matter to just go to a leatherworker for a belt or a backpack strap replacement. The colony would need harnessing. Someone had to know how to make it. Nya wanted to be that someone.

Nya checked the mixture again. Now that most of the coconut water was boiled out of the remaining mush, she could see the oil bubbling up. Once that happened, she took the shell off the fire and let the mixture begin to cool down. The kelvic didn't stir it, didn't mess with it at all, just let it cool.

When it was nice and room temperature, Nya knew it was time to separate the oil from the rest of the pulp mix. She used her one good clean bandana to do it. She laid it flat over the cooled mix and pressed the cloth gently down. Nya realized it was a crude method, but she knew it was one of the only ways to do so without the tools or a proper philtering lab.

The cloth neatly began absorbing the oil from the mix. It soaked in eagerly. Then Nya gently pulled the cloth up and folded it so the side facing up was on the outside. She squeezed the oil from the cloth into an empty coconut shell and waited. After a few chimes, more pure coconut oil floated up from the mixture once more. Nya repeated the motions until she had a relatively full container. At that point, however, the oil she was soaking up from the mix mash of boiled meat was still cloudy.

So she waited. And her waiting paid off. Since she didn't move the coconut shell the absorbed oil was in, the oil was able to easily separate from the white flesh that was still floating in tiny pieces in the oil. After a few chimes pure oil was on top, and cloudy tainted material was on the bottom.

Nya carefully tilted the container and slowly drained out the pure oil into yet a second coconut shell. She had pure coconut oil, and was ecstatic about it. Even though the instructions were lengthy that Uta had given her, they were actually fairly easy to follow.

The Kelvic knew that pure coconut oil had a ton of uses. She planned on making all kinds of things for her hair, body, and healing. Nya could also cook with the oil. And of course, she could make Shai's insect repellent from it.

Even the leftover mixture which still contained some oil, was something Uta told her would make excellent sunburn relief cream if mixed with Aloe Vera which grew wild. The same cream could be used for dry skin or even itches from things like ant bites. Nya only had to go find it and collect it. And like the pure coconut oil itself, the mixture would keep in the Syka heat indefinitely.

So, taking a break from her mixing, Nya went to dig through her things and returned with blank journal that she'd turned into a botany/philtering journal, ink, and a quilled pen. She sat down and carefully wrote out her method for making pure coconut oil step by step.

Then she turned to a new page and thought back to what Uta had said about Aloe Vera.

Aloe vera is a stemless succulent plant growing to 24–39 in tall at maturity. It spreads and reproduces by offsets. The leaves are thick and fleshy, green to grey-green in many multitudes of shades. Some varieties also show white flecks on the upper and lower stem surfaces. The margin of the fleshy leaf is serrated and has small white teeth.

Nya nodded to herself, and left their camp calling to Abashai as she did so... "I'll be back, and am not going far. I'm going to find Aloe Vera, Shai!" As she slipped out of camp, she headed uphill from the beach and headed into the jungle proper. Uta had explained to her that she thought people had lived in and around Syka before, which was why there were so many plants that were otherwise rarer in jungles. Pineapple was all over. So was mango, figs, and a ton of other food things that grew in crop-like frequency, as if planted in order to feed a great deal of people.

Aloe grew throughout Syka wild. Uta had shown her some so it didn't take Nya long to find it. She didn't harvest a whole plant though. Using her Kukri, Nya gripped the long curved machete and sliced a spine off the first aloe she found. Then, moving swiftly through the jungle, eyes scanning vegetation, she spotted another and harvested another leaf from that Aloe. Uta had told her to be cautious of Caiyha's bounty. By harvesting selectively instead of digging a whole plant that ensured the plant continued to grow and thus would be available for future harvest. Had she dug the whole thing and brought it back to camp, the plant was gone forever. Fruit was the same. Pick only what one needed, leaving some for other denizens.

Nya continued along her way, making a giant loop around camp, harvesting Aloe until she had an arm full of it by the time she'd circled around back to camp. Dumping the Aloe by the fire, Nya knelt down and studied the mixture she had left. Waste not want not. She'd use every bit of what she'd created today.