4 Winter, 519 AV
Her stomach rolled and gurgled, a hand crossed her stomach. It had been a bad idea to try testing out the berries, she knew that. Her unfortunate hunger had driven her to do something she should’ve known better. But, unfortunately for her ever noisy stomach, she had let curiosity get the better of her. Again.
She’d only tried a few, but that was enough to act as a natural laxative as her body protested and tried to cleanse itself of the foreign food source. Having already had to make a few pit stops into the bushes she pitifully made her way back to the city. She made a vow to herself, after the third time, that she was going to go visit the Herbologie and get some lessons. Sure, she’d had some training with the Drykas to the south but that didn’t help in cases of things that grew around her home city.
So, weaving slowly down the street she turned the corner to the alleyway that housed the door to Hanhi’s. Perhaps… she began the thought as a little toot escaped from her backside, one of them may have something to settle my stomach. Another gurgle started in her intestinal tract and the process repeated of her stomach clenching and a malodorous scent escaping.
Pushing aside the heavy wooden door, its hinges noticeably not creaking as it swung open. A little bell tinkled overhead signaling to a fair-skinned brown-haired woman who was placing a small glass jar on a shelf. She slipped the jar into place and then stepped off the small wooden step stool. The place felt slightly cramped and the strong waft of herbs almost overpowered Firenze. A small quirk tipped the corner of her mouth though as a thought occurred that perhaps it may cover the acrid stench trailing her behind.
As the young woman approached, her hands lightly brushing the linen apron on her front, she greeted Fire, “Hello, how may I help you today?”
“Hi, I um… I need some assistance… with my stomach.”
The woman looked down to the hand clutched against her abdomen and gave a slight nod, “I see. If you're seeking an abortion we don't do that sort of thing here.”
That took Firenze aback, “What?” Blinking rapidly, she had to process what the woman had said, “No!” As she began to open her mouth to reply, her rear end decided to give an answer instead. It was rather loud and obnoxious and quite rude. Face flushing bright red she snapped her mouth shut and cleared her throat. Unfortunately, that was the wrong thing for her to do as the pressure on her stomach assisted the racket escaping into a more profound Brrrrrrrrrt!
A few moments ticked by and Fire seriously contemplated turning tail and heading to her house to let her body to the rest of the excavation on its own. As she picked her foot to slowly backpedal, the other woman stared at her and then a belly laugh erupted from her.
“Oh, my! I may have misjudged the situation. My sincerest apologies!” Another giggle escaped the clerk's throat. “I think I may have something that can help you,” she moved to the shelving on the right, pulling down odd-sized bottles and tipping one to let the contents fall to the scale.
Firenze began to apologize profusely, her face reddening even more, ”I am so sorry! I was hunting and I was having bad luck. I was really hungry and found this berry bush and thought that I might just have a snack from that instead but I only ate a few and then this began to happen!”
The woman paused momentarily in her actions and squinted slightly, “may ask what the berry looked like? What did the bush look like?”
“I… don’t recall the bush very well but the berries… well, I thought they were grapes?” Her response came out more of a question than an answer. “They were purple?”
“Ah, were the stems red then?” The woman resumed her task, tipping the measured herbs into a small mortar. She took up the pestle and began to slowly grind.
With a quick nod, Firenze vocalized the confirmation as well. Whoever this lady was, she was good! “How did you know?”
“Oh, it’s just pokeberries,” she gave a soft smile and knowing eye glance in Fire’s direction, “it happens to the best of us if you don’t know what to look for. Mostly children, but I’ve had the occasional adult come in with the same issue. They look tasty, but our bodies don’t really handle them very well.” She turned toward the back room, grabbed a kettle from just around the door. She tipped the hot liquid into a small cup with the leaves she’d ground. “This should settle things, although you’ll unfortunately just have to wait until it passes,” she passed the cup to Firenze, “if you only had a few then there’s no need to worry.”
The panic that she didn’t realize had slowly risen that she might have poisoned herself eased as she sipped from the cup. Glancing over the rim as she downed the hot liquid she inspected the other woman. Fire noted that her hair was a warm chestnut with sun-kissed streaks running through it. Her eyes were almost the same color, almost as though there were rays from Syna running through them. After having tipped the cup back, the hot liquid hit her stomach and caused it to roll again.
Fire handed the cup to the woman, “Thank you for your help. I’m sorry for my rather… rude introduction. How much do I owe?” She began to fish around in her pouch for the change.
“Five coppers should do the trick.”
Handing over the well-spent money, Fire paused for a moment. “I… I don’t suppose your,” she searched for the right word,” business, would teach how to find herbs and such would it? I would like to hopefully not run into this situation again.”
