Timestamp: 81st of Fall, 520 A.V.
The book James had found for her was simply titled “The Secrets of Scents.” Tazrae was a little in love with it because it was a thick leather volume that had a smell that wasn’t unlike some of her flowers, and it had pages and pages full of secrets that she wanted revealed to her. She knew something about perfumes… her mother had loved them. But she didn’t know much about how they were actually made or why some started out smelling a certain way and the smell changed over time or even in the heartbeat it took to breathe in the essence. Her hope was that the book would shed some light on things for her.
James had complained that he’d had to linger the ship in Riverfall a full day extra in order to locate it and buy it, so it came at a precious cost that Taz was more than willing to pay. She’d cherish it, use it, and take its knowledge and expand outward with it. Books were like docks that launched ships outward into the sea of unknown with just rudimentary sailing lessons to power the boat onward. Taz wasn’t expecting a miracle in the handwritten pages. What she was expecting was a foundation.
And from the very first page, it didn’t disappoint. The preamble talked about the origin of the perfumer, from a far swamp in Falyndar which would seem an exotic place to anyone who wasn’t living in Falyndar. Tazrae did live here, and while she’d never heard of a swamp called the Gyvaka on the western shore of the region, she knew she could surely make it a goal to visit there one day. The knowledge was Dhani in origin – which made sense coming from a swamp – and was written in neat precise text by someone called Ozantha. Taz tried to picture her… someone wise, well versed, and a patient teacher. She could tell by how the book read that the woman who wrote it had a serious passion for the topic.
“What is a perfume?” That was the title of the preamble. Tazrae read on, aloud. She wasn’t sure if Bree cared for the topic or not, but The Innkeeper was lounging in the shade resting up against her Ixam’s side. The Ixam herself was curled protectively around Tazrae occasionally lipping at the book as the young woman read. “The technical definition of a perfume is a fragrant liquid typically made from essential oils extracted from flowers and spices, used to impart a pleasant smell to one's body or clothes. But perfumes are so much more. Perfumery is a language all of its own. It is the art of creating perfumes to invoke an emotion or specific state within someone. It can be a real state of happiness if the scent is reminiscent of happy times or happy places, or it can be an illusional scent such as the state of having power, or being clean without actually being either. Perfumery is a science, an art and even dare I say a magic. One must understand that each scent will react to each individual differently and it’s the crafter of the perfume’s job to know your customer or target and manipulate your product to best suit them.” She finished reading, then looked thoughtful.
“It’s true.” Bree said sleepily. “Each person has their own personal scent. You know I have a great sense of smell and can follow those individual scents. And the application of one scent on five different people… say something as simple as the smell of oranges… will probably smell five different ways between the gathered individuals.” The jungle lizard said, stretching out her tail and then wrapping it around Tazrae so she could nibble on the end of it to get at a itch.