Closed The Business of Hunger (Nellie)

[Kechaiya]

Kechaiya felt a rush of relief pass through her as Nellie finally accepted the trade, offering to clean the fish. The doctor wasn't sure what she meant by that, its not like she was going to eat the scales anyways, so it didn't matter if they were clean or not. She nodded at the fisherwoman, "I back soon. Thank for trade." With that she stood, took one last longing look at the fish, and turned and left. Her stomach was starting to twist and tighten in hunger, sending pains through the healer. She stopped by her home and grabbed her pack and cloak, then went southward toward the river, to follow it out, outside of the city. She had plenty of daylight, and ran through her mental checklist of what to look for. Lion's tail, often found in full day light areas, and she would need the leaves. There was Hawthorn, which could be found anywhere with trees, and she needed the stones from the berries, which if not found on the plant, could be found nearby in bird and other animal droppings. Parsley grew best in areas with more water, so near streams, lakes, and rivers. The last of it was the seed of the Horse Chestnut, and again, found where ever trees were.

Walking along the river, she left the city's very unofficial boundary amidst the hodgepodge of homes and other buildings. She figured the parsley would be the most difficult to find, so she'd start there, and hopefully find the others along the way. At least parsley had a very distinct look about it. Its leaves had three sections that all had several points on them, and was very dark green. It had a very thin stem and never grew really tall. It had very tiny flowers, very similar to those that sprang up out of clover. Continuing southward, she found a small branch of the river break off into a stream into the wooded hills. She preferred the smaller sources of water out of sheer practicality and safety. Several times she had to step over the creek to get to the other side due to varying bushes and trees growing near it. She then spotted several parsley plants on the opposite side of the creek, at a much wider part. Kech's hunger was growing ever more painful, making her desperate, which is why she didn't simply backtrack and cross at an easier point. Instead she tossed her pack over the water, and backed up to get a running start. She shot forward, pumping her arms, and pushed off with a foot, reaching out toward the opposite side. Her feet landed solidly, and she stopped, and silently cheered.

Then the lip gave way, and she fell straight down the bank, covering her entire front side in mud, and soaking her boots in the creek. After several chimes of cursing in Tawna, she managed to struggle and pull herself up the embankment, coming to a rest next to the plants. She took a moment to get her breath back before grabbing her pack and pulling it to her. She pulled out a couple of pouches and a pair of snips. Slowly, she began cutting off leaves and depositing them in one of the pouches, getting enough to fill it up. She then began cutting some to fill the other, this time for herself, rather than Nellie. As she tugged at one of the plants, it came out of the loose, wet soil, spraying dirt all over her. Holding the plant up, she noticed something rather surprising. Parsley had a very thick taproot, very akin to a turnip or carrot. Using the blades of her snips, she cut the root from the stalk, then cut away the dirty skin. She took a bite out of it, and found it crunchy and bitter, but also moist and crisp. She ate the rest of that particular root, then dug up the rest, and put them in her personal pouch. She was not about to rely solely on fish.

She cleaned up her gear, knocked some of the dirt off of her, and stood up. She made her way northward, preferring to stay closer to the city limits, now looking for a clearing so that she might find some Lion's Tail. It took nearly a full bell before she found some of them, with their spiky leaves with no steams coming off a very thick stalk. She had only managed to gather enough for Nellie with none leftover for herself. While the two of these alone would do the trick, she wanted at least one more, so that it didn't seem that she was being stingy with their deal. For the next bell, she sought high and low for either the horse chestnut tree or the hawthorn bush. She wasn't as good at differentiating trees from one another, not as much as she was with smaller herbs. She sat down on a rock and huffed. Then something struck her in the head from above, forcing out another curse. She looked down and saw a large, green, spiky nut. Looking up, she realized that one of the gods must have been smiling upon her, for this was exactly what she needed. She began filling a sack with the green spike balls, ignoring the brown ones that had already been raided by squirrels and birds.

Satisfied, Kechaiya made her way north and back into town. Being Sunberth, very few people stared or cared that Kech was covered in mud from toe to head, had sticks and leaves caught in her now wild hair, or that her boots squeaked with the water in them. She was triumphant and was making her way back to Nellie's place. She would still have to prepare her ingredients, but now that she had them, it was all water in the shade from here. Arriving at her door, she knocked several times, excitement building as the prospect of fish made her stomach grumble loudly.

[Nellie Hawkins]

After the healer's departure, Nellie set about quickly gathering her supplies: knives, a small dish, a pail of water and 2 fish, still slick and wet from the confines of the basket. Knowing better than to either clean the fish indoors or take the entire basket outside, Nellie simply took what she intended to trade with Kechaiya and left the rest in the basket on the table.

Seating herself just outside her door, where the mess from the fish scales would be either scavenged by hungry strays or simply absorbed into the rest of the dusty debris that was common on the streets, Nellie began the familiar task of scaling her catch.

Making use of the flat top of a stone as a working space, a leftover remnant from one of the building's previous walls, she lay the fish on its side. A few short scrapes tested both her pressure and the sharpness of her rounded blade on the body of the fish. Satisfied that the fish was still wet enough, fresh enough to scale easily, she set about her task with energy, if not enthusiasm.

Scaling fish was not her favorite hobby, but the waters of the Bay typically yielded nothing but scaly goodness; it was a circumstance Nellie had resigned herself to. Considering the difficulty of finding food at all these days, she couldn't bring herself to complain, even silently.

Hunched over the fish, knife working from back to front in almost automatic strokes, Nellie's eyes scanned the streets constantly. Her typical wariness was heightened tenfold, and every small movement drew her attention away from the fish. Scales flew around her, arcing unnoticed in short paths up and away, until the ground in front of her door was fairly littered with them. A hungry cat, mangy and looking as though life had never been kind, stared at her from across the street, nose twitching violently. Nellie felt a moment's pity, but was not moved enough to toss the animal any of her hard-won food.

Dismissing the animal, and with one more searching glance around, Nellie turned her attention fully to the fish in her hands. Several more scrapes cleared away the last of the scales from the head and gills, and she set it to the side. Moving on to the next fish, Nellie's knife made short work of the messy scales and soon she had two cleaned and gleaming fish ready to be gutted.

Nellie paused to grin at the starving feline; it had crept closer, belly low to the ground, and now sat a safe distance away obviously more interested in the fish than its own safety. Hunger had a way of erasing lesser emotions such as fear and a healthy sense of self-preservation. Still half-observing the cat, she traded her rounded butter knife for a smaller, sharper filleting knife. With a ruthless slice, she opened the belly of one fish from tail to gills. Reaching in with no hesitation, she pulled out the lumpy, stringy length of guts and tossed them to the ground near the cat.

The animal darted away instinctively, but remained close and focused on the cool and bloody morsel lying in the dirt.

Grabbing the other fish, Nellie subjected it to the same treatment, and soon enough another pile of entrails lay near the first. The cat having by now overcome its fear and surrendered to the temptation of fresh food, noisily and hurriedly consumed first one and then the other pile as Nellie rinsed the newly cleaned fish in her bucket. A hoarse mewling issued from the animal's furry throat and Nellie looked down, surprised to see that the cat had grown even bolder, approaching her on silent feet and sitting amongst the scales at her feet.

"Good kitty," she murmured quietly to the animal. There was no wisdom in finding another mouth to feed, however, so Nellie refrained from petting the creature. Instead, she gathered up her supplies and retreated back into her home. If the cat was still around when she began cleaning her own fish, it would find itself feasting like royalty. If not, another stay would surely welcome the meal. Meanwhile, she would hold off on any more cleaning until after Kechaiya had returned. If the healer was unable to find anything worth trading, the two fish already cleaned would make a tasty soup while she worked on the rest of her basket.

She stared at the basket, considering. There were just too many fish for her to cook and eat; typically, with that many fish, Nellie would have stopped off at one of the many taverns between her home and the Bay. Any one of the owners would have been all too happy to take the fish off her hands, especially with the recent food shortage. But she'd been loathe to stop anywhere and broadcast the fact that she even had food, let alone be seen selling it. Her luck had mostly been good, but even she knew better than to keep pushing it. Far safer to scurry back to the relative safety of her four walls.

The sudden jarring sound of knocking on the door made her jump. Nellie grinned sheepishly at her reaction; it was probably just the healer, come back to finalize their trade. Still, it was with evident caution that she cracked the door, peering outside before opening it fully to allow a surprisingly disheveled Kechaiya to enter.

"What hap- Are you alright?" Nellie frowned slightly, taking in the other woman's muddied appearance. Had she been attacked? Had someone seen her gathering food and tried to take it? Though she knew she was being paranoid, Nellie was hard-pressed not to slam the door in the other woman's face, leaving her to whatever fate awaited her. Instead, she stepped back and beckoned the smaller woman inside.

[Kechaiya]

For the briefest of moments, Kechaiya had thought that the fisherwoman had sent her away and then locked herself in her home, barring the door. The fit of rage and Tawna cursing that would've followed such an action would've been stupendous. But it would be unnecessary, as the door cracked open, and Kechaiya smiled lightly. The look she got could looked to be concern, but not directed at the doctor. She knew she looked like a crazy person, but the wilderness wasn't exactly the friendliest of mistresses.

"I fine. Fell stream wall."

The woman opened the door fully and gestured her inside, and Kechaiya ever the grateful one nodded curtly with a light smile before skirting in quickly. Kechaiya bee lined for the table where the negotiations had previously taken place. Setting her pack on the floor next to her, she moved quickly, her only slightly sated stomach not willing to settle for just parsley root. She pulled out the two pouches that would go to the woman, along with her mortar and pestle, an empty bowl, and a cutting knife.

Starting with the nuts, she grabbed one of the spiky green pods and set it on the table. Gripping her knife firmly, she sawed at the seam of the nut until it split in half. Inside were two halves of the horse chestnut. Using her knife, she pried them out and deposited them in her mortar. She kept at this, not caring if the woman watched or not, until the mortar was full. Grabbing the pestle, she started the screwing and pressing motion needed to crush them. It was arduous work to get them to near powder form. When she was done, she deposited the contents into the empty bowl. It took many chimes to finish all the chestnuts, but when she did, the bowl was about half filled.

She deposited the shells and other refuse into the now empty sack, and began pulling out the parsley and lion's tail. First she started by separating the two plants, then cutting the roots from the parsley, tossing them back into the second sack. That done, she started ripping the parsley leaves from their stems, carefully so as to not crush or squish them. Using her knife she cut them as finely as she could manage, sliding the fragments off the table and into the bowl. This didn't take nearly as long as the chest nuts, and when she was done, she deposited the stalks and stems into the sack with the refuse.

The lion's tail was easiest, since stalk, stem, and leaf would all work to achieve the goal. She diced them all as finely as she could manage, small little chunks of green, and filled the bowl with them. Then using the knife, she stirred it vigorously until the chunky powder was evenly mixed. Setting the bowl on the table, she packed away her things, "Is ready." She grabbed a healthy pinch of the substance, and let the woman see it, "This much when food. No cook. Once day." Depositing the pinch back into the bowl, she scooted it forward, as her end of the deal. There were many days worth of powder there, as a gesture of good faith. She knew where to find more parsley and chest nut easily, and Lion's tail was common enough. And with that, she waited, hoping to have her fish sooner rather than later.

[Nellie Hawkins]

Nellie closed the door firmly behind the doctor, determined that prying eyes and potential dangers be kept on the other side. Before she had turned around, Kechaiya had set herself to work on the weatherworn table. Intrigued, Nellie moved closer, watching the other woman closely as she worked.

It wasn't the most interesting of sights, Nellie had to admit, after ticks of seeing nothing but Kechaiya, prying open some rather odd-looking spiky green things. For a moment, she was reminded of her own struggles with clams, before she had learned the proper way to open them. Kechaiya sawed the spiky oddities open, one by one, dropping the meat of the things into a mortar. That, at least, was something Nellie was familiar with. Her father had used a mortar and pestle often; in fact, one of the only things she was able to scrounge from the ruin of his lab had been his pestle. It now rested safely in the trunk near her bed, unused but not forgotten.

As the smaller woman began to grind the contents of the bowl, Nellie spoke up inquisitively. "What are those things? Are th' spiky parts no good?" Moving around the table to get a better look at the process, Nellie reached out to lightly poke at one of the small green spikes. She stared hard at them, committing the shape to memory. If they were good to eat, and warming, maybe she could find some in the wilds, too.

A thought occurred to her, and Nellie suddenly eyed the healer keenly. If she paid close enough attention, it was possible that she could find all of whatever Kechaiya had brought to trade. Then, even after there was no longer a need to trade, she wouldn't have to depend on the other woman for 'herbs for warm'. Of course, Kechaiya may not want to share the details about the herbs or how to find them, refusing to answer her questions outright. Nellie stemmed the flood of questions that rose and settled for simply watching as closely as she could.

Once Kechaiya had ground the things in the bowl to a fine powder, she withdrew stalks of a leafy herb that Nellie recognized. Parsley! A grin spread over her face as she realized that she already knew where to find that; she hadn't known that it was helpful in warming. In fact, she'd eaten it many times as a child, in her mother's dishes, and just assumed it was added only for flavor. How many other herbs had she overlooked in the same way?

Kechaiya had finished her chopping, mixing all the ingredients together until the bowl looked to be full of a plain, undressed salad. There seemed to be quite a bit in the bowl, yet the amount that Kechaiya indicated was relatively small. It should last awhile, was the satisfied realization. If it worked as well as Kechaiya implied, then Nellie was going to be very glad to have the mixture on hand.

But the healer was looking at her expectantly. With sudden realization, Nellie offered a sheepish grin. "Thank you." Reaching for the plate of fish, Nellie set it gently in front of the healer. The scaled and gutted creatures still had a wet look, the skin of the fish shining still, and moist. She'd left the heads on, but wondered if Kechaiya would use them. A soup made with fish heads was nutritious, but some people had a thing about food with eyes. "These should last you a little while."

She looked at the healer, not wanting to offend her, and tentatively continued, "Do ya know how ta cook them?" After all, the healer had told her how to use the herbs; Nellie could at least make sure she would be able to get full use out of the fish.

[Kechaiya]

Kechaiya considered the woman's question about the horse chestnuts. If she told her what it was, would she perhaps back out of the deal and leave Kechaiya without sustenance? She shook it off, they had a deal. Besides, there were many types of chestnuts around Sunberth, and only the horse chest nut worked for this. Some of them were even poisonous. So if she did try and squelch on their deal she'd likely end up dead.

"Is called horse chestnut. Spikes protect from squirrel. No protect from deer. Can use like tinder for fire when dry. No much else."

Kechaiya's stomach practically cheered as the woman put the fish in front of her. If she knew that it wouldn't make her sick, she would've torn into them right then and there. The way she'd prepared them reminded of the few fishermen from back in Eyktol. They were rare, but the fish was a delicacy compared to the lizards, snakes, and goats they were used to.

When asked how to cook, Kechaiya found it silly. You put it on a stick and cook til black, or put it in boiling water until it fell apart. Kechaiya didn't realize the actual effort that went into real cooking. And probably never would. After all, the woman had yet to boil a single potato correctly. "Put on stick and make black." She said this matter of factly, as if it was the most known thing around and couldn't ever be disputed. She had even accompanied it with a confident head nod.

[Nellie Hawkins]

Nellie held back a surprised chuckle, with difficulty. Kechaiya's plan for the fish would certainly get the job done, but... "That'll work," she nodded, satisfied that the smaller woman at least wouldn't make herself ill eating it raw.

"Some people make a soup outta th' 'eads, too. Lasts longer that way, even if its just a broth." Using her finger, she indicated a line just behind the gills of the fish, "if you slice th' fish 'ere an' drop th' 'eads into a pot of water, toss in a few spices - garlic is good," Nellie stopped, making sure that Kechaiya was following her instructions. It was hard to tell; the ebon eyes gave very little away. Gamely, she pressed on, "anyway, th' fish'll last longer that way."

The other woman nodded, but offered little in the way of further conversation; all her attention seemed to be focused on the fish in front of her. A pang of pity sliced through her and Nellie gave up entirely on trying to instruct her in the finer points of fish head soup. It was more than obvious that their business was concluded and Kechaiya was eager to be off with her trade. "Thanks fer the 'erbs, Kechaiya. I'll be 'appy ta trade with ya again if ya need more fish," she offered sincerely. It would come in handy to have a customer so close to home. Some days the streets were rougher than Nellie cared to bare.

Kechaiya nodded, offered a broken farewell and hastened her fish out the door. Another quiet rumbling punctuated her exit and Nellie couldn't help but feel equal parts amusement and pity. The current food shortage was pinching many of Sunberth's residents; Nellie was one of the luckier ones. She had the knowledge and the means to find her own food, and didn't have to rely on charity or blind chance to find sustenance. Kechaiya had skills that she didn't have, but those skills would not have helped her survive even the small famine that was currently playing havoc in the city.

Looking back to her remaining fish, Nellie remembered that other creatures were being affected by the lack of food. Grabbing her basket and cleaning supplies once more, she ventured back outside to see if the stray cat she'd seen earlier was still in the area. She had more fish guts to dispose of.

(oocBit of liberty taken in the spirit of finishing the thread satisfactorily, since my partner has left.)

[Amora Jade]

Congratulations, you've been awarded!

 

Nellie

Skills

• Observation +5
• Negotiation +2
• Rhetoric +2
• Cooking +1
• Herbalism +1
• Teaching +1

Lores

• Kechaiya: Healer
• Kechaiya Knows of Warming Herbs
• Use of Warming Herbs
• Horse Chestnut: An Herb Used for Heating up your Body
• Horse Chestnut: Has Spikes to Protect from Squirrels
• Horse Chestnut: When Dry can Only be Used as Kindling
• Trading Fish for Herbs, Firewood, and Medical Assistance when Needed

Earnings/Expenses

• +1 week's worth of Heating Herbs
  +5 Fish

I would have given you Fishing experience if you described any action of actually fishing, remember that next time so you can get the most out of your writing!

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to send me a private message! Also, please remember to edit your post requesting the grade as "Graded."

With love,
Miss Jade