Completed Stocking Up

[Amunet]

24th day, Summer Season, 515 A.V.
Back of River Flower tent

A few days saw her whole and itching to ride out in the wind but she promised the Healer Nahar Tenderhoof she would report to the philtering lab at the back of the tent. The girl took care of Shetanae’s needs and saw that she was comfortably doing early morning grazing. It was already hot and the sun had just barely peeked over the horizon. Amunet checked on little mama and it seemed the Healers had also tended to her also. The colt was a good strong foal. The gamble had paid off it seemed as his shoulders and broad haunches already showed promise of power and strength. It will be interesting of who will bond with that strider. The spark of the storm god seemed to be in that colt’s eyes. The herbalist smiled as she gave a cheery good morning to Little Mama and the colt.

She went on her way towards the center tents and to the back of the tent. There were not many stirring at this early of the day. The simpler equipment in the philtering lab she could manage. The more intricate tempering equipment and other techniques she did not know. The girl did know to take the herbs and bundle them up to process. Rather to be dried or to be used in a tincture or something else. The girl started sorting the bags. Labeling was important as well as when herbs are dried, one green thing looked like another green thing. This was also true to roots and barks. Brown and tan stuff looks like other brown and tan stuff. She looked around for the record keeping tomes or journals. The girl also procured her own journal. Her mother had once said that the good herbalist all kept their own journals and often became Herbals. Herbals to a herbalist was like a grimoire to a magic user.

Some may not even know she had already started as she located the twine and the volume of herbs gathered including what she contributed as payment for the Healing. First she searched the records for a current inventory and looked at the lay out of the storage and adjoining philtering tent. Once she had an idea of what went where and current inventory it gave her an idea of how to process the herbs and other reagents for creating medicines or philtering what the healing tent needed. She quickly set into work to bundle the green herb into small portions and twined together to hang up. In the heat of the day these will dry quickly. Some she kept loose as she wasn’t sure if they would want tinctures or oils out of them. The amounts took her better part of an hour to twine and hang.

One of the herbalist entered in and smiled seeing the industrious Amunet already at work. “Here I thought I would have to lay everything out and have a lecture waiting on what was expected.” The lady said in

Amunet gives a shy smile. “Its nothing I wouldn’t do behind my own tent. Only this is a lot more than I bring in at home.”

The lady smiled as Shadar surveyed the carefully rowed and labeled herbs that were drying. “Lets get to work on those tinctures and oils.”

Amunet nodded as they packed umber bottles and jars with various combinations or single herbs rather firmly. This was then filled with a clear pure grain alcohol of the strongest they can buy. The jar or bottle is then tightly closed and shaken. Its placed on a shelf. The young lady helped the older herbalist shake the other bottles that were currently in production. Taking down the older bottles, Shadar showed her how to test the strength without testing it on yourself. It was by scent and color. The more strongly scented the stronger the tincture was going to be. The strength and tone of the color also spoke of strength and some tinctures obtained a heavier viscosity and weight that made it even stronger. The later often took weeks to produce in careful conditions. That was difficult to obtain those results when you are on the move ever three months. Amunet made notations in her journal as this was quickly becoming educational and her quick mind absorbed every moment of it.

[Pearl]

Pearl and Knox were working on their figure eights; Knox easily switching from one lead gait to the other in the canter as Pearl applied pressure with her thighs. Each of them were breathing a bit harder as Pearl brought them to a walk, then stopped and dismounted. She went around to Knox's head and hugged him around the neck, nuzzling her cheek in against his. "You were wonderful, Knox. Thank you for such a splendid workout." She cooed and brushed her hands down the side of his neck before taking him by the lead and heading back to the creek where she had left her father, Trail, and her son, Garrison.

Once at the creek, she led Knox to the edge so he could drink. Pearl kneeled down beside him and scooped up a couple of handfuls of the water for herself. She could hear her father and son not too far away, apparently up on the path and making their way back down to the creek. "Okay, okay. I'll let you walk," Trail chuckled as he spoke. A delighted Garrison squealed and giggled. Pearl sat back on her heels and awaited the arrival of her son at the head of the path. He emerged and, at the sight of his mother, yelled, "Momma!" while doing his best to run towards her. His enthusiasm was more than his little legs and new found steps could handle and soon he toppled forward. Garrison shrieked. Pearl was on her feet in a tick and rushing towards him; Trail was closer and reached him first, scooping up his grandson in his arms.

Once Garrison was soothed enough to calm his cries into sniffles while still in his grandfather's arms, Pearl could examine the injury better; a scraped knee with some of the gravel from the creek bank embedded into the tissue. "Bring him closer to the creek so I can wash the mud and dirt away and see how bad it truly is," Pearl instructed her father before kissing over Garrison's brow. "Momma will fix it, Baby." Pearl stepped away and went to get a small piece of cloth from the saddle bags on Knox and then wet it in the water, then began to carefully wash away as much of the mud and blood as possible. Using the small piece of cloth as a bandage, she tied it around Garrison's scraped up knee.

"I need to take him into The River Flower to clean it properly," Pearl said looking up to her father. It was so hard to see her child in pain and remain clam. Her own eyes were glistening with tears for her son, but she dared not shed them, for Garrison's sake. "Let's go for a ride on Knox, shall we, Little Man?" Pearl asked Garrison trying to distract him from his pain with a ride on Knox, which the toddler always loved. He nodded his head as Pearl took him into her own arms and kissed the top of his head as she tucked him in close against her body. Garrett's face found the crook of her neck and nuzzled in there, taking his comfort from his mother's arms.

.
.
.

[Pearl]

They had only been a few chimes ride away, but still it felt like it took forever to Pearl. Knox had brought them safely to The River Flower under her control, taking care with each of his steps for the benefit of both Pearl and the little patient she held in her arms during the ride. Pearl dismounted carefully, still holding Garrison. "There's a sweet carrot in all of this for you, Knox, I promise." She kissed the Strider's nose and settled his lead over the post before taking Garrison inside; the toddler having been lulled into sleep during the ride.

Pearl went to the back where she maintained her offices and examination room and settled Garrison onto the grassy mattress. The toddler fussed a little at being laid down, but quickly curled up and went back to sleep, giving Pearl time to gather the necessary items, a bandage, some yarrow to help with cleansing the wound and a small stick she had crafted some days ago that was useful in removing small rocks and gravel from wounds. Pearl set about grinding the yarrow into a powder with the mortar and pestle. Once it was at the consistency she wanted, she set it aside.

Sitting down beside Garrison, Pearl unwound the bandage from his knee and set to work, removing the small pieces of gravel from his wound with her Acklar stick. The larger pieces of gravel were more easily dislodged, but the smaller ones took a bit more work. Pearl had managed to get most of them out without much of a fuss from Garrison, but he wiggled and squirmed with each one. "Almost finished, Little Man. You're doing wonderfully. Be still as you can for Momma, okay? Just one more and I promise to stop, all right?" Garrison nodded and sniffled, looking up at his mother with those bright blue eyes.

He is such a trooper, she thought, knowing this last one was going to cause him more pain, and more bleeding. As quickly as she could, she used her Acklar stick and dislodged the last of the stubborn pieces of gravel. Blood began oozing from the wound and Garrison yowled out in pain. Pearl leaned in and peppered his face with kisses to help calm him. "Momma's got you, Baby. Momma's got you," she said over and over again with her sprinkling of kisses as she held him close.


.
.
.

[Pearl]

As soon as he was calm again, Pearl settled him into her lap and took the ground yarrow powder and put on the wound to help stop the bleeding and to tighten the tissues so the wound would begin healing more quickly. She sang to him as she worked; a song that her mother Willow used to sing to her when she was a little girl, to help keep him calm. Garrison began making up words and singing along with his mother as she finished winding the bandage around his little knee.

With a much happier son, she picked him up and settled him to her hip. "Come with me, Little Man. We need to go on an adventure and find some more herbs for that knee of yours." Pearl gave him a little tickle and then a kiss to his nose as she began walking to the herbalist area. "I'm thinking something that will help keep away the soreness that's going to come on in the next few days. What do you think?" she talked as she walked. Garrison had kept her company for the past two years, since his father had passed, and she often talked to him as if he were an adult instead of a small child.

When she neared the area, she smiled upon seeing the young woman that was there, having not met her before. "Good morning," Pearl greeted her while switching Garrison from one hip to the other. "My little patient here needs something that will help him in the days to come. He's scraped his knee rather badly and had some gravel lodged in his wound. I didn't see any wintergreen in the chests up front and wondered if perhaps you had some here? If not, then I'm sure some witch hazel and cayenne would do the trick as well, if you have that available?"

Garrison tried several times to reach for some of the bags of herbs or the ones that were bundled and left to dry. Pearl had to step away to keep the herbs out of the reach of curious little hands. Obviously, Garrison was feeling much better, and all the new items within his view had him distracted. Pearl chuckled softly as she waited for Amunet to provide her with an answer.
.
.
.

[Amunet]

She had bundled a fresh batch of peppermint and hung it up to dry when they came in. The little boy reminded her a bit of her little brother Drak. There was an instant smile as the brunette greeted her. “Good Morning.” With a polite incline of her head as she turned from the table and leaned up against it to listen.

“oh poor dear. Wintergreen is somewhere but I would recommend calendula ointment with the witchhazel. Helps the tissues heal up nicely and lavender will ease discomforts gently. Cayenne might be too much for tender skin with little ones.” She had just inventoried and surveyed the apothecary and ran a quick mental run through her head. “I believe we have tinctures of both wintergreen and witch hazel. I am not sure there is a jar of calendula ointment but there is plenty of lavender oil. “Oh, I’m sorry. I forget myself. I am Amunet Shimmerstone. “

Amunet’s hand waved at the lady. She had her hands full with a little one. “I remember fixing up scraped knees for my little brother Drak. You are being a very big guy with this whole thing.” Amunet said to the little one. She couldn’t help but laugh at the wandering hands that were reaching for danglies.

“let me get those for you.” The young herbalist got the bottle of witch hazel and wintergreen so she would have her choice or she could blend the two. “The calendula ointment has to be made I’m afraid. Here is the lavender oil. That can be blended as well with the calendula to make one ointment safely. They are not contraindicative to each other. Its cold oil infused oils. Essential oils would be very difficult to produce a pure form. “ it required several pounds of the herb to produce a small amount of essential oil. Cold infusion was usually the preferred method and most economical. The captured volatile essence is still maintained though not in the strength of essential oils.

[Pearl]

"A pleasure, Amunet. I am Pearl," she paused and smiled before adding, "Riverstone." She reached to accept the bottles of witch hazel and wintergreen, then slid them into the pocket of her pants averting them from Garrison's grabbing little hands. "Thank you, these will do well enough for now. At least they will offer him a bit of comfort for when I change his bandages tomorrow." She bounced the toddler just a little in a playful jostle as she switched him to her opposite hip.

"Best that I get this one back home and settled before he manages to actually get his hands on something. Apparently, this little scuff isn't going to keep him down for long." Pearl smiled again at Amunet as she went to leave the area, then paused at the door and looked back to the young woman. "Thank you again, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day," she said before stepping away and heading out through the tents.

"Think you can ride Knox all by yourself, Little Man?" she asked as she placed Garrison upon Knox's back and took up the lead as she returned to her son's side, a hand placed at his back as she began to lead the Strider back towards home at a casual walking pace. Garrison kicked his little legs at Knox's side with a big grin on his face that faded and twisted into a frowning pout as he reached for his bandaged knee. "Owie, Momma. Owie," he said in that little boy whine.
"I know, Baby," she said and leaned in to kiss his wounded knee. "I'm sorry you have an owie."
"Stories when home? Please, Momma?" Garrision whined again, giving Pearl that full pout that he did when he wanted to get his way.
"As soon as I have Knox cared for, then yes."
"I help!"
"Okay, you can help. I promised him a carrot. You know where the carrots are, yes?"
"Uh huh, I knows, " he announced proudly, his owie all but forgotten for the time being.
"Good, then when we get home, you get the carrot while I brush him down. Then after he eats his carrot and gets some water, he can go out to feed on some grasses, then it will be story time, deal?"
"Yup! Deal!"

Pearl chuckled and kissed Garrison's knee again as they continued on home. Knox nickered and shook his head as a fly buzzed at his eye, but he was very careful with his steps and of the precious cargo that Pearl had entrusted with him to ride upon his back.


.
.
.

[Amunet]

She smiled as Pearl took the bottles and walked away with her precious burden. She then decided that the calendula salve definitely needed to be made. It was useful for so many things. Varieties of calendula grow in many open places. It was quite common. These petals can vary from bright yellow to almost orange in color. The cold fusion method was usually the best format for preserving its healing properties. Since its purpose was topical, tinctures were never made for it. Amunet went to work as she located the two week old oil that had been previously created.

There were options in creating a salve, ointment or cream. Creams are usually a finer emulsion and the process and time given to the rich who could afford such luxuries for such emulsions. Salves were the next in thickest viscosity of these topical applications. These are usually oil and wax based. The third option is using lard. If you had nothing else, lard often worked. The girl put a glass bowl over a heat source at the philtering station. The bottle of oil went into the glass bowl.

She adjusted the temperature to make sure that it would heat gently. One did not want to heat this up to quickly or you lose the healing properties in the calendula. She went about taking the precious bees wax and grating a portion of it into a clean bowl. For eight ounces of oil, one would need two ounces of the wax. Placing a clean cloth over the scale to keep the wax clean, she measured the prescribed amount and put it in the oil Amunet watched it critically for the wax to melt. This required occasional stirring, but not too much stirring as that would not be good either. It just needed to be well blended. With a folded cloth, off it came from the heat source and onto the wooden table.

She let this cool for a five chimes. The final ingredient was lavender oil. This batch she intended for babies and young children. Ten drops is usually the amount for little ones. Amunet very carefully dropped these in and stirred. The batch went into jars to cool. The girl then made another batch for aduts which would contain a stronger dose strength of both calendula and lavender. These were carefully marked and labeled. The girl left a note that these were cooling, but once cooled was ready to use.

She wrote a note to Pearl as she placed one of the cooling jars at her station with the note. The note would read, “I hope the little boy will be ok. This ointment should help things along. If I can help in anyway, let me know. Amunet.” The girl exited to head for a much needed meal and to rest. In this heat, resting after the 11th bell was best. That and her shoulder weren’t fully healed. Though it felt fine this morning, the lifting of these small objects and the work she put in caused it to twinge a little. It was manageable but last thing she needed was for the Healer to be upset with her.

[Tribal]

G R A D E S

Amunet

Experience

• Horsemanship: 1
• Organisation: 1
• Herbalism: 2
• Philtering: 1
• Logic: 1
• Socialisation: 2
• Observation: 2
• Planning: 1
• Childcare: 1
• Cooking: 1

Lore

• Amunet: A promise to Nahar Tenderhoof
• Zulrav: Father of storms
• Organisation: Checking existing records and following procedure
• Organisation: The important of labels
• Pearl Riverstone
• Garrison: Pearl's son
• Herbalism: Wintergreen
• Herbalism: Calendula Ointment
• Herbalism: Witch Hazel
• Herbalism: Lavender eases discomfort
• Childcare: Keeping a wounded child distracted
• Philtering: A basic Calendula Salve

Pearl


Experience

• Riding, Horse: 2
• Animal Husbandry: 1
• Endurance: 1
• Observation: 2
• Running: 1
• Childcare: 4
• Socialisation: 4
• Philtering: 1
• Medicine: 3
• Singing: 1
• Planning: 1
• Rhetoric: 1
• Herbalism: 1
• Logic: 1

Lore

• Trail: Pearl's father
• Garrison: Pearl's son
• Childcare: Young children should be watched at all times
• Medicine: Cleaning an open wound
• Herbalism: Yarrow and its uses in medicine
• Philtering: Grinding herbs into a useable consistency
• Philtering: Using a mortar and pestle
• Medicine: Removing and applying bandages
• Medicine: Removing foreign object from flesh
• Herbalism: Cayenne
• Herbalism: Witch Hazel
• Amunet Shimmerstone
• Amunet: A budding herbalist
• Amunet: Has a brother named Drak

Loot

1 x Small vial of Witch Hazel
1 x Small vial of Wintergreen
1 x Small vial of Calendula Salve

Notes


Hello ladies. An interesting thread, I quite enjoyed reading this one. I have a few tips for both of you, especially you, Amunet. When starting out it’s quite hard to get the skills you really want, especially when your characters basically know nothing about them and have no lore to support their ideas or understanding. It’s very important to play to their strengths and not overdo it.

Amunet, a lot of the time you were saying your PC did this or that but not going into enough detail to earn the skill points I knew you were searching for, in some cases I awarded them anyway, but I won’t be as kind next time. For example, I really wanted to give you skills in organisation and herbalism while you were explaining what she was going to do but not actually acting out what you planned to have her do which is the important part.

Again be careful with what you use unless your characters have gathered it themselves. You can’t just take things from the River Flower and some of these items will have to be paid for in future. Hope this all helps with future threads! Enjoy the rewards!