Solo Settling In, Winter Camp

[Amunet]

1st day, Winter, 515 a.v.
9th bell
Winter grounds, East section

She couldn’t travel as fast as some who coursed the djed lines of the web. How could she? The red head did not know webbing. Moving with her family and the pavilion her father and grandfather ensured everyone moved together and it seemed as if time slipped and they were suddenly there. It didn’t quite go like that but it wasn’t this ponderously slow. By the time she got there the sun was well risen and the tops of the River Flower tent was already risen and the tents well placed. The Drykas were very efficient at this sort of thing. She was alone in this now. She felt every bit of it as she packed herself, her animals and her home to move forward. Amunet kept the wagons and groups of travelers in sight till they disappeared with the web. The way was in her blood though as she arrived with the activity of set up well underway.

Her eyes looked around at the grass, the clumps of bushes and pathways many took to find a suitable camping spot. The sight of the whipmane colors caught her eyes as she was provided the invitation to camp close to them. The relative distance to the River Flower also was regarded. The spot chose her it seemed as a lovely spot half way between the River Flower and the Whipmane Pavilion provided her with the solution. The red head dismounted and released the rope that told the donkey’s when to move forward. The both of them stood still as they patiently waited to be unloaded. The two shifted a little but managed to stay put. Shetanae moved off a little as Amunet examined the chosen location looking for large rocks, stumps or things that would prove uncomfortable to sleep on with the grass underfoot. The summer grasses had dwindled and dried nicely and they would make good cushion for the bottom to lay on. The grasses would provide a nice scent and some types of grasses deter fungus.

The girl went to unpack the donkeys setting the tents on one side and the chests along the opposite side. The crafty red head took the dagger she used in herbalism and began cutting grass at the base and laying it flat. This took some time as the spot was thicker with grasses than she thought. By the time she had this all trimmed to make camp she had a nice pile of hay and bedding to put the bedroll on. The sleeping four man tent was put up first as she learned the trick of leveraging her weight in and pushing up firmly to get the tent pole set firmly. It was a rhythm thing she theorized. That solution made sense to her and it worked to get the tents up and solid. Once the tents were up and inspected for weather tightness, The donkeys were set to graze with the Whipmane herds and Shetanae was untacked to do the same thing. The dog and cat laid out in the grass nearby to rest.

[Amunet]

Amunet moved the chests into the sleeping tent. She then moved to take the shovel and dig a fire pit. Half of it was for an open fire, the other half would be for cooking. She hopes maybe she could find an old dead tree or something to pull to sit on. The chests work as stools though. The fuel wood she gathered over fall was brought out and she made a fire. The girl set the wood out and got the smaller pieces to strike flint and steel against to make the fire. Her face went close as she knelt there and blew on the sparks to the smaller bits ever so gently watching the flame wrap around the dry fuel and snatch it. She never tired watching that part. Did Zulrav do that? Is it something about the breath, the very thread of Zulrav that is in her chest that pushed the fire onto the wood. It turned wood into fuel, into fire, into warmth. It heated her water for tea, it cooked her food, it warmed her soul.

The girl mused these things as she pondered the Gods and in the way this savage world worked. It often brought more questions than it did answers. The girl’s thoughts turned to Rak’keli as it was her gift that healed the chest in order to breath in zulrav’s gift to live. There was a huff of a chuckle as she shook her head. The kettle soon had water in it and placed on the flat stone she used for cooking so it could boil before she opened her large chest to look for tea and a cup. One of the whipmane boys stopped by to make sure she was getting on ok. The pleasantries were quick and she thanked them for asking. They were going to do a water run and offered to get her water. They were off before she could tell them she was fine. This was how it was supposed to be. She looked down as she did miss her pavilion and family. She also was not sorry for refusing to marry Pratal. Amunet firmly believes that she saved her family from something. What it was she wasn’t sure but the man was not a good bargain.

Be that as it may she poked at the fire with the chosen stick to push at it and make sure it was burning well. The girl then went to unroll her bedroll and put her wool blankets down. The brazier was next to be in the center of the tent. She had a supply of coal and zibri chips. Some balk at using zibri chips due to the smell, but when wood is low, it is a viable option to stay warm. The tarp was folded and stored away. When the camp moved as it did in their wandering way, she sometimes can use it if she finds an amicable twin trees to create an awning overhead kind of thing. It was hit and miss if she managed to find a spot that isn’t occupied with the tree set up she liked. Her tea was made as she sat on one of the small chests and sipped it to warm up. The sun was well up as she gave thought to her food stores.

Thankfully she kept her camp simple. It was easier to pack and she didn’t have to worry about possessions. Her herbal content and philters were growing and she would soon need another chest to keep that. Amunet didn’t want to think about that right now. It was day to day. The creative and complex mind did drift to future things but she found it unsettled her. The girl had no idea what would become of her other than being a healer of Rak’keli. That was something, but was it living. Did having a husband and children mean living? No, she found that some settled and married someone they could live with and melded with mediocrity. There was nothing wrong with that, but the red head wanted something more. The spirited blue eyes wanted something epic. It was a fantasy some say. Like the stories of the Knights of Syliras in their shining armor charging the battlefield, she wanted something that epic.

[Amunet]

The girl laughed into her cup of tea as maybe she was being too fanciful. Maybe. The young healer ate a little something and continued organizing her camp for efficiency. Amunet seemed to have chosen a nice spot as she waved at one person or family that went by. People she had seen in the River Flower or she had birthed their babies. It was nice. The loneliness crept away during those times. Leia managed to quietly make her way there as the half grown hunting cat sat next to her and put her head on the girl’s thigh? Amunet looked down as the head was on her hip. She was growing fast and a sleek hunting cat she was. Leia was fast too, very fast.

Her hand would find the cat’s head and skritch her behind the ears for a brief moment. She had the day to get settled before needing to be in the River Flower in a couple of days as festival of the first frost will commence. The red haired beauty had no intentions of partaking in the festival as she had no interest in finding a mate at the moment. It was half true, just what she was looking for would not be in the general populace of those who would use the festival as a means to gain a husband. So she took her journal out as it might as well be good time to write a few things in her growing herbal. This would be on grasses. It is a simple plant but the plant is often overlooked as well its everywhere. There were grasses that fed their animals but some grasses were better than others in laying fat on their herds.

She drew with the charcoal pencil upward light strokes and downward. The tip was used to darken the shafts of the grass as her little finger smudge gently. It was a reasonable likeness. Grass was not hard to draw but getting the differentiations was the hard part. One side of this type of grass was always darker than the other half of the leaf. Amunet would darken the other half and smudge it with light strokes of a warm finger. The ink stick was used to make descriptions. Sweet grass was the first entry. The girl stopped a moment and went into the chest to get the dried examples. She returned to sit more on the ground as she placed them out and now had models to at least attempt a sketch. It was used to clear the air of a new place but it was also used in pipe tobaccos and in teas.

She continued to write as she lifted the braid up that was collected from one of many caches along the Sea of Grass. The tea was used with other herbs for coughs and sore throats. Amunet knew it best for its use in dealing with issues in the nether regions. It was used for washes to help veneral infections. A strong tea was used to help expel afterbirth which was what she used it for mainly when performed midwife duties. It was noted by a nurse that her grandmother said it was good for vaginal bleeding. The girl was interested in that as heavy bleeding weakened a new mother. In the outlying camps that did not stick to Endrykas, it might be beneficial knowledge for them to know. The fingers returned to the sketch of the grass as she elongated certain parts and worked on the shading a little more. She did not feel confident in drawing the braid. That was something she would need to figure out.

[Amunet]

The next grass was a fun one but one not easily found. It was lemon grass. If you don’t know what to look for, you will miss it as it blended into other grasses easily. It fortunately grew very tall. She attempted to draw the piece of lemon grass she had. It was a small tender bulb that was good for cooking. The older fibrous bulbs were a bit tough but better for extraction with tinctures and oils. It did require good maceration in order to do this. Amunet wrote these details down along side her poor depiction of the herb. Lemon grass was good for cooking, potpourri and medicines. That was what she knew. She left room to write for her entries of other knowledge as it came along. That was the beauty of herbals. They become very personalized as life went on.

The red head did wish she could have her mother’s herbal and wondered where it went to when she did die. Maybe her father kept it from her. Maybe. The girl refocused onto the journal as she kept writing about this grass or that. She wasn’t in any hurry and enjoyed the comfort of the fire and the tea. The girl went on to describe various grasses used to weave baskets, mats and hats. Other useful things were made from the stronger grasses like rope. The thicker ropes were made from certain very strong grasses. Irongrass was used to make such things. There were several grasses that ranged in colors and in certain times of the year their color would dry true and produce a variety of woven items. Being in a crafting clan, the basics of this flowed through her as she wrote these down. No, it wasn’t medicinal but this wasn’t about medicine. This was about the usefulness of the herbs or plants themselves in a variety of ways.

That was what made herbalism so interesting. It also helped to make the most out of their environment and perhaps this memory job would help her during this time of being alone. The smallest thing could save a life or ease suffering. She wrote this little tidbit specifically as Amunet felt strongly about ensuring the strength of her people.

[Jasmine Stormblood]

Let me know if I missed anything

XP Earned:

Observation: 2 XP
Herbalism: 1 XP
Drawing-Charcoal: 1 XP

Lores:

Amunet: dreaming of epic things
Lemon Grass: used for cooking, potpourri, and medicine
Sweet Grass: used in tea, pipe tobacco, and to clear the air in new places
Grass shading is difficult

Comments: It was a fantastic read. I wasn't aware of the uses for most of the grasses. Very cool to learn enjoy!

The Clan is Strength.
The Clan is Life.