The Water Pepper

[Leuconoe]

Fall 3, 517AV

Able to withstand the harsh air of the surface world, but rooted in the cool water where it thrives and breathes. Like Leuconoe the Water Pepper is part of both worlds. In front of her it grew tall in a small patch, its stems and roots gripping the dark muddy ground, only a few inches deep in water. A recent flood pushed the waters of the Bluevein River up across the banks, and here some got caught behind a few fallen branches. The fresh water, cooling in the new Autumn weather, drowned the green grass on the banks and left a fertile field of sucking mud. The Water Pepper took hold and grew quickly. Although not as tall as the plant had the ability to be, it had bloomed at the end of Summer and continued to flower as Fall began. This small patch contained perhaps ten thin plants. Each pepper only needing a tiny amount of space for its stringy stem to grow straight upwards.

Leuconoe approached, barefooted, her feet squelching against the ground as she trapped air beneath her steps. The cold water lapped at her ankles and she knelt, butt to the water, and peered at the patch of herb. In her hand already was her small eating knife, handle made of bone to resist the corrosive salt water she usually dwelt in. Picking one of the plants with her fingertips she ran them down the slippery stem until she reached the base that plunged into the mud. There she grabbed hold and with her other hand she grazed the knife through, cutting stem from stem. The small plant shook from the force, freeing a few of the young white-pink flowers. They fell and floated delicately on the top of the shallow water. Leuconoe ran her smooth fingers back up the stem, pushing each oval leaf flat. The leaves were what the Charoda was after, and at this she placed the harvested Water Pepper carefully within her mesh collecting bag.

Leuconoe repeated this process with the next Water Pepper that appeared to have the most ripe leaves. As she examined the freshly cut plant, she noticed a few small brown nuts hidden amongst the dense flowers at the top of the plant. The herbalist was aware of these nuts, but did not have any knowledge on their uses, if any. She thought, now, if she finds the time, perhaps she could play with these nuts and find something beneficial. But for now she placed the plant delicately next to its sibling in her collecting bag.

She repeated the harvest with three more of the most plentiful Water Peppers in the bunch. By then she had collected half of the patch. She did not want to completely decimate what was left. These remaining five were low on leaves and it would almost be a waste to remove them. She could always return in a fortnight or two and collect then when they became more useful.

[Leuconoe]

However Leuconoe did want to remove just one more of the plants. This one, though, she did not cut at its base. Instead she put her knife away and dug into the sticky mud with the tips of her fingers, clawing gently at the underneath of the herb. With both hands she cupped the thing roots and dirt it clung to until she got a firm, but soft, hold. Raising her hands back up, she removed the entire plant from the water and placed it even more gently aside. After a quick rummage in her pack she returned her hands to the water and scooped up a generous amount of mud and dumped it into a glass jar she had just retrieved. She added more wet dirt to the container until it was half full. Then she dipped the jar into the water so it could collect a few inches of the Bluevein. Finally, then, she picked her live plant back up and re-rooted it into its new habitat in the jar.

As she returned to the Blue Gem of Riverfall, a jar in one hand, and a bag of dripping plants in the other, she welcomed the constricting feel of being surrounded by tonnes of crushing sea water. However, despite her home in the sea, she appreciated the duality of her apartment, as the nature of her next task forbade any water at all. The act of tea making was entirely new to the Charoda when she traveled to Riverfall seven years ago. In fact any liquid drink was a marvel to the watery creature. She learned to make tea, though, quick enough. the drink was very common the the surface world and fulfilled a variety of uses. In Leuconoe's profession, tea was a common intake for the medicinal properties of herbs. Back underneath the waves, Leuconoe would have patients chew the leaves of the Water Pepper to obtain their effects. Although the result was desirable, it was usually unpleasant. Water Pepper has a numbing effect and when eaten raw it would completely remove feeling within the mouth for a good few bells. Although numbing is still present in a tea form, it is much less severe and the positive effects are just as potent.

She set her live pepper on her small table, she would not need to change the water for a few days, she assumed. Then she sat and placed her mesh bag on the table. Pulling out the first plant, she gripped the stem and plucked four small brown nuts from within the flowers. She placed them aside on the table and then focused on the green leaves. Grabbing each gently, careful not to crush them, she plucked from the base and started a small pile on the table. Finishing the first one, she held the carcass, just a long stiff stem, and a bunch of white flowers at the head.

[Leuconoe]

Leuconoe repeated this process with the remaining four plants. By the end of her plucking, the herbalist had a decent pile of the bright green leaves. She had also gathered about seventeen of the tiny nuts. These fruits sparked the Charoda's curiosity. They were small, brown and smooth. Only about as big as a large man's thumbnail, she guessed. The amount that she had gathered today was not a lot, and so she had some room to experiment with them, but not enough to truly get a useful amount of whatever product she discovered. For now, Leuconoe decided, she would dry them along with the leaves so they wouldn't begin to mold before she had a chance to examine them. She could always reconstitute them later if need be.

Now for the hard part. She huffed as she stood from the table and walked over to the hearth. Even seven years later the skill of lighting a fire was still challenging to her. Fire didn't exist in her world, she never needed it for heat or for food, as she ate most everything raw. The only time the hearth was ever really used was for this purpose, preparing something for someone else, most usually related to her herbalism. She had learned over the years that she preferred to use charcoal instead of raw wood. Wood didn't fare well in this underwater abode, very little ventilation. The humidity often kept any wood slightly damp, which caused even more problems. Charcoal, though, was easy to light, didn't make as much of a mess and never created ash that flies into whatever is being heated.

There already lay a bed of coals in the hearth and so Leuconoe retrieved her flint and steel from next to it to spark the fire. Holding the flint in one hand and the steel in another, she held them near the charcoal and smacked the minerals together. A few bright sparks flew, but landed dead, and she tried again, moving the stones a bit closer so the fire would not have to travel as far. She attempted again, but missed and had to drop the steel to steady herself on the floor as the force of her attempt almost toppled her. Picking the metal back up, she struck again. Sparks flew once more and landed with a flare. Quickly, Leuconoe dropped her tools and hunched her face close, blowing slowly she prompted life into the flame. Careful not to blow it out, she continued until the flame spread across the charcoal bed.

Once it was roaring, Leuconoe grabbed her reed woven basket. The basket was much wider than it was deep. Perhaps half a hand deep, but five or more across. The reeds it was made from prevented the basket from catching fire when it was laid over flame or high heat. Not directly upon a flame, of course. She would lay the basket on a medal grate that stood above the hearth, commonly used to hold pots for cooking.