Oh, about that... (Lakara)

[Mizuriel]

Ledger noteAn average book called “Healing Herbs”, -50 gm 50 sheets of paper, -2 gm 2 vials of ink (1 Oz. each), -4 gm 2 quills, -1 gm Total: -57 gm OOCAll of it was retrieved from the market, and i will do a separate thread in getting it all if it's required. Also if i do have to do it, nudge me about it, as i am bound to forget. Oh, and Lakara, you should jump in. 12th of Spring, 510 AV It was quite late for most people, but not for the two night birds that were sitting at the table, resting their feet after a trip to the market. Mizuriel found what he was looking for, and was absently smiling as he was looking at Samantha. The girl on the other hand was quite hyperactive, and looked like she wanted in on the reading. She knew it was no bedtime story or anything dazzling like that, but still the big unknown that the book held beneath its wraps lured her in regardless. As she crawled out of her chair, she slowly went around the table, stopping next to the man’s chair, and pulling his arm to show him he should help her up. Once he pulled her up to his lap, she quickly snuggled against his chest before she turned around, grabbing a piece of paper from the stack that was just in her reach. The next thing she did was open up one of the ink vials and stuck a quill into it. Once the quill came out drenched in ink, she pulled it towards the paper, scribbling slowly. “If I help you study, will you tell me a story?” was what the paper said. Mizuriel got carried away for a bit as he was admiring Sam’s handwriting which was seemingly better even than his own. He thought she was probably a child born to some rich couple with her perfect traces on paper; not even once in all the time they were together did he need to correct any of her letters, grammatical errors were a whole different story though. Realizing he drifted off for a moment, he stopped his spacing out and looked down at the girl who was already enveloping him in a heart melting gaze. Her eyes were as widened as they could possibly be, as she blinked more quickly than usual, expecting an answer. Ruffling his fingers through her hair slowly, he sighed while nodding slowly, only to see a victorious grin appear on her face. As he reached out to open the book, he was stopped by a slap against his hand. Looking down confused, he realized that Samantha was writing something down again. He blinked a couple of times as he did not understand what she wanted to say with a simple sentence that stood etched into the paper. “STOP! It’s more fun this way” He looked at her, nodding his head to the paper and shrugging clueless. She then quickly opened the book at a random page, pointing at a paragraph somewhere in the middle of the left one. Mizuriel smiled slowly as her idea finally started to make sense in his mind too. Looking down at the article, he started reading quietly over her shoulder: “Apples, when eaten with their skin are a slight laxative, as they can absorb toxins from the intestine level…” there he stopped as he felt his hand being pulled again. This time he already had a finished sentence in front of him. “What is a laxative?” the man frowned a bit at the question, unsure how to answer it properly. Finally it hit him: “You remember when I taught you what number two was?” he spoke in an uneven tone. Samantha turned towards him, deep in thought for a moment, only to have a silly smile on her face as she was nodding maniacally. It could have easily been predicted; kids always seemed to find humor in such obvious things. “Well, laxatives are things that help you deal with the lack of number two in your day” he smiled awkwardly as he explained. She then quickly turned the next page, pointing at yet another article…

[Lakara]

Light footsteps echoed round the hallway, deserted save for the lone woman walking through it. Her silvery hair glimmered in what little light there was, as did the light patterning of scales running over the hand that held a journal. Both these points signalled that this woman was a Konti, and she was heading up to the common area. Lakara had not been able to sleep. She had no idea why, perhaps it was just one of those nights. After a bell or so of tossing and turning, she had flung her covers away in frustration. After pulling her cloak over her nightwear, lest she meet anyone in the corridors, she grabbed her journal, pen and ink, she exited her room and proceeded down the corridors of the Sanctuary. Upon her entry to the common room she paused. Seated at the table was a man and a very young girl. She had seen the pair about the place before. They'd spoken, but the Konti would still only consider the man an acquaintance. She knew his name - Mizuriel - and she recalled that the girl was named Samantha, but that was as far as her knowledge of the pair went. She pulled her cloak a little tighter, to cover her over-sized silk tunic, and made her way to the table. She caught the end of Mizuriel's words as she approached, her brow raising at the subject. She let a polite smile grace her mouth. "May I sit here?" She pointed at an empty chair across the table from the two. If the man nodded, she would lower herself into the chair and, hopefully, start her write-up of notes on her healing knowledge. She dipped her pen into the ink pot and held it over the page, ready to write. However, curiosity got the better of her, and she looked up at the man again. "I uh, I couldn't help but overhear..." She glanced at the girl before returning her attention to Mizuriel. "What exactly are you teaching your daughter?" She couldn't help it, after all, it was not a subject one usually heard in conversation, and she hoped that she had simply overheard the wrong part.

[Mizuriel]

OOCIt seems like I have managed to ditch some of that addiction after all. Mizuriel could hear what he thought were footsteps, but still he had managed to disregard the noise as a nuisance while his gaze was reverted back to the book. He was just about to start reading again, when he heard a strangely familiar voice reaching his ears. Nudging quickly, he almost made Samantha fall off his lap. For this he was rewarded with an angry smirk that lasted only a couple of seconds, and then quickly shifted into a smile as the girl’s tongue was lolling out at him. Putting Sam’s strange facial expression aside for the moment, he raised his head to greet the source of his surprisal, there he found Lakara. Before he got too lost in trying to figure out what he knew about the woman so far, he replied casually: “Of course you can sit, I could hardly deny you that much” he smiled a bit as he was talking. The woman seemed to have some business of her own, so Mizuriel did not bother her any further. Just when he was about to start talking again, another question came to his ears. Phrasing the words slowly in his head, it took him a bit to speak again. “I am teaching her…” there he was cut off by Sam pulling on his sleeve as she turned to face him, raising an eyebrow. He immediately knew what was bothering her, so he corrected himself: “We are studying on some medical plants together. For the help, I owe her a story” he patted the girl’s head gently as he spoke, smiling when he was sure she could no longer see him. He could see that the woman couldn’t sleep, so he tried to be friendly: “You can join us as well, if you would like, but I can’t promise you anything other than a story in return. So, do you want to study with us?” he smiled, apparently failing at humor. Still, he sounded friendly enough, at least he hoped that was true; which was enough for the moment.

[Lakara]

"I am teaching her..." Lakara was still holding her pen over the blank page of her journal, completely oblivious to the bead of black ink forming on it's tip. She gave a smile and looked at the young girl as she pulled on his arm to correct him. Her attention was quickly returned to Mizuriel when he mentioned medicinal plants however. Herbalism was something that the Konti desperately wanted to learn. She knew basic traditional cures such as bandages, and she had her Gnosis from Rak'keli, but even that was limited. Medicinal herbs would be something extremely useful to her. "So, do you want to study with us?" Lakara beamed across the table at him. "I would love to!" Her enthusiastic nod was just enough to shake the ink drop off the end of her pen. It hit the white paper and splattered black all over her clean page. She glanced down and sighed. Just her luck, though at least her white cloak was left un-marred. She decided against trying to scrub the ink off, and instead simply turned to a fresh page. She then laid her pen in the centre of her journal to avoid any more splatters, before continuing to speak. "That is of course, if you don't mind." This question was directed to the young girl at Mizuriel's side, accompanied by a gentle smile. She glanced back at the man again. "Healing herbs are something that I know nothing about, so I expect it will be greatly beneficial to me." She paused and grinned. "And I love stories."

[Mizuriel]

He could feel something stuck in his throat as Lakara accepted the invitation. It was almost certain that he would be declined, but this… he was not sure how to handle acceptance. Relief could be spotted on his face, as the attention turned to Samantha again. As soon as the girl had heard the question, she started tilting her head left and right with her lips pouted. After a while she just simply nodded with a smile. Mizuriel found himself in an awkward position again, as he spoke: “You are free to come closer if you wish, we don’t bite, Sam and I” he smiled lightly as he looked down onto her scalp absently. “We don’t know much of medicinal herbs either, I know only of those I have used, and even that isn’t much. Also, your love for stories might get tarnished if you let me weave them” he chuckled to himself as he patted Sam’s head adding: “What do you want to hear about now?” It did not take the girl long to randomly flip the pages again, pointing at the book once she thought she found something interesting. “Are you sure basil is what interests you?” the girl nodded swiftly, but Mizuriel doubted she even knew what the plant actually looked like. “Alright, so I will read, and you can take notes. It would also be good to mark down any questions you may have once I am done reading, same goes for you Lakara. I mean, if it suits you” he twisted his lips to the side, unsure what did he just suggest. He got back to the book in order to block out any needless thoughts: “An aromatic plant, the basil is used in the culinary art as a seasoning for diverse meat and sauce dishes. Traditional medicine uses basil as a remedy for chronic gastritis and stomach aches. The plant itself can be used as a sedative, a diuretic or an antiseptic. It is recommended for treating gastro-intestinal and renal affections, bronchitis and fever. The use of basil leaf tea is recommended in nervous system fatigue, insomnia and painful…” he stopped, sighing before continuing: “… menstruation. To avoid the unpleasant effects of insect stings rub the wounded spot with fresh basil leaves or with the juice from fresh basil plants. I think that should do it for now, so what needs explaining?” he took in a deep breath to compensate the oxygen he used up while reading. The questions on paper made him feel apprehension again. “What is an antiseptic?”, “Gastro-intestinal?”… “Renal?” and “What’s a diuretic?”. He had no problem answering all of them, but the diuretic one was probably not the best idea next to a woman he hardly knew. “An antiseptic is a substance that stops infection from spreading through the wounds; you could call it a wound cleaner. Gastro-intestinal means that it helps with stomach and bowel issues. Renal would concern the kidneys… you with me so far?” he paused until the girl nodded. “And diuretic, well… people use diuretics when they have trouble doing number one” not letting the awkwardness get to him completely, he added: “How about you Lakara, anything you want to know?” his attempt to diffuse the situation was not perfect, but he still felt like he should get some credit for trying.

[Lakara]

Lakara gave the girl another warm smile when she nodded. At Mizuriel's words she simply leaned over the table a little more, propping her elbows up, and resting her chin in her hands. "I wont crowd you, I can hear you fine from this side of the table." SHe smiled. "It's not all that wide anyways." A light chuckle slipped through the Konti's lips at Mizuriel's next words. "I suspect your stories are a lot better then those my brothers used to tell." She glanced curiously at the girl - Sam - when she started flipping pages. She absently wondered why she hadn't spoken yet, and put it down that she could simply be shy. Her brow raised a little when she chose basil. The Konti only ever used it in cooking, and she often found that it eased stomach pains, but that was the extent of her knowledge. She picked up her pen and nodded to the man. "Pen at the ready." She grinned. "Read on." The first point was cooking, that she knew. Sedatives she did not however, so she made a note on her journal page. She also added notes in her delicate handwriting on the points for basil leaf tea. Lakara looked up from her note-taking at Mizuriel's pause, and resisted the urge to smirk a little when he continued, before adding the 'ailment' to her list. She continued down the page till he stopped reading, and glanced up to see Sam writing some things down too. Though she raised her brow slightly when she pushed the paper towards Mizuriel. Perhaps she simply cannot speak? She tilted her head slightly to try and glimpse the girls questions, marveling at the handwriting. It seemed so neat for someone so young. She listened quietly as Mizuriel ran off some answers to the questions, nodding every now-and-again. She knew those ones, so she placed her pen in the groove between the pages of her journal. "Nope, I think you've covered everything there." She smiled before looking at the girl again. "Do you want to learn healing too then?" There was a pause where she waited for an answer before she added as a sort of offside to Mizuriel. "Is there anything on ginger in that book?"

[Mizuriel]

OOCSorry, I failed to post for a bit, but I’m playing catch up now. Lakara’s question prodded into Mizuriel’s mind, as he could not answer it immediately upon her turning towards Samantha. He was about to squeeze out an answer when he got another question, and got all tangled up in his thoughts. Just as he was trying to divert everyone’s attention to something else, Samantha started scribbling across the paper, with her quill. “I can’t speak” was all it the paper said as she pushed it in front of the Konti, before pulling it back towards her again. “She doesn’t speak” Mizuriel revised in an awkward tone, just in case the woman didn’t know how to read Common. “So, how about we get back to that ginger thing?” he proposed, as he slowly flipped the pages in search of his target. Finally stopping when he found what he was looking for, he cleared his throat before reading: “Ginger is probably one of the world’s favorite medicines and cooking ingredients. Its delicate green leaves, resembling baby spinach, can be eaten in salads, but the roots of the plant, called rhizomes, are where the benefits of ginger root lie” pausing briefly, he looked at Sam, trying to figure out if she was upset. Not finding anything that would spike his attention, he went on: “Ginger is known, among other things, for aiding in digestion, alleviating high blood pressure and for its calming effect on nausea and morning sickness” he stopped again, skimming over the unimportant suggestions in the article. “Ginger is available in two forms, either young or mature. While mature ginger needs to be peeled, the young sort requires no such things. Whenever possible, choose fresh ginger over the dried form of the spice since it is not only superior in flavor but contains higher levels of anti inflammatory substances” he smirked a bit, coming across a side note: “When buying fresh ginger root, look for a root with a firm, smooth skin, free of mold and as few twists and joints as possible. If it is wrinkled, it is drying out and will be woody inside” he stopped, as he could see that Samantha seems to have trouble keeping up with her notes. After giving the girl some time, he continued: “An exquisite combination in cooking refers to mixing garlic and ginger. The mix is not only potent in taste and flavor, but it also carries some anti viral properties within; it works best for more serious cases of cold and the standard flu” he paused as he thought he already knows that, but from where, he could not figure out. He smiled as he came across the ending: “Brewed as a tea, it induces sweating, which helps fevers run their course. It also tones and helps boost the immune system. While it deteriorates quickly if kept in storage after being peeled, putting it away without peeling can prolong its life for approximately three weeks. Be warned, the plant is not usable once the time limit has expired and should be thrown away as quickly as possible” he shifted his gaze away from the book, content with all the new knowledge. “Any questions?” he added, but after seeing Sam shake her head, he doubted the Konti will have any either.