• Solo • Helping Out

11th of Zi'da 721

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Sei'rue
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Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2020 5:04 am
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Helping Out


11th Zi'da, 721

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Sei'rue helped to clean up the dishes after the morning meal. As she washed the dishes, she could hear her father getting ready to go to his shop. Her mother was talking about her plans for the trial. Sei'rue had plans for the trial herself.

Her mother was planning to check her herb supply and sort through her herbs for expired herbs as well as rotate her supply. She also wanted to make some more herbal remedies for the family. Sei'rue didn't think that she was up to the task of making herbal remedies on her own without learning a lot more than she knew now first, but she did want to help her mother with checking and rotating her supply of herbs. She also wanted to give the house a good dusting before she headed into her father's shop to help there.

When she was finished with the dishes, Sei'rue and her mother saw her father off to work. Then it was time to get to work themselves.

"Do you know why I spend so much time checking my herb supply, and rotating me herbs, Sei'rue?"

Sei'rue looked over at her mother, her eyes bright with interest.

"No, Mother. I just know that you rotate the herbs at least once a season, and you check on your herb supply once a seventrial." she answered.

Sei'rue smiled when her mother gave her a surprised look.

"I'm very interested in herbs, and herbal remedies. You know that, Mother. Is it such a surprise that I watch you when you work with them when I get the chance?"

"No it isn't. But I have to admit that I hadn't noticed you watching me so much. If you'd like, we could work together more come next Ashan? I could teach you how to grow and find some of the herbs that I use in the wild."

Sei'rue smiled.

"I'd like that very much, Mother."

"Well then. For now, the reason that I check my herb supply so often is that it is very important to know what supplies you have to work with. If you don't keep on top of things like that, there is a good chance that you will run out of something."

Sei'rue thought about that for a few trills.

"And it is important not to run out of supplies." she realized out loud.

Her mother nodded.

"Yes, it is very important to make sure that you never run out of supplies. You never know when you will need a particular herb, and if it is an emergency, it is possible that lives could be lost because you didn't have the herbs that you need."

Sei'rue nodded. As she did, she made a mental note of what her mother had told her. If it really was that important that one never allow themselves to run out of supplies...and it did make sense that it was...Sei'rue would make certain that she never would.

"And what about rotating the herbs? Why is that important?" she asked after a while.

"It's because even though they are dried, they are still perishable goods. That means that if left too long before being used, they won't be any good. It's the same as if they were meat, or fruit...well, not quite the same. Dried herbs will last a lot longer than meat or fruit would."

Sei'rue nodded to show that she understood.

"By rotating perishable supplies like dried herbs, you will insure that the older ones are used first. That in turn means that there will be no wasted supplies because everything will be used before it expires."

"That makes sense." Sei'rue said after a few trills.

And with that, it was time to get to work.




word count: 654
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Sei'rue
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Posts: 135
Joined: Thu Jun 11, 2020 5:04 am
Race: Mortal Born
Profession: Slave
Renown: 15
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Wealth Tier: Tier 1

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Re: Helping Out


11th Zi'da, 721

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At her mother's request, Sei'rue started at one end of the pantry where the herbs were kept while she started at the other. Sei'rue carefully counted every jar and packet of each type of herb and wrote the amounts on a piece of paper. As she did this, she rotated the herbs so that the jars that had been in the back were now in the front and would be used first.

"Do any of the herbs look different to you?" her mother asked.

Sei'rue paused in her task to consider the question.

"Different how?" she asked.

"I'm sorry. I can't believe that I forgot to tell you. I've been doing this for so long that it is all automatic for me, so half the time I think that everyone knows it. Okay. So there are three indicators that will tell you if an herb is old and stale or not. Those three indicators are the herb's color, scent, and taste. If you know anything about the herb that you are checking, it will be easy to tell if the herb is stale or not, but if you do not, you may well struggle with it. Dried herbs retain their coloration. This means that any dried herb that looks old and faded likely is. But unless you know what the herb looks like when it is fresh, you may not recognize if it is faded. If the aroma is faint, or musty, that means that the herb is old and it has lost its potency. Of course if you don't know what the herb smells like when it is fresh, you will have a harder time knowing it it is fainter than it should be. The musty scent will be a more certain indicator if you are unfamiliar with the herb than a faint one would be. Also, if the flavor is faint, the herb is old. Again, if you don't know what the herb should taste like, you won't know if it tastes fainter than it should. Oh, and one more thing; that final indicator is more for herbs that can be used for cooking as well as medicine than ones you wouldn't normally eat."

Sei'rue nodded.

"Thank you for telling me, Mother." she said quietly.

Since she hadn't been looking for old herbs before, Sei'rue went back to where she had started and began again. She looked at the herbs first, and if they looked old and faded she set it off to one side. Then she smelled each of the remaining jars. There were a few that smelled faint or musty, and these joined the herbs she had pulled during her first run through. The last check was the taste test. But she hesitated on that one.

"Are all of the herbs in here edible? I wanted to see any of the herbs had a faint flavor, but I don't want to risk making myself sick if I taste the wrong herb. For that matter, I don't know what the herbs are supposed to taste like, so..."

"Leave that test to me, Sei'rue."

"Okay. What should I do with the old herbs that I've set aside?"

"Leave those to me too, please. It's possible that some of them might still be usable, so I'll take a look at them. Thank you for helping me with this, Sei'rue. Having someone to work with makes the work go much faster."

"You're welcome."

Sei'rue finished helping her mother with the herbs. When she was done with that, she moved on to the dusting while her mother started work on making some herbal remedies.

It didn't take her long to get the cleaning supplies that she would need; a clean dust rag, and some wood polish for the wooden surfaces. Then she got to work. She started in the family room since it was the largest room, and dusted every surface, including the walls. When there were things displayed or set out for use on those surfaces, she picked them up so that she could dust under them rather than go around them. She also dusted the item itself before putting it back where it had been. She used the wood polish where it was needed, such as on the walls, and she carefully dusted every part of the furniture that needed it, not just the top.

Once she was finished with the family room, Sei'rue moved on to the bedrooms. She did just as complete a job there as she had with the family room. There were more things that needed to be moved and dusted than there had been in the family room so the bedrooms took her longer to do even though those rooms were smaller.

After she had finished the bedrooms, Sei'rue made her way into the kitchen and got to work. With the kitchen, she checked what actually needed to be dusted first since a lot of food preparation was done in that room. There weren't many surfaces where dust was allowed to collect due to the frequent use. But she did dust the tops and insides of the cabinets where the dishes were stored, and the walls as well. The next room she wanted to tackle was her mother's work room, but she knew that her mother was in there making herbal remedies, so she left it alone for now. Finally she moved on to the pantry and the bathroom.

When she was finished with the dusting, Sei'rue put her cleaning supplies away. As she did so, she saw her mother coming out of her work room.

"Are you finished making herbal remedies?" she asked.

"I am. It looks like you're done as well?"

Si'rue nodded.

"I am."

"Then would you like to stop for lunch before you head over to your father's shop? That way you could take him something to eat when you go. He forgot to take a lunch when he left this morning."

Sei'rue smiled fondly. Her father often forgot to bring a lunch with him, so most trials saw either her of her mother bringing him something to eat around midtrial.

"I'd be happy to do that."


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