• Closed • In the Bleak Midwinter

[Ashira Ward]

Zi'da 24

What can I give,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise man
I would do my part;
Yet what I can, I give -
Give my heart.

What was a fashionably devout follower of the Seven supposed to do upon waking from a dream where a creation of one of the Immortals gave you fairly specific instructions? Instructions that were phrased as an optional choice, but Ashira distrusted such things from beings of immense power. It was all curses and tidal waves and a pox upon seven generations and so forth. It wasn't as if she didn't know the Immortals existed. One of the Seven had been mortalborn and they had this distressing tendency to show up at major events without being invited. She believed in them. She just didn't worship them or want anything to do with them. Which left her in a bit of a conundrum. Well. She'd never heard of the Seven cursing anyone for catering to an Immortal, so it was probably safest to oblige. The request had been fairly innocuous anyway, and one she'd not really have thought twice about had it just come from someone on the street.

Still she didn't think she'd tell Everett about it. He'd likely have opinions about her spending the time and nels this was going to take based on a dream. Ashira knew her own mind though. That had not been a regular dream. Besides, if she was wrong she could surely sell the fruits of her labour to some idiot noble for more than it had cost to make. And if she was right.. she was fending off possible disaster for their household.

Besides, if we were being absolutely honest, for all that she found this rather disquieting, she was also preening a little bit internally. Saoire wanted her to make a gift for someone she'd never met. This would usually be extremely troublesome, but Saoire had also provided some rough details about this person and their life. Ashira would most likely never recognize them on the street, but that was fine, Saoire assured her she would see to the delivery herself. It was a detail mentioned once only in passing that had caught Ashiras attention. The rest then, the craft, the personality, these things had been there only to distract the unwary. She had found the reason Saoire had come seeking her, and she would oblige.

She knew more than most about poisons after all.

It was unfortunate she didn't have any of the poison in question. It would have been easiest to test antidotes if she could simply dose herself and see what fixed it. Not perhaps the safest, but who else was she going to try things out on? For a moment her mind wandered down darker paths, before such things were dismissed. That was not to be. She was a Thorn after all. At heart she was a healer. Like her namesake any who tried to grasp hold of her might find themselves regretting it, but she would not use others who'd done nothing to her as her guinea pigs. Even if it would be much more efficient.

Most poisons had things in common though, and from the impression of its effects she'd been given, she could make some educated guesses. Honestly it seemed quite.. Mundane. Strong, but mundane. Like a thousand other poisons that people chose to inflict upon themselves. Which meant then that its antidote could also be mundane, though it would need to be strong.

Extract or pill? She considered this, drumming her fingers on the kitchen table. Perhaps both. This could not be a one time fix after all. Given the severity there would need to be a tapering plan. She might be able to manage it in a week, if she got everything she wanted, if not two was doable.

[Ashira Ward]

Start with the extract then, that would need time to reach proper strength, and she had only this season to prepare. Passionflower. It would have to be. What else was strong enough? Her nose curled faintly in annoyance. This would happen in Zi'da when there was less she could gather herself. There was just something vexing about paying inflated prices for someone so easy to grow and harvest. No help for it though, it needed to be done. The roots would be best. Fresh fruit was still being imported, but that was largely useless as anything other than a snack. Any other part of the plant would have started to dry out and lose efficacy, even if she had a southern orchard ship her vines and flowers on the next boat. Roots on the other hand, would only become more potent. Good.

Ginseng. If she could get the proper species. That would be ideal to add to the extract. What did that cover? Passionflower would see to insomnia, the sort of stomach upset often triggered by withdrawal, nerves, depression, blood pressure and pain. In short it covered most of the major physical and mental symptoms. Ginseng was an adaptogen, it would help normalise any imbalances, and would either calm a person or boost their energy as needed, as well as strengthening the adrenal system and helping again with the mental aspects of stress, anxiety and the like.

That was a good start. What else?

Velvet beans if she could get them, though they would be more effective as a pill. A mood booster, but more importantly they helped to decrease cravings. This would be useless after all if the person immediately went out of took more of the poison Ashira was trying to rid them of. If one was making a pill, you might as well add ginger. It was cheap, and it reduced pain and swelling as well as nausea. Lingzhi mushrooms would help to clear the poison from their system faster. Terribly bitter, but it worked. It also helped to calm and center the mind, which would help the velvet beans to do their job. Plus the immune system boost couldn't hurt. Getting sick in the midst of all this would make things twice as miserable after all.

Anything else? She wracked her mind. Honestly she'd not had to treat someone for this before, and certainly not without being able to see the patient, and then check on their progress throughout! Perhaps.. She hesitated. Her mother would likely not approve, but perhaps if she could find it, Kava. Tapering down throughout the treatment. It wasn't addictive by itself, but it's effects, the relaxation, talkativeness and most importantly the euphoria would help steer away from the prior poison of choice. Yes. Slow withdrawal of such things would be more likely to succeed.

She had her list then, passionflower roots, ginseng, ginger, velvet beans, kava, lingzhi mushrooms. She checked it twice, just to be sure, and then pulled her coat on, took one of her baskets and her coin purse and headed out the door.

She went down to the markets first. Ginger would be the easiest, so she may as well start there. Five good sized roots cost her only four silver nel, and while picking out her roots, she was surprised and pleased to see ginseng roots beside them. She supposed she shouldn't have been, it was used for cooking as well after all. Three gold nel saw her set with enough ginseng for her purposes. After that there were no more pleasant surprises however. She'd checked around the mushroom sellers booth just in case, but lingzhi mushrooms were rare, and what average person would buy something so bitter anyway? With a sigh she headed to Hannah Yavichs Herbal Shop.

"Ah, good morning! I'll be right out!" A womans voice rand out from the back of the shop, likely in response to the soft tinkle of bells as Ashira entered. A few minutes later and Hannah herself arrived, dusting of her hands. "How can I help you? Mosekes Mist? I've seeds and root, whichever you prefer."

If looks could kill, Herbalist Yavich would never draw another breath. One eyebrow beginning to climb dangerously high, Ashira reminded herself that she did not want her household cursed, so she needed to do business here. This once. And then perhaps someone would do her a favour and burn it down.

"No. I require Passionflower root, velvet beans, lingzhi mushrooms and kava root." Her voice, after the initial no, was so even and calm that anyone who knew her would be running for the hills.

"Ah? Some of that is rather dangerous, you know what you're doing? It won't be cheap either, are you sure you can aff-"

"Shoptender Yavich," Ashira refused at this point to grace her with the title of Herbalist "I am a Thorn. I am aware of what I am asking, hence the specific list and I am very clear on what I am doing with it. In addition, I am married to the heir of the Wards. Yes, I can afford what I require. Can you provide or not? If not I am certain that Luther Verran can."

Some of the absolute venom and loathing must have sunk through. Hannahs reply may have been less friendly, but at least it was also less patronising.

"Of course I can. Five gold for the passionflower, six for the beans, fifteen for the mushrooms and twenty for the kava."

Without another word, Ashira placed forty-six gold nel on the counter, watching Hannah evenly. The unspoken commands very clear. There is your money, fetch my herbs. With a sniff, Hannah swept the coins into her hands and made them disappear into her pockets and then went out back and among the shelves one more. Returning, she dumped the goods on the counter before pointedly turning away and busying herself with fussing over her stock. Ashira took her time to inspect what had been brought forth, and judging that it was acceptable, moved it to her basket and headed for home.

[Ashira Ward]

Given the form of the velvet beans, whole, not treated at all, and how irritating the hairs on them could be to the skin, she decided they would be turned into an extract as well, rather than pill. Swallowing any of those hairs would not be enjoyable. First however, she had a lot of grinding ahead of her. Fetching her mortar and pestle she began the task that would take up most of the trial. Every single ingredient had to be ground up. The Mushrooms, kava and ginger particularly fine. Between each ingredient the mortar and pestle had to be washed carefully. To be fair, the ingredients would be mixed eventually, this was largely habit.

Breaks later, arms aching, Ashira was ready for the next step. The passionflower, ginseng and beans were set to boiling. For this she carefully used parts of her newly bought chemistry set. Anything boiled off rather than being lost would instead travel down a length of pipe and into another counter. In this way she could boil the 'waste' again and get as much of the usable medicinal ingredients as possible. It had to be watched of course, if she let it boil dry it would be ruined. Boil it low, strain it, put the plant material in the boiled off water, repeat to see what could be gotten out of it. Depending on how much of the usable extract was left she might repeat the procedure on it a second time as well to make it as potent as possible.

While that was happening, she turned her attention to the dry ingredients, the mushroom, kava and ginger. The mushroom and ginger should be paired in equal amounts for the entire week. The kava should be stronger on the first trial and weaker each one there after. How to package it though? She considered this for a moment, and then went to the window ledge where she'd left her Herb of Grace sprigs in water to grow. She broke off seven leaves, after inspecting them to make sure there were no blemishes. With a scalpel, she slit the thick succulent leaves open a little wider at their base. Rolling each trials dry dosage into as tight a form as she could, she slipped them inside the leaves, pressing the opening closed again, the leaves own juices sealing them. Taking a bit of bandage, she wrapped them up. Making sure that the first leaf that should be taken, with the larger dose of kava was the first that would be revealed. A quick stitch and the bandage was sealed for now, though easy to get into.

This done, her attention returned to the boiling liquid. When it was dark enough, and the scent strong enough for her liking, towards the end of the trial, she poured it into a medium glass vial and stoppered it.

Tidying away her equipment, washing and cleaning, disposing of any plant material, when she was finally done, she went and fetched her journal.

On a blank page she wrote the following, taking care to make her letters large and round and easily legible. Assuming the person spoke common. That gave her pause for a moment, quill hovering above paper. Well there was only so much she could be expected to do. Saoire wanted this, she could translate.

Take one leaf once per day at the time you would most usually have your 'powder'. Start with the first leaf revealed.

Take liquid three times per day. Suggested starting dose of ten drops per dose. Adjust up as needed. Adjust down as trials progress. No more than fifty drops per day!

That seemed to largely cover it. She thought for a moment. Was there anything else? Ah yes, of course.

Be less stupid.

She carefully tore the page out. Vial, leaf-holding bandage, and page were carefully wrapped up in her new wool scarf, which she'd hardly had a chance to wear at all, into a neat package. Setting it on the table, she closed her eyes and pictured the woman who'd appeared in her dreams. Ashira was not particularly devout in her heart. She paid the proper mouth service to the seven and this was all. She did not really know how to pray. What she was largely doing was the mental equivalent of yelling 'Hey You' and hoping the right person answered.