A Raft of Possibilities

[Faith Augustin]

81st Zi'da, 716

"So, I was wondering if you wanted to help me with something?" Faith was perched on the armchair in their room at the Order of Adunih in Rharne. They had made it their own in the ten trials they had been there already and she had popped out the trial before to do, unsurprisingly, a spot of shopping. The plan had been that they would go and see the Lightning Cathedral today and she'd show him tomorrow. But, then the Lightning Cathedral had gone rather horrifically wrong, meaning that he was agitated, annoyed even. Not at her, she knew, but at what had happened with Zvezdana Venora. So, Faith had changed clothes and was soaking her white dress in a salt and water solution to get the red wine stain out. Instead, she had opted for a red skirt and blouse with a black belt.

She'd cleared off the desk in their room, earlier, and put the magical black bag which stored an apparently limitless amount in it, on there. Then, she'd moved the armchair so that she was sitting next to the desk and there was a chair there for him, too, should he wish to. "One of the things that we have a real problem with, as healers, is infection. Dirt causes it. We clean out wounds, yes, and we bandage them. But bandages get dirty, and that can make things worse." To anyone other than someone who knew her like he did, the next words she said might appear to be a complete non-sequitor. But Faith's mind worked this way; she put together what she knew with what she didn't.

"One of the things I've learnt to make at work is a thing called a consume. It's a very clear broth which has been clarified. It makes the flavour much more intense, but it's a fiddly process." She pulled her knees up to her chin and watched him with a slight smile. "We make it by making a stock, a normal one, and removing all impurities from it. We put a thing called a 'raft' on top of it, made from eggs and some other things", she waved one hand dismissively, what the raft was made from wasn't important. The next bit was. "It sits atop the stock and draws out the impurities. It got me to thinking. Is there a substance, in chemistry or alchemy, that we could use to put on top of wounds, preferably clear so that we can see through it, which would act as a barrier to dirt getting in, but also pull impurities out?"

The leap from consome to the treating of injuries was not a strange one to Faith, not in the slightest. They were both what she did, after all. She knew, though, that she needed to say something else, too. "I am a little conflicted. On the one hand I feel like I should apologise to you for losing my temper in public and embarrassing you." Her eyes, as she spoke, told the truth of it. Whilst that was an option, it was what came next which was the actual truth. "But I don't feel sorry. In fact, I feel proud. I was defending myself. Not because anyone had told me to, because I am not going to allow someone to do that." She smiled at him as she realised that, although he'd said it to her and she had nodded, back in their tent after Sintih had grabbed her, Faith now meant it entirely, herself, when she spoke. "Those trials are over."

[Padraig]

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Padraig's mood was foul, and in spite of his attempts to conceal it by focusing on a book in his lap, Faith couldn't have missed it. She knew him and his moods too well.

The events that morning at the Lightening Cathedral were still fresh in his mind. What had been the chances that here, so far away from Andaris and by happenstance, they'd run into someone that either of them was acquainted with? Slim, but it had happened anyway, and to say that the reunion hadn't gone well was an understatement of large proportions. What had happened wasn't her doing, and she'd risen to the occasion magnificently. But he couldn't help feeling that he'd failed her by not being able to prevent it before it happened.

"Of course," he said and looked up from his book when she asked for help. It would probably be another helpful distraction, so he put his book away, got up and moved closer to the desk. "So wounds, once cleaned and treated, can become reinfected due to dirty bandages," Padraig uttered. Clear enough, though he wasn't sure where she was going with it. The cooking analogy was an interesting one after all, and he considered it with a thoughtful frown. "So this...raft, not only draws out the impurities in the stock, but prevents other impurities, from the air for example, from getting back in?"

How to make the analogy work for medicine then? He'd only just begun to consider it when Faith reminded him of the interaction in the temple that morning. He frowned in the wake of he apology, or the sense that she felt she ought to, and then he shook his head. "Don't apologize. Never apologize for standing up for yourself. It's only right that you should be proud," Padraig insisted. "Those trials, when you were expected to take whatever treatment others handed out to you are over. You're right."

He smiled then, remembering the way she'd fought back. "I wasn't embarrassed. Far from it. I'm proud of you, and I admire how far you've come. My only regret is that I wandered away in the first place, and wasn't able to move fast enough to prevent it happening in the first place. Are you sure you want to join this Order?" The question ought be asked after all, considering that her first and only experience in that regard was a memorable one. And not in a good way.

But back to her questions about wounds, infections and the prevention of the latter, he gave that a little more thought before responding. "As a healer, I don't know if you've already used them, but there are several natural substances that could not only be used to prevent further infection, but also to draw out what may already be there," he said. "Honey, firstly. And tree sap. The thing about tree sap," Padraig explained further, "is that it could also be applied over an existing wound, to seal it after its been treated." In place of a bandage, he meant.

"Tree sap will dry clear so you can see through it. Even better, in many cases it could also serve to take the place of sewn in stitches. It could close the wound, I mean. The problem though," he considered further with a light scratch behind his ear, "is that even when tree sap dries, it will stay put, but it will also remain somewhat sticky." So would honey, for that matter.

To avoid dirt and other things from sticking to the stuff, he guessed that bandages could be applied over the treated area until it was no longer necessary. "The extra step of applying bandages though, could...maybe, be eliminated by creating some sort of chemical, or alchemical, treatment to eliminate the stickiness completely," he suggested. It might also, he thought, enable them to create a new compound that would combine the infection fighting properties of both substances, resulting in a single treatment option.

[Faith Augustin]

"Yes to both bandages causing reinfection and the raft forming a protective seal from above and drawing out impurities from below. It's very clever." She had been quite delighted when she found the technique for doing it and it really did make a difference to the broth; the taste was quite remarkable. There were so many things that she wanted to cook for him, she considered and she looked around at their room, her eyes flickering to a passing soul wandering by. Best not mentioned, all things considered, she knew how much it spooked him. However, she sent a prayer to Vri for that soul that, should Vri consider such to be fair and right, then they be given a second chance to pass on. She had come to the conclusion that it was all that she could do for them and, if it made a difference to just one of them, then she had served them well in Famula's name. "It would be a perfect room if it had a stove, wouldn't it? I could make you clarified broth and you would never make do with anything else again." She looked back at him and smiled, aware that he had caught her distraction. "There are no anchors in this room. The most we get is someone passing through now and then. We're alone now. I'm sorry, it's hard not to see them." It was impossible not to see them, in fact, but she was better and better at them not seeing her so much.

Which was good, because she needed to focus when she spoke to him about the happenings at the Lightning Cathedral earlier. She listened to everything he said, and the question he asked and her forehead creased in consternation. She chewed her lip for a few trill, then she took his hand. "Ok. So, firstly, I think you've confused Orders. The Order I'm joining, have joined, is the Order of the Adunih. I'm not becoming a Thunder Priestess. Firstly, they all live here in Rharne, and we don't. Also, they all worship Ilaren, and I don't even drink. There's a lot of the priestesses who are also in this order" She motioned around the room. After all, the Order of the Adunih were providing it to them. "Because a lot of Thunder Priestesses are healers. But not all healers are priestesses." Thinking back over their conversations, she realised a simple fact. "I've referred to them both as 'the order'. It's poor communication on my part. I'm sorry" She squeezed his hand, her gaze lowering to their hands together. How to put this next thing which she had to say without hurting him?

"I'm glad you stepped away. I'm also glad you were close by. I want you close, always. But if you'd prevented it happening, then I wouldn't know that I'd stand up for myself, how far I've come since Sintih." Did it even begin to make sense to him, she wondered, what she was trying to explain? "It's difficult, thinking of myself as someone else's equal, except for you. From the first time we met, I was different with you. Cheeky, I answered back, didn't accept what you said, argued with you and even put down non-negotiable rules. Which I know you would have broken in a heartbeat, by the way. And now I am yours and you are mine." Silver blue eyes watched him with a very serious gaze. "But I learnt something today, that I have taken another step forward. I'll never know how far I've walked if you carry me. So I'm glad you stepped away, and I'm glad it wasn't far. Because it meant that we acted together and that's all I want, about everything in our life." She searched his face to make sure that she wasn't just irritating him further, because the Seven knew he'd been in a foul mood. "Protect each other and walk together. That is all I want, Padraig. But protecting you means looking after myself. The same is true in reverse, you know that. So I am glad you walked away a small step; it means I know that I have taken another."

On the tree sap and honey idea, she nodded her head and listened. She did know those things, but the stickiness was a problem and the need, therefore, still for bandages. He assumed all of that correctly, but then he did what she had hoped he would do and he took it a step further. "Could it? Could we, well, you, but no we I can do it a little, could we combine the way they both work and then make the resulting substance so that it isn't sticky? I don't want it to go hard, though, because that would hurt when the patient moved and would risk further damage. So, something that had a sort of rubbery consistency? Like an uncooked steak?" An uncooked steak consistency, transparent, airtight, infection fighting substance, she considered. She wasn't asking a lot. Except, of course "And we'll need to somehow bring about a change from gloopy and runny to rubbery and steak like so that we can apply it, then set it, too?" She smiled at him and her face showed her absolute faith that, if anyone could, then he could.

[Padraig]

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"It's a little unnerving," Padraig admitted when she mentioned the spirit that must have passed by. She saw them, he didn't. But he'd come to know her mannerisms well enough, to know when she did.

"They don't bother or worry me," he reassured her. "so much as its a little unsettling to realize we're not alone even when we seem to be. One of them can simply stroll through without so much as a by your leave." He smiled and shrugged. After all, what was to be done about it but grow accustomed to it? "It's a little like that feeling you get when you're alone and you sense you're being watched. The assumption is, there's nobody there. This raises a scientific question I guess. There may be more to that sense than previously assumed." Actually it was an interesting question, worth a little experimentation. But it still unnerved him.

He grinned a little in the wake of her explanation though, regarding the differences between Orders. That which she'd joined, and the one she had not. "So," he teased, the order of the Adunih and the thunder priestesses are a little like frogs and amphibians. All frogs are amphibians, but not all amphibians are frogs."[/i][/b] Fair enough, he concluded, content with that particular analogy, though he wouldn't go so far as to call her a frog.

But what had happened at the temple that morning was a much more serious topic. And as she explained, he frowned and nodded. He understood, yes, and she was right. If he'd been quicker to step in, she wouldn't have had the chance to show her own mettle. He did grin a little, and could only agree when she mentioned the rules she'd laid down once, and that he'd promptly ignored. She was right. Every one of them, if the opportunity had presented itself.

"I know all of this Faith," he reminded her. "We protect each other. And if I step in too quickly, or carry you, then I rob you of the chance to stand on your own. But by the same token, allow me to regret not being there quickly enough anyway, or not watching closely enough. I may try not to do it, but it's who I am and I'm going to do it anyway." In time it might change, he'd not be so tempted to watch her as closely as he did now. But that wasn't this trial.

But back to what alternatives were possible in order to seal wounds, draw out and prevent infections, and act as stitches of a sort...without the stuff being sticky, "I think it's possible, yes. In fact, maybe easily so," he considered after a thoughtful pause of a trill or two. "It will require the creation of a salve of sorts, rather than potion. More like a gel I think. If it was honey and tree sap alone, the two combined could draw out and prevent further infection, and seal the wound to act as stitches of a sort, to allow the skin to repair itself naturally."

"But," he cautioned. "Even when it sealed and hardened, without other things to prevent it, it would remain sticky and it might not be quite as flexible as you'd like it to be. Certainly not as flexible as skin. So..." It took another handful of trills before he came up with a probable solution. "To add elasticity, to better approximate the flexibility of human skin, we might use an extract pulled from seaweed, tree gum or oats. Any of these are also good stabilizers, which would eliminate the need for a separate one. They're also good thickeners, in order to give the salve extra substance."

Then there was the need to prevent the stuff being sticky, thus avoiding the attraction of dirt and cloth fibers. "Sea salt is a good curing agent, and as easily secured as an ingredient as any of the others. Worked into the recipe in the correct amounts so not to compromise flexibility, it ought to enable the stuff, once exposed to air," he explained, "to form an outer layer that is not sticky at all. How quickly would depend on the amount of salt in the mix."

At any rate, Padraig added, the quick drying nature of the stuff once exposed to the open air, would mean it would need to be stored in a relatively airtight bottle or jar before use. But none of those things, he thought, should compromise the stuff's clarity. It wouldn't be clear as glass of course, but it ought be enough to allow a visual examination without having to remove it entirely. "All of this means of course that later on, you'd want a way to remove it, since it would take quite a while to fall off on its own. That would require a solvent of sorts when the time comes."

[Faith Augustin]

"It does raise an interesting question, I think, yes. There is a... substance, there, Padraig. It's as real to my eyes as you are and I think, if I was more able to do this well, I might understand it more. But yes. It is. I am beginning to understand what they are." She frowned a little in concentration, trying to word it clearly. "When someone dies, Famula is there. If they have lived their life, haven't served whatever they serve or done what they feel they should have done, she takes them. They stay with her a while, long enough to make sure that they are ready for Vri to take them. I think these are souls who have not been taken by Vri, who have refused Famula's offer. So the anchor I see holds them here, like a weight chained to their foot." She looked at him with genuine sadness in her eyes. "So, I pray to Vri for them. That if they are ready then he might consider giving them a second chance. But I think that they just play out what they regret, over and over again." She stopped and looked at him and a grin came over her face as she realised that she probably really wasn't helping. "Scientific interest. Yes. What that substance is, how we sense them. Good questions."

His analogy of the frogs and amphibians, though, caused her to purse her lips and look at him with mock disapproval. "You be careful, or I'll think you're hoping I'll freeze through the winter and not wake up till the warm weather starts. Why do you insist on likening me to animals? Hummingbirds, grasshopers and now frogs. I'm going to get a complex." She smiled and squeezed his hand. "But the analogy is also wrong. You can not be a frog without being an amphibian. It's like frogs and.. parrots, or hummingbirds, since that is your preference" Her smile widened as she teased him right back. "Whilst both can be green, and therefore their green-ness unites them, they are fundamentally different. Frogs, and thunder priestesses, are one thing. Hummingbirds, and member of the Order of The Adunih, are another. Their first priority, I suspect, is always to one or the other. Sometimes, though, they are united in being green. Plus both are animals. Or something" She shook her head, confusing herself with her own analogy.

When they spoke about meeting Zvezdana, she listened to him with a serious expression on her face. She had hit a nerve and had done so through a lack of communication on her part, not a lack of anything on his. Leaning forward, her hands in his tightened. "Forgive me, I think I haven't told you the most important bit, or communicated it at all clearly." Her expression illustrated how much she wanted to let him know what she was saying. "I know you regret not being there to stop it and I do more than allow that, Padraig, I'm afraid I expect it. Somehow, even after such a relatively short time in your arms, although longer in your heart I know, I expect you to always be there to protect me, to work to stop things which might hurt me. Please don't ever try not to. It's who you are and who you are is who I love." It was very clear to her, but her ability to put it into words was, she felt, sorely lacking. Hopefully that was more clear, she thought. In the Cathedral, they had found out something they wouldn't have known otherwise, she knew that. But not finding it out wouldn't have made it less true. "I'll always try and protect me, too. I'll also try and protect you, also, but that is an entirely selfish act on my part because I need you with me. Always."

Of course, though, he could do what she was asking in terms of the bandage replacement. "Alright, slow down a trill, I can't keep up. So, we put together the sap and the honey, into a gel like salve which combines the medicinal essences of both? Then we..." She paused, making sure that she understood it. "We use some seaweed, for example, to add elasticity and thicken it. We will need to experiment, though, with sea salt to add to it, so that it counters the sticky nature of it on the outer layer. Then finally." Her eyes showed her delight, amazement and a whole plethora of other emotions about what he was suggesting. "Finally, we need to make a solvent based way of taking it off? Padraig that's... "

What was it, she considered. It was many things, and she had a hundred different words flying around her head. "You are. You are incredible. I mostly asked that to try and distract you and I expected that, at best, you would need a full laboratory. Can we do that here?" If so, she could use it a hundred different ways, she knew. Her eyes shone with delight at the lives this could save. "I love you. For who you are, not what you do. I love you for that. But what you do is remarkable, Padraig, you know that, don't you?"

[Padraig]

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"Maybe they've got unfinished business?" Padraig suggested, referencing the souls who Famula had come for, but ultimately chose not to move on. Or for whatever reason, couldn't "Or maybe they died suddenly, without warning and can't quite accept the fact that they're dead? Do they ever ask for your help?"

Whichever the case, as a scholar and a not particularly religious one, he might like to discover if there was some sort connection between the spiritual world and the scientific one.

"But you're mistaken," he told her with a grin, regarding analogies. "There was no likening you to a frog or a grasshopper. But I stand by the hummingbird comparison. And so far as analogies go," Padraig added stubbornly, "I'll stick to frogs and amphibians."

Even though he did it without thinking, he wondered sometimes if their debates were born of genuine, differing opinions, or if they disagreed because they enjoyed the give and take, the push and the pull of it. He didn't mind either one of those, not a bit, and suspected it was more the latter than the former. There was a certain appeal that he couldn't deny, after all.

But they could both agree that while she was becoming more and more capable, and stronger with each trial that passed, he'd continue to watch and step in, even when she might not need him too. And in spite of her discovering more and more of herself along the way, she'd continue to expect that he would. It worked out nicely that way.

"Right," he said, so far as combining the honey and tree sap. "The honey alone wouldn't harden enough to stay put, and while they both have properties that will draw out and prevent further infection, combining them should amplify them, more than by two." As for the seaweed and sea salt, yes, he agreed. And he smiled. "You may have done it to distract me, but you know me. This sort of thing is bound to spark my interest." Not medicine so much, but the science involved in what she was asking for.

"I know you flatter me too much," he told her with a fond smile. "But if I know enough about these sorts of things, what you know, your skills make us a formidable pair, wouldn't you say?" As for solvents, there'd need to be a way to remove the stuff once it was no longer needed. Or maybe..."We might be able to add something else to the recipe that would break down over time, which would ultimately cause the stuff to fall off on its own, after the healing is done."

But there was no reason it couldn't be managed, here in their room he told her. He'd brought his equipment with him. They'd only need to get the proper ingredients and he suspected that most if not all of them could be found in a local market nearby.

[Faith Augustin]

"All the time," she answered when he asked if they asked for her help. Her expression told him how difficult that was. "But there's nothing I can do. They're desperate, because most people can't see them. I can't help them except to pray to Vri." Faith wanted to help others by both nature and training and she found it very difficult not to be able to. "I just listen to them as much as I can," she explained, but she knew that it wasn't enough. Not by a long shot.

Her sombre mood lightened though as he denied ever likening her to a frog or a grasshopper. She shook her head in disbelief at his evident denial of the truth. Tilting her head to the side, though, she had to admit a certain curiosity, which she shared. "I don't know what it is about that hummingbird analogy, rather than the frog or grasshopper which you have also called me," she was quite insistent on that. "But I like how it makes me feel," she smiled and the softness of her expression told more than she actually understood herself. Romantic gestures and words were new to her, just one of many things that were. This one was just that step over into abstract which she did not fully comprehend but yet understood on some level.

In terms of sticking with the frog and amphibian analogy she raised her hands in apparent despair. "It is most unscientific of you. All frogs are amphibians. Not all members of the Order of Adunih are Thunder Priestesses, nor are all members of the Thunder Priestesses members of the Order. Amphibian is implicit in frog. It is a different relationship and you are simply being stubborn." Her eyebrow raised, her face illustrating the challenge which she was undoubtedly laying at his feet. Would he admit that his analogy was flawed? She truly didn't care one way or another and as she looked at him the emotion she felt welled up and she moved, leaning forward to kiss him. What her kiss lacked in duration, for she moved back relatively swiftly, it certainly made up for in intensity and she whispered, with a smile. "But we can go with it, if you like. Since it's you." Shoddy. She knew it was, knew that she was shoddy at saying what she should, but each trial she got a little better and he understood what she could not say. There was no point pushing it.

She listened intently to his response, though, about the covering for wounds and her own thought process was speeding along. Trying to keep up is how she would have said it, but when he spoke about her flattering him too much, she shook her head with the kind of stubborn expression on her face which was rare. "This is not flattery. I accept, this is you and me working together and maybe neither of us alone would have come up with it. I accept that together we are indeed formidable. But that does not change the two simple facts here, Padraig. First, if this works, this will save lives and limbs. Second, you could make it without me and I could not without you. So, no, I am not flattering you. I do not engage in idle flattery. I had to do it for too long, it was my role and required of me. I have no intention of it with you. Never with you." One trial, Faith might actually become quite good at telling people off, judging by that performance. She certainly meant it. Of course, she also was very much who she was. "Although if I was going to, I would have to begin with your eyes. They are remarkable, you know. Like amber with flecks of darkest brown in them. However, you did nothing whatsoever to work for them and that notwithstanding and no matter, we have, as I see it, two issues." Better at emotions and the expression of them? Certainly. All the way there? Definitely not.

"I am concerned about the use of salt. This substance is going to go directly on a wound, and salt and wounds do not mix." That was important, she considered and might be a major stopping point. "And I'm not sure about the slow dissolving. It is too... out of my control as the medic. I need to be able to remove it if it needs removing. Also, how will it's slow dissolution happen? Will it get less and less sterile, for example?" Once those details were ironed out though, she was happy to take a trip to the market if that was where he wanted to go. Or they could go the next trial if he wanted to go back to his book, she assured him. Whichever he preferred.

[Padraig]

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So the spirits did ask for Faith's help, time to time. Padraig understood that she'd listen, and pray for them. Not just because she was a follower of Famula, but in all likelihood because it was who she was at her core. Still, was there anything more she could do for them.

"What if, for instance," he asked, "one of them resisted moving on because there was something they hadn't been able to say to someone they'd left behind. Something important, like communicating the name of a killer so that he couldn't kill again. Or even," he added with a smile, a shrug, "where they'd hidden the inheritance. Could you not deliver a message for them?"

"Or is there some kind of rule against intervening that way?" On a more scientific level, he wondered if they left some sort of residue behind. Something chemical or alchemical left behind where they walked, or on something they touched. Might be very useful, that. He smiled. "If the analogy gives you pleasure, it's reason enough." Hummingbirds, he meant. "But in contrast to their physical beauty, and in spite of their size, they are energetic and tenacious creatures. I think the comparison suits you well."

"And I'm not stubborn," he maintained. "When have I ever been stubborn?" It didn't require an answer. In fact his expression said it all. He'd prefer she didn't offer up any examples, imaginary as they'd be.

As for flattery? They could go back and forth on that one, all the trial through. On one point he disagreed however. "It took more than a suggestion. I couldn't have done it alone. If not for you pointing out the problem with salt, I'd have used it." After all, his experience with medicine paled in comparison to hers. And he hadn't been thinking about the discomfort caused to the wounded patient, if salt was used. He was thinking about the scientific viability of salt as a naturally occurring substance, to act as a curing agent. Simple as that. "Any objection to celery juice then?" That ought to do the trick, from his perspective.

As for breaking down on its own over time, he explain that it would be a combination of natural decomposition of the substance, and new skin growth. "The old skin would slough off as it normally would, wound or not, and the natural bandage would go with it. It wouldn't grow less sterile, it would just lose its infection properties over time." But by then, those would no longer be needed.

Of course that didn't address the problem, should she or another healer want to remove the thing before the natural processes could occur. "Citrus is a natural solvent though I guess, similar to salt, that would cause some discomfort when applied around an open wound. Another option would be oils extracted from plants, such as olive, almond...vegetable, combined with a resin extracted from pine wood." Akin to sap really, but treated in a different way.

All that said, however, if she wanted a solvent, the ingredients he'd need to create one were as easily found, and inexpensive as the ones he'd need to create the gel. They could do all of it in their room with his equipment, and he was more than happy to leave his book behind while they went in search of the materials they'd need.

[Faith Augustin]

"I can understand them, and them me, yes. But, it's a bit more complicated. Depending on how long they've been like this they get less and less lucid, like they grow empty, I suppose. It's hard to explain. As I learn to do it better, I think I'll be able to help them more," not that she was entirely sure that he was going to like that overly when the reality of it happened. "But what happens then? I don't know. Because they didn't go with Vri when they should have. So, I think that's what really keeps them here. I don't know. It's all still new, really, and I'm learning it slowly. Mostly, I've just learnt to filter them out. Working out what I can do for them is next." It was all part of her role and everything she did with it was done in Famula's name but Faith was a little frustrated by what she saw as her lack of speed at picking up the nuances.

When he asked her when he had ever been stubborn, Faith's face was a picture of absolute innocence and she looked at him with amusement shining in her eyes. When had he ever been stubborn? She made no answer and simply got back to what they were doing. He knew it, she knew it; it was enough.

Celery juice? She considered it and nodded "Yes, that would be fine. Celery is good, actually, to give to someone after surgery. It helps them build up strength and so on. That would be perfectly acceptable." As would a solvent that wasn't citrus. She didn't think that would go down well with the patient, really. But yes, that all said she was more than happy to pull on her coat and head out to the market with him.

[Ent]

Name: Faith

Knowledge:
Padraig: was proud of you for standing up for yourself
Padraig: Felt bad that he was not there to stop Zvezdana
Padraig: Wants to be there to protect you
Padraig: You think he is incredible
Padraig: Is going to help you invent a medical replacement for bandages and stitches
Padraig: Is uncomfortable with the Spirits
Order of Aldunih: Many members are Thunder Priestesses
Order of Aldunih: An order of medical experts and medics
Medicine: Wounds, once cleaned and treated, can become reinfected due to dirty bandages
Medicine: Tree sap and honey can be used to prevent wounds becoming infected and treat infected wounds
Zuuda ability: "See The Dead": They have refused the offer they were presented by Famula to move on
Zuuda ability: "See The Dead": How to not be noticed by the spirits
Zuuda ability: "See The Dead": It is hard not to see them

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Fame: N/A
Devotion: +1 Vri (prayer to Vri) +1 Famula (prayer to Vri) +3 Famula (explaining the concept of moving on after death and Famula's part in that)

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/5
Structure: 5/5
Magic: N/A

Comment: Good story, collaboration and structure, no issues there. I enjoyed this thread, it was very interesting to see this creative and scientific side of Faith as she showed Padraig her idea. As always I am seeing more and more sides to your character and it is so nice to experience all of them. I love the interaction between the two characters, the way they bounced ideas of each other felt really natural. As requested I gave knowledge for your blessing ability, this is the first time I have awarded knowledge for a blessing, if there are any issues with that let me know! Lovely thread enjoy the rewards! Also congrats on reaching 1000 posts.

Name: Padraig

Knowledge:
Faith: Can't help seeing the spirits
Faith: Felt bad about what happened with Zvezdana at the Lightening Cathedral
Faith: Requested your help with creating a replacement for bandages
Faith: Thinks you are incredible
Faith: Originally explained the Order of Aldunih badly
Order of Aldunih: Many members are Thunder Priestesses
Order of Aldunih: An order of medical experts and medics
Medicine: Wounds, once cleaned and treated, can become reinfected due to dirty bandages
Medicine: Tree sap and honey can be used to prevent wounds becoming infected and treat infected wounds
Medicine: Salt and wounds don't mix.
Alchemy: Sea salt can be used to reduce stickiness/moisture
Alchemy: Tree gum, oats or sea weed can be used for their elastic properties
Alchemy: Tree gum, oats or sea weed can be used for their thickening properties
Alchemy: Tree gum, oats or sea weed can be used for their stabalising properties
Alchemy: Combining two substances with similar properties should strongly increase the properties in the resulting substance

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Fame: N/A
Devotion: N/A

Story: 5/5
Collaboration: 5/5
Structure: 5/5
Magic: N/A

Comment: Good story, collaboration and structure, no issues there besides one point where I think you missed some speech marks* but I didn't deduct any points for that this time. Very enjoyable thread to read, as I have said before I like Padraig"s scientific mind, and the way you wrote him working through the ideas in his head and aloud was great. This was my first time awarding knowledge for Alchemy so I hope it is all okay and if there are any issues make sure to let me know. I love the writing you and Faith do together, keep up the good work and enjoy the rewards!

*At any rate, Padraig added, the quick drying nature of the stuff once exposed to the open air, would mean it would need to be stored in a relatively airtight bottle or jar before use.

"At any rate," Padraig added,"the quick drying nature of the stuff once exposed to the open air, would mean it would need to be stored in a relatively airtight bottle or jar before use."

If there are any issues with the review or questions you have, please PM me and we will sort it out.