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 Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 1:47 am
Regulus found himself tormented with a wave of guilt as the young mare before him wore an expression that seemed close to disappointment and embarassing, he had never meant to do such a thing to her but his laughter at been more directed at the situation that her. Deciding it best not to comment in fear of making it worst he let it slide. Regulus was only slightly happier when Shrivatsa seemed to cheer up slightly and almost beam with a inner pride.
Regulus watched her intently, making a mental note about the properties of each ingrediant she picked and the effect it would have on the whole. For the most part most ingrediants could be mixed together, but a few did make deadly combinations when combined eventhough on their own they were perfectly harmless and in fact helpful. He noted that Shrivatsa hadn't mixed such a combination.... though he did feel a slight tingle on his nose as she used the bayberry bark, the thorns on that particular plant made it hard to harvest and Regulus still got nicked by it each time her collected it... of course it was worth it, the properties of the very sharp flavoured plant out weighted a little pain.
While she worked he remained silent, not wanting to put her off. He also did his best to keep his face stoic in an effort not to distract her or cause her to second guess herself.
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Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 2:41 pm
With great concentration, Shrivatsa picked out her ingredients. She took a pinch of this, a bit of that, and tried her best to remember which ones worked together the best. Remembering one herb alone was difficult and remembering mixtures was even harder. She was sharply aware of Regulus watching her. She tried to ignore him and pretend like she was on her own but she still could feel prickles on the back of her neck from the scrutiny.
Eventually her bowl was full. The next step would be to grind the ingredients together to make something of a paste. She pulled herself upright to think about it for a moment. She thought that it was finished but didn't want to go on without verification. "Is that all right?" she asked her teacher. What Shrivatsa had forgotten was that while feverfew was good for headaches it wouldn't do much if applied to a wound. She had added it to her mixture and there it sat on top, leaves fresh and green.
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Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 10:19 am
Regulus watched carefully, doing his best not to put her off those he suspected he would always fail in that since she knew he watching. Shrivatsa's was doing so well for her first time solo, and part of Regulus had feared he had been pushing her too hard... but since she seemed to excell he couldn't help it, better to teach her something she needed teaching than repeating stuff she already knew.
Just before she asked her question Regulus raised an eyebrow in question to her latest addition to the pot. Feverfew.... not exactly helpful for this particular type of mixture, unless the wound was on the head... but even then it only usually had an effect because it was close enough to be inhaledby the nose. Still he said nothing for a moment, not until she asked her question. "Close.... " he smiled softly at her, "...remember what we are making a balm form, sealing a wound with the possibility of additional healing properties." He paused then, debating if he should point out her mistake that still sat on the top of her chosen ingredients or give her a moment to figure it out herself. Eventually he decided to give her a chance to identify the mistake, if she couldn't then it didn't matter, no harm would behalf anyone and this was the reason they were practising after all.
Softly he spoke, nose pointing to the bowl of ingredients. "What have you added that may not be needed here?" He posed the question as a clue, hoping that it would lead her to the correct answer.
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Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 11:56 am
Something she had added wasn't correct. Shirvatsa stared blankly down at her mixture, willing her mind to work for her and tell her where she went wrong. She was sure that she had identified everything correctly. She wouldn't have put something in there if she wasn't certain of its identity. It was possible that she had mistaken the properties of some herb, however.
"Well..." she said, stalling. She nosed through her mixture slowly and looked closely at everything she had added once more. There were the small burdock seeds she had added. The roots and the leaves were useful for other things, but the seeds should help to keep a cut from getting infected. That wasn't the culprit. She bit her lip slightly as she looked on. Lance selfheal was in there too, and true to its name she was sure that it could help keep infections at bay as well. She pushed past leafs and roots and then noticed the feverfew.
Seeing the feverfew, she paused to think. Calling her attention to a potential mistake had the right effect on her. Now she was rethinking everything she had put in and she couldn't quite remember why she had added this one. She could remember that it helped headaches but now couldn't recall what it would do to help in an injury. Slowly, she sifted through her bowl and pulled out all the feverfew leaves. "It's this one, isn't it?" she asked while doing so.
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Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 12:08 pm
Regulus waited in silence, once again not wanting to interupt her no matter how hard it was or how long it took. In many ways silence was a good shield for Regulus, after all he wasn't exactly the most social of creatures.
When Shrivastra finally located the culprit in her mix he smiled and nodded saying simply one word. "Perfect." And it was, the mixture would help most wounds effortlessly, though he would advice using something like Echinacea or Phytolacca americana if the attack was by a harpy or skinwalker as they generally left behind severe infections that normal herds couldn't combat.
"Now to grind it to a balm." He continued to smile, using the phrase as a soft reminder of the next step.
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Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 12:46 pm
Shrivatsa remembered how frustrated and angry she had always felt when corrected by Adagio in front of Vara. Even Vara's more kindly corrections had left her frustrated and feeling inferior with Adagio smiling in the background. It was strange, because when Regulus caught her with a mistake she didn't feel so much of that shame. Even the strongest chagrin she felt with him was nothing compared to the self-doubt she felt in the midst of the herd.
"All right," she said while picking up the elongate rock they used for grinding. She still wasn't used to manipulating objects in her mouth and dropped it before picking it up again with a firmer grip. Carefully, she began to grind. She ground the herbs together much slower than a more experienced soquili might have. She wanted to make sure that she didn't drop the rock, or bang it too hard against the bowl and cause the bowl to shatter. Slowly she watched as the individual herbs in her bowl merged together into a green paste. It smelled a little strange but, remembering Regulus' amusement at when she had made a face, she kept her expression neutral while grinding.
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Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 2:49 am
When it came to his trade Regulus had a lot of patience, and it was for this reason that he did not rush, laugh or comment on Shrivatsa's actions. Everyone used the grinding stones differently, and speed and accuracy came with practise. It was easy to not quite get everything, or to over mush the mixture so that it started to turn more liquid than paste.... practise made perfect and unless you had a go you never got there.
As the mixture started to blend together Regulus wrinkled his nose, and for once he was slightly pleased it was not his nose so close to the mixture. They always stunk, but since they could help it was worth the unpleasant aroma. He noticed how his student didn't seem to be quite as effected as he was, and couldn't help but wonder if she was trying to keep stoic so that he didn't laugh again... not that he had been laughing at her the first time, the pang of guilt still remained.
"Good." He said after a while, peeking over the lip of the bowl to see what appeared to be a dark greeny-brown sludge mixture. "Now.... what do you think is the best way to apply this?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 12:21 pm
Shrivatsa was all too relieved to put down the grinding stone and pull her head up and away from the mixture. She breathed a sigh of relief once she was in fresher air but couldn't help but give the mixture a few dubious looks. Regulus' question that he posed her was not a difficult one. She answered quickly and confidently this time.
"You'd want to apply it to the wound and then cover it with a bandage to keep the wound sealed." She smiled a little bit and said a rare joke. "But probably you wouldn't want to put it on with your mouth because of how it tastes. Maybe with a leaf or something instead." She didn't want to go lapping that mixture up and pasting it to a wound with her mouth. While she might not mind licking a wound to clean it, putting something like that balm in her mouth would be even less pleasant.
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 2:32 am
Regulus was proud of her. She was a quick leaner, with a sharp mind... and a strange witt to her when she wanted to. He found himself chuckling softly. "Agreed." Though Regulus also knew of another more serious reason why it was not wise to use your mouth to apply such a thing if you could help it. "Remember also, wounds carry infections sometimes.... you don't want them to enter your body."
After a little while of considering everything that had been said and done he smiled and said, "I believe that concludes our work today." There was always more to learn and do, and no matter how fast Shrivatsa was in picking up new skills and theories he also knew that the mind needed time to absorb and practise before it became second knowlegde. "Next lesson we shall go looking for someone in need of help, and see if you can help them." He didn't like leaving her in the dark, knowing and understanding the need to think about the task ahead as to be prepared.
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