[PRP] Shopping trip (Tranbaer, Mel) -fin

[Annchen]

Tranbaer always ran a little faster when she got closer to home, especially after being away for a while. It was not a conscious act and she only realized she was doing it when she got too winded to continue. She lowered her head and let go of her burden very carefully. The old hide she was carrying was so worn it was soft, and could be used to wrap up fragile herbs and roots. And some things were best not to carry directly in the mouth. She yawned, stretching her jaws. It wasn't far at all now, so she picked up the bundle again and headed straight to the gardens. Tranbaer wasn't primarily interested in growing plants, but she knew she might find other Apothecaries in that area so that's where she went first. She was pleased with her haul, and eager to share.

As she closed in on the gardens she was running again, but it couldn't be helped. She was just happy to be home.  

[mouselet]

In a sheltered, special section of the pride was a small garden. Here Mel, like other Apothecaries before him, was trying to cultivate young plants grown from seeds brought from distant lands. Today, there was both happiness and disappointment. After a couple years, some of the seedlings he'd grown were doing well, as well as they'd done in their old homes. Others, however, were not.

Were, in fact, dying.

The orange lion made a face as the sound of thudding paws grew in volume. He looked up to see the leopardess coming in from her own expedition.

"How did it go?" the lion asked.  

[Annchen]

"Mmph!" she exclaimed and then ever so carefully put the package down and started to unfold the hide. As she unwrapped the bundle the treasures inside were revealed. Treasures for an Apothecary, that is.

"I had to trade for these this time," she said and motioned to a bundle of dried seed pods, "The old hyena living in that area have realized we really want them."

She kept placing dried and fresh herbs, berries and roots between them until she had nearly reached the middle. She looked up at the large lion with a grin, before unfolding it all the way. To an untrained eye it looked like some kind of root, with a bit of greenery sprouting from it.

"I'm pretty sure this rhizome will grow," she said, pointing at a few leaves already growing from one end of the knobbly treasure. "This is what you wanted, yes?"  

[mouselet]

The lion watched patiently as Tranbaer revealed her prizes ever so slowly. He nodded here and there as she placed a particular herb or berry that he'd been particularly pleased to see. Then she revealed the true treasure and his face lit up.

"Ah...wonderful! Yes, this will do very well indeed. It may be a couple years before we can even think of harvesting from it, but such a relief it will be to not have to go out searching for it!"

The orange male realized he was babbling a bit and stopped talking. "Thank you," he told the leopardess.

"So, where shall we plant it?"  

[Annchen]

"They're hard to spot," she said, "I got lucky with this one, really. I think a warthog must have routed through the area and turned everything upside down. It was unearthed so I could feel the scent of it."

It would be great if she could find another sometime, but she couldn't count on the same luck twice. She frowned as she tried to figure out the best way to plant it. She didn't have more than basic gardening skills, but she had found the rhizome and that should give a clue.

"The earth was quite sandy where I found it," she said, "Perhaps we should try to plant it in a light sandy soil? And not too close to other plants I think. Did you want a couple of seed pods as well?"

They were useful in their own right, but if they could grow them at home she wouldn't have to deal with the old hyena as much. She didn't share his love of haggling, but she was getting better at it in the progress...  

[mouselet]

Mel nodded as the leopardess offered observations about where she'd found the rare plant and what, therefore, they should do with it. The reasoning behind what she'd said was sound and he couldn't find any fault with it.

"Sounds good to me," he replied. "And yes, put some seeds in the long-term storage. If something happens to this plant, or perhaps even if it's a success, we may want to try to germinate these later on down the path." Mel knew that Tranbaer knew this as well as he did, but saying it aloud meant that it had been said, and neither of them should forget, therefore.  

[Annchen]

She sorted through everything once more, putting the materials that would be left here in the gardens to the side and wrapping up those she needed to carry to storage. Some she would use for her own experiments, and some would go to the pride storage.

"Anything new while I was gone?" she asked. Tranbaer had only been away for a little under a moon, but friends could go from healthy to sick or from sick to worse in less time than that. That was just the way life was; if Lady Pestilence called you answered.

"I wonder if it'd be possible to grow bitterroot from one of these," she mused, sorting through the roots she had managed to get her paws on, "This one isn't as dried up as the others. Have you tried growing something from pieces of root before?"

Bitterroot was another plant that was nice to have around. The taste was absolutely foul, but it was a powerful painkiller. The Dusk healers used it a lot to ease the passing.  

[mouselet]

Mel observed the leopardess' smooth work, noting what she put in the communal pile as she worked.

"Nothing major seems to have happened," he told Tranbaer. "The Guards are still on high alert, though nothing amiss has been sighted. The Master Warrior doesn't believe in being caught off-guard." It had been moons since the encounter with the Nergui and subsequent alliance with the Motoujamii-Simo, but Mittere refused to admit that the danger might have passed.

"I've tried growing from pieces before," Mel went with the subject change smoothly. "It doesn't work if you don't have a large enough piece. Let me see the one you're thinking of?"  

[Annchen]

Tranbaer would rather not be caught off guard either. Better safe than sorry, right? She pushed some of the roots to the sides, until only one was left in the middle. It wasn't as dry as the others, but she wasn't sure if it would be large enough. But if it was possible to grow from pieces of root she could always start looking for bigger ones.

"This one, what do you think?" she asked.  

[mouselet]

The lion considered the roots as Tranbaer sorted through them, finally leaving a single plant between them. This one was clearly the freshes, and thus the most likely to be able to recover and flourish once more. As for the size...hm.

"I think that I'm not sure," Mel admitted aloud. "I've never tried with a piece that small before, but it doesn't look like it's too small." He looked back up at the leopardess and smiled.

"I'd say it's worth a shot, eh?" And if the experiment didn't work, they'd simply get larger pieces in the future.  

[Annchen]

"Great;" she said and moved the root to the garden-pile. "I guess there's only one way to find out!"

She didn't usually spend a lot of time trying to grow plants, but she was genuinely excited about this. It wasn't that she disliked the gardening part of being an apothecary, she was just not very good at it. She genuinely loved seeing green things grow, but she often ended up killing whatever she tried to grow eventually.

"Um..." she said and chewed her lip, "Could you help me look after it so it doesn't die on me?"  

[mouselet]

Mel nodded as they moved more plants around in preparation and organization. There was, as Tranbaer said, only one way to know for certain with plants, and they had to try in order to know.

He quirked an eyebrow in surprise at the leopardess' request. This was one of the females he worked with that struck him as being more independently-minded, more interested in doing things on her own without help or reliance on anyone else. Then the lion smiled. Well, anyone could be nervous, or just afraid of failure.

"Of course. Though, plants being plants, that's no guarantee it won't, right?" And if it did die, they'd learn from this mistake and do better in the future.  

[Annchen]

She laughed. Mel was a kind lion, and it was good to get a reminder that plants could be fickle, even if you happened to be gifted with green paws. Her paws were frequently tinted green (and various other colors), but unfortunately it didn't help in the garden.

"That's true," she said, "But I just don't want it to fail because I looked at it wrong, or forgot to water it or something."

She was eager to try and grabbed the root carefully in her mouth. Giving it a second thought she put it down. She wasn't going to try talking with things in her mouth.

"I'll go find a place for this," she said. "Maybe near the compost heap..."

And with that she picked up her precious root again.