The Seekers

Morning sunlight dappled the floor of his makeshift den. It had been hastily dug the night before when a string of spring storms was moving through the mountains. He'd been lucky to find a small cavern and after a bit of digging to widen the entrance he had a quaint little shelter. It was so quaint in fact that he was considering making it his base of operations but in order to do that it needed a good stock of herbs. Stretching, Chrysanthos yawned and closed his eyes. The sunlight felt good on his fur and tussled with the temptation to fall back asleep.

No, no. That wouldn't be good. He yawned again, willing himself to discipline. It was time to start the day and he had several items he wanted to gather. Picking up his scrap of deer skin he headed out the door to begin his search. First on his list was bitterroot. In many was it was more a poison than a medicine with a knack for slowing the heart but he knew of many poisons that yielded excellent medicinal benefits. He was determined to find out more about bitter root. In his tests and reading he learned that it could be used as an emetic so that was a start.

Maneuvering through the mountains he kept an eye out for the plant. When he navigated to a flatter area he spied it in the distance and quickly made his way over to the herb. It stood five feet high, dark green leaves branching out from its woody stem. White flowers bloomed about it, a few tinged with red. It had a distinctive scent and he eyed the bark for a moment. There were many uses for the tough, fibrous bark if he would take the time to increase his crafting skills. He really needed amore nible companion to make things like bags and fishing nets. Til then it was the root he wanted. Chrysanthos began to dig. He worked patiently, claws biting into the hard rocky soil until he at last pulled the plant free. Swiftly he snipped it off at the root, depositing the root in his piece of deer skin before violently shaking his head. The milky, bitter liquid that emerged when he'd bitten through the plant got all over his tongue. It was terrible. Bah! But at least that was one plant.

Next was blackberry. Carefully folding the corners of his deer skin he trotted off in search of the blackberry plant. It wasn't quite the season for blackberries but that was fine by him since it wasn't really the berries he was after. The bark and root contained tannin that made it useful as an astringent and tonic. The root was even more useful as an astringent if he could get at it but that would be tricky business and for now he wanted to experiment more with the bark. When he finally came upon a nice blackberry bramble he set his deer hide down and examined the plant. The problem with blackberry was the thorns. Carefully, he angled his muzzle into a wider gap between thorns and began to easy his teeth along the woody branch. He worked quickly and carefully until he finally managed to snip a few branches off. Using his paws he maneuvered them onto the deer skin then yelped when a misplaced paw met thorn. Ack. He really needed a bird companion or someone with a more dextrous approach to herb gathering. There was only so much he could do in this body.

Chrysanthos looked over his haul. He supposed he ought to gathering herbs that were more useful to a wide variety of ailments rather than just the ones he was currently experimenting with but since he was traveling and unsure yet where he'd make a permanent location he settled for what he enjoyed. Chrys would find a place to really stay soon enough. That lead him to the third item on his list, borage. This plant could be helpful with fevers and swelling but he was still working on getting the dosage right and the slight salty taste made him wonder what other uses the plant might have. It took a bit of work for him to work his way down to a clump of borage once he finally found it. The plant was covered in white, stiff, prickly hairs that made him wish once again that he had a companion. It stood only a foot high and its rich green leaves shifted in the soft breeze. The bright blue flowers were lovely. Really what he wanted was the leaves and thankfully the sun had been shining on the plant so the leaves weren't covered in dew. Carefully he used his paws to bend the plant then he snipped the leaves of with his claws. This was not a plant he really desired to stick into his mouth. He worked careful until he had half a dozen leaves which he added to his bundle. Grinning to himself he folded the edges of the deer hide then started heading back to his den to get to work.