I Was Only Trying Not To Sink

Drífa worked her way relentlessly south in her eagerness to replenish her herb stores. Winter was still clinging to the north though she expected the next weeks to be much warmer and milder. In the mean time she'd opted to take a trip southward. The woman moved at a steady pace and as dawn blossomed she found herself in the north portion of the corpseghoul swampland in a low lying meadow. The ground was soft and moist, nurtured by the spring rains. The morning was cool but as the sun rose she knew the heat would to and the humidity would quickly become unbearable for her thick, woolen coat.

Brynhildr flew above her as she moved through the meadow, looking for new herbs to bring back. Her eyes lingered on a small collection of oval leaves of an intense blueish-green color with heart-shaped bases. The flower stalk stood a little over a foot tall and she could see little collections of buds starting to show. Leaning down she sniffed the plant, taking in the scent and trying to get an idea of what it was for sure. Once she was certain she'd found what she wanted she grinned. Bistort. Bistort was a particularly strong astringent and would be useful for her work as a combat medic.

Now what she needed was the root and while she hated to dig the plant up there was just no other way. Drífa started digging, her strong but small paws working to get through the muck and the mud until she found the peculiar s-shaped root. Carefully, she maneuvered the root into her pack. Brynhildr had been experimenting with flame and Drífa soon hoped to have a good method to heat water to extract the richness of the herbs she gathered. For now though she had to rely on collecting the water from hot springs and other natural sources near Mount Volkan and other volcanically active areas.

Satisfied she continued on her way, combing the marshes for useful plants. She grinned as she noticed some lovely pale violet flowers that were just about to bloom and a few that had blossomed fully. Anemone. From the woody root stock rose a collection of finely-divided leaves covered with fine silky hairs. The plant was mostly odorless but as she continued to examine it she was certain that this was anemone. The flower itself was pretty distinctive. This was an herb in which she wanted to take the whole plant. Again, she set to digging. Working tirelessly she freed the herb from the earth and added it to her pack. "So far the gathering is going well. I have to say I'm glad for spring." Brynhildr, who had been preening nearby nodded. The anemone would be useful in treating coughs. She'd heard of other uses but treating coughs was the main condition she'd treat with it.

Shifting her pack back onto her back she decided she'd continue looking for one more herb before starting her journey back north. Already the sun was nearing its noontime position and the heat and humidity was starting to get to her. Thankfully she didn't have to journey long when she saw the final herb she wanted to gather. Large, stout stems above four feet high caught her attention as she moved toward the beautiful foliage of Angelica.

The large leaves were bright green and finely toothed. Angelica would not blossom until the summer and the fruits would not adorn the plant until later but that was fine. Really, she only used the roots and leaves and occasionally the seeds.  Besides, Drífa could find this patch again later on in the year. Drífa lightly sniffed the air, quickly picking up the plants distinctive odor. Oh yes, this was Angelica alright. Deciding she'd dug up enough plants for now she opted to carefully remove a few herbs. If she were going to take the whole plant it would be best to do so in the summer. Well, it would be good to travel about Boreas while she was still able to.

Drífa's jaws worked swiftly until she finally had what she wanted. Adding the leaves to her bag she stretched and grinned. A good days work if she did say so herself. Angelica was a good remedy for colds and coughs which could help those suffering the lingering effects of winter illness. She had also herd tell it was good for rheumatism and she was anxious to try it. While she wasn't suffering from rheumatism yet she had no doubt that she would as she aged so having a stockpile of potential remedies could only help her. She looked up to Brynhildr. "Ok, Bryn, ready to head on back?" Her companion nodded took to the sky, the sun gleaming off her beautiful white feathers. Drífa started trotting along after her companion as the headed back north towards home.