No One Suspects the FDA

She recoiled and one of his ears flicked back. Perhaps he had been a bit eager but then he was anxious to help those in need since the disaster and while that mainly applied to his pack he hated to see a young wolf struggling when he could help. The woman gestured to his leg and pointed at it, mumbling something he couldn't quite catch and he cocked his head to the side. "Oh, I uh, haven't quite gotten to that yet…" he said, suddenly embarrassed. He really needed to take better care of himself, it didn't reflect well on his skills as a healer. The woman started to write in the dirt and at first Chrys couldn't make it out but as he tilted his head he started to recognize some of the scribblings. They were different than the language used in Olympia but close enough that he could make it out. "Oh! I see, I'll treat your cough in exchange for you tending my leg. Sure, that seems fair." The woman went off to gather supplies and Chrysanthos set his pack down as Bolla wandered out carrying the comfrey decoction with her.

Chrysanthos stuck his head in the pack and pulled out a small ceramic bowl. Bolla uncorked the bottle containing the decoction and poured it out into a bowl. Chrys leaned down to sniff it to make sure it was still good. He was trying several different methods of preserving herbs for the winter since he knew they'd be scarce, even more so since the volcanic eruption. The most obvious was to dry them and make them into tisanes. He'd also tried drying herbs that could later be revived with water or saliva to make poultices. His most recent experiment was decoctions. In this case he boiled crushed comfrey root with water and was keeping it in a jar. He was not sure how long it would keep but in the cold weather he felt he should be able to keep it for at least a few weeks. He supposed if that didn't work he could try making it into a tincture with some of Bolla's wine. The alcohol might help preserve the mixture longer.

The woman returned and Chrysanthos laid down almost sphynx like except he rotated his hips to the side so he was resting on top of his right hind leg. This way the wounded leg was on top and easy to access. "I've put a comfrey decoction into the bowl. If you drink it it should help with the cough. Have you had much luck preserving herbs this winter? I've been drying them to make tisanes and to reconstitute into poultices. I've also had some luck with tinctures. The decoction is new but it seems to be working so far. This helped me get over my cough after I inhaled ash from the volcano. I uh… I don't believe I caught your name?" He felt a bit embarrassed again, rambling on without even knowing the woman's name.