Grinding Joints [Justice]

Paladin sat in the fire-chamber, humming under his breath a Nomad folk song as he dropped a bundle of peppermint into the smooth bowl Kayode had made for mixing and grinding herbs into pastes and salves. Kayode was there at his side, and as Paladin smiled at his friend, the monkey dropped a glop of tallow on the peppermint leaves.

A smooth, rounded rock followed the tallow, and Paladin took over, pressing a paw onto the stone and twisting, falling into an easy rhythm of grinding until the movement felt smooth rather than gravely under his toes, telling him the leaves were beginning to turn into a paste in the tallow.

Kayode lifted the stone away, scraping one long finger along the underside to dislodge the paste from the stone as Paladin turned to pluck a few flowerheads of lavender from the piles of herbs and dropped it into the mess in the bow. Kayode replaced the rock and Paladin returned to the steady grinding rhythm, humming in time.

This concoction was mostly an experimental one. He planned to add calendula to it after a while. It would be good for burns, certainly. Occasionally, he pushed the bowl close to the low coals, letting the heat melt the tallow a little before he pulled the mortar and pestle back and returned to the grinding motion.

One ear tilted back and he smiled amiably as he heard claws clicking on the stone. He knew the stolid footsteps, and greeted her even before she was down the hallway out of the main chamber. “In here, Sis.”