learned all I know off wikipedia

It had been a productive week so far for Aris and Tansy.

Dirk had finally introduced her to some fox he knew that traded in teaching scrolls of all things. Teaching scrolls! Scrolls she could have been learning from this whole time! Sometimes that damn jay was infuriating! He'd known this whole time that she was looking for someone to learn from and he was just sitting smugly on the knowledge, the dick.

Of course she'd eagerly traded the fox for a variety of scrolls about fight tactics, and healing, and poisons which was really exciting. They were all beautifully illustrated in intricate detail in addition to the text itself, which made her wonder what sort of animal could paint such delicate work, but whatever it was, it ensured she'd be able to actually visualize clearly what she was learning. All the plants for the healing scrolls were even illustrated in whatever form they'd appear in all four seasons. Most of them weren't much use right now in the winter, except for being able to identify some plants she'd be able to harvest the next year, but a few she'd picked out specifically because they had winter harvested plants so she could do some things right away.

Today they were on the hunt for something in particular. Tansy was carrying the precious scroll, which they rolled up in a waxed leather case when they weren't actively referring to it and were careful to spread out on a dry hide when they were. Right then Tansy had the scroll spread out so they could compare the winter-dormant tree in front of them to the illustration. Aris squinted between the two, even poking at the actual tree with an unsheathed claw. "It looks right," she said dubiously. The sturdy sapling swayed in the breeze as though nodding to confirm the theory as Aris reached out with her claws to snag a dormant branch and drag it closer.

"Yeah look, there are the dormant buds, just like the scroll says." She pointed a claw at the pointy buds at the ends of each of the stems that would, once winter moved to spring, erupt into leaves. "If we harvest them now they're good for all sorts of things."

"Then can we get that over with now that you're certain this is the tree? Its freezing out here." The blackfooted cat was hunched against the wind as she rolled the scroll back up and stowed it carefully in the case before putting the hide back in one of Aris' paniers that she'd dropped next to the tree. The cat had her own set that she was to carry - with much complaining - though they were much smaller to accommodate her smaller size and feline sensibilities.

Aris snorted and rolled her eyes, but she did start carefully snicking off buds into the baskets. Obviously she couldn't denude the sapling of buds or it wouldn't have any leaves in the spring which probably wasn't good for it, but there was a whole grove of poplar saplings there just waiting for someone to come along and harvest their leaf-babies. Once Tansy had finished with packing up she did the same thing with her baskets, though she wiped her paws fastidiously in the snow after every bud which definitely slowed her down. Well, Aris was surprised she'd agreed to help at all so the minimal assistance was still more than expected - the cat was not at all a healer. Ari suspected she only helped facilitate her learning experience so that she wouldn't have to listen to Ari complain about being left out of training.

With their panniers as full as the grove could support them taking, they set off back towards the pack lands. As they walked beneath their loads, the cat grouchily asked her, "What exactly is all this good for anyway? What's that scroll say to do with it?"

Rolling her shoulders to settle the straps more comfortably over her shoulders and hips, Ari thought back to what the scroll had said. "Well, they're supposed to have a lot of resin in them that's a good antiseptic for wounds, and stimulate healing where it's applied. It's got some of the same stuff as willow does too, that helps with pain management. Good for uhm... making teas for stuff like coughing, helps bring up phlegm and whatever." She ignored the muttered yuck from the cat. There were definitely worse things than phlegm. She continued, drawing from what she remembered. "Uuuuhm it's good for sore throats if you gargle a tea or tincture of it. Mix it in oil or grease and its good for rashes. It's an antifungal too, but I don't know how strong it is compared to other stuff."

"Sounds like it's pretty useful," Tansy observed with a grudging sigh. "If only you didn't have to harvest it in the MIDDLE OF WINTER when we should be home in front of a fire."

Aris laughed and stuck her tongue out at the cat teasingly. "Don't worry, sourpuss, we'll be able to sit in front of the fire while we preserve them. We'll need it to heat up the water for tea and melt the grease anyway. You can warm your tender ass until you set your tail on fire."

Tansy sniffed, offended, as they continued home to preserve their bounty.

OOC: Total word count 897