Álarr wandered along the banks of the river with Ulmaria at his heels. Being one of the few pups, if only, to be interested in healing from Jupiter's litters he'd formed a particular bond with her over herb hunting. He couldn't quite tell if Ivy was interested in healing or not but Ulmaria was enthusiastic about receiving lessons so the two often spent time together. Today they were on the lookout for wild garlic. Late summer into early fall was a good time to search for the bulbs. "The most medicinal part of garlic is the clove. It'll be underground so keep an eye out for the long, grass like leaves."

Ulmaria bounced happily after her uncle. It was a gorgeous sunny day, warm and summery and the noon day sun felt so good on her back as she wandered along the river side. She was out looking for garlic. He'd shown her some cloves that he had dried from the previous season and explained to her what to look for. "Ok, so what is it used for again?" She'd been able to smell the bulb and it was awfully pungent. Not good smelling at all! Ulmaria hoped it wasn't something patients had to eat. Though she assumed it had to be really good medicine for a healer to mess with that smell.

Álarr spied some wild garlic and slowed his pace but he did not immediately point it out, wanting to give Ulmaria a chance to locate it on her own. "It's a very useful antiseptic. This means that it kills bacteria and bad things that can get in a wound and make your patient sick. You can also make a syrup out of it to help with coughs but there are other herbs that uh… are a bit easier for a patient to swallow. The antiseptic properties it what I use it for." He'd useed it several times in the past though the unique way it grew could make it tricky to preserve at times which was unfortunate.

Ulmaria scented the air, trying to unravel the scents of all the plants around her. Her uncle had explained that the easiest way to find garlic was from its unique smell. Soon she caught the scent of it and followed it to the unusually large leaves that resembled fat grass blades. "Over here! I found some!" Grinning she started digging. These were her favorite kinds of plants to gather. The ones you had to dig for! Álarr explained what it was used for and she cocked her head to the side, pausing in her digging. "How do you use it? Do you just put the bulb on the wound?"

Thankfully it didn't take the girl long to find the garlic and they were able to get right down to business gathering it. He stepped aside to let her work, knowing how much she liked to dig. Besides the experience would be good for her. "I usually crush it to get the raw juice. You dilute it out with water and apply it to sphagnum moss which you can use to pack a wound." It was possible to use it on a wound directly but in most cases where he was seriously concerned about infection there was a wound that needed some extra care.

Ulmaria kept digging while she listened. Ok, that made sense. She was particularly intrigued by its use in wounds. No doubt as they trained more in fighting she and her siblings would get hurt more often than not and she'd already had some bad experiences with predators. She grinned as the paler flesh of the bulb became apparent. Seizing the base of the leaves in her jaws she gave a sharp tug and pulled the plant free from the earth. With a grin she turned to Álarr. They were a great team! She was going to be sad when he left but she knew he had to go back to Fireside eventually.