Try Ag'in
02-09-2019, 01:58 PM
Malleus was back at the Grove once again. The last time he had been here he had been looking for elderberries with Seiran but had not had any luck. Shortly thereafter the girl had disappeared and Malleus had not been able to find so much as a trace of her. First Shilah then his sister. He did not know what to make of it. Perhaps The Fallen God had called them elsewhere. It displeased him greatly to think that both had taken off without informing him of their decision and he had decided to bar them and every deserter like them from reentry. No longer would he tolerate those who left without a word. While it was true that as Abraxas they could do what they liked, it was in poor taste for them to simply run off without notifying him first. How was he to distinguish between those that left willingly and those that did not, if those that did left without a word? No matter, today he was on a mission. The berries he had wanted that day were useful and it was in his best interest to collect them while he could. Malleus had yet to learn the extent of their usefulness and that needed to change. If they were worth the effort then he would begin the process of gathering and preserving them. If they were not, he would find something more deserving of his efforts. The titan was determined to fill the many shelves in his herb room. He thought it best to put together a store for the rough times that were no doubt on the horizon. The pack was full. Soon enough he would need to encourage some of the younger ones to go into the world and take a pack as Amon had done. It was about time they added another pack or band to their empire. Already Malleus had an abundance of the essentials. Because he had so much of those things he felt comfortable with experimenting with lesser known items and with gathering the things that dealt with fortifying the body versus fixing a problem. Elderberries, the drupes he was after now, were known to do just that. They were good for the immune system. The Risen Empire had yet to face a outbreak of any kind and Malleus was keen on keeping it that way. Auster did not have winter the same way Boreas did, but the rising heat no doubt would still chip at the health of his followers. It was in their best interest to strengthen their bodies during this hard season. He paused to nose around a bush but after finding it did not grow what he was looking for, Malleus continued on. The heat had withered pretty much everything that called this place home and made the things that were similar difficult to distinguish from one another at a glance. He did not know if the heat and drought could render the berries useless, so he intended to care for the plant for a few days until it had recovered before collecting the bulk of its fruit. Of course, first he had to find it. At least one bush had to be nearby. Everything else seemed to be. Everywhere he looked blue, black, straw, goose, choke, rasp - basically every berry Auster had to offer - caught his attention. So where were the elderberries? There. Malleus zeroed in on a prospective plant. The wilted and dying leaves were about the right shape although it was difficult to tell given their current condition. At the end of each stalk was a withered cluster of dark berries. They were barely distinguishable from raisins and Malleus feared they were too far gone. When at last he stood before them he crouched down so that the nearest cluster was eye level and scowled thoughtfully at it. After a beat he reached out a paw and gently tapped the cluster. There was a sudden patter on the ground like hard rain as nearly every berry his paw brushed was knocked loose by his careful touch. Malleus sighed - the action knocking yet more from the shrub - and straightened. No way those were good for anything other than bird feed. He would have to keep looking. Slowly Malleus drug his gaze across his surroundings. He studied every bush and every vine with a thoughtful frown, and then lit up when what at first glance looked like the perfect specimen. Somehow it had escaped the worst that the season had to offer. While its leaves were a bit wilted it was head and shoulders above the last one he had looked at. It was in such good condition that Malleus did not think he would have to keep an eye on it for a couple of days before collecting from it. Reaching over his shoulder, Malleus pried loose the bladder of water Pascal had tied to his ribs. He emptied its contents on the ground at the shrub's base and then set it down between his front paws. Then he began to pick the berries and stuff them one cluster at a time into the bladder's opening. He had three such skins and he intended to fill each one before returning home. |