Picking Flowers

Stratum's recent challenge was rolling around in Crux's mind, he knew he couldn't just sit on his laurels, he had to figure out what he wanted and he needed to figure it out soon. Okay so maybe that first step was really already done, his mind had been occupied with the idea of helping to heal others since his mother's passing, a sort of obsession with making sure the same thing never happened again having overtaken him. But really the problem was he wasn't good enough, not even remotely, everything he'd picked up had been from watching others from a distance, mostly from a lack of actual chances to watch. So he had gotten it into his mind that he'd need to get himself some real training.

First he needed to know what was already at their disposal. Once upon a time he'd gathered up a bunch of herbs but he hadn't known what any of them were, he'd only cared at the time that they were pretty. Now he had an eye out for more than that, and then? Well then he'd find some one who could actually tell him what, if anything, his collection was good for. Riya padded beside him and Crux voiced his own worries out loud. "What if everything I bring back isn't useful at all?" Riya shrugged, clearly no more knowledgeable than he was. "You'd still be learning something right?" Crux gave a non-committal grunt and decided he might as well just get it on with. The woods were probably the best place to start, outside of weeds and grass the col was largely empty of vegetation and the beach also wasn't particularly verdant. Though even here it seemed little of the forest wasn't trees. Still there was dots of plants in the few places they could grow without being choked out by the trees.

Crux headed towards the first little patch of vegetation he could see, surprisingly large flowers, the frost had ravaged many of them but he managed to find a few undamaged stems. He eyed the flower, noting the shape of it's wide petals, a single pink one and three more smaller white ones. He wasn't sure if he knew this one by name. Carefully the boy dug around the flower. He didn't know which would be toxic, which would be safe and what parts of each were what, so he was determined to collect at least one of each specimen as whole as possible, so he strove to dig down low enough to preserve the flower's roots and not just it's stem and head. It was slow going and he was careful about not destroying the other buds that had managed to survive the chill.

Finally though he managed to dig enough that he felt satisfied and gently uprooted the unknown flower. He gently laid it on a scrap of leather he'd salvaged from some extra materials, easier to carry them without risking poisoning himself if they were bundled in those leathers rather than just in his mouth. He decided he really only needed one of these, until he knew what they were or what they were used for he didn't want to risk the rest of the stock, the cold was already killing many stalks of this particular flower, might as well let the rest of them try to grow in.

Okay onto the next! This time Crux did recognize the next flower he saw, a bundle of little white flowers. He'd managed to see this one more than a few times. Meadowsweet. It seemed a common enough plant so this time he'd try to gather up more than just one though he would do his best to not over gather them for the exact same reasons. If this was as useful as he had reason to assume he wanted to start his own stash, just in case. The going was as slow as it had been the first time though he was getting a little bit better at it as he went. When he'd finally gathered up three bundles of this white flowers. Probably enough for now.

Now what? Crux cast around for anything else that caught his eye. There didn't seem to be much else, he was about to take his incredibly meagre collection back towards the Col when something crossed his mind. Were dandelions of any use? He stared at a nearby yellow head and thought for a moment before he shrugged and decided he might as well find out. And the process started all over again, though this time he was faster than he'd been before this time, not for lack of care just finding the ways that helped him get his prize easier.  

As he was just finishing he heard a shredding sound and Crux turned to see Riya was sharpening her claws on one of the trees, and as he watched her for a moment another thought crossed his mind, he approached her and sorted through some of the debris she'd pulled from the tree, finding a larger chunk of bark. Who knows, maybe it'd be useful. He looked at the cat who was grinning at him in return, had she known something he hadn't? He glared at her for a moment, sticking his tongue out at her. Okay, this time he was pretty sure he was done, time to see who could tell him if anything he'd gathered was even useful.

- Crux has gathered Lady's Slipper, Meadowsweet, Dandelion and Oak Bark-

WC: 909

Crux & Riya