31.Jan.12, 05:01 AM
Talian chewed on his index finger and sorted through the many bundles of dried herbs with his free hand, trying to find exactly the one he wanted. Someone had implemented an awfully strange storage system. Apparently he was supposed to differentiate what each bag held based on a series of knots tied in an extra loop attached to the bag. It made sense on a surface level, but it smacked of someone else’s personal organization system. He preferred his own, but this was something he could work with.
He opened yet another bag and made note to commandeer some herbs for his own use in the future. Then he could return to his preferred organization and not have to dig through someone else’s. He figured it out quickly enough and eventually found the one he wanted, though he gave it a quick sniff to confirm. Oh yes, this was correct!
He reached to a nearby table and picked up a large mug of klah. It was still hot, though not as hot as he would have liked, and full to the brim. He took a scalpel, set aside for this very purpose, and started to mince the sprig up into a fine powder. He removed the stem, sniffed it approvingly, and proceeded to mix the powder into his klah.
This ought to work. There was a slight problem, though…the remedy in question was notoriously effective at curing depression, but also notoriously unpredictable for first time users. Using it was a calculated risk. Talian decided to settle on just half a sprig instead of a full one, since he was a little on the thin side and had lost some weight since arriving at Katila.
That was safe, right?
Fifteen minutes later, Talian was in the dining caverns, shoveling his breakfast into his mouth as fast as he could. He already knew he’d miscalculated the dosage – it would have been hard not to, but shard it, did he feel amazing!
This is awful he thought lackadaisically as he looked around the room. He couldn’t quite hold his fingers still. It looks like I’m having a particularly strong reaction, in spite of halfing the dosage… he thought. But by shards…it was lovely!
Shards! His hand wouldn’t hold still! Twitch, twitch, twitch…
He opened yet another bag and made note to commandeer some herbs for his own use in the future. Then he could return to his preferred organization and not have to dig through someone else’s. He figured it out quickly enough and eventually found the one he wanted, though he gave it a quick sniff to confirm. Oh yes, this was correct!
He reached to a nearby table and picked up a large mug of klah. It was still hot, though not as hot as he would have liked, and full to the brim. He took a scalpel, set aside for this very purpose, and started to mince the sprig up into a fine powder. He removed the stem, sniffed it approvingly, and proceeded to mix the powder into his klah.
This ought to work. There was a slight problem, though…the remedy in question was notoriously effective at curing depression, but also notoriously unpredictable for first time users. Using it was a calculated risk. Talian decided to settle on just half a sprig instead of a full one, since he was a little on the thin side and had lost some weight since arriving at Katila.
That was safe, right?
Fifteen minutes later, Talian was in the dining caverns, shoveling his breakfast into his mouth as fast as he could. He already knew he’d miscalculated the dosage – it would have been hard not to, but shard it, did he feel amazing!
This is awful he thought lackadaisically as he looked around the room. He couldn’t quite hold his fingers still. It looks like I’m having a particularly strong reaction, in spite of halfing the dosage… he thought. But by shards…it was lovely!
Shards! His hand wouldn’t hold still! Twitch, twitch, twitch…