Search for an Herb - Natine

From FiranMUX

PH emit: Matronly women and mothers alike whisper about a young woman fresh from another city! She's hosting a tea in the Bear Claw Apartments! And the word is that she has questions for the women of Anarinuell -- how fascinating! Perhaps they can offer her some sage advice. The door is open, they say. (@cal 7494)

The apartment is perhaps a bit warm for tea -- but not uncomfortably so. The walls are bare, the bed is made but made with a very thin, ragged cloth that is merely thrown over straw that has been sewn into cotton. It's a poor woman's room -- clean, but sparsely decorated. On a little trunk that has been clearly used many, many times, tea has been set up: cups of tea, the teapot, and no decoration whatsoever. By the hearth lies an empty basket, perhaps what the woman used to move her few belongings to the space. She herself sits quietly on the bed, her palla hanging limply from her shoulders. Natine looks pale, frail, but she still exudes "hostess". When people enter, the young woman stands quickly and flashes a brilliant smile. "Hello! Oh, good, I'm so glad people came -- I wasn't sure if ... if they would. I'm so new, you know." She seems shy and unsure of herself, but a pleasant person altogether.

Anarinuell: Palace District -- The Bath House -- The Women's Bath: Zekki

Alyria comes in and offers a smile. "Hello. I hope you don't mind but I want to meet more people in the city myself." She shifts her son a little. "I've been here just about a year and don't know many people myself." She ohs, "I'm Mes Alyria Audracik and this is my son, Alon. I hope it's ok I brought him, my husband doesn't babysit." *Firan*

Shade waddles her way into the apartment; her thugs remain outside, and don't seem too worried about it. What harm can a tea party do? The young woman is quiet as she enters, but for a nod to Natine and a clumsy curtsey. As an afterthouht, she adds, "Mes Shade Valerian." Obligatory introduction, check.

Natine looks at Alyria briefly -- it is her son that garners more of Natine's attention. She looks at the baby with a slight serenity, but there's something more... It's hard to pinpoint, whatever it is. The young woman rips her gaze from the child and thereafter tries very hard not to look at the child at all, but it is a moderately fruitless endeavor. Especially because the entire room is full of pregnant women! Or, one anyway. Natine looks to Shade's stomach and bites her bottom lip, quickly shaking her head. "Oh please, no. Don't cursty," she whispers, talking a strain on her. The young woman coughs a little and busies herself setting up the tea. "Please! Enjoy tea, I bought it for you -- for us." And she smiles, takes a sip, then sits down again. In the new light, the circles under Natine's eyes become a little more visible. "Hello," she says to Zekki, glad to have more people. "Sit! May I get you something?" *Firan*

"It's no trouble," Shade tells Natine, as she rights her posture and moves to sit at a chair or couch or whatever presents itself. She sits perched at the edge of the chair -- or couch, or -- and places one hand upon her stomach. The other fidgets absently. "Thank you," she adds. "For the tea, I mean. It smells really nice."

Zekki makes her way into the apartment, the last to arrive but the cane in her hand likely makes it easy to tell why. Natine's offer has the elderly woman smiling. "No I am fine. Thank you." is responded to as she moves towards an open seat, looking a bit tired from her trek to this part of the city.

• Firan*

"I... bought the brew from that large center market you have here," Natine says pleasantly to Shade, taking another sip from her cup. "It's very colorful here. I couldn't quite find what I was looking for, though. I'm sure Anarinuell has it, in any case!" Natine pauses to catch her breath, a hand going to her chest. She clears her throat daintily and then asks, "Tell me, do any of you cook?"

Alyria finds a place to sit down and puts Alon on her lap. The baby reaches for his mother's hair and grasps it to try to put into his mouth. Aly just sighs and shakes her head, "No, I haven't learned to cook." *Firan*

Natine's eyes go wide when Alyria replies. "Oh no?!" she asks, gasping a little to hard -- it sends the woman into a fit of coughing. When she recovers, Natine manages an embarrassed smile. "That's such a shock to me. How do you feed yourself?" *Firan*

"Very colorful," Shade agrees in something of an echo, as she lifts a cup of tea to her lips. For her part she is anything but colorful. Neither clothing, nor hair, nor skin nor eyes show much in the way of color. She is silent for a time, and almost just as quiet as she murmurs, "I can cook, yes. A little."

Zekki settles herself comfortably in whatever seat happens to be on hand, robes arranged around her as her attention focuses on the hostess. Another smile is offered, this one more motherly than the last. "- cook yes, though not as much as I used to. Mostly just cakes to spoil grandchildren with."

• Firan*

Shade drinks 1 yarrow tea.

Petula steps in again, after ducking out - with apologies - to see to a messenger. "What was this about cooking?" she asks with a smile. *Firan*

Natine stops staring at Alyria and her child to answer the other women. "I had some culi..cul... what's the word? culinary? Such a distinguished word! I had some questions. About a stew I hoped to perfect. I ... don't do very well with recipes, I'm afraid. I just use what I have on hand. And I was experimenting and I couldn't quite get it right." The women who /do/ cook are afforded a smile -- one that turns to Alyria as well. "I'm not the best cook either, really, but I like to put things together in a pot and let them just... meld. I wish I were able to teach it, but it seems I operate on raw intuition. Perhaps you are like that also?" *Firan*

Fidiana arrives in a quiet fashion, as if she were trying not to attract too much attention, even as she pauses by the door and drops a general curtsey, a curtsey that becomes deeper when her eyes fall upon Natine.

Shade has left.

Natine stares at Fidiana and shakes her head repeatedly as the girl curtsies. "Oh, no. Not necessary." *Firan*

Alyria shakes her head. "I never learned as I was too young when my grandma died to learn and in the orphanage, they don't teach you things like cookin. When I came here, I wanted to be a guard which would mean I wouldn't have to learn, but um... uh, other plans were made it seems and I wound up married and with a baby and-I just haven't learned." She shrugs a little. *Firan*

Petula suggests, "Everyone ought to know at least the very basics of culinary arts. Especially if there are little ones about. It's a matter of being and keeping prepared." *Firan*

Zekki listens quietly to Natine speak and nods. "Sometimes that is best when you only have what is on hand and not the means to get something. When I was just barely a woman, sometimes we didn't always have what we wanted to put in a stew. Just what was there." *Firan*

Fidiana straightens the slightest-bit abruptly. "I am very sorry," she says toward Natine and tries to merge herself into the surrounding women.

• Firan*

Natine smiles weakly in Zekki's direction and immediately latches onto the older woman, leaning forward. "Oh, then perhaps you can help me?!" she asks, sounding somewhat desperate. "I want nothing more than to finish this stew, to get it /right/. Perhaps you could all help me find what I cannot?"

• Firan*

Petula watches Fidiana move into the crowd, offering a warm smile to the newest comer as she, herself, moves to settle into a seat, close to the others.

Zekki says "I will help you all I can dearling. Is it an herb you are missing do you think or a type of meat perhaps?" she shifts leaning forward also, to better hear the young woman. She isn't a spring chicken after all. "Or even a spice maybe, sometimes just a hint of the right spice and you will find the stew is then perfect." *Firan*

Alyria doesn't know anything about cooking but listens. It does appear she's interested in learning.

Natine speaks so softly, too. Pity poor Zekki! "No, not a meat..." the young woman says with a frown. "Most assuredly not a meat. I've tried every spice I could think of as well, perhaps... perhaps it /is/ an herb!" Natine's face lights up very briefly -- but soon enough she is plunged into coughs.

• Firan*

Petula gazes thoughtfully at Natine when she coughs, before her attention drifts to note the faces of those others gathered.

Fidiana is a mere novice at cooking and seems content and rather set on absorbing information rather than putting in an opinion just yet. Save, "Are you all right?" as Natine coughs. *Firan*

Natine waves a hand back and forth, the other firmly on her breast. "Oh. Yes, I'm fine. It was just such a very /long/ walk from my home to here and... I get tired easily, I suppose." Natine smiles reassuringly to each woman; she was blessed with a pretty smile and an even sweeter demeanor -- it's hard not to like the young woman. "But could I ask for your help? expert at cooking or not, it doesn't matter here. It's /one/ cursed ingredient that I cannot pinpoint. Maybe Anarinuell will have what Unotran did not!" *Firan*

Alyria knows nothing about healing either. As she is rather use to her son coughing and not sure it's a good for more coughs, she drapes her palla over his head. Of course, the boy thinks it means time to play peekaboo and giggles.

Zekki does look a little concerned at the coughing but as Natine seems used to it she doesn't comment. "An herb then. One that is not found in Unotran... I have not been there. Tell me is Unotran flat or hilly. Perhaps it is the difference of terrain that will help us find an herb that grows here and not there." *Firan*

"It is near the ocean and the hills," Natine replies without wistfulness. "It may grow there, it may not. I don't know, truth be told. All I /do/ know is that I figured I would have a better chance finding what I ... what I ..." emotion runs rampant rather suddenly -- this is some DAMN important stew! Natine's eyes fill with unshed tears and she looks at the floor. "What I couldn't find there."

Zekki's voice reaches out to Natine now, it's tones calming as she nods. "Of course dearling. I didn't mean to upset you. Do you remember what herbs you have already added to the stew? Perhaps then we can go and get some of the others that are not in it from the market. To let you see if perhaps they are what you seek." *Firan*

Natine nods enthusiastically, looking up and swiping the tears from her eyes. "Oh, yes! I do remember! I have tried anise and basil, I tried dill... Ginger as well! But that's not an herb. I put in so much garlic you would cry, lemon herb, thyme, and even yarrow! But," she seems mildly ashamed, "that's all I had." *Firan*

Fidiana puts her finger against her chin, eyes active, but she's back to completely quiet.

Alyria listens to what is going on while still playing peekaboo with her son. "There is that herb everyone tries to buy sometimes. Sweetbay?" *Firan*

Natine has come alive. She shakes her head a few times, "That's the expensive one, isn't it?" she asks Alyria. With so much enthusiasm it seems Natine might break, she starts to shake. "No, no, it's on the tip of my tongue but I cannot place it. It's not expensive, nothing I have is.... it... I cannot think of it!" Sweat beads at the woman's forehead and she coughs again. "A... It's getting dark..." *Firan*

Zekki says "I can ---- the herb at the market after dark if need be child." in a soothing tone yet again. Apparently mothering the young woman even though she's one of the older ones here. "Not sweetbay then. Hmm. Perhaps a flowering herb then, one that resembles a flower but truly isn't..."

• Firan*

"It's not... It's not that, I just. At night, it gets..." Natine stands and crosses to the window. She closes the curtains and then turns around. "I wonder if ... maybe... you could find the herbs and I could try to make the stew with you here? another day? When I'm rested."

Zekki seems to understand and moves to rise. "Of course. I will bring some herbs with me next - come. Just let me know hmm when you are rested?" she moves towards the door then, slowly of course. *Firan*

Fidiana nods once, glances from woman to woman, and with an unconscious curtsey, departs.

Petula drifts out after some of the others, looking positively perplexed.

<the women eventually hit on the right herb and I invited them back for another cooking session!>