Uryella's Herbology Lesson

From FiranMUX

Uryella is already at her kitchen, having set aside various chopping plates and knives, bowls, and of course a variety of herbs... dried, which given the season is not at all surprising. Seeing Vesia arrive she smiles and gestures to the seat opposite her table, "Do come in and make yourself comfortable. I have some warm tea and pies set aside to sustain us for the next few hours." *Firan*

"It smells nice in here. Ahhh, thank you Mes Uryella." Vesia notes as she steps into the warm kitchen/work area and removes her byrrus to hang up by the door. Her palla is likewise pulled from her copper curls to let drape loosely around the crooks of her arms and out of the way of whatever it is they will be doing. She sits at the table to pour two cups of tea for the both of them and asks, "What, specifically, will we be doing today?" She asks, taking a sip of tea and eying everything that was placed out.

"Well, you mentioned that you wanted to help with the war effort, specifically to help make medical supplies so I thought we should focus today on those medicines that are most needed by soldiers in combat. Now, by now you know quite a lot about making yarrow tea which is helped with bruises, but we have comfrey ointment, tea tree oil, and calendula lotions... all of which are necessary. Now I believe you know the basics of making them... but can you repeat what you know and what each is for?"

"Well, tea tree oil obviously comes from the tea tree, and it is rather good for cleaning off the skin if you dilute it. Mother used to use it on Anteros when he came back home smelling -awful-." Vesia says, "But as a medicine it is used when you get stabbed with something? Pointy like a hairpin." She muses before going on, "Calendula lotion is used to soothe things like burns, from the sun, or if you stray too close to a cooking fire. Oh! And sometimes for babies when their swaddlings aren't changed enough. But, I don't know much about comfrey ointment, except that you mix it with the same kind of fats that I use for making perfume."

Uryella listens carefully to the list and then bobs her head, "Right, well... close to it anyway." she notes. "Calendula lotion too uses animal fat, if in a far lesser amount than comfrey ointments. Which is why one ends up a lotion and the other an ointment of course." she states with a smile, "More than that however, calendula lotion may help to sooth the skin after a burn but it doesn't help in healing, you need the Nekaht's burn lotion for that... but the lotion *does* work in healing lacerations." A messenger calls her name and she hrms, tilting her head once receiving it. "Mes Larissa was wondering if she could join this class, she's about the same level as you are and if we have more students, the more we all learn. Would you mind her joining us?" *Firan*

Vesia shakes her head, "No, of course not. She is as welcome as I am.

• Firan*

Uryella smiles and nods, "I'll tell her she can come then, thank you."

• Firan*

Uryella comes back and adds, "I sent her an invitation to join us." She doesn't lock the door behind her but takes her place. "All right, which of the medicines do you want to learn about and practice first?" *Firan*

Vesia frowns at this, "I'm... not sure. What is needed most after a battle?"

• Firan*

"I... don't know really." Uryella is forced to admit, "I've never actually gone to battle, nor am I a healer. I just donate the medicines the military needs and let them decide what to use. So why don't we do all of them and let the healers make the hard decisions..." she chuckles and then selects a few dried herbs, "Like tea tree oil, which is the most difficult to make in my experience anyway. Of course, it also takes the longest and requires both patience and skill, even with the press over there." she gestures. "But we start by chopping about 10 tea tree herbs and dropping them in about half a bowl filled with olive oil." she gestures, offering the same ingredients to Vesia so she can learn by practice. "Then... we stir it for a couple of minutes."

"Why is it the most difficult to make?" Vesia asks the teacher as she takes the herbs and begins to -carefully- chop them into small pieces, without cutting into any of her long nails. Beauty can be quite cumbersome at times, "And they go into one of those larger mixing bowls? Or the small ones used for eating soups?"

From the door into this room, there comes a polite tapping of someone knocking upon the door, before entering.

"The smaller ones." Uryella answers as she hands one to Vesia, "It is best to be careful after all and pay attention to details to make sure that we don't ruin a large batch. A small one is good, but it takes hours to make good tea tree oil and the herbs are the most difficult to find as well, so... it best to be careful just in case." Seeing the mother of her sister-in-law walk in she smiles and waves from where she's seated at the table, as is Vesia, each of them with cutting knife, plate with chopped up herbs, and bowls in front of them. "Mes Larissa, please do come join us and grab some tools, oil, and herbs. This is Mes Vesia, a perfumer who wishes to learn how to make medicines to help out our soldiers. Mes Vesia, this is Mes Larissa of the Hydra clan, a skilled midwife and Elyssa's mother."

Vesia is chopping extremely delicately for some reason and is all to pleased to pause for a distraction, "Hello Mes Larissa, it's lovely to meet you. Shall you like some tea as well?" She asks, and immediately pours another cup of tea for the new arrival, "The mint tea will help with the ... strong smell of the tea tree leaves." She adds with a wrinkling of her nose, "How long do we have to leave them in the oil, Uryella?" She asks, dumping her lot into the small bowl, half filled with oil. *Firan*

Larissa closes the door behind her quietly after being allowed in, carefully in everything she does to not disturb the lesson being given this day. A warm and polite smile is given Uryella first, then Vesia afterwards as she makes her way to the table indicated, and as she does so she utters, "Thank you very much for allowing me to come and join your classes, Mes Uryella... and well met, Mes Vesia. It does smell rather wonderful in here." She settles herself down at a table, taking up appropriate tools, oil and herbs and at first listens. One best learns by listening, no? "I would love some... thank you. And yes, it is rather strong... but it is a good, strong kind of smell I think?"

"Like I said, we must spend a few minutes stirring the oil and herbs together and once you feel that it's spread out smoothly enough we will place the bowl above the kettle with boiling water over there.." Uryella gestures, "And we let it simmer for a couple of hours, no more than three, but no less than two. We have to make sure the fire doesn't die but also that it doesn't grow too hot." The apothecarist moves to do this herself with her own bowl, leaving place for some others. "And well... now we have to wait so I'll teach you about the other medicines.. but once the simmering phase is over, we need to pour the oil into that wooden press over there and strain it.. and once that is done, we will have the smoothest, most pristine tea tree oil you can imagine."

Vesia stirs her bowl obediantly enough, and soon rises to place it above the kettle to simmer along with Uryella's own bowl. She does this all while keeping one hand with her palla over her nose, "Ugh, it just gets stronger smelling as it cooks, doesn't it? I hope this is very helpful for war." She mutters the last bit to herself before sitting down, and taking a big drink from her aromatic tea cup, "Ahh, this is nice. If we add some mint to the tea tree oil to make it nicer, will it ruin it?" *Firan*

Larissa busies herself with some catchup, chopping the herb leaves with a knife so that she might mix them in an oil as has been done to this point. "So you have to be careful to not let the mixture come to a boil, rather remain at a simmer? If the fire is too hot, presumably you'll have to raise the bowl from the kettle a little to let it cool? Is that correct, Mes Uryella?" she asks, trying to get the process of this oil making straight in her mind as she works. Once she seems to have caught up with the work the other women have done to this point in readying the tea tree oil mix she rises to join them at the fireplace. Her eyes crinkle a little with a semi-repressed smile at Vesia's latter question, though she listens to the answer with interest.

Uryella laughs softly at Vesia's comments and chuckles, "You just have to remember, Vesia, we're doing this to repair the damage that men do to one another and their enemies in a very sweaty and smelly business. Unlike teas and perfumes, which smell nice, these medicines aren't meant to smell nice but to undo such damage... ergo, a strong smell indicates that things are going well... as long as it's the scent of herbs and not of burning." she agrees with a nod to Larissa. "That is why we do not roast the oil directly above the fire but above the boiling water... that we can control better and acts as something of a buffer if things get too hot accidentally. *Firan*

Vesia isn't exaaaactly sure she'd know when the pungent tea tree smell changed to burning, given she's got a make-shift fume mask over her nose, but she decides not to comment, "How will we know when it's done? Does it look or smell different then it does now?" *Firan*

"And it is a much more pleasant smell than a man's sweat," Larissa utters with a sense of jest in her voice, though she looks quite proper in the process. She checks that her bowl is in the right place along with Uryella's and Vesia's, so that it can begin to infuse as it should. "I rather like the smell, myself... but perhaps I have just grown accustomed to it over the years." She offers a smile at that last, then looks to Uryella a touch more specifically. "I wonder, would you please recap what you might use such an oil for, Mes Uryella?" Just to make sure that her own understanding of the herb is up to date. She listens to the answer for Vesia's question, also.

"It will be much clearer, a very light green, almost translucent." Uryella answers Vesia's question and then bobs her head towards Larissa, "Yes, Mes. We need about half a bowl of the finest olive oil and about 10 tea tree herbs which we must chop and then stir inside the bowl, mixing it with the oil" she explains and then sighs, "Well... let us go to the next medicine, comfrey ointment."

"I don't know, Mes Larissa, I'm rather fond of the way men smell. I am not particularly fond of tea tre oil, though." Vesia says, looking over at the comfrey herbs and asks, "Do we chop and cook those too to make the ointment, mes Uryella?" She asks as she wipes off her knife.

Uryella retrieves some dried comfrey herbs which have been strung together on a string. "Now... it is best to use dried comfrey for this, which is why it's best to wait till it is dry even when you can pick them fresh in the fields. Drying them is rather easy however... you just take thread and needle and string them up togethe and hang them in a warm corner in your home or kitchen. They'll be dry within just a few days." she begins to explain. "And now, Vesia, no chopping this time. We need to crush them, which is why it is best to use dry herbs.. they're more brittle. And as we crush them, we allow some fat to boil above the heart... waiting till it has melted a little, becoming soft and malleable enough for our purposes."

• Firan*

Larissa is familiar with what tea tree oil looks like at least, even if she may not have made it herself all that often yet. "Oh, it is a lovely smell when they are fresh from their training..." but not so much when the scent has gone stale. Anyway, back to work. Larissa inclines her head a fraction as she watches what Uryella does now. "How easy do you find it to find such herbs, Mes Uryella? Either in the market or in the fields..."

Vesia knows allll about the animal fat business, so she rises to tend to that while Uryella answers Larissa's questions about the herbs. "How much will we need?" She asks, before deciding to just fill up another bowl with the slimey lard and place it near the fire to soften, "Nevermind. How fine do we crush them? Like powder, or do you want the little bits and pieces?" She asks and goes ahead with the herb smash. "Oh this is kind of fun."

• Firan*

"Comfrey is quite easy to find, unlike tea tree, although fortunately one can usually rely on the merchants at the market to supply ones so we don't have to go outside and endanger ourselves." Uryella replies. "But well... once the fat has become soft and malleable we take it away from the fire. We sprinkle the ground comfrey upon the fat and start kneading it... we sprinkle some more and knead some more until the fat is completely saturated with the herb. Once that is done, we place the pot back above the fire... again.. .a small one, and let it simmer for, again, several hours."

"And presumably in that time, whilst the fat and herb mix simmer the comfrey infuses its properties into the fat? And what conditions would you use comfrey as an ointment, Mes Uryella?" Larissa asks softly, glancing over at the boiling water to see how the tea tree oil is getting on - to check that the water isn't boiling too much. Her own questions are so that she can affirm her current working knowledge.

Uryella demonstrates the kneading process and nods approvingly at Vesia when the young perfumer tries it herself. "You want to join too, Mes Larissa?" she asks the older woman. "It's quite fun really, a lot like when we're preparing pies and bread." *Firan*

"And I am no healer, Mes, but I understand that comfrey is used as an ointment to help cure gashes." Uryella answers. "It is quite good at knitting the skin back together. And yes... again, like with the tea tree oil, the trick is in making sure that the other substance, be it fat or oil, absorbes the healing properties of the herbs in such a way that it can be used easily on our bodies. We need something sticky."

"I would love to," Larissa replies, looking for either some fat that has already been prepared and is spare, or if there is none setting some fat above the kettle to soften. Whilst that's softening, she goes to take some of the comfrey leaves, and with a pestle and mortar starts to break down the leaves into fine fragments. "This part is fun, yes... " and nor does it take her too long to grind the herbs down, being somewhat experienced at this already. "I have used it on occasion... mostly with either my husband and son after injuries of theirs, or more often with children and the odd scraped knee. Bless them."

"You're a healer then?" Uryella asks, interested, "Although... I suppose that is to be expected if you're a midwife." she concedes, "But well... you do seem to know what you're doing." she adds after putting her own mix of oil and herbs above the fire.

"Yes... the two go very much hand in hand, I think," Larissa answers as she starts to work her hands into the fat, chuckling softly at an inner thought which she expresses a moment later. "I am never quite sure whether I enjoy working these herbs into fat, or not. It is awfully... gooey. It's fun, but then awkward cleaning ones hands after. "And yes, I have some experience... but I do not think that one can ever learn enough, or be so self assured so as to think that we know everything. I believe it is good to reaffirm one's own knowledge. If my skills in turn can help people when then need it, then I am happy." She works the herbs into the oil a little longer, before moving to put her own next to Uryella's at the fireplace.

"Well done, Mes." Uryella compliments and smiles a little, bobbing her head in approval before stepping back from the fire. "And now I'll just have to wait a few hours to see how things work out. But there is a basket with clean water there in which we can clean our hands." she pointes, waiting for the guest to go first of course. "And I quite agree, which is why I enjoy teaching so much. The more people I teach, the more I learn from their questions and insights."

Larissa examines her hands after that last attempt at making a comfrey ointment; they are certainly greasy! "I haven't much experience with teaching - I suspect I am more of a doer than a teacher... but I feel that it is only fair to return the favour. If you want, I would be happy to offer some lessons in basic healing in turn, to thank you for your offer of teaching me more herbology..." She makes her way on over to the bowl of water, using that to wash her hands, with soap if it is available.

Uryella shakes her head, "I appreciate the offer, Mes, but for now I am trying to focus on discovering a medicine for lung trauma... and to become an even better teacher." she explains. "But I will remember it in the future, that is for sure, Mes." she cleans and dries her own hands and moves to her seat, offering the older woman some tea and pies. "How are you doing these days though, Mes?" she inquires, "Elyssa mentioned even her brother is now an adult." *Firan*

"For lung trauma? That must be a fascinating thing to research!" Larissa exclaims, though not with too much volume to keep her voice at a decent level. The enthusiasm is unmistakable in her voice though. "And I am doing very well, thank you. I am enjoying getting back to work and looking after my family having been away for what seems like such a long time." She smiles a touch broader at mention of Aysun. "Aysun has reached his twenties, yes... I am sure he will do me proud," with at least a little nudging. "What of you and your own family? I do hope they are well?"

"Oh they are, yes." Uryella answers, "Although thankfully most of them are young still, Trey and Del are the only ones who're passed their Ceremony of Souls." she shakes her head, "I can't imagine what it must be like to having all your children as adults. Although you do seem to have done a good job." she notes, "Elyssa sure is a good hand around the orphanage and she seems to know how to handle Tabarus as well and to be fair, that is not an easy feat."

Larissa chuckles, a twinkle of pride in her eyes at such talk of her family. How can she not be proud of her children? "It is a little sad in a way that they have all grown up, yes... but I shall let you into a little secret." At this, Larissa leans forward a touch, as if she were about to let some trinkle of gossip free. "When your own children are adults, you can't start to hope for grand children... which I am so excited about. All the joys of childhood, but without the pain of pregnancy and labour and you are able to hand the children back to their parents at the end of the day, and relax. My dearest niece Persinna is betrothed... so I am hoping that she will bring some children for me to enjoy in time."

Uryella ooohs and nods, "May I ask to whom, Mes?" she inquires, curiously. "And I must admit, I am hoping to find some good matches for Trey and Del soon too, although naturally their head of house will have the final word. But... a mother can't help but keep her eyes open for suitable young women, right?" *Firan*

"You know, I feel terrible... I can't quite remember his name, but I believe that he was a Priest. Sadly I haven't had a proper opportunity to discuss matters with my niece, though I intend to rectify that as soon as I am able," Larissa replies with warmth in her voice. "How old are they now? Trey and Del? I did meet a lovely lady the other day who is a matchmaker. Mes Uelania... have you met her?"

"Treydan is 17 and Delmartan 16 years old." Uryella answers and she laughs, shaking her head, "No, I'd rather not have word get back to them that their meddlesome mother is meeting with a matchmaker on their behalf. Besides... they might get to find some girl they like on their own, and as long as she's proper, I don't mind."