Eriki Agha's Report

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 49657

Toward the end of the short trip to the shed by the fields, a couple of the children started to complain, wanting to know how much longer it would be. One of the men commanded them to be silent. The children quickly obeyed.

Once they reached the shed, there were some women preparing places at a long table. There were heaps of highly spiced meat, green vegatables, and bowls of pears on the table. Two of the children lay in the shadow of the shed, in order to catch a quick nap. The rest of the boys played a simple game. One of the children would grab a rag and run with it, and the others would try to bring him down until he let go of the rag. That left two girls to play with each other, playing a make believe game of some sort. Astra's attention would soon be distracted with other matters, so she did not notice that the role that they were playing was not "mother" or "farmer", as Astra had expected, or "Queen of the Hill", as Astra fondly remembered playing in her youth, but "chemist."

However, Astra was still hungry, and eagarly took a place at the table. In addition to the women serving the food, there was a striking man, somewhat taller and with finer features than the Hespaniards she had seen, although his dark complexion convinced Astra that he was either local, or from an adjacent kingdom. The stranger had short, curly hair, and wore a light green cloak over a white tunic. "This must be Eriki," thought Astra.

Hesht nudged her, and whispered, "A couple of pieces of advice. Wait until the amuzgar blesses the meal. It is considered very rude to start before he does this."

Astra nodded her head. Hesht continued, "Also, eat the blandest food that is being served. The spices cover up the mild taint that even the freshest meat has. Natives have become acclimated to it, but I am afraid that you would suffer from the flux for a few days if you ate too much of it."

Astra nodded again. This was sensible, although it was not welcome news. Fruit and vegatables it would have to be, then. She hoped that the mint balls would not cause her problems.

The amuzgar must have been hungry, for he kept the blessing short, and the group, without the children, dug in. It was a custom for the children to eat afterwards, and to eat the food that the adults had left. Fortunately, the farmers talked amongst themselves, the tall man talked to the amuzgar, and Hesht talked to Astra. As most conversations with Hesht took time, Astra was able to eat a leisurely lunch and did not have to fend off any awkward questions.

The tall man complimented the farmers of Still House for their excellent meal, excused himself from the table, and walked into the large shed. One by one, the farmers also left the table, and Hesht and Astra followed. The children now took their places at the table.

This time there were no benches; the farmers sat in the shade of the shed, while Eriki stood. Besides him was an open wooden trunk full of props. There was a colourful array of seeds, flowers and plant parts. Astra was at first hoping that she could doze off without being noticed. Fortunately Eriki was a good enough speaker, and she thought that she would not mind listening to him for a bit, but the topic was bound to be so dry that she would struggle to stay awake.

Eriki began, holding up an orange and black flower, "This is the Galaean poppy. It has been confirmed that the essence of its seed is a catalyst for sleep. This is not windy speculation, but a hard fact, proven by several of our more reputable associates. It grows best at great heights, in dry climates with cool summers. Now, importing these from Gala is expensive, and the supply is unreliable. If they could be grown in Tengese soil, of course, then that would be a good thing." Eriki then held a red and black flower up. "Farouk of the Green Jacket has discovered, that this, the Rock Poppy, will grow well in a variety of Hespaniard soils. It, of course, does not have the essense of the Galaen poppy, but he has great hopes for it. We have brushed grains of pollen from the Galaean poppy into flower of the Rock Poppy, and have gotten some promising results. Anyone who is interested can have some free samples to take back."

Eriki handed a glass vial of seeds and two dried flowers to pass around. They were tiny, round, brownish-black seeds. The flowers were unfamiliar to her.

Eriki continued on with the next topic.

"Now these next two plants address a demand that is acutely felt, but a lot more testing needs to be done before they can be considered reliable. However, what has been seen makes them promising enough to be in demand by several practitioners. What these plants are said to do is

  1. greatly improve the memory.
  2. build strength very quickly.
  3. to improve a man's disposition without intoxicating him.

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3/13/2005 3:48:40 PM

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