Tuesday, January 30, 2024

2.4

Aron took their empty bowls and spoons back to the people who had prepared dinner and were now cleaning up. Avoiding Brylin and others who tended to pull people into conversation in order to gossip, Aron hurried back.

He was concerned that maybe Nathley would be having a difficult time keeping to a whisper, but he returned to find the girl quietly helping Emri gather up ingredients. Not being one of Faver’s regular apprentices, she didn’t know where everything was, but Nathley had helped out enough now to at least know where to look.

“Can I help?” Aron asked in a whisper.

“Do you know how to use this?” Emri asked, indicating a small mortar and pestle for grinding up herbs.

Aron nodded. He wasn’t acquainted with all the things that Healers might use in preparation of medicines, but basically everyone from their part of the world tended to learn early in life how to grind up grains, seeds, herbs and other things that could be used in cooking. Usually if it was for food preparation, the tools were a larger size set so as to accommodate batches of grain and seeds for making biscuits, seed-cakes, and the like; but they were basically used in the same manner. It was a simple process of putting the ingredient to be ground up into the mortar, and then using the pestle to smash, grind, pulverize, and otherwise make increasingly smaller pieces out of things. It was good for mixing such ingredients together, too.

“Everyone knows that.” Nathley whispered, looking over from the herb cabinet, as if Emri had asked if he knew how to walk, or something else that one might expect any person in the world to be capable of no matter where they were from. Maybe where Emri came from, not everyone learned to help with the cooking? But he had seen her helping Faver earlier, and Emri clearly didn’t need anyone to teach her, so naturally he assumed what she meant was for him to help by grinding something up.

“What do you want me to start with?” Aron asked.

“This bunch of herbs here.” Emri replied, passing him some of the new herb that… wasn’t the one from around the marsh. That one was sort of like a fern with a bulbous bit above a long root, but this one had feathery roots all in a jumble, with leaves that were rounded, broad, and all in clusters.

“Just the leaves.” Emri added, still speaking quietly. “Please pull them off and set the rest aside. When the leaves are in a pulp, we’ll add the oil. If Nathley can find it.”

“It’s here.” Nathley spoke up, a little too loud. Aron shot her a look as she set the bottle on the work table next to a couple of others. It had a label on it that no doubt indicated which type of oil it was, but Aron couldn’t read it from where he stood. He started pulling the leaves off the herbs Emri had passed to him, putting them into the mortar as he did so.

Nathley spoke so quiet this time that Aron could barely hear her. She had difficulty keeping to a consistent volume of speech, but she did try. “I’ve been looking for that, um… the powdered camble pit. I am sure I saw some the other day. Is that the last thing?”

“There is one other herb, if there’s some here. I’m not sure what you’d call it, though. We can do without it, but it would really help a lot, and I think it should be fairly common where you’re from. I haven’t seen any yet around here, but there might be some variety of it that would be easier to find earlier in the year, in warmer weather…” Emri mumbled something else like she was thinking to herself, then said that the name she knew the herb by was… something completely unintelligible to Aron. It didn’t even sound like any word he knew.

“How about you describe it?” Aron suggested. “If it is common where we came from, then maybe we can figure out what it is anyway. I know Faver’s store of herbs has been running low on a lot of things, but maybe there might be some of whatever it is.”

Nathley quietly voiced agreement, and also held up the jar that she’d found. She shook it lightly, and the tan powder inside shifted back and forth. She set it next to the other things on the work table. “What sort of plant is it?”

“Hm…” Emri thought it over a moment. “It helps increase the cooling effect and absorption of the kind of balm we are making. It has a scent and taste similar to but not quite the same as… in some places they compare it to mint, in other places they say it is like menthol. Maybe you have a variety of mint, so you might know of a plant that smells similar? The flowers have no notable scent, different varieties have different sizes and colors, but the flowers always have five petals, full and pointed, with a fuzzy center. The leaves usually have some amount of fuzziness to them and tend to be dark green and pointed at either end – though they come in varieties with varying shades and sizes. The stalk is usually soft but kind of reedy, with a hollow center. The sap inside the stalk has a stronger scent than the leaves, but basically smells the same. It sort of grows in a branchy way... sometimes short, compact branches and sometimes longer more spindly ones. The leaves alternate sides along the branches, so the branches also grow… never across from each other, but it branches sort of erraticly and either more or less frequently depending on whether it’s growing more compactly or not. In some places it grows big enough to be like a bush, but sometimes it’s not much bigger than this one.” Emri indicated the plants that Aron had been pulling leaves off of; each whole plant could fit in one of his hands, open with the fingers extended.

“The only things I can think of similar to that,” Nathley said, “are varieties of mint… except they have their leaves and branches opposite each other, don’t they?”

Emri nodded. “In some places people think of them as related, though they really aren’t different varieties of the same thing.”

Aron voiced his thoughts. “It sounds like they could be mistaken for mint, though… maybe most people where we came from wouldn’t realize they’re different. Since they come in a lot of different varieties, and you don’t seem sure which variation we’d have seen, it might help if Faver has a picture of it. Nathley, do you know where Faver keeps the Herbal?”

“Oh, sure, we should look in there. I was thinking we should ask Faver, but since he’s not back yet maybe we can find it sooner in the Herbal.” Aron thought there’d probably be others in the camp who would have helped gather herbs at one time or another and might know of it, but considering how busy everyone in camp was right now, he preferred to see if they could figure it out themselves first.

Nathley started moving some things around to get at a box down under the work table. Emri had a curious tilt to her head, so Aron said: “Maybe you’ve studied from an Herbal Tome before? Each page has a detailed drawing of a plant, with notes of uses and additional details. I’ve heard that some people put their medicine formulas in the same book, but Faver has a different one for that. Most of the pictures in the Herbal were painstakingly copied by the previous Healer, who made many trips to a Healer’s association in a city over in the neighboring region. They’re considered valuable, and taken care of as well as can be under the circumstances.”

Emri nodded. “I mostly have studied from live plants, but I have seen different sorts of compilations like what you are describing, used as training manuals or reference in some places.”

Meanwhile, Nathley carefully lifted the box up and set it on the table. Unlatching the box, she flipped the lid over, which also opened up the side that joined the lid to the box. The interior of the box was lined, the lining connecting the side and lid so that when opened, it became a surface to open the tome on without needing to remove it from the box at all.

The pages were all fine parchment, artfully drawn and lettered, and most had been colored as well as having written descriptions of the colors in case the ink couldn’t match exactly, or might discolor over time, as some pigments did. The pages were held together by brass rings on one side, which could be pried open in order to add additional pages to the collection.

Nathley gingerly opened the Herbal, slowly turning the pages with a look of serious contemplation on her face. She had a reputation for being a little clumsy at times, but when she really tried hard, she was able to be careful with delicate things, or to work fine detail into items she was crafting.

Aron looked over the pages from one side of Nathley, with Emri being on the other side.

“This is beautiful,” Emri whispered, “and very detailed.”

Aron nodded in agreement. “Yes, I think so too. Is there anything else about the plant that might help us identify it?”

“Hm.” Emri pointed at the current page. “It looks like these drawings all include the roots, which I hadn’t thought to describe before since I was thinking about how it would look to someone finding it growing someplace. Most varieties have shallow, clingy roots and like places that drain well but either are humid or have frequent rain. It grows best in warm climates, or the warmest part of the year in temperate places. There are many varieties suited to different parts of the world, but they all like places where it’s warm, and full sun for part of the day with shade the rest of the time.”

Aron considered what Emri was describing while Nathley kept turning pages. “Even if Faver doesn’t have it, if it’s something known to be edible, then the people who go out gathering, and the people who mind the flocks, would probably be able to recognize it. We could ask them to look for some, especially if you think there’s likely to be a variety around here that would closely resemble a type we’d have back where we came from.”

Emri nodded slowly. “With the cooler weather here, it probably would have already seeded some time ago and much of the plant might be withered, but dry withered leaves could still be useable if in good condition. I didn’t notice any earlier, but I was focused on looking for the other plant and didn’t think of it. If there’s any around here, it’s most likely up in the hills, possibly higher up than where I was looking for the other one. Common places to find them are around rocky outcrops and cliffs… in some parts of the world, it’s only found up on cliffside ledges and nooks. I’d like to search for some the next time I go out looking for the other one.”

Aron muttered an agreement, and the three continued looking at pages. The tent was quiet for a minute except for what sounded to Aron like Remal turning over, but then suddenly there was a tap on his shoulder and Aron looked around quickly. Remal appeared on his other side, however, pushing Aron out of the way in order to stand next to Nathley.

“Haven’t found it yet?” Remal said, reaching over in front of Nathley to slide the Herbal tome in its box over so he could turn the pages himself. “it’s probably in the next-to-last section.”

“There are sections?” Aron looked over Remal’s shoulder. He had noticed that similar plants seemed to be near each other in the book, but so far had thought it looked like it all went from one sort to another similar sort, to another sort similar to the last but more different from the previous, without any sort of markers or other indications of the tome being organized into definite groupings of pages.

Remal ignored Aron and went on, turning the pages more than one at a time but carefully so as to not damage any. “Sounds like you’re looking for Piedmont Firesparks.”

“I might have seen something with a name like that.” Nathley moved over to the herb cabinet, motioning for Emri to take her place closer to where the tome was now located in front of Remal.

Closer to the back of the tome, Remal turned pages more slowly, examining each one. Aron watched as Emri slowly edged closer so she could have a better look. He saw her eyes flick back and forth between Remal and the Herbal, but otherwise he’d have sworn that there was no change anywhere on her face… well, maybe a slight tightening of the jaw muscles? Her posture, however, seemed to indicate caution. Remal looked tense, but he usually did anyway, these days. Aron was sure he’d noticed, regardless.

“This one. Is this it?” Remal queried. He pointed at a page, but then turned back to the previous one, saying: “This is really similar to what you were describing, too.”

Emri looked the page over, then turned it to look at the following page. That one, labeled ‘Piedmont Firesparks’, appeared to have long stalks and branches, dark leaves long and narrow, with clusters of small red-orange star-shaped flowers. The other page was labeled ‘Condor’s Breath’ and looked more compact and leafy with wider leaves that weren’t as dark, and the flowers appeared to be sort of pale yellow or cream-colored, more rounded but still coming to points around the outside. Otherwise, they looked to have all the same features as each other, fitting what Emri had described. She looked over the next few pages where a couple more plants had some similarities as well, then turned back.

“There’s a people,” she said slowly, “that have done extensive work in cataloging plants from all over the world. I believe their name for this one would translate into your language as something like ‘Fireburst Stars’, and this other one could be translated as ‘Condor’s Stars’ or sometimes ‘Condor’s Roost True Stars’. They both are varieties of the same plant, which those people call ‘True Stars’ or ‘Shlow Stars’.”

Remal pointed out the written notes on one side of a page. “These ‘Fire’ ones are found around the higher hills, rocky outcrops and gravelly areas of the Downs, mostly the West and South side, away from the areas with the denser forests. They’re used in quite a few common remedies, and I’m pretty sure Faver has run out of the distillation of the sap, but might still have some of the leaves since that is one that Mother used to always keep a lot of.”

“Oh! A large jar?” Nathley exclaimed from over by the herb cabinet. She turned her attention to a large drawer under the cabinet and rummaged around for a moment.

Remal nodded absently, though Nathley wasn’t looking. “I don’t remember this other one. Mother copied a lot of pages from the Healer’s association in Lynchberg. She said some of them were from the areas farther North and West, that we didn’t see in our area.”

Emri’s brows drew together a little, but Aron wasn’t sure what to make of it because neither her tone, nor anything else seemed to indicate any kind of sentiment. “Did you study with her?”

“No.” Remal replied curtly. “I was no good with formulas and mixing things, I only helped Mother hunt herbs. Sometimes I look for them for Faver, if he lets me know he needs something.” Remal then gently closed the tome and flipped the lid of the box back over it. He had it latched in an instant. “This is only used for looking up plants when necessary, and is never to be kept open while anything is being measured out and mixed, understand?”

“Certainly.” Emri said, stepping back away. She bumped into Nathley, who was standing behind holding the jar. Aron was worried for a moment, but Emri kept on her feet and Nathley kept hold of the jar. Remal shot them a disapproving look, then stowed the box down under the work table in its (relatively) safe spot.

Turning, Emri examined the jar that Nathley offered for inspection. It was a fairly large jar, but didn’t have much left in it. Aron joined them in smelling the remaining dried leaves once the stopper had been removed. It did have a somewhat vaguely minty scent. Aron looked in. Although the jar’s contents partially had the appearance of dried leaves, there didn’t seem to be any whole ones, only pieces that were mixed in with the minute remnants of countless other leaves, little bits and pieces that had long since broken down into what was almost a powder down in the bottom of the jar. He thought it must have originally contained whole leaves, though, because if it had all been powdered to begin with, then there wouldn’t have been those larger pieces mixed in.

Remal looked it over as well, then declared: “If there’s any in this area, we’ll find some.” He took the jar out of Nathley’s hands and transferred it to the work table. “Is that everything? How do we mix this up?”

Emri followed. “Since what’s left of this one is so faded, with a faint scent, I think we should mix it with the oil first, then let it sit while we mix the rest. Let’s use these two bowls.”

Aron motioned for Nathley to help, stepping out of the way. There really was only room for three at the work table. Still, he kept close by in case there might be anything he could help with, and so he could monitor the proceedings.

Saturday, January 13, 2024

2.3

Rinna led the way back to the Healer's work tent, with Emri and Aron in tow and Nathley trailing close behind. Emri could hear that Remal Haelson fellow well before they reached the door to that particular tent. He probably didn't think he was speaking very loudly, but his voice carried.

"No, that's from something else," he was saying to someone, "before the bear. Do you want to see it?"

A child's voice replied. "Ew, no, that's gross."

Upon entering the tent, Rinna went straight over and whispered to Faver, who was sitting next to a woman and apparently having dinner. Emri stood just inside the tent's door and Aron stayed by her, seeming as bemused as Emri was by the spectacle of Remal having a perfectly amiable conversation with a child who was playfully swatting at him with the wooden spoon she held in her hand as though it were a weapon.

"If you want to be a Hunter," Remal scoffed, "you shouldn't be so squeamish."

"I'm not squeamish!" the girl retorted with mock ferocity, "I've watched the butchers do their work and I've seen them slaughter sheep!" She jabbed at him with the spoon, which he blocked with a wooden bowl. More seriously, the little girl declared, "I didn't run away when I saw dead people, either. Blood doesn't scare me! It's just stuff like pus and infected wounds that's gross, and you always wait until things get all infected and inflamed before you let Pa see them!"

"Not always!" Remal acted aghast, as if he were deeply offended by the accusation – but ridiculously overplayed, which made the little girl laugh. "Regardless," Remal added with mock indignation, "your father already cleaned it up, so it's not infected."

"Anymore." Emri heard Aron say quietly aside, and she looked at him. What he said might have been judgmental, but his tone and the amused look on his face belied it. He smiled when he saw she looked at him, and not knowing if she should reply or what to say if she did, Emri quickly looked back at Remal and the child.

"So there." Remal said to the girl, and made as if to set the wooden bowl on the girl's head, but she ducked and bounced aside, and the bowl fell on the ground instead.

"I bet it's still all red and puffy!" the girl declared, then hopped to where she could swat at the back of his shoulder with her spoon. "So no. Thank. You." She punctuated her statement three times with a slapping sound as the spoon hit a bandage that Remal had there.

He winced like it hurt, but not enough to yell about it. "You," he said, turning his shoulder away and snatching the spoon out of the little girl's hand, "are picking up your father's bad habits."

He started to lean over to pick up the bowl from where it had fallen on the ground, but the child dove at it faster, triumphantly declaring, "I got it, Uncle Rem!" as she stood up with the bowl and presented it to him. He put the spoon in the bowl, leaving it in her hands instead of taking it from her.

The woman sitting by Faver spoke up. "Better if she picks up her father's habits, than yours." She sounded teasing, but also as if it was something of a serious judgement.

Remal wrinkled his nose at her, but Faver and Aron laughed, so then the child laughed, too. Paying more notice to the woman by Faver, Emri appraised that she looked like she might be somewhat taller and broader than the average woman in camp – not unlike Rinna, although there seemed to be no other resemblance between them. The woman and Faver appeared to have just finished eating from wooden bowls like the one Remal had now left to the girl. To that was added two more, as the woman stood up and took her own bowl and Faver's, stacking them all in the little girl's hands. The woman then picked up two more bowls from the work table, and Rinna picked one up as well.

Faver stood up, too, and addressed Emri: "This is my wife, Brylin, and my daughter Nina. Brylin, Nina, this is Miss Emri." The woman – Brylin – handed Emri and Aron each a bowl, which Emri now saw contained some sort of soup. Faver patted the little girl on the head, who bobbed about and offered a cheerful "Hello, Miss Emri!"

"Pleasure to meet you." Brylin said, with a nod. She patted little Nina on the shoulder and the girl spoke up, adding: "Nice to meet you."

The girl sounded quite genuinely friendly, and looked at Emri with curiosity. Her mother also looked at Emri with curiosity, though not as obviously and perhaps somewhat more appraisingly. That reminded Emri of Rinna, though Brylin's smile seemed more sincere. Emri wondered if the two women might be related, as Brylin made simple conversation – asking, as other people already had, if Emri were from this part of the country or somewhere farther off, saying she had heard that Emri was helping with some new medicines, and similar things. Emri answered all the same questions as she had answered before. On the surface, Brylin appeared to take the answers like Rinna had – but beneath that, she seemed less incredulous.

Meanwhile, Emri heard Faver send Nathley to fetch her dinner and then come back here to help, and then he whispered aside with Rinna and Aron a bit.

"So how far away are you from?" Nina asked excitedly. "Are you from really, really, really far away? Have you traveled farther than us? 'Cause we've traveled a looooong way so far."

"I know!" Emri exclaimed, crouching down to address the girl more directly. "You've all traveled really far. You've been very brave, haven't you?"

Nina smiled and nodded, and Emri went on to say: "I did travel really far, too, but from way off away in the opposite direction. I've been studying what herbs grow in this part of the world for a while, now, though."

"So do you know people who live around here? Do you know what they're like?"

"Well, not much. Around here I've mostly been out away from where the people live. I haven't really met anyone from this local area yet. I've talked to people who live a ways beyond over that way, though. I suppose you could say… they're in the towns north of the towns that are north of where you and your family and everyone in camp came from."

"Really?" Nina said. She had such an open, unguarded air about her, that Emri found her refreshing to talk to, even more than Faver or Hin. "People say the towns are really big there!" Nina's eyes were wide. "Are they really, really big?"

"Well… maybe bigger than any you might have seen so far in your travels. Bigger, I think, than the ones nearest here. I wouldn't call them really, really big, though. There are some places in the world where the towns are soooooo much bigger."

"How big?"

"Hm… like as big as several of the biggest towns in this part of the world, all jumbled together."

"Is that where you're from? A really big town like that?"

"Oh, no. The place I came from isn't like that. There are a lot of people there, but it's arranged more like a lot of smaller towns all spread out over a much larger area, instead of big towns with a lot of people all living close to each other."

"That sounds like the Downs we used to live in!" Nina exclaimed, sounding pleased.

"Maybe it is like that, in some ways. There's lots of other ways it's different, though."

"Like how?"

"Oh, well… so many kinds of different that I couldn't list them all. One thing, though is that there's different plants. There's some kinds of trees there that you'd never see anywhere near here."

"Really? What else?"

"Oh, there's all kinds of different plants. Sometimes you can see the same ones as you could find here – or ones very similar – but there's some flowers there that no one could find anywhere else at all in the whole world. There's more different types of flowers, too."

"That sounds nice."

"Do you like flowers?"

"Yes! Do you?"

"Absolutely."

"What else is different there?"

"Oh, lots of things…" Emri hesitated to go into greater detail. She hadn't thought about it before, but perhaps she could sort out which details she could describe without touching on the things she shouldn't talk about. She would want some time to think it over, though. She looked around, suddenly realizing that no one else in the tent was talking anymore, and though some seemed to be trying to be inconspicuous about it, all the adults present were watching her. Emri thought Nina was going to repeat her question or say something else, but Brylin put a hand on the girl's shoulder just as she was opening her mouth.

"How about we let Miss Emri eat her dinner. There's still more work to be done here tonight. She's helping your Pa make medicine for all the sick people, and we have things to do, too."

"Oh. Yeah." Nina sounded reluctant to leave off the novelty of talking to someone new, but nodded to her mother in agreement.

Brylin took two of the empty bowls Nina had been holding, and said, "I hope you like the soup. We'll see you later, Miss Emri."

"Thank you." Emri said. "Goodbye."

"Bye, Miss Emri." Nina said, with a wave.

"Bye, Miss Nina."

"Here, take this one, too." Rinna said, drinking the rest of her broth and passing her bowl to Nina.

"Bye, Everyone." Nina took the bowl and spoon, added them to the other one she held, and ran to follow her mother out the other door.

Everyone else variously waved or said goodbye. Emri glanced over at Remal, surprised at how cheerful he sounded. Aside from having a bandaged shoulder, he looked a bit bruised and battered. She was fairly certain he hadn't looked that way earlier. When he turned from having watched Nina leave, he saw Emri looking at him. His eyes narrowed. Emri thought it was a look as if to say, 'how dare you, you have no right to look at me'. Emri hadn't thought him to be very friendly when she'd first met him, but he seemed more and more disagreeable every time she saw him after that.

Aron pulled up a bench for them to share, drawing her attention to it and inviting her to sit and eat. Perhaps the bench had been under the work table? There seemed to be only a few stools and small chairs in the tent, otherwise most of the space around the sides was taken up by the work table and a few assorted other things like cabinets, a smaller table, and what appeared to be a cot for sleeping, currently occupied by Remal.

Emri turned her attention to her soup. It wasn't bad at all. Vastly different from most soups she'd had, though similar in some ways to the flavor of some food she'd tried in the city she'd been to before, closer to the middle of this quadrant of the world. She supposed they used some of the same seasonings in similar proportions.

Meanwhile, Rinna could be heard talking quietly to Faver nearby. "So, was it really you that people saw fighting with Remal? He looks like he got the worst of it."

"I did dodge quite a lot." Faver sounded… was that tone apologetic or sheepish? "Don't you think I could beat him, though?"

Rinna snorted. "Between the two of you? Normally I'd expect the opposite, but honestly it is better if you come out of it… less damaged."

Remal started to say something, but Faver cut him off. "You are supposed to be resting, so no talking! Do I need to give you a sedative?" Remal muttered something quiet and indistinct, laying down and turning his back to everyone. He sounded rather annoyed.

Aron, however, was chuckling into his soup, but when he happened to look at Emri, his expression went more serious and concerned-looking. She realized she had been looking at them all with her mouth slightly open.

Honestly, was it no very serious thing if they'd been fighting? She had thought this was a peaceable camp of people, but perhaps they were all a more violent people than she'd believed. Did they truly deserve to find a genuinely peaceful place to settle in?

Emri closed her mouth and whispered to Aron. "Is this… a normal thing?"

"For them to fight? No, they usually just argue with words." Aron patted her arm in a comforting way. "It's not uncommon for people in the camp to practice at fighting, but actual fighting is rare."

Emri sighed. She could understand that a group of people in the kind of situation these people were in, might naturally feel a need to know how to fight, to protect themselves and their families, but… it was disconcerting all the same.

Faver leaned closer to Emri and Aron. "I needed to evaluate his reaction time and responsiveness. Sparring works well for that." He glanced at Rinna again. "You are right, though, normally Remal would do better."

At something of a scoffing sound from Remal over in his corner, Faver spoke louder, saying, "But he's overtired and desperately needs some rest!" Speaking quieter again, he added in an aside to Emri and Aron: "And of course, a bit of exercise before resting can be quite beneficial."

Emri wasn't entirely reassured, but Faver's explanation did sound at least somewhat reasonable. She nodded slightly.

Changing topics, Faver said: "Rinna tells me you were thinking about making a treatment for fevers. I'll go get my apprentice, and you can teach it to us both at the same time. Also, we can have him help us make more of the other medicine."

Faver got up, and Rinna followed suit, saying: "I'll go with you."

Emri started towards the work table, but Aron put a hand on her arm and said: "You can finish eating."

"There's a lot of work-" she began to protest, but Faver interrupted.

"It can wait long enough for you to eat. It's not only our job to look after the sick, but ourselves as well." It sounded like something her mentor might say.

Emri nodded, and Faver declared that he would be back soon. Rinna exchanged glances with Aron before following Faver out – Emri was not sure what to make of the look, but it certainly seemed more serious than friendly.

Emri occupied herself with eating her soup. It wouldn't take much longer to finish, but Aron was finished eating before she was. Meanwhile, Nathley returned. Aron quickly admonished Nathley to speak as quiet as she could, since Faver wanted Remal to get some rest. She did try – mostly – to keep quiet, though sometimes her speech got louder. Aron was quick to remind her to speak quietly every time, though.

Aron asked if she had eaten, and Nathley explained that she had, finishing her food while chatting with the people who had been serving dinner. When Brylin got back there, she had reminded Nathley to finish up quickly and get back to work, though she also spent time chatting with everyone.

"That's Brylin for you." Aron commented with a smile.

"Sure is." Nathley agreed, then said: "So Faver wants Remal to rest here?"

"He's under strict orders to stay here where Faver can keep track of him."

"I suppose if he's going to take orders from anyone, it'd be Faver."

"Not without complaint, though." Aron laughed quietly, and Nathley joined in.

"Excuse me," Emri interjected, "is that because Faver is the Healer, or… is Faver his older brother?" Emri nodded in Remal's direction. "That girl Nina called him 'uncle', and Faver introduced her as his daughter."

"Ah, " Aron said, still smiling, "they are brothers, but by marriage. Faver's wife Brylin is Remal's older sister."

"Though sometimes children may call a close family friend 'uncle' or 'aunt' anyway." Nathley added.

"Sure, but in this case it's a fact and not just a form of address."

"Oh." Emri said, thinking this was more indication that forms of address in this part of the world seemed unnecessarily complicated to her. "I had thought Brylin seemed more like she might be Rinna's sister."

Nathley laughed, and Aron said: "There's no relation there, but they do have some interests in common." Nathley thought that was funny too, for some reason.

There was a sound like a derisive snort from Remal. He might be pretending to sleep at this point. How difficult might it be for him to actually sleep in a tent where other people were still talking, even if they might whisper? She wasn't sure if she should feel bad for him, though, because she had serious doubts about whether he even wanted to sleep.

Whispering, Emri suggested that they ought to get to work – quietly. Aron checked that she was finished eating, politely took her bowl to set aside with his own, and Nathley followed Emri to the work table.