Wizard of the Wood

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3

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Begin.

No.

She remembered.

The test.

After he arrived, Essie tended to his wounds using a combination of magic and herbs to ease the pain and help him heal faster. Rylir made an off-handed comment about how he wished that he knew what all of these potions and poultices, which caught the wizard’s attention. Essie then offered to teach him about herbs and plants that could heal him, among other things, and he accepted the offer.

Little did he know she was a dedicated scholar and that she would be as determined as she was to help educate him. Rylir did appreciate her efforts, but learning was a challenge. He learned through experience and the common terms for different plants, not memorization of long, drawn out names and word drills.

So, knowing Essie was going to be testing him today formed a pit in his insides.

Rylir felt his insides drop, and Essie noticed instantly. She could see practically see Rylir’s panic. Why did he worry so much? She wasn’t going to punish him for not passing her makeshift test. If anything, she was confused as to why he wasn’t using the time he had to learn more from her. Essie didn’t consider herself a master mage by any stretch of the imagination, but she did consider herself knowledgeable on a number of things which Rylir could benefit from.

With a small exhalation of understanding and also unintended frustration, she tucked a few stray strands of her snow-white hair behind her ear.

“Rylir, you really are not taking advantage of the opportunity I am presenting you with,” she stated in her usual factual tone.

“I know. You… you’ve said that before,” sighed Rylir. “It’s just… maybe… I’m not cut out for this learning thing. I’m a worker, labor by da. I learn with my hands. All of the… special terms and the word stems and such… it’s more than what I need to know.”

“That’s not the point,” Essie countered, uttering the incantation “antecess” while rolling her fingers out from her palm as though beckoning someone forward or dipping them into water. Her spell readjusted the chair she often used so she could sit down at the desk. “First, anyone is capable of learning. We simply need to adjust the method of learning which, for you, will be tactile. Second, this is useful knowledge which you can utilize should you decide to re-enter society.”

“But… I can’t cast spells or…”

“Rylir, apologies for interrupting,” said Essie as she raised her finger politely for him to pause. “But I must insist a few additional points. First, the things I’m teaching you do not require knowledge of the arcane. Second, you doubt your intelligence and capacity to learn, which I find unacceptable. You know a great deal, and I’m just contributing to the knowledge you’ve already accumulated. Finally, you are stalling. Seeing your discomfort, let me put your mind at ease and, instead, let’s review. I shall reserve the right to test you at a later time. Compromise accepted?”

Rylir could not have given a heftier sigh of relief, though he wasn’t sure how he felt about what she said about how much he knew. Did she really have that much faith in him? In what he was capable of learning? Regardless, he was grateful for the reprieve and smiled at Essie.

“Only if you insist,” he said, feeling the invisible tendrils of tension loosening from around his chest.

“Very well, though I hope you take advantage of this time you’ve unrightfully earned,” said Essie, a hint of sarcastic tease in her tone, as she turned her attention to one of the planter boxes on the nearby shelf.

Extending her index and middle fingers, she muttered the incantation “huc” which made the box on the top shelf levitate and bring itself to her. Her elegant fingers clasped either side of the box. Dispelling her summoning charm, and setting it between herself and where Rylir was standing on the desk.

Rylir glanced inside the box and admired its contents and the simple beauty of the little things that grew there. The box overflowed with herbs and vines, small bushes and mushrooms Essie had collected from the land beneath the mountain. Some of them Rylir recognized, but only because he relied on eating them as he traveled from one town to the next. The others were strange and their fragrance was odd, sometimes possessing a musty and pungent odor, warding him away to find other things to eat.

So, rather than seeing the plants for what they were supposed to be called, Rylir associated them with the after effects once he ate them. His classification system consisted of very simple criterion – tasty, sick, and gross but effective.

Sadly, Rylir knew Essie would be unwilling to accept his method of identifying plants, so he had to learn her way.

The poor man stood, staring at the plants in front of him, and only one name for the many plants came to mind. Thankfully, he at least remembered what this one was good for.

“Which ones to you recognize?” prompted Essie as she directed her attention to Rylir, who stared at the flowers he recognized. Their stems came up to his hip, but their height wasn’t their most identifiable feature which were the bright yellow petals that lined the thick seeded face of the flower.

“Um… well… tat one is a sunflower. You can eat it and it helps with coughs sometimes if you have it in a tea,” said Rylir. Essie nodded approvingly and reached out to touch the very edge of the flower petals, her delicate touch contrasting with what would be expected from the fingers of a giant.

“Helianthus, beneficial in treating some upper respiratory illnesses as well as satiating hunger. Good. Next,” she said briskly, ice shard like eyes turning from the flower’s face to that of the miniscule man on her desk. Rylir stiffened, which was something Essie noticed in an instant. She leaned back, folding her left arm across her chest and grasping the bridge of her nose with her thumb and the side of her index finger.

“I see,” she said. “Very well. Let’s go through this from the top.”

Essie unfolded her arms and sat on the end of her seat as she reached forward and tenderly brushed a clump of pretty white flowers that grew in lacy clusters. They looked almost like daisies but had only five petals instead of dozens. The stems were stiff and sprung back and forth at her touch.

“This is achillea millefolium, also called yarrow. It helps sooths upset stomachs, can relieve feelings of tension in the body, and it can be applied to the skin to stop bleeding of minor cuts and wounds,” said Essie. She pointed to another plant which was a vibrant orange, the petals creating a perfect circle. “And this is calendula officinalis, marigold or pot marigold in the common vernacular. His can be used topically to sooth allergic reactions, which is when you break out in hives and become irritated or, in some cases, you start to swell and may have a hard time breathing.”

Essie proceeded to walk Rylir through all of the plants in the box, explaining that most of these things were for topical use to cure bleeding and miscellaneous ailments from internal distress. Rylir tried keeping up with the special terminology, but he felt as though his head were spinning with how much Essie was explaining to him.

Essie, stoic like an oak, leaned heavily on the desk in silent contemplation as Rylir tried to recite the different herbs and plants. Her expression was hard to read, and Rylir first suspected that she was frustrated or disappointed, but the time that he spent with her provided that necessary insight he needed to fully read the expression of the giantess.

Curiosity and contemplation.

She was working through different scenarios in her head, obviously trying to figure out the best way to proceed. She was trying to find the best way forward to help Rylir, and she found it.

She saw Rylir’s mental spiraling and came up with another method for him to learn what the plants were, more specifically what they did and how he could use them. Aloe was soft on the inside, and she explained that you had to use something soft to help keep your skin soft. Pot marigold was the color you didn’t want your skin to be, and the allergic reaction sometimes was the size of around as the flower. Yarrow looked like lace, like a bandage, but only a small bandage.

It wasn’t a perfect system, and it certainly had its flaws when plants looked like one another, like dandelions and sow thistle, but it was a step in the right direction because, instantly, Rylir began retaining the information and was able to recite them faster.

Rylir, for the first time since he was a boy, was learning more than just a trade or a skill. It was thanks to Essie he was understanding these things, and he slowly began to wonder what else he might learn from her.