>"You've been a big help, I'll let you get back to what you were doing."
>After disentangling with Dai, montage up some plant places; ask for directions when needed. Make inquiries about bittercress, then about the guardian legend and Yuka. Try to ignore howling laughter and derision after that, and inquire about peoples who would know the Isir's Cross region with any degree of worth.
>And if someone does give us just a bit too much shit...well, we'll burn that bridge if it comes up.
>Dai offers you a tentative smile. "I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful to you. I hope you find what you're looking for, and... be careful."
>You then part ways with the fairy, who briskly resumes her original course, diaphanous wings fluttering rapidly. You head in the same general direction then turn right, taking your leave of the Academy grounds for the second time and making your way towards the southwest of the city, where Professor Bosqueverde told you several nurseries could be found.
>The walk is a long one and takes you from broad shaded lanes to cloistered rows of residences, bustling commercial districts and then beyond. Your careful perusal of the street map at the library allows you to navigate with little need to stop for directions, though the scale of the city still gives you pause every now and again. Even if this route does not take you past buildings of as singular magnificence as some you spied from the harbor, the sheer number of stately dwellings and civic buildings continues to impress. What passes for a modest storefront here is nonetheless worked from finely hewn stone and adorned by decorative finials in polished bronze, and this is hardly an exception. Eventually you meet up once again with the broad commercial avenue that marked the first leg of your journey to the Academy, then pass beyond it. The crowds are of a similar mix as earlier - cosmopolitan and punctuated with conspicuous signs of wealth and affluence, though distinctly short of oni by your measure. More House tabards are in evidence, here and there. In several cases, you spot a casually-armed guard or two escorting some other personage, though no one else seems to take particular note of this.
>After what you guess is approaching an hour, you come in sight of the river. While not particularly broad as rivers go, it is sizable for one cleaving through such a densely populated area, though given how much the surrounding banks have been built up, you ponder if 'canal' might be a better word for it. Certainly, as your eyes follow the water's course to the north, there is eventually no question of this - the placid blue is bordered there by walls of smooth stone following an even and measured curve, spanned by artful bridges in stone and wood at convenient intervals. Traffic is very light compared to the airship route, but several vessels of differing sizes can still be seen travelling along it. These are actually the first water-going vessels you have ever seen with your own eyes, neither Braston nor Easthaven having any waterways of consequence. Compared to the heavy cargo transports that are a fixture of Braston's port, these are all extremely modest, though several remind you distinctly of Hanashibaran airships in form. You know that some of their airship designs are actually amphibious, though none of these vessels show signs of rotors capable of propelling them through the sky.
>The rest of the walk is quieter than when you were nearer to the heart of the city and a cool breeze flows from the river. You find the buildings growing somewhat more modest as you proceed, at least in Val Razuan terms. A few even remind you just a little of home, and not in a bad way - storehouses and industrial structures that for once seem at least as concerned with function as form. A small watercraft passes near to the bank you are following, and you catch snippets of a fiery debate between a pair of kappa on its deck - something involving a panini press and spontaneous carbonization. Eventually a row of sprawling wooden structures with paneled glass roofs come into view - greenhouses if ever you saw them, and imposing ones at that. With your first target finally in sight, you pick up the pace.
>The nursery turns out to be even more impressive from up close than it was at a distance. The interior of each greenhouse is lined thick with all manner of flora in an array of verdant greens and representatives from every other shade of the rainbow, arranged neatly in rows. Puttering about among them is a small army of fairies with pruning shears and watering cans and diminutive garden hoes while a smaller number of humans keep watch. Your eyes settle upon a likely authority figure and set out to make your first inquiry of what turn out to be many.
>As Professor Bosqueverde had warned, despite the great diversity of plant life to be found here, bittercress does not number among it. The resident supervisor is aware of the plant, but restates the hoatzin's prior assertion about its generally low popularity and lack of practical applications - albeit in a much less rambling manner. Your inquiry about Yuka and her garden is even less fruitful; she has never heard of such a place before and several inquisitive fairies echo her statement, though their ensuing chatter ends with the consensus that such a place would be 'super awesome neat' to visit and that they should go have a look for it in the woods after their shift. It takes a small amount of finesse on the supervisor's part to keep them from flying off to do this immediately. You thank the woman for her time - she was polite and friendly, if not especially helpful - then set search for the next nursery.
>For the most part, the story is the same wherever you go - bittercress is not in stock and the garden is, at best, the subject of vague and nonspecific rumors which they had paid little heed to. Isir's Cross is a more known quantity, of course, though the best you manage to find in terms of personal familiarity is an assistant gardener at Hatani Flowers whose sister used to work there as a customs officer a few years back. She had visited the area several times, though had not herself heard of Yuka's garden, nor ventured outside of populated areas. She does, however, corroborate Dai's appraisal of the place's atmosphere as well as the presence of the lieutenant with a soft spot for fairies; apparently her cookies were good enough that anyone at the fort with half an interest in baking had tried to swipe the recipe.
>It is pressing on into evening by the time you encounter the first real deviation from this script: a much more modest nursery
does have a small number of bittercress plants in stock. Without any real hopefulness, you ask to see them - predictably, they are completely and utterly without bloom. It's really quite a nondescript plant, mistakable perhaps for a weed, even; it's hard to believe that such a thing holds such power over your disease. And at the same time it's frustrating to be so close to something that's holds the
promise of a cure without actually being of any use to you at all. The caretaker confirms that you shouldn't expect any flowering for a few years, though does his darnedest to sell you on the plant's hardiness nonetheless. A modest-sized specimen, suitable perhaps for a window planter, apparently retails for 8 guilders.
